John Cusick

Mar 1, 202320 min

TSR's 2023 D2 Indoor Top 25 Individual Rankings (Men): Update #3

Updated: Mar 2, 2023

Written by John Cusick, additional edits and commentary by Garrett Zatlin


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KEY

(Unranked):

Was not ranked in our last update.

(#/#):

First number indicates how much the athlete has moved in the rankings.

The second number indicates where the athlete was ranked in our last update.


25. Hunter Hutton, Senior, Western Oregon (Unranked)

Hunter Hutton joins our rankings for the first time this season after multiple strong showings.

At the Husky Invitational, we saw Hutton run 4:03.25 (mile), making it the second time that he had set a new personal best in the event. This time, it was a two-second improvement and it's a time that currently has him ranked at NCAA #13, qualifying him for the indoor national meet.

Hutton followed that performance with a solid GNAC Indoor Championships effort which saw him walk away with a silver and bronze medal. He finished runner-up to Charlie Dannatt in the mile and then came back to finish 3rd in the 3000 meters behind Cole Nash and Sebastian Brinkman.

And to cap off the past three weeks, Hutton anchored Western Oregon’s DMR team to a time of 9:48, finishing 3rd at the Ken Shannon Invite this past weekend.

Hutton will be part of the indoor national meet for the first time in his career. But admittedly, there are questions about how he’ll perform given his inexperience on that stage. The GNAC doesn’t have preliminary rounds for the mile or the 1500 meters, something that this WOU ace will have to quickly adjust to.

We’ll find out quickly if he has enough juice to compete on the second day of the national meet. But if his recent string of high-momentum performances are any indication, then that lack of national meet exposure may not matter too much.

24. Tyler Nord, Freshman, Western Colorado (Unranked)

It’s not often that you see a freshman at Western Colorado make this much noise, but it’s hard to disregard what we have seen from Tyler Nord so far this season.

After helping anchor Western Colorado’s DMR team to a converted 9:45 mark for the DMR, Nord set off for Seattle, Washington where he contested the 3k. He posted a time of 8:08 for the event -- nothing spectacular, but still strong, nonetheless.

But what Nord did this past weekend at the RMAC Indoor Championships can be seen as the driving factor for him to join our rankings in this update.

Nord helped the Mountaineer men finish 4th in the DMR on Friday night, but it wasn’t until Saturday that Nord surprised us all. Despite facing the likes of Awet Beraki, Afewerki Zeru and Evan Graff in the 3000 meters, the Western Colorado standout walked away with the victory.

Nord posted an insane 7:57.34 (3k) mark after the track and altitude conversions, placing him at NCAA #6 going into the national meet. One could argue that it was one of/the biggest D2 men's performance of the past weekend.

This is the first time that Nord has entered our rankings. And despite his youth going into the national meet, we don’t think it will be his last time in our top-25, either.

23. Titus Lagat, Senior, Lee (Tenn.) (Unranked)

Throughout the season, there are always athletes to keep an eye on because of their history and potential to reach their former elite levels of fitness that they once flashed.

One of those athletes happens to be Titus Lagat.

The veteran half-mile specialist finds his way into our rankings yet again after posting an incredible 1:48.34 (800) mark this past weekend at the Last Chance Indoor Qualifier in Boston. That’s now NCAA #4 on the national leaderboard and an outright personal best by more than half a second!

That performance came on the heels of him winning his third Gulf South 800 meter title and his second-straight dating back to the 2022 outdoor track season.

Lagat has plenty of experience racing on the national stage and owns a bronze medal in the 800 meters from the spring of 2021 at the outdoor national meet. That also happened to be the last time that he set a personal best in the half-mile event.

Is this writing on the wall for Lagat’s future? We’ll find out next weekend in Virginia Beach, but right now, Lagat might be an under the radar pick for the national title.

22. Duncan Fuehne, Junior, Colorado Mines (-3 / 19)

Disclaimer: In these rankings, some athletes will be moved backward by no fault of their own and simply because other athletes ran incredibly well.

The first name to be impacted by that is Duncan Fuehne of Colorado Mines.

Fuehne ran 13:58 for 5000 meters and is somehow sitting at NCAA #12 right now! That result is a six-second improvement from his overall personal best which he set at the Mt. Sac Relays during the 2022 outdoor season.

