TSR's 2023 D1 Outdoor Top 25 Individual Rankings (Men): Update #3

Written by Garrett Zatlin, John Cusick & Gavin Struve

Click here to see our Just Missed and Honorable Mention names.

Listed eligibility takes redshirts and Covid-related extensions into consideration.

TFRRS is used as a general guide when determining eligibility.

Tarees Rhoden or Mehdi Yanouri? That was the question that our TSR crew found ourselves grappling with as we finalized this week's set of rankings.

Both of those 800 meter stars have proven to be elite middle distance standouts this year. Rhoden was the 4th place finisher at the NCAA Indoor Championships this past winter in the half-mile distance and up until this past weekend, held the NCAA lead in a time of 1:46.20.

But in terms of consistency and competitive prowess for this specific outdoor track season, we have ultimately opted to give Mehdi Yanouri the nod.

The former JUCO star has thrived with Oklahoma State, running 1:46 for 800 meters three total times this spring! Two of those three instances came this past weekend at the BIG 12 Championships where he ultimately finished runner-up in the 800 meter finals, barely snagging silver from Texas star, Crayton Carrozza.

The consistency that Yanouri has shown in this event, all while effectively posting the same time(s) as Rhoden, is what has allowed us to give this Cowboy star our TSR #25 spot.

How can you dislike Liam Murphy?

This Villanova underclassman had one of the more exciting indoor track season of any collegiate distance runner. He threw down incredible times of 3:55 (mile) and 7:45 (3k) while acting as the home-run hitter for an elite Villanova DMR.

And while his times this spring haven't been quite as fast, one could say that Murphy has been just as good, if not better, when looking at his tactics and recent resume.

The New Jersey native ran 3:41 (1500) to win the Duke Invitational (in terrible conditions) over a loaded field, ventured to Florida where he would run 3:39 for that same distance one week later, won the Penn Relays 4xMile title thanks to a lethal kick and just secured double gold in the 5000 meters and the 4x800 meter relay this past weekend at the BIG East Championships.

Simply put, Murphy is undefeated in every single individual race that he has toed the line for this spring. His only loss this season came in a DMR battle at the Penn Relays.

I don't see a single flaw on Murphy's resume. He has the consistency, the upper-tier times, the incredible tactics and a rising ceiling. His times still need to catch up with the highest levels of the NCAA over 1500 meters, but I've become a very big fan of this second-year distance star.

If not the greatest riser in our rankings, Ethan Strand has to be in contention for the intangible superlative of “highest stock rise” among Division One men since our last rankings update.

The Tar Heel star had been good, but not great, during the first-half of this outdoor track season. Marks of 3:43 (1500) and 13:46 (5k) aren’t usually viewed as pedestrian result for a redshirt freshman, but this is someone who vaulted himself into the individual All-American conversation during winter months. Remember, he ran 3:55 and 7:46 for the mile and 3k, respectively, just a few months back.

Now, Strand has put the distinguishing mark on his outdoor oval resume in much of the same way that he did during the indoor track season a few months ago — with an ACC title.

After winning two conference titles as an underdog (depending on who you ask), perhaps it's time to reevaluate this Alabama native turned Tar Heel ace. His most recent result was a 3:38 1500 meter victory in which he took down another ACC rising star, Wake Forest’s Luke Tewalt, as well as a pair of teammates with greater acclaim, Parker Wolfe and Jesse Hunt, among others.

Suddenly, Strand boasts the NCAA #10 mark this season at a distance that he has only contested twice as a collegiate, and it’s probably his best event. He now seems to be primed to contest the NCAA Championships as an individual (on the track) for the first time in his career after going all-in on the DMR in March.

With Strand beating out Wolfe, his classmate and a three-time All-American, for ACC titles at two different distances, it’s worth asking: Does North Carolina now have two future NCAA superstars in their program?

One of the NCAA's biggest transfer targets for this summer is now...off the market?

The Stride Report has recently learned that Camden Marshall will be staying at the University of Indiana after initially entering the transfer portal. The news comes on the heels of a fantastic performance at the BIG 10 Outdoor Championships where Marshall threw down an incredible mark of 1:46 for 800 meters. That time allowed him to beat Adam Spencer (1:46) and Handal Roban (1:47) for the conference title.

