TSR Collaboration
Mar 1, 202324 min
Updated: Mar 3, 2023
Written by Marissa Kuik & John Cusick, additional edits and commentary by Garrett Zatlin
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Listed eligibility takes redshirts and Covid-related extensions into consideration.
TFRRS is used as a general guide when determining eligibility.
Was not ranked in our last update.
First number indicates how much the athlete has moved in our rankings.
The second number indicates where the athlete was ranked in our last update.
It’s been a slow indoor track season for Precious Robinson. After a somewhat disappointing mile effort at the New Mexico Collegiate Classic, we ultimately had to drop her from our rankings. But as the regular season ended, she has upped her game to the level that we had come to expect from her this winter.
If our second rankings update had been just one week later, there’s good reason to believe that we may have moved Robinson up in our rankings instead of removing her altogether.
At the David Hemery Valentine Invite, we saw the Adams State star contest the 5000 meters where she posted a time of 16:23 (5k). That mark currently sits at NCAA #6 on the national leaderboard and will safely qualifies her for the indoor national meet. Then, this past weekend at the RMAC Indoor Championships, we saw Robinson contest the 3000 meters where she walked away with a bronze medal.
While her 3k time from this past weekend wasn’t better than her December 9th effort (converted 9:23) for the distance, it was nice to see Robinson back in familiar territory.
As we head into the national meet, we can confidently say that this Grizzly star is in good shape and could present a problem to the rest of the field. There are still some questions about her navigating championship weekend tactically, but with another year of experience, we feel strongly that she’ll produce better results than her 14th (5k) and 16th (3k) place national meet finishes from last year.
Courtney McAlindon has only raced once since our last rankings update and it was this past weekend at the RMAC Indoor Championships.
Her three-spot slide is largely due to the fact that McAlindon only contested the DMR and served as Westminster’s (UT) anchor leg en route to a 6th place finish.
We have seen strong results from the Griffin harrier this winter, but every time that she has raced, it has come at altitude. It’s hard to predict how she’ll perform at the national meet with those results, but we do know that before we move her into our top-20, we’ll need to see stronger results than 19th (indoor mile) and 21st (outdoor 1500 meters) on the national stage which is what she has posted in the past.
I highly recommend going back and watching the women’s mile race from the RMAC Indoor Championships this past weekend.
The last lap of that battle will give you some insight as to why Maggie McCleskey finds herself at TSR #23 in our latest rankings update.
McCleskey chased down Kate Hedlund on the final lap of the mile, splitting 32 seconds to take home the victory by less than two-tenths of a second, 5:02.69 to 5:02.88. That time converts to 4:47.08 and is NCAA #12 on the national leaderboard.
But what’s most impressive is that McCleskey backed up her mile time of 4:49.16 at the David Hemery Valentine Invite two weeks earlier. In fact, she did so in impressive fashion, taking home her first-ever RMAC title in her first attempt.
McCleskey has been trending in the right direction since the beginning of the 2022 cross country season. She’s acclimated to the training of Adams State quite well and it’s paying off immensely.
Her success could be attributed to familiar territory given that the RMAC Indoor Championships were held in Alamosa, but we are on the side of the fence that thinks this is just the beginning for McCleskey in the Division Two scene. Now the only question is how will her rookie inexperience affect her on the national stage?
If you were to ask us who had the best three weeks of anyone outside of those who broke a collegiate record, it would be hard to overlook the two races that Kira MacGill put together.
First, at the Husky Classic, we saw MacGill drop down to sea level and contest the 5000 meters -- and what a race it was. The Maverick distance talent chopped off 20 seconds from her outright personal best in the event, running 16:23 and securing a 2nd place finish within her section.
Two weeks later at the RMAC Indoor Championships, the Colorado Mesa ace toed the line against Zoe Baker and Molly Maksin. In what was arguably her biggest test of the season, MacGill passed with flying colors.
MacGill navigated a tactical 5000 meter final as perfectly as you could. With a lap to go, she made her move while Zoe Baker covered her every step. The two women split 31 seconds for the final 200 meters, but MacGill came out on top with a time of 17:41.90 to Baker’s 17:42.84.
It’s the first RMAC title of MacGill’s career, although it likely won’t be her last. But before we can think about another RMAC title, we’ll have to wait and see how she performs at the national meet in less than two weeks. It’ll be the first time that she’s qualified for a national meet on the track and with that, nerves are likely to come.