Fuehne skipped the RMAC Indoor Championships, so the next time we see him toe the line will be the start line of the 5000 meters at the indoor national meet.

He’s not necessarily a title contender on paper, but he has showcased the necessary racing tact at prior national meet and we’re inclined to believe that he’ll be an All-American candidate at the very least.

21. Clement Duigou, Junior, Adams State (-3 / 18)

Please see the disclaimer mentioned above.

Clement Duigou is another athlete who takes a three-spot tumble which can mostly be attributed to others’ performances. Much like Fuehne, Duigou ran incredibly well in Boston, posting a time of 7:59 for 3000 meters, good enough for NCAA #11 on the national leaderboard.

The most recent result for Duigou comes from this past weekend where he finished 2nd at the RMAC Indoor Championships in the mile behind his teammate Miguel Coca. It was evident that the mile final was a race for 2nd place, so we won’t look too much into the raw time of 4:17 (mile) when it comes to Duigou’s fitness.

The French distance talent is staring down a 5k/3k double at the national meet and he’ll look to better his 5th place performance in the latter event from the 2022 NCAA Indoor Championships. And frankly, there aren't a whole lot of reasons suggesting that he can't.

20. Evan Graff, Senior, UC-Colorado Springs (+1 / 21)

We really wanted to move Evan Graff higher in our rankings, but we ultimately couldn’t do so because of some really strong performances from the rest of Division Two.

After setting a personal best in the mile at Boston, we saw the Mountain Lion ace head to Pittsburg State where he contested another mile and was part of UC-Colorado Springs' DMR squad. He would run 4:07 (mile) and help the Mountain Lions' relay to a time of 9:45.02.

And while that mile time doesn’t move any needles of interest, what Graff did at the RMAC Indoor Championships makes him worthy of moving up a spot in our rankings.

Graff helped UCCS run a converted mark of 9:42.02 (NCAA #4) in the DMR and brought them home with a final leg of 4:12 (mile). The next day, Graff contested the 3000 meters, also needing an improved mark for national qualifying purposes. He finished with a silver medal and posted a converted mark of 7:59.03 to sit at NCAA #9 on the national leaderboard.

He’s been consistently knocking on the door to national meet success and it’s possible that we see a long-awaited breakout race from him at the NCAA Indoor Championships.

19. Dillan Haviland, Sophomore, Northwood (+4 / 23)

Dillan Haviland made his way into our rankings in our last update and now he’s moving forward again in our final update before the national meet.

Two weeks after setting a new 3000 meter personal best, we thought a new mile personal best would be in the making for this Northwood standout. But when Haviland attended the GVSU Big Meets, he ran 4:07 (mile) and helped Northwood to a time of 9:49 in the DMR over the course of that weekend.

Those results admittedly left us wanting more, but Haviland has since delivered in a big way over the last two weeks since then.

Haviland's postseason peak started at the SVSU Tune-Up where he raced to the win and a time of 4:03.75, setting a new personal best by nearly three seconds. He followed up that performance by winning the title in the mile at the GMAC Indoor Championships and helping the Timberwolves to a 2nd place finish in the DMR behind Findlay.

Haviland now sits at NCAA #15 in the mile and NCAA #16 in the 3000 meters, safely qualifying him for the national meet. It’ll be the first time at the national meet for Haviland, individually.

This is a new stage in terms of expectations for this Michigan-based distance talent. Few guys have put together the complete resume that he has, but we’ll find out if he’s truly part of Division Two’s best as he tries to shake off the national meet inexperience.

18. Cole Nash, Sophomore, Alaska Anchorage (+3 / 21)

Cole Nash should be ranked higher, right?

...right??

After his personal best of 8:03 in the 3000 meters at Washington, Nash returned two weeks later to tackle the 5k and the mile. Nash walked away from his 5000 meter effort with a 7th place finish overall in a predominantly Division One field. He earned a time of 13:48 (5k) which was a five-second improvement upon his outright personal best set last spring.

Nash later contested the mile the next day and proceeded to run 4:11 for the distance, a solid follow-up to his 5k effort.

