TRANSFERS: Mia Barnett to Oregon & Ronan McMaon-Staggs to Washington

Earlier today, two standout distance stars from UCLA, Mia Barnett and Ronan McMahon-Staggs, announced their transfers to Oregon and Washington, respectively. The pair of moves come just a few short weeks after the Bruins' distance coach, Sean Brosnan, did not have his contract renewed by UCLA.

Mia Barnett, who joined the Los Angeles-based program after spending a year and a half at Virginia, will now be joining the Oregon women. The 4:08 (1500) runner will help form the deepest contingent of metric milers that an NCAA program has ever assembled.

Last spring, the trio of Izzy Thornton-Bott, Klaudia Kazimierska and Maddy Elmore all ran 4:08 over the 1500 meter distance and each woman qualified for the 1500 meter finals at the outdoor national meet.

The now-former Bruin will also add value scoring potency to a team that is looking to build upon their promising success from last fall. Barnett is currently listed at TSR #50 in The Stride Report's Preseason XC Top 50 Individual Rankings.

The Oregon women were already expected to return a heavy portion of their fairly strong 2022 cross country lineup. But by adding Barnett, the Ducks will theoretically have a second low-stick who can dramatically change the scoring structure of this team for the better.

However, based on current NCAA transfer rules, it is unclear to The Stride Report whether or not Barnett will be able to compete for the Oregon women this fall (and possibly beyond). The details regarding that scenario are still unclear.

We then come to Ronan McMahon-Staggs, a breakout mile star for the UCLA men this past year. The incoming Washington ace ran under four minutes in the mile numerous times this past winter. During that winter campaign, McMahon-Staggs ran a monster 3:54 mile PR an qualified for the indoor national meet.

The soon-to-be Husky will now join what is easily the single-greatest collection of men's milers in NCAA history. Last year, the Huskies had seven men run under 4:00 in the mile during the indoor track season. That number climbs to eight if you include Sam Ellis who was racing unattached later winter, but later competed during the spring months.

With Ellis, Brian Fay, Aaron Ahl and Aidan Ryan expected to be out of eligibility, Coach Andy Powell has been able to reload his roster with a star-caliber transfer in McMahon-Staggs. The former Bruin should be able to offer a similar level of firepower and maintain Washington's elite reputation of housing numerous superstar talents.