MacGill has the current NCAA #5 time on the national leaderboard in the 5k and at the very least, she’ll fight for an All-American spot in the event. It will, however, be interesting to see how the tactics of the overall 5k field at the national meet will affect her.
Lauren Kiley is the first Grand Valley State athlete who finds themselves in our third rendition of our rankings -- and you could argue that her four-spot tumble is of no fault of her own.
We’ve seen the true freshman toe the line twice since our last rankings update and she’s been quite impressive for someone so young. She raced to a 9:30 (3k) mark at the GVSU Big Meet (Friday) and a 2nd place finish behind her teammate, Natalie Graber.
Just over two weeks later, Kiley raced at the GLIAC Indoor Championships where she contested the 3000 meters and earned a silver medal in the event, running a new personal best of 9:29. That time places her at NCAA #19 on the national leaderboard and she can pair that with her NCAA #13 mark in the 5000 meters (16:41) which she ran in early December.
The still-young Laker star will contest both the 5k and 3k at the indoor national meet. And just like we mentioned for MacGill, there are plenty of questions that come with a first-time national meet qualifier.
Yes, Kiley was a sensational runner on the grass and has translated that fitness to the indoor oval with ease this well. However, the tactics and nuances of a championship setting on the track are far more different than they are on the grass.
Molly Maksin is having a tremendous indoor track season, but despite posting strong marks in the 3k and the 5k, it’s been tough to try and rank her higher than TSR #20 at the moment.
At the David Hemery Valentine Invite, we saw Maksin set an outright personal best in the 5000 meters with a time of 16:25, knocking 16 seconds off of her previous personal best that was set a year ago to the date. That time is good enough for NCAA #7 on the national leaderboard.
Maksin pairs that 5k mark with her converted 3k mark of 9:32 which sits at NCAA #20 on the national leaderboard. After declarations and selections, we see that Maksin is the final competitor accepted for the 3000 meters. She’ll join her teammate Zoe Baker in contesting both events at the indoor national meet.
This will be the first time that Maksin will toe the line for two events on the national stage and she was able to get in a practice run at the RMAC Indoor Championships this past weekend. In Alamosa, we saw Maksin finish in 7th place overall in the 5k and then 5th place overall in the 3k.
Sure, we would have liked to see a stronger weekend in terms of her placement, but that’s not terrible for someone who was racing in their second conference meet on the track for Colorado Mines.
As we head into the national meet, we feel confident that Maksin will perform well in at least one of her events. She’s been an All-American in the 5k at the 2021 NCAA Indoor Championships and she’s on track to secure her second All-American honor in the event in less than two weeks.
Not many people have raced as much as Madison Brown has these past three weeks and her three-spot improvement is a direct result of her racing seven times.
Her competition streak started on the weekend of the GVSU Big Meet where we saw Brown run 9:34 for 3000 meters on Friday. Then on Saturday, Brown returned to run 9:37 for 3000 meters and 5:04 for the mile. Those latter two performances were lackluster in comparison to what she did on Friday, but those Saturday results can be chalked up to a quick turnaround from the day before.
At the LSC Indoor Championships, Brown was called upon for three events: the DMR, the mile and the 3000 meters. At the end of the weekend, Brown had earned a win in the DMR, a 4th place finish in the 3k and a 5th place finish in the mile.
Those results, on paper, don’t look encouraging, but when you see that she lost to Florance Uwajeneza, Eleonora Curtabbi and teammate Marissa Insinna, things start to look a little better for Brown.
Brown had the opportunity to chase national qualifying times after her conference meet and that’s exactly what she opted to do. She raced the 5k and 3k at the Last Chance Indoor Qualifier at Boston University this past weekend and was rewarded for her efforts.
She set a new personal best in the 3k, running 9:24, and now sits at NCAA #8 on the national leaderboard in the event. She also raced the 5k and posted a time of 16:33 which is good enough for NCAA #11 on the national leaderboard and was nearly a 90-second improvement from her previous indoor 5k PR.
The Dallas Baptist star is racing at the highest level of her career and the end result could be a double All-American performance at the indoor national meet in under two weeks. That will obviously take a strong effort from her, but Brown is proving that she can handle a heavy workload of racing, something that we can't always say about other top-tier women.