10 days later, Nash contested the 5k and the 3k at the GNAC Indoor Championships where he walked away with comfortable victories over Sebastian Brinkman of Simon Fraser. These conference titles were the third and fourth of Nash’s young career.

Heading into this past weekend Nash was sitting at NCAA #13 in the 3000 meters with his time of 8:03.41. Knowing that faster marks were going to be chased, Nash contested the 3k at the Ken Shannon Invite in an effort to better his standing.

And while he didn’t achieve that (he ran 8:09), he still sits at NCAA #18 on the national leaderboard in the 3000 meters. For the most part, this Alaska Anchorage distance talent has just been flat-out solid this year. He'll likely emerge as an All-American next weekend, but where in that mix he finishes we don't fully know yet.

17. Hamza Chahid, Freshman, Wingate (0 / 17)

Hamza Chahid really impressed us with his converted mark of 7:56.25 for 3000 meters earlier this month and we were eagerly awaiting his next race.

That next effort came via Wingate’s DMR the following weekend where he anchored the Bulldogs to a time of 9:40.74 which is NCAA #3 on the national leaderboard. The next day, he raced the mile where he ran 4:01.80 and is currently NCAA #10 on the national leaderboard.

To cap off his season before the national meet, Chahid won the mile and 3k at the South Atlantic Indoor Championships. With the declarations already out, we know that Chahid will place his focus on the DMR and the 3k.

On paper, Chahid has all the necessary firepower to be competitive at highest level in Division Two. We’re not entirely sure where our expectations should lie for him at the indoor national meet, but he makes Wingate a very scary DMR team at the end of a race.

His individual accolades in 3k will be determined by how tired his legs are after his effort in the DMR. But based on what we saw when he ran his 4:01 mile, we should expect this Bulldog to be towards the front of the pack in the latter stages of the race.

16. Zach Kreft, Rs. Senior, Walsh (-2 / 14)

Zach Kreft has raced every single weekend since January 21st.

Since our last update, we’ve seen Kreft lay down times of 4:03.55 in the mile, help Walsh run 9:48 in the DMR and eventually drop a 7:59.90 personal best over 3000 meters. Those times came in consecutive order and led up to him racing the 5k and the 3k at the GMAC Indoor Championships this past weekend.

Kreft took home victories in each of those races by 10+ seconds while running 14:06 (5k) and 8:07 (3k), respectively.

So why does he move backwards two spots you might ask?

Truthfully, Kreft is moving backward because we saw some incredible races from other athletes over the past three weekends. Kreft’s performances were mostly expected given his current run of fitness.

Kreft has All-American written all over him and with a 5k/3k double coming his way, it’s very possible that he will walk away with two more All-American honors in his short Division Two career.

15. Caleb Futter, Junior, Grand Valley State (0 / 15)

Caleb Futter has fallen victim to being highly successful at such a young age. Since Futter’s 2nd place finish in the steeplechase at the 2021 NCAA Outdoor Championships, the expectations for Futter have been high, maybe unfairly so.

But make no mistake about Futter’s lack of recent movement in these rankings, he’s worth of a top-15 ranking at this point in his career.

Dating back to February 3rd, the Grand Valley State star has run times of 4:08.72, 4:06.61 and 4:04.15 in the mile. That final result came this past Sunday at the GLIAC Indoor Championships where he took home the victory for the second-straight season. It was also a personal best by three-tenths of a second and is the first time that he’s run 4:04 since 2021.

The now-elder GVSU ace also helped the Laker’s DMR squads to marks of 9:48 (400 meter leg) and 9:44 (anchor leg). The second of those two performances resulted in the Lakers’ second-straight GLIAC title in the DMR and a qualifying spot at the national meet.

Futter finished 3rd at the 2021 NCAA Indoor Championships in the mile and didn’t appear to be at his best fitness then. We’ve known that he’s a savvy racer and if his fitness matches his racing IQ, then we could see an upset in one of the deepest mile fields in Division Two history.

14. David Cardenas, Sophomore, Adams State (-4 / 10)

David Cardenas slips four spots in our latest rankings update

After running 1:49.60 (800) in New Mexico, Cardenas decided to test the waters of the mile and opted to race at Boston University the next weekend. At the David Hemery Valentine Invite, we saw Cardenas run 4:03.88 for the mile and set a new personal best by four seconds.