Marshall has already run 3:39 for 1500 meters this season and is seemingly getting better as we enter the final month of competition, potentially peaking at the right time. To take down both Spencer and Roban in a time as fast as 1:46 over 800 meters is insanely impressive, especially when you look back at how he ran this race.

Momentum is clearly leaning in favor of this Hoosier star. Just how dangerous will he be on the regional and national stages if he's able to a) replicate that kind of performance, and b) build on the success of that result?

Here's the thing: It's not that Ky Robinson has been running poorly as of late that has him dropping a couple of spots in this rankings update. However, he also hasn't done anything notable since his 5k effort at the Bryan Clay Invite.

The Aussie Cardinal star was a DNF at the Payton Jordan Invite over 5000 meters (likely acting as a pacer), earned a pair of slow and tactical wins in a dual meet against California and just settled for silver (1500) and bronze (5k) at the PAC-12 Championships.

Again, Robinson has not at all been bad this spring, but we still need to see more from this guy as we head into the postseason. His seasonal marks of 27:58 (10k) and 13:29 (5k) are strong, but in a "what have you done for me lately" world, this Stanford star has made it hard to keep him highly ranked.

There's not necessarily a whole lot to talk about for Victor Shitsama, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing. After running 8:40 in the steeplechase during his season opener, the multi-time cross country All-American from this past fall threw down an outstanding time of 8:31 in the event at the Payton Jordan Invite.

And if there was any doubts about Shitsama's consistency over the water pits and barriers this season, he silenced those thoughts this past weekend. That's because the Oklahoma State ace cruised to a BIG 12 steeplechase title in a time of 8:33, easily taking home gold by 11 seconds over Iowa State's Gable Sieperda.

We may not have learned a whole lot about Shitsama as of late, but his ongoing excellence makes me feel like he can be one of the more reliable names as we dive deeper into the postseason -- and that may go for All-American honors.

The past weekend’s result was massive for Ezekiel Rop. Not because it was a surprise or even his best performance of this season, but because it vindicated the leap that he has made this spring.

We’ve seen this Cyclone veteran race three times in non-relay settings this season, focusing his individual efforts entirely on the 1500 meters. In those three races, he secured a win while setting what was then a PR of 3:40. Rop later proceeded to obliterate that 1500 meter PR by running 3:36 at the Bryan Clay Invite!

And most recently, he finished just over a tenth of a second off from his personal best in a runner-up performance at the BIG 12 Championships.

That result not only validates Rop’s breakout race from the Bryan Clay Invite, but it gives him significant momentum entering the postseason as he chases his first All-American finish. Surprisingly, that recent silver medal is Rop’s highest individual finish through three years on the BIG 12 oval, and is there really a better loss on the men’s side right now than one at the hands of Fouad Messaoudi?

Oh, and not to mention, Rop was leading this race heading into the final straightaway.

Rop feels like the NBA's Mike Conley of collegiate distance running right now -- someone who has long been a fixture near the top of the sport and is due to finally get his flowers later in his career. For Conley, it was an All-Star nod in his 14th season. And for Rop, it could very well be an All-American result come June.

Nothing crazy to report here. After running 8:31 in the steeplechase at the Payton Jordan Invite (en route to a win), Ed Trippas got the job done yet again this past weekend at the PAC-12 Championships.

In a race that he was heavily favored to win, Trippas took care of business, running 8:37 in the event to contribute to Washington's sweep of the men's distance titles this past weekend.

It may be easy to point to Trippas and say, "He ran 8:20 in this event last year! He has an 8:19 PR over the barriers and water pits! He should be running faster!" However, it's important to note that Trippas ran 8:20 last spring at the outdoor national meet and his 8:19 PR in this event came in a building to the Olympics (which he qualified for).

In other words, this is a guy who knows how to peak for championship settings. I wouldn't at all be worried about his current set of marks, especially when you realize that his fastest seasonal time going into the outdoor national meet last spring was 8:30.

Simply put, faster marks are coming for this Aussie steeplechaser.

It's one thing to be a true freshman who is absurdly talented (think Donovan Brazier back in 2016). It's another thing to be a true freshman with a masterful understanding of tactics, kicks and positioning (think Brandon Miller in 2021).