Amanda Montplaisir has been busy over the past three weeks and despite her success, we unfortunately can’t justify moving her forward in our rankings in this update.
At the Minnesota State Massive Meet #1, Montplaisir raced in both the DMR and the 3000 meters. She helped anchor Minnesota State to a converted mark of 11:40 in the DMR which is sitting at NCAA #16 on the national leaderboard. And after declarations, the Mavericks are the final team to qualify for the event.
Montplaisir would later return and run 9:32 in the 3k, setting a personal best by nine seconds! That would ultimately earn her a converted mark of 9:27 in the 3000 meters, placing her at NCAA #14 on the national leaderboard.
Two weeks later at the NSIC Indoor Championships, it was time for us to see the true strength of Montplaisir as she continued her breakout season.
She helped the Mavericks to a 2nd place finish in the DMR and ran 16:59 for 5000 meters (setting a personal best by two seconds in the process) which earned a converted mark of 16:52. She now sits at NCAA #23 on the national leaderboard in that event.
The Minnesota State star capped off her final indoor track season with an NSIC title in the 3000 meters, taking home the victory by 12 seconds.
If Montplaisir was looking for a confidence boost, she certainly received one over the last three weeks. She’ll head into the national meet with the DMR/3k double set in her sights as she looks for her first ever All-American honor on the track.
Few women at the D2 level have the momentum that she does. And as we saw this past fall, Montplaisir is no stranger to peaking in the postseason. This time, however, we have numerous not-so-subtle signs that she's primed to do just that.
If we’re being honest, our confidence in Winona State's Kaylee Beyer was wavering after our last rankings update. But in this edition, we can’t tell you how happy we are that we left Beyer inside our top-25.
Yes, her results at the Minnesota State Massive Meets were nothing spectacular, but they were part of the build-up to the NSIC Indoor Championships this past weekend.
Beyer helped Winona State’s DMR team to a converted mark of 11:53 at the Minnesota State Massive Meet #1. She doubled back the next day at the Minnesota State Massive Meet #2, running a converted 2:10 for 800 meters while taking home the victory.
Two weeks later, at the NSIC Indoor Championships, we saw Beyer contest the mile and the 800 meters. She would finish runner-up in the mile to Cailee Peterson while running 4:46.93 and setting a new personal best by four seconds. She’d later secure the conference crown over 800 meters, running another converted 2:10 (800) mark.
Beyer currently holds the NCAA #6 mark in the mile and will be a legitimate All-American threat at the indoor national meet. She placed 6th at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in the 1500 meters and there’s very good reason to believe she can replicate that kind of result at the national meet in less than two weeks.
Prior national meet success and postseason momentum is a dangerous combination.
Helen Braybrook put to bed any concerns about her ability to race in a high-pressure situation this past weekend at the RMAC Indoor Championships.
A quick tune-up at the 8th Annual Gorilla Indoor Classic for Braybrook saw her aid the Thunderwolves’ DMR team to a mark of 11:49. She then came back the next day to contest the 800 meters and left with a 4th place finish and a time of 2:09.
At the RMAC Indoor Championships, we saw Braybrook contest the same events, as well the 1600 meter relay for CSU-Pueblo. The DMR team finished in 5th place and the 1600 meter relay team finished in 6th place.
But the biggest reason why we see Braybrook move forward three spots in our rankings is because of her 800 meter effort. The Thunderwolf ace took home the 800 meter crown by more than a second, running 2:11.43. And after the track and altitude conversions, she slides into the NCAA #3 spot on the national leaderboard with a mark 2:08.18.
That result instantly makes her an All-American candidate and maybe even a dark horse to win the national title if she continues to peak. Yes, it's true, she’s only qualified for one national meet as an individual (800 meter qualifier at the 2022 outdoor national meet) and that appearance resulted in a 10th place finish.
Still Braybrook looks like a different (and better) runner than she was in the spring.
She was part of CSU-Pueblo’s DMR team that finished 1st at the 2022 NCAA Indoor Championships and while she won’t get that opportunity again this year, she has the chance of winning an individual national title. We’d argue that the individual title means more than the relay title, but that’s not for us to answer.
We’ll find out next weekend just how good Braybrook is and her result will set our expectations for her moving forward.
Since breaking into our rankings, Cailee Peterson has set a personal best each time that she has toed the line in the mile.