This past weekend, at the RMAC Indoor Championships, we saw Cardenas partake in two relay races for the Grizzlies. On Friday night, Cardenas aided the DMR team by splitting 1:53 for his 800 meter leg. As a result, Adams State won the event from the first section in a converted time of 9:35.50. The next day, he helped the Grizzlies’ 4x400 meter relay finish in 5th place which felt like a concerted effort to work on his foot speed.

Everything that we’ve seen from Cardenas is what you want to see at the tail-end of a season. In a perfect world, we’d see him moving forward three spots instead of backwards three spots. However, with three weeks in between our rankings, it makes it hard to place his efforts ahead of a few others on this list.

Keep Cardenas in the picture when heat sheets are released. If he can get through to the 800 meter finals with relative ease, then he’ll prove to be a problem for the rest of the field.

13. Afewerki Zeru, Senior, UC-Colorado Springs (-4 / 9)

Let’s start this off by saying that we are extremely thrilled to see Afewerki Zeru back on the track after his brief hiatus since the Houston Half-Marathon.

Zeru made his 2023 collegiate debut at the Air Force Collegiate Open, running a converted mark of 8:09 for 3000 meters. Already having locked up a national qualifying mark in the 5000 meters after the NCAA XC Championships, it made sense to see Zeru entered in just the 3k at the RMAC Indoor Championships this past weekend.

The Mountain Lion veteran raced to a 3rd place finish at his conference meet, but left with his ultimate goal of qualifying for the national meet accomplished. He now sits at NCAA #14 on the national leaderboard with his converted mark of 8:01.18 and will contest the 5k/3k double on the national stage.

We’re not entirely sure where Zeru’s fitness lies right now. Truthfully, he's a massive wild card who has given us very little to work with this winter. Even so, his veteran presence and past consistency on this stage makes him a worthy pick for an All-American honor at the very least.

12. Oussama El Bouchayby, Freshman, Angelo State (Unranked)

Who doesn’t love surprises two weeks out from the indoor national meet?

When I say jaw-dropping, I don’t mean it as a descriptor. I mean that my jaw literally dropped when I scrolled through the national leaderboard on Sunday evening and saw Oussama El Bouchayby at the top of the 800 meter list.

El Bouchayby ran to the fastest time ever run in Division Two history. It was a D2 collegiate record. And shockingly, no one is talking about it...at all.

The surprise star from Angelo State ran 1:47.11 over 800 meters this past weekend and took two-tenths of a second off of the previous D2 record set by Selasi Lumax of SNHU back in 2012. El Bouchayby is the current NCAA #1 runner over 800 meters on the national leaderboard, more than a second faster than Reece Sharman-Newell.

El Bouchayby hails from Morocco and had a previous personal best of 1:48 (800) on an outdoor track. Prior to Sunday, he hadn’t run faster than 1:50 (800) this winter.

Coming onto the scene in such a huge fashion brings its share of questions with it. How will he fare in preliminaries on the biggest stage? Does he only succeed in races that are fast? Can he run 1:48 on back-to-back days if necessary?

We’d love to place this collegiate record holder higher than TSR #12, but with so many uncertainties, he’ll remain just outside our top-10...for now.

11. Luke Julian, Rs. Senior, Colorado Mines (+1 / 12)

Luke Julian is still one of the best milers in Division Two and he now has a sub-4:00 mark to add to his extensive resume.

Julian followed up his converted 8:03 (3k) mark from the Colorado Invitational with an attempt at breaking 4:00 in Boston two weeks later. Julian was rewarded with a 3:58.62 PR and the NCAA #6 all-time spot. He currently sits at NCAA #3 on the 2023 national leaderboard.

Colorado Mines won’t have a DMR team qualify for the indoor national meet, leaving Julian free to chase a national title in the mile. He’ll also get a chance at another All-American honor in the 3000 meters at the end of the meet.

The Mines veteran is already one of the most decorated Ordiggers in school history and he has his best chance at a national title next weekend in what we consider his best event. After all these years, could 2023 be when Julian wins NCAA gold?