But what we've seen from Georgia's true rookie, Will Sumner, this year feels like a beautiful combination of those two aspects.

Sure, Sumner may not be as supremely talented as Brazier (and maybe not even Miller) was when he was a freshman, but running 1:46.20 for 800 meters before the regional and national meets is no-joke. Plus, this is a guy who has won SEC half-mile titles during both the winter and spring months -- and he has looked incredibly smooth while doing so.

Few freshmen have ever shown the same level of control over their fitness that Sumner has. His recent title victory from this past weekend over a strong field, including a peaking Sam Whitmarsh, looked like it was nothing to him.

I'm not saying that Sumner is going to win a national title in this event one month from now, but...maybe as soon as next year, he might.

What an incredible transfer pickup this guy has been for the Minnesota men over the last two years. The former D3 star joined the Golden Gophers in the summer of 2021 and eventually earned 8th place All-American honors last spring in the steeplechase, running an outstanding PR of 8:25.

So far this spring, things have largely been going according to plan. Wilkinson began his season with a statement 8:29 mark over the barriers and water pits.

After a fine, but rather uneventful, 13:33 mark for 5000 meters at the Payton Jordan Invitational, as well as pair of tactical battle over 1500 meters (3rd) and 3000 meters (1st) in a dual meet against California, Charles Hicks toed the line for 10k race against Brian Fay this past weekend.

Hicks, for the most part, looked pretty good, but simply had no response for his Washington rival who blew by him with 400 meters to go. The Stanford star still recorded a runner-up finish and responded somewhat well to the move, but Fay, at least in that moment, looked like the better runner.

I still think that Hicks has a fairly good shot at winning a national title this spring over 10,000 meters, but Dylan Jacobs looks as sharp as ever and Fay has been the best that he has ever been. And with Casey Clinger still looking strong, this Cardinal veteran is going to need to have his best race of the season (like he usually does) once he reaches his seasonal finale.

Should we really be surprised that Sam Ellis just dropped a top-10 mark, nationally, over 800 meters in what many would consider his secondary event (en route to a PAC-12 title, no less)?

After all, this graduate student came to Washington with the expectation of being a high-impact instant contributor and a veritable middle distance All-American. And although he was racing unattached this past winter, we saw flashes of brilliance from Ellis even beyond what he had already produced during his time at Princeton.

Regardless of how surprised fans may be, Ellis made a statement this past weekend with a 1:46 effort to win the 800 meter title relatively comfortably in his first indoor track season in what many would consider to be the nation’s premier distance running conference.

At this point, after seeing him contest the 800 meters thrice this season and the 1500 meters just once, we have to ask: Could Ellis be going all-in on the half-mile rather than the metric mile? Should he?

We saw on the indoor oval that the Washington men are historically stacked in the mile, a trend that could carry over to the 1500 meters to a lesser extent. Ellis' younger teammate, Nathan Green, is in a similar position. Whatever he and the UW coaches decide, Ellis’ speed, versatility and tactical prowess should set him up to conclude his NCAA career with a flourish.

Adam Spencer feels really similar to Sam Ellis in that he has wowed us with previously undisclosed middle distance speed this season, boasts enviable balance and has some options entering the East Regional Championships.

Sure, he didn’t win a conference title in the 800 meters this past weekend, but Spencer definitely turned some heads as he chopped two seconds off of his personal best with a 1:46 runner-up result. It’s not his fault Indiana’s Camden Marshall had the best race of his life (which is saying something for someone who is already viewed as a star).

That result pairs very nicely with the 3:37 (1500) mark that Spencer flexed in a loaded Bryan Clay Invite field last month.

This Aussie feels more likely than not to stick with what’s been his primary event (the 1500 meters) as we turn to the postseason, but he has to be entering the NCAA Outdoor Championships (assuming he qualifies) with loads of confidence after showing praiseworthy strength and speed alike in the span of a month.

Wisconsin's latest star seems primed to contend in any style of racing after snagging the last All-American spot in the 1500 meters last June.

Despite initially being entered in the 800 meters at the SEC Outdoor Championships, we didn't see Navasky Anderson race this past weekend. That's admittedly not great, but this is also someone who ran only on his team's DMR at the SEC Indoor Championships this past winter and nothing else.