At the SDSU Indoor Classic during the weekend of February 10th, Peterson ran an impressive mile time of 4:46, a one-second improvement from her last race at that distance. Then, this past weekend at the NSIC Indoor Championships, we saw Peterson contest the mile again where she came away with the win, holding off Kaylee Beyer of Winona State.
Her converted time of 4:44 moved her all the way up to NCAA #5 on the national leaderboard, easily qualifying her for the indoor national meet.
With the mile being the only race she will contest at the national meet, Peterson is slowly turning into a dark horse pick in the mile. Her experience at the Division One level has translated to the Division Two level seamlessly and she should be a feared opponent at the national meet.
After scratches on the NCAA declarations list, Peterson has moved up to NCAA #3 on the national leaderboard behind only Stephanie Cotter and Eleonora Curtabbi. She definitely has the lightest competition load out of almost anyone at the national meet listed in the mile, so be on the lookout for Peterson who, like many women, is peaking at just the right time.
Zoe Baker once again presents herself as an All-American favorite in the 5k at the indoor national meet. Stop us if you've heard that before...
At the Boston University David Hemery Valentine Invite, Baker came away with a 5k time of 16:17, only one second off of her PR that she ran at the indoor national meet last year. The Colorado Mines star then came away with two runner-up finishes in the 3k and the 5k at the RMAC Indoor Championships, helping the Orediggers to their first conference team title in school history.
Baker has always struggled to finish near the front once she reaches the national stage. And truthfully, we would have preferred to see her get at least one conference medal this past weekend.
But one thing that Baker has worked on this season is becoming more competitive for tactical affairs. She’s worked more on her turnover by exhibiting great mile speed and the RMAC Indoor Championships this past weekend were a good learning moment of how to handle those kinds of race situations.
This may be one of the most competitive years that the indoor national has ever seen in the 5k and the 3k, but Baker is due for an All-American performance...we think.
Since the last time we updated our rankings, Kylie Anicic has had a fairly quiet February, which is understandable when you see that she has already run major personal bests this season and those marks will ultimately got her into the national meet.
Luckily, Edinboro runner made up for her quiet February with a monster of a weekend at the PSAC Indoor Championships where she competed in four events -- the mile, the 3k, the 5k and the anchor leg of her DMR. Anicic would end up taking home victories in all four events, giving her a total of 12 (!) conference meet gold medals in her two years at Edinboro.
Going into this year's indoor national meet, Anicic is qualified in the 5k and she just snuck into the 3k field. Despite the heavy-duty double, Anicic has proven that she can handle any sort of volume over the course of a two-day competition.
Yes, we know that the NCAA Indoor Championships will be far more challenging than the PSAC Indoor Championships, but it's still encouraging to see her put in so much volume and still be able to win every race she contested.
Anicic currently sits at NCAA #8 on the national leaderboard in the 5k and has a legitimate shot at finishing All-American in the event. And even though she just got into the 3k, given her proven strength, she may have one of the better chances than any of the other 5k/3k doubling athletes to come away with two All-American honors.
Over the last few seasons, Kate Hedlund has slowly evolved into being one of the better middle distance athletes in Division Two right now.
Hedlund currently sits at NCAA #11 and NCAA #9 on the national leaderboard in the 800 meters and the mile, respectively. She also helped the Mountain Lions to an overall win and facility record at the 8th Annual Gorilla Indoor Classic on February 9th.
We then saw Hedlund complete a ridiculous triple at the RMAC Indoor Championships where she ran the fourth leg of her DMR on day one. The next day, she competed in the mile and a mere 45 minutes later, raced the 800 meters.
Hedlund helped the Mountain Lions to a runner-up finish in the DMR, beating Western Colorado and Westminster in the process. She also split the second-fastest 1600 meter leg on that relay, running 5:00, only two seconds slower than the fastest leg run by Brianna Robles. And remember, this was all done at altitude.
However, the UCCS ace would then finish 2nd in the mile and 5th in the 800 meters in the always-competitive RMAC. While those were fine results, they still left us wanting more.
Hedlund does drop a couple spots from our last set of rankings. On paper, her conference meet weekend could have been a bit better even if she had a big workload. But make no mistake, this Mountain Lion star is one of the most tactically sound and dynamic milers in D2.
Vanessa Aniteye currently holds the NCAA #1 spot on the national leaderboard in the 800 meters and has not had a bad race this winter.