10. Jan Lukas Becker, Senior, Mississippi College (+1 / 11)

We had last seen Jan Lukas Becker on the final weekend of January posting an extremely impressive mark of 7:58 for 3000 meters.

Becker waited three weeks to hit the track again and didn’t disappoint when he did. At the GSC Indoor Championships, he left Alabama with two gold medals while helping Mississippi College to a 10-point team victory over Lee (Tenn.).

A week later, Becker headed back to Boston to secure a qualifying mark in the 5000 meters after running 14:00 in January. The Choctaw athlete ran 13:47 (5k) for the current NCAA #4 spot on the national leaderboard. He now pairs that time with his NCAA #7 mark in the 3000 meters, making him a prime candidate for double All-American honors.

Becker has finished as an All-American on the track just once in his Division Two career, a surprise development when you consider his lengthy resume. Luckily for him, there’s a very good chance that Becker leaves the national meet next weekend with two All-American trophies packed away.

9. Loic Scomparin, Junior, Colorado Mines (+7 / 16)

It really feels like we should be moving Loic Scomparin up higher than TSR #9, especially after considering he ran 7:51.84 (3k) for the NCAA #2 all-time mark in Division Two history...

That’s a four second personal best and simply put: We’re impressed.

Our biggest question for Scomparin right now is his racing sharpness. He’s only raced twice this season and it’ll be a full month of inactivity before he toes line againat the indoor national meet.

During the 2022 indoor track season, Scomparin raced once, running 7:55 (3k) to qualify for that year's NCAA Indoor Championships. He’d go on to finish 17th in the 3k at that meet. During the 2021 season, Scomparin raced three times (all on his home track) before the national meet. He’d go on to finish 3rd in both the 5k and the 3k that year.

We might be reading too much into this, but that’s also our job. Scomparin cracks our top-10 in our final update before the national meet and we wouldn’t be surprised if he’s inside the top-five after the national meet. But trying to gauge his history at the national meet heading into next weekend leaves us with some questions.

8. Ryan Riddle, Senior, Missouri Southern (0 / 8)

Without question, Ryan Riddle is having the best season of his indoor track career.

We saw the Missouri Southern star run 7:55 (3k) earlier in the season, but that was only the beginning for Riddle. He ran 4:01 (mile) at the Lewis Invitational and while impressive, we felt like there was still more within him.

Move to the following weekend at the 8th Annual Indoor Gorilla Classic, Riddle produced fireworks. He anchored Missouri Southern’s DMR squad to a time of 9:45.90 before coming back to the next day to run 3:59.25 (mile) to break the 4:00 barrier for the first time. That mile time is currently sitting at NCAA #4 on the national leaderboard.

Two weeks later at the MIAA Indoor Championships, we saw Riddle score two more gold medals, bringing his career total of MIAA titles to a hefty 11. He anchored the Lions’ DMR team to a blistering time 9:42.84 which sits at NCAA #6 on the national leaderboard. He also added the 3k title with a three-second victory over Reece Smith, 7:57 (3k) to 8:00 (3k), respectively.

This Missouri Southern superstar has opted to help his teammates chase a national title in then DMR and then contest the 3000 meters at the end of the meet. Riddle has proven that he’s one of the best milers in the country and he’s an anchor leg that should be feared.

There’s no doubting his foot speed at the end of a race and that could prove to be valuable in a 3k field where only two others have run a faster mile than he has this season.

7. Charlie Dannatt, Junior, Simon Fraser (0 / 7)

One of those men who have run faster than Riddle in a mile this season just so happens to be the next name on our list.

Yes, we’re talking about Charlie Dannatt.

At the same meet where Luke Julian posted the NCAA #6 all-time D2 mile mark, we saw Dannatt post the NCAA #5 all-time D2 mile mark, running 3:58.54. That’s a five second personal best for Dannatt and it surpasses what his 3:42 (1500) mark says that he could run for a mile.

So in short, Dannatt is in the best shape of his life.

10 days later at the GNAC Indoor Championships, we saw dominating performances from Dannatt. He helped Simon Fraser to a gold medal in the DMR as he anchored them to a time of 10:12 in a tactical race. He doubled back the next day in the mile, running 4:06.21 for a three-second victory.