We'll hold off on making any major changes to his ranking for now unless the East Regional Championships present any legitimate cause for concern.

After a huge 3:35 effort over 1500 meters at the Bryan Clay Invitational, everything looked like it was going smoothly for Joe Waskom.

However, after a few fine, but unexciting, splits at the Penn Relays, followed by a stunning failure to get out of the 1500 meter prelims at the PAC-12 Championships this past weekend, this Husky star is being dropped four spots in our rankings.

It would be ridiculous to suggest a 3:51 miler / 3:35 (1500) runner isn't one of the 15-best distance runners in the NCAA this spring. But after a 4th place finish at the NCAA Indoor Championships and a concerning result from this past weekend, Waskom doesn't feel like the top-10 name that we viewed him as a few weeks ago.

In the grand scheme of things, this is likely not a big deal, but it's not exactly the most positive sign ever going into the most important time of the year.

Business as usual for Isaac Basten...sorta.

After a flat-out bad race over 800 meters at the Drake Relays, which is admittedly not his primary event, the Bulldog ace ventured to Missouri Valley Championships. There, he secured gold over 1500 meters as expected...but gosh, he cut it close.

Basten is known for his excellent tactics and late-race heroics. But this is a field that he should have dominated. Instead, he waited until the last minute to make his move, gritting his teeth and digging deep to pass Bradley's Jack Crull over the final 50 meters for the win.

It's just one race and Basten got the job done, but that just didn't look pretty...at all.

Since our last rankings update, BYU star Casey Clinger has cruised to an easy 5k win at the Oxy Invitational in a time of 13:44. That, in retrospect, was clearly just an effort to earn a regional qualifying mark without overextending himself.

Then, this past week, due to the West Coast Conference not having a championship meet on the track, Clinger toed the line for a mile race with his teammates on his home track in Provo, Utah.

Clinger has quietly been excellent over the mile and 1500 meter distances over the last year or two, specifically when they are fast, strength-based races. That's why it should be no surprise that the Cougar star ran 4:01 in the mile which, after conversions, gave him a 3:38 mark for 1500 meters on the national leaderboard.

There's not exactly a ton to talk about from this result, but very quietly, Clinger continues to prove that he's one of the most fit long distance runners in the NCAA this year.

It seems wild that Brian Fay is a full five seconds off of his PR in the 5k this spring, but yet again holds the nation’s top mark in the event this season.

That’s not a knock on Fay who has seen his stock bounce back this season after an underwhelming showing at the 2023 NCAA Indoor Championships, in which he did salvage a back-end All-American result.

In just two meet appearances throughout this 2023 outdoor track campaign, Fay has been rock solid, winning the 5k at the Bryan Clay Invite in 13:21.99 before sweeping that event and the 10k at the PAC-12 Championships. The latter result was arguably the most impressive, even if it "only" sits at NCAA #24 on the national leaderboard.

That’s because it came over Stanford’s Charles Hicks, the reigning cross country national champion from this past fall.

After forays into the middle distance events, Fay has set his focus solely on the longer races where his elite finishing kick stands out more. It’s unclear if Fay will finally break through for a national title this June, but the fact that he’s in the conversation at the end of only his second full year in the NCAA speaks volumes.

Either way, he looks to be taking a new approach to this outdoor track season, and that should make his competitors very concerned for their own chances if they’re facing a full-strength Brian Fay in the postseason.

Remember, this is a guy who holds five All-American finishes in as many seasons.

Yes, he may be dropping one spot in our rankings, but Crayton Carrozza still had a heckuva weekend this past Saturday and Sunday at the BIG 12 Championships.

The dynamic Texas middle distance star toed the line for the 1500 meter prelims, the 800 meter prelims, the 1500 meter finals and the 800 meter finals. Overall, he ran times of 3:43, 1:47, 3:42 and 1:46, eventually earning 4th (1500) and 3rd (800) place finishes in the finals.

Remember, that 1:46 mark over 800 meters came on the double after Carrozza battled through the 1500 meter finals earlier that day. And although he settled for 3rd place, he only barely missed a silver medal by a total of 0.004 seconds.

If anything, this past weekend was actually fairly encouraging. Carrozza still looks super sharp and still feels like an outside contender for NCAA gold over 800 meters depending on how the race plays out at the outdoor national meet.