At the Husky Classic a few weekends ago, Aniteye retook the top spot, nationally, from Taryn Chapko by running a time of 2:07, another improvement by over a second from her last half-mile effort. Then this past weekend, she ran the 800 meters at the GNAC Indoor Championships, finishing in a time of 2:08.
While that latter time may not have been another PR, Aniteye still came away with the win (which she was heavily favored for to begin with). And maybe more importantly, she's continuing to build incredible consistency. In fact, she may be the most consistent woman in these rankings/
Here's a fun fact: Since she first raced the 800 meters this season, this Seattle Pacific star has improved her half-mile seasonal best by an astounding six seconds!
Aniteye will definitely enter Virginia Beach as one of the favorites for the 800 meter national title, especially considering that she will focus solely on her individual event. The only negative for Aniteye is her lack of experience at the national level, specifically in this event.
Chapko and Braybrook will definitely be her biggest challengers and both of those women have significantly more experience navigating through brutal preliminary rounds at national meets than this SPU Falcon ace has.
However, with the amount of racing Aniteye has done, if anyone is ready to take on the challenge, it's her, and she could end her last indoor track season atop the podium.
Another RMAC Indoor Championship meet, another RMAC title for Katie Doucette who won the 3k this past weekend against the likes of Zoe Baker and Precious Robinson.
The Western Colorado ace won that title after helping her Mountaineers to a 3rd place finish in the DMR on Friday evening. And a couple weekends before that, Doucette ran an incredible 9:26 (3k) mark at the Husky Classic, placing her at NCAA #10 on the national leaderboard.
She also still sits at NCAA #11 in the mile and the Mountaineers sit at NCAA #4 in the DMR.
Doucette is right on par with where she was at this time last year when she finished runner-up in the 5k and then placed 4th in the 3k at the indoor national meet. Given her strength and proven competitiveness from last winter, this RMAC veteran has a very good chance of being. a double All-American in the DMR and the 3k next weekend.
The real question, however, is how close to the title favorites can she get?
The only question we have for Natalie Graber right now is...what can she not do?
Graber is currently ranked at NCAA #8 in the mile, NCAA #6 in the 3k, NCAA #10 in the 5k and ran the fourth leg on the Lakers’ DMR team which is currently ranked at NCAA #2 on the national leaderboard.
Recently, she raced to a time of 9:22 in the 3k at the Lakers' weekend of "Big Meets" while helping her squad run 11:18 in the DMR. She also won the 3k title at the GLIAC Indoor Championships.
Graber competes with the poise of a veteran (because she is one), meaning that she has a legitimate shot at finishing as an All-American in multiple events at the national meet in just under two weeks. In fact, multiple top-fives finishes isn't out of the question.
Between her years of experience being nationally competitive, her still-expanding range and her insane breakout year that she's having, it's hard to find a single flaw on her resume going into next weekend.
Since our last update, Taryn Chapko has really been working on her speed while also helping the Lakers in their relays.
Chapko still sits at NCAA #2 on the national leaderboard in the 800 meters and also sits at NCAA #2 in the DMR with the rest of Grand Valley State’s relay squad. Naturally, she ran the 800 meter leg for the Lakers where they posted an incredible time of 11:18 (DMR).
Then, during the GLIAC Indoor Championships, we got to see Chapko opt for some 400 meter races, working on that aforementioned speed. She ran the 400 meter leg in the DMR where the team finished in 2nd place overall and then ran in the Lakers’ 4x400 meter relay where they also finished in 2nd place overall.
However, Chapko did not entirely neglect the half-mile distance. She still contested it and won the conference title in a time of 2:08, only one second off from her seasonal best time.
With all of that said, Chapko is ready to go after the elusive 800 meter national title at the indoor national meet. Despite her eligibility, this GVSU star is a veteran at the distance. And although Vanessa Aniteye has been going on a tear with constant PRs, knowing Chapko's history on the national stage makes it hard to bet against her for NCAA gold.
Even though she does drop a couple of spots from our last rankings update, Chapko comes away from this weekend as one of the favorites to win the 800 meter national title at the national meet, if not the outright favorite.
It is hard not to talk about Klaudia O’Malley after talking about the incredible resumes of fellow teammates Taryn Chapko and Natalie Graber.