Dannatt will be racing the mile/DMR/3k triple at the indoor national meet and we have every reason to believe he’s strong enough to do so. The mile preliminaries are historically tactical which could give Dannatt the little bit of extra rest needed for a strong anchor leg in the DMR.

Either way, it's hard to see a scenario where this Simon Fraser star doesn't leave Virginia Beach with two All-American honors.

6. Butare Rugenerwa, Senior, West Texas A&M (-1 / 5)

It feels like we do the same thing every year with Butare Rugenerwa.

We get excited about what we see during the regular season. He starts to focus on his strength towards the end of this season. We see a dip in performance and then us, here at TSR, for some reason panic. And then amidst that panic, Rugenerwa runs really well at the national meet and we eat our words.

...but NOT this year!

Yes, Rugenerwa slips one spot. No, it’s not because we’re concerned with his results. Since posting a converted 1:48 (800) mark at the New Mexico Collegiate Classic, the Buffalo half-miler has contested the mile twice (i.e. that aforementioned focus on strength) and seems to have gotten some championship racing jitters out of his system.

He ran 4:14 (mile) at the TTU Jarvis Scott Open before contesting the mile and the 800 meters at the LSC Indoor Championships. Rugenerwa won the mile in a time of 4:15 and qualified for the 800 meter final before ultimately finishing in 8th place.

Sure, that result doesn’t look great, but we’re not all that worried about how he’ll perform on the national stage. He has finished 2nd, 10th, 1st, 3rd and 10th in his last five national meet appearances -- and we’re on the side of him finishing inside the top-eight for the fourth time in his career.

5. Reece Sharman-Newell, Sophomore, CSU-Pueblo (+1 / 6)

Reece Sharman-Newell has had a quiet close to his regular season this winter, but that doesn’t stop us from moving him up a single spot in this rankings update.

At the 8th Annual Gorilla Indoor Classic, we saw CSU-Pueblo’s DMR team race to a mark of 9:51 with Sharman-Newell as the anchor. The next day, the Great Britain native ran 4:06 in the mile, showing off his improved strength.

Fast forward two weeks to the RMAC Indoor Championships and we see Sharman-Newell anchoring the Thunderwolves to a 2nd place finish with an anchor split 4:11. And just for fun, if that time were converted for Alamosa’s track and altitude, we’re looking at a time roughly around 3:57.

The next day, Sharman-Newell won the 800 meter title with ease, gapping 2nd place by two seconds before coming back and helping his 4x400 meter relay team take home gold in the event as well.

The stock for this Thunderwolf superstar continues to rise. And as he gets more comfortable racing his competition, there’s no telling what the limit is for him. We saw the same trajectory with former CSU-Pueblo star Thomas Staines. And if Sharman-Newell’s development is anywhere similar, then we are talking about one of the greatest runners in Division Two.

4. Awet Beraki, Senior, Adams State (0 / 4)

We’ve seen two races from Awet Beraki since our last rankings update and neither have given us much more to break down.

At the Boston David Hemery Valentine Invite, we saw Beraki step to the starting line for the 5000 meters. He crossed the finish line in 13:42, three seconds off of his personal best set in early December.

Beraki also contested the 3000 meters at the RMAC Indoor Championships where he finished in 6th place. It’s not his best performance, but we know that Beraki is better at the 5k/10k than he is the 3k.

He’ll have the opportunity to race for a national title in the 5k on Friday evening before turning around and racing the 3k the following evening. In theory, Beraki should fare better in the 3k after everyone has a race under their legs, allowing the Grizzly star to use his front-running tactics to his benefit.

3. Miguel Coca, Senior, Adams State (+10 / 13)

Miguel Coca is pushing to be the fastest-rising athlete in recent memory for TSR’s Division Two rankings. After running an unconverted time of 4:03 (mile) at New Mexico, we saw this Adams State distance star head to Boston to take on the 3000 meters for the first time this season.

And we certainly weren’t disappointed.

Coca ran 7:52.13 for that distance and posted the NCAA #3 all-time mark in D2 history over 3000 meters. And if you’ve made it this far, then you know that Coca somehow sits at NCAA #2 on the national leaderboard this winter for that event.

Wild.

Then, this past weekend, we saw Coca continued his meteoric rise to TSR #3.