There’s admittedly no great revelation to be gleaned from Anass Essayi’s recent results, which is a good thing. This is someone with a very similar resume to NCAA record-holder Eliud Kipsang in terms of being an international athlete in the SEC with top-notch times, sneaky-great range and championship performances that leave something to be desired.

But Essayi balked that trend with an SEC title over 1500 meters this past weekend that he won relatively easily despite being a ways off of his fastest-ever time.

To be fair, Essayi has won multiple SEC titles in the past, but he recorded a DNF result at his first NCAA Championships appearance last spring and finished 3rd at the 2023 NCAA Indoor Championships in the mile after entering that meet as arguably the title favorite, having nearly broken the NCAA record with a 3:50.4 mark.

If there is an overarching takeaway from his recent win, it’s that Essayi is continuing a trend of winning races entering the postseason, and it pairs well nicely with a 3:36 (1500) seasonal best.

While it would be nice to see him improve tactically in an elite field, Essayi has some of the best outright firepower in the NCAA, and he’s at least been good enough in championship style races, so he should be in the mix for a national title in any style of race.

Yes, Duncan Hamilton is dropping two spots in our rankings this week, but that's largely not his fault. Instead, that's more based because of the performances that we've seen from others around the NCAA.

After running a fantastic, but largely unsurprising, steeplechase time of 8:25 at Eastern Kentucky back in late April, Hamilton threw down a monster 3:36 (1500) conversion, further solidifying his elite-level fitness.

This past weekend, while yet again at altitude, Hamilton went after an ambitious triple -- the 1500 meters, the 5000 meters and the steeplechase. He would finish 3rd, 2nd and 1st in those events, respectively.

Generally speaking, we didn't really learn anything new about Hamilton over these last few weeks. The reason he falls, however, is because the guy who is ranked in front of him looks like a very real threat to win the steeplechase national title this spring.

Going into the Sound Running Track Fest, there was one glaring question that we had for Kenneth Rooks: How will you fare in a field that is closer to your caliber?

In his two appearances this season, Rooks has been incredible in the steeplechase. He ran 8:33 to secure a win at the Stanford Invite and then ventured to Bryan Clay where he ran 8:31 for yet another victory.

However, in both of those fields, Rooks easily dominated. He was clearly the best steeplechaser among the men who he faced and his fast finishes were made to look effortless. Naturally, we wanted to see how he would fare when he was tasked with racing competition that clearly a step up from what he had already seen.

But then Rooks toed the line for a loaded steeplechase race against a handful of top-tier pro athletes at the Sound Running Track Fest. And despite not being the favorite, the BYU veteran threw down an insane time of 8:17 in the event! Rooks would win by three full seconds over Geordie Beamish and Hillary Bor, all while securing the NCAA #2 all-time mark in the event.

Rooks now has to be viewed as the national title favorite in the men's steeplechase this year for the NCAA Outdoor Championships. Sure, Duncan Hamilton is still very much part of that conversation, but Rooks has looked insanely smooth in every race that he has contested. His finishing speed, poise, experience, consistency and raw talent is why he gets boosted all the way to our TSR #4 spot in these rankings.

It was probably safe to assume that Yusuf Bizimana was the favorite to win the 800 meters at this year’s outdoor national meet. He did, after all, win gold in that event at the 2023 indoor national meet (following a Navasky Anderson DQ).

And sure enough, that assumption feels even safer after seeing Bizimana post the fastest Division One mark for the half-mile event this season.

Bizimana coasted into the finals at the BIG 12 Outdoor Championships this past weekend before laying down the fastest time this season by a D1 athlete. In the 800 meter finals, the Longhorn ace posted an incredible mark of 1:45.82 to take home his third-straight 800 meter conference title. The Texas superstar won the race by nearly a second over an incredibly loaded field and reminded everyone of who the rest of the country has to go through in order to earn an NCAA title in June.

If there were any doubts going into the conference weekend, Bizimana quickly dismissed them and has become the clear national title favorite over 800 meters.

One of the more underrated superstars that has graced the Division One distance running landscape in recent years, Dylan Jacobs is more than meeting expectations as he continues to reset them with his success.

Toward the end of his collegiate career, it’s refreshing to watch this veteran who has great control and understanding of his fitness anytime he races. Most recently, Jacobs broke a longstanding SEC Outdoor Championship record as he cruised to a strong 13:36 (5k) mark.

In the age of NCAA athlete movement with the transfer portal, Jacobs, who joined Tennessee by way of Notre Dame last summer, feels akin to a Kevin Durant — someone who may or may not have been the top runner in any single season. Which leads us to this question: Could Jacobs be the defining star of this academic year on the men’s distance side?

The man ranked in front of him would be the best counter, but Jacobs is a guy who has everything from top marks (running 7:36 over 3000 meters which ranks him at NCAA #2 all-time), consistency (four All-American finishes across the past three championship seasons) and national titles (he won the 10k last spring and the indoor 5k this past winter).

That’s all without mentioning his 13:11 (5k) mark from this past winter or his 4th place finish at the 2022 NCAA XC Championships.

It would hardly be a shock if Jacobs took home another national title less than a month from now. But with the future of his collegiate career uncertain, and his racing appearances becoming less frequent this year, NCAA fans and TSR readers should appreciate his consistent elite level of racing while they can.

Fouad Messaoudi has raced four times since we last updated our rankings and he’s been rather impressive in three of those four efforts.

At the Penn Relays, Messaoudi was part of Oklahoma State’s DMR as well as their 4xMile relay. Starting with the former, we saw Messaoudi get the Cowboys out in front by splitting 2:53.49 for 1200 meters. The following day, Messaoudi anchored the ‘Pokes to a 7th place finish in a tactical final leg.

Knowing that both teams finished in that 7th place position makes those results a wash more than anything. We know that Messaoudi has incredible finishing speed and he’s combined that with his aerobic strength to run 3:35 (1500), 7:41 (3k) and 3:54 (mile).

Messaoudi capped off his pre-regional campaign with a convincing win at the BIG 12 Outdoor Championships as he took home the gold in the 1500 meters, running 3:36.59 and putting more than half a second between him and the runner-up finisher, Ezekiel Rop, in a surprisingly fast race.

After his impressive showing at the indoor national meet, there’s serious traction behind Messaoudi as being the favorite to win the national title in the metric mile in less than three weeks time. Of course, that’s much easier said than done as he’ll have to face Anass Essayi, Isaac Basten and Joe Waskom.

Mehdi Yanouri (Oklahoma State)

Liam Murphy (Villanova)

Ethan Strand (North Carolina)

Camden Marshall (Will Sumner)

Will Sumner (Georgia)

Adam Spencer (Wisconsin)

Tarees Rhoden (Clemson)

Eliud Kipsang (Alabama)

Parker Stokes (Georgetown)

Handal Roban (Penn State)

Luke Houser (Washington)

Drew Bosley (Northern Arizona)

Luke Houser (Washington)

Graham Blanks (Harvard)

Victor Kiprop (Alabama)

Sam Whitmarsh (Texas A&M)

Jackson Sharp (Wisconsin)

Tiarnan Crorken (Ole Miss)

Conor Murphy (Virginia)

Jesse Hunt (North Carolina)

Luke Tewalt (Wake Forest)

Abdullahi Hassan (Wisconsin)

Handal Roban (Penn State)

Nico Young (Northern Arizona)

Parker Stokes (Georgetown)

Chandler Gibbens (Kansas)

Eliud Kipsang (Alabama)

Tarees Rhoden (Clemson)

Aidan McCarthy (Cal Poly)

Colin Sahlman (Northern Arizona)

Parker Wolfe (North Carolina)

Anthony Camerieri (Ole Miss)

Nathan Mountain (Virginia)

Nathan Green (Washington)

Aman Thornton (Clemson)

Sam Austin (Florida)

Baylor Franklin (Ole Miss)

Nick Plant (Virginia Tech)

Nick Foster (Michigan)

Rynard Swanepoel (Wake Forest)

Zach Facioni (Wake Forest)

Bob Liking (Wisconsin)

Scott Beattie (Tulsa)

Patrick Thygesen (Providence)

Derek Johnson (Virginia)

Tom Seitzer (Notre Dame)

Evan Dorenkamp (Penn State)

Sam Gilman (Air Force)

Cole Sprout (Stanford)

Isai Rodriguez (Oklahoma State)

Alex Maier (Oklahoma State)