The third integral part of the Lakers’ DMR team does come from O’Malley who ran the first leg for the team that came away with an 11:18 mark, putting them way ahead of nearly everyone else in Division Two other than (eventually) Adams State.
In terms of her conference meet performance, O’Malley had a similar experience to Graber and Chapko. She won a conference title and she also worked on some turnover.
In terms of the conference title, O’Malley was victorious in the mile with a time of 4:49. She also moved down in distance and ran the 800 meter leg in the Lakers' DMR at her conference meet, working on turnover to be ready for the often-fast finishes at the indoor national meet.
But let us not forget, O’Malley is also ranked at NCAA #15 in the 3k and NCAA #7 in the mile on the national leaderboard. Given that she did opt for the mile/DMR/3k triple at last year's indoor national meet, it should come as no surprise that she will go that route again next weekend.
Ava O’Connor moves up in our rankings because of her impressive 3k performance at the Boston University David Hemery Valentine Invite where she ran a wildly impressive time of 9:18 for the distance. That mark puts her at NCAA #5 on the national leaderboard.
On top of that, she also raced on Adams State’s DMR squad at the same meet where the Grizzlies finished in a time of 11:35. Though that effort pales in comparison to Adam State’s new NCAA #1 converted time (11:15) on the national leaderboard, O’Connor easily could have run any of the legs and helped the Grizzlies to an even faster time.
Though she has not raced since the weekend of February 10th, her new 3k PR makes things that much more interesting in the event.
With times of 2:09 over 800 meters and 4:42 in the mile, O’Connor has the turnover to beat almost anyone in the 3k field if it turns tactical. Plus, with such a fast time, O’Connor has a shot at hanging with the likes of Brianna Robles, Lindsay Cunningham and Eleonora Curtabbi.
In theory, her versatility should allow her to thrive in almost any race scenario...we think.
Let's first start by saying that TSR is sorry that we had any doubts about Florance Uwajeneza. Despite us expressing some early-season concerns about this West Texas A&M star, Uwajeneza went on to have one of the best months out of almost anyone in Division Two in terms of racing.
After the past couple of weekends, Uwajeneza is safely qualified for both the 3k and the 5k and sits at NCAA #4 on the national leaderboard in both events.
So how did she get there?
First, she ran the 5k at the GVSU Big Meet (Friday), finishing in a time of 16:22. She then raced again the next day at The GVSU Big Meet (Saturday) and ran a significantly better 3k than her last outing in a time of 9:33.
After completing a very impressive double, Uwajeneza would go on and win Lone Star Conference titles in both the 3k and the 5k, besting her teammate Curtabbi in the former event.
Finally, this past weekend, Uwajeneza guaranteed her national meet qualification in the 3k by running 9:14 at the Last Chance Indoor National Qualifier at Boston University. Not only is that her new PR in the event, but it's also the NCAA #3 all-time for Division Two (for record-eligible performances).
It's safe to say that Uwajeneza is not only back, but that she is better than ever. And a "better than ever" Uwajeneza is a very scary competitor who can outrun even the most elite long distance talents.
TSR fans, I know what you are thinking.
How are we going to drop Cunningham after the last couple of weekends that she just had?
Honestly, ranking the top-four for this week was one of the hardest things that we have ever done. Any one of these four ladies could make an argument for our TSR #1 spot. You could put them in (almost) any order and have a legitimate argument for why yours is right.
With that being said, Cunningham takes TSR #4 for the time being, but it has nothing to do with her racing. First, she ran a track size converted time of 9:11 in the 3k at the Minnesota State Massive Meet #1, which currently sits at NCAA #2 on the national leaderboard.
Then, this past weekend, she contested the 5k at the NSIC Indoor Championships where she soloed an astounding 15:48 mark! That time also received a track size conversion down to an other-worldly time of 15:41. She currently sits at NCAA #1 on the national leaderboard at that distance ahead of Brianna Robles by six seconds. Her unconverted time also earned her an NCAA #2 all-time spot in the D2 5k.
The biggest downfall with Cunningham has to do with her turnover and why she does rank below the other women in the top-three. Cunningham likes to race hard from the gun and has not shown a ton of turnover. And against the best of the best, they may be good enough to hang with her aggressive pacing.
If the race were to turn tactical, Cunningham would most likely struggle the most out of these four women to come away with the national title. But that's all theoretical, making this TSR #4 ranking so heartbreaking to write.
Cunningham is still one of the strongest women in the field, physically and mentally which makes her beyond dangerous for her 5k/3k double.
Eleonora Curtabbi has been very busy as of late, competing during all three weekends since our last update. And it's those three weeks that proved to us why she deserves to move up three spots.
First, Curtabbi took over as the new NCAA #1 runner on the national leaderboard in the mile when she ran 4:40 at the GVSU Big Meet (Friday), winning the race. She followed up that performance the next day at the GVSU Big Meet (Saturday) by finishing 2nd in the 3k with a time of 9:33.
Her weekend was nothing short of fantastic.
The next weekend was the LSC Indoor Championships where she once again tackled multiple races. She was victorious in the mile, placed 2nd in the 3k and ran on the 800 meter leg of DMR squad which finished runner-up.
After being ranked so highly in multiple races, one would think that Curtabbi would settle down and gear up for the NCAA Indoor Championships. Instead, she decided to take another crack at the 3k this past weekend.
And when she did, Curtabbi came away with a time of 9:08 over 3000 meters at the Last Chance Indoor Qualifier. Oh, and she set the D2 collegiate record in the event!
Curtabbi now sits at NCAA #1 in two events on the national leaderboard and puts her name in the conversation to win one, or maybe even two, titles at the indoor national meet.
Seeing Curtabbi also take on so many events the past few weekends and still perform well is encouraging, mainly because it leads us to believe that she can thrive throughout the tricky mile/3k double at the NCAA Indoor Championships.
Breaking records was the theme for the month of February because Brianna Robles broke an NCAA record as well. At the Boston University David Hemery Valentine Invite, Robles ran a phenomenal 15:47 mark in the 5k, besting the previous D2 record by a whopping 16 seconds!
Robles continued to impress us by showing off incredible turnover for a more distance-based athlete. At the RMAC Indoor Championships, we saw Robles run the anchor leg for the Grizzlies' DMR team, easily coming away with the conference title and the NCAA #1 time of a converted 11:15 on the national leaderboard.
With Robles’ 4:58 anchor split in the DMR at her conference meet, one could argue that she has top-five range among D2 distance runners right now. Of course, that versatility will be needed, especially with Curtabbi running a new D3 record in the 3k. With that performance, Robles now has some more company to challenge her for the 3k national title if the race does become tactical.
Deciding between Robles and Curtabbi seems like an almost impossible task given their track records (no pun intended). It also depends on what you value the most in these rankings. For now, we'll give the edge to Robles, but we could be convinced otherwise.
After an incredible last few weekends, Stephanie Cotter still stays at TSR #1 because of her ability to race so well in championship settings.
Cotter chose to contest her first 3k race ever at the low-key Western Colorado Alumni Open. There, she soloed a 10:00 (3k) mark which earned an altitude conversion of 9:25. That performance puts her at NCAA #9 on the national leaderboard.
Cotter is known for only racing a few times during the regular season to secure qualifying marks before beginning her postseason peak when it matters the most, specifically at the NCAA Indoor Championships.
We should also note that this Adams State veteran split 3:31 for 1200 meters on the lead-off leg of the Grizzlies' DMR. And remember, that race was altitude, putting her on pace for a 4:42 mile at 7500+ feet…
That split is wicked fast for sea level, which means that Cotter is in the best shape of her life. Even though some of her times seem a little bit behind the other women, her DMR split and her ability to compete so well in a championship-style race gives us no reason to drop her in our rankings.
It is hard to bet against someone who has seven national titles, with four of those being of the 1500/mile variety. Now that she is on the board in the 3k, Cotter may be looking to add to her already decorated name, making her the one to watch.
Precious Robinson (Adams State)
Maggie McCleskey (Adams State)
Kira MacGill (Colorado Mesa)
Riley McGrath (UC-Colorado Springs)
Luisarys Toledo (NW Missouri)
Chrisanni May (Lincoln (MO))
Katherine Marsh (Adelphi)
Isabel Marsh (Adelphi)
Ashley Corcoran (Southern New Hampshire)
Luisarys Toledo (NW Missouri)
Aryelle Wright (Colorado Mines)
Anna Fauske (UC-Colorado Springs)
Kayce Rypma (Grand Valley State)
Emily Schoellkopf (Adams State)