Coca anchored Adams State’s DMR team to a converted time of 9:35.50. That’s the NCAA #1 mark on the national leaderboard by four seconds. The Grizzlies won the event from the first section (slow heat) and had room to spare.

Coca covered the final leg of the relay in 4:07.

Yes, that’s 4:07 at 7500 feet of elevation. That would convert to 3:53 if he ran it in an open race. And if that wasn’t enough, he came back the next day to win the RMAC mile title in converted time of 3:56.84, seven seconds better than the 2nd place finisher and the current NCAA #1 time this season.

We’ll get to see Coca in the mile/DMR/3k at the national meet and if there was anyone who could pull off three national titles in two days, we think Coca has the greatest shot at doing so.

2. Wes Ferguson, Junior, Nebraska-Kearney (+1 / 3)

Okay, so Wes Ferguson moving to TSR #2 was seemingly inevitable this season.

After the removal of Tanner Chada it’s pretty easy to move Ferguson right into this spot without much hesitation. The Nebraska-Kearney half-miler has been plenty active during our three week rankings hiatus and there would have been reason to argue that he was our TSR #2 runner even before learning of Chada’s removal.

At the 8th Annual Gorilla Indoor Classic, we saw Ferguson (among many others) anchor his DMR squad to a 2nd place finish and a time of 9:44.48. That’s currently NCAA #8 on the national leaderboard and we’ll see the Lopers at the national meet in the event because of it.

The next day, Ferguson would win the 800 meters with a time of 1:48.25 which stands as the NCAA #3 mark this season.

The following weekend, Ferguson ran 1:15 (!) for 600 meters and helped the Lopers run 3:16 in their 4x400 meter relay. That led to Ferguson winning the 800 meters at the MIAA Indoor Championships. He also secured an 8th place finish in the mile, but we’re not entirely focused on that result.

Ferguson has won the last two 800 meter national titles and everyone has to go through him to take the crown from him. That includes Sharman-Newell, Rugenerwa, El Bouchayby and Cardenas. But in terms of raw fitness and tactics, no one is better than this Loper superstar.

1. Dillon Powell, Sophomore, Colorado Mines (0 / 1)

Since our last update, Dillon Powell has raced just once.

In that race, he lowered his own D2 collegiate record in the 5k from 13:33.68 to 13:28.46. He now has an 11-second buffer between him and the second athlete on the 2023 national leaderboard over 5000 meters.

There’s nothing else that we can say about Powell this season. He’s an incredible talent who’s living up to his own expectations and we’re not certain anyone can knock him off when he toes the line for the 5000 meters at the indoor national meet.


ADDED

Titus Lagat (Lee (Tenn.))

Tyler Nord (Western Colorado)

Hunter Hutton (Western Oregon)

KICKED OFF

Tanner Chada (Grand Valley State)

Tanner Maier (Minnesota State)

Hunter Kurz (Mississippi College)

JUST MISSED (in no particular order)

Drew Dailey (Shippensburg)

Scott Spaanstra (Grand Valley State)

Mikah Paiz (Adams State)

Hunter Hutton (Western Oregon)

Cole Benoit (Mississippi College)

Matthew Storer (Colorado Christian)

Hudson Majeski (Colorado Christian)

Drew Weber (Western Washington)

Mitchell Dervin (Adams State)

Dylan Burrows (Oklahoma Christian)

Braxton Bruer (MSU-Moorhead)

Jared Gregoire (MSU-Moorhead)

Tanner Maier (Minnesota State)

Hunter Kurz (Mississippi College)

Cole Benoit (Mississippi College)

HONORABLE MENTIONS (in no particular order)

Jakob Rettschlag (Wingate)

Ryan Outler (Western Colorado)

Scott Spaanstra (Grand Valley State)

Kaleb Tipton (CSU-Pueblo)

Mikah Paiz (Adams State)

Jagger Zlotoff (UC-Colorado Springs)

Isaac Prather (Concord)

Reece Smith (NW Missouri)

Aaron Himes (Lee (Tenn.))

Simon Kelati (Western Colorado)

Matthew Fowler (Lee (Tenn.))

Evan Leist (Cedarville)

Joao Pereira (Charleston (WV))

Erick Ramirez (Catawba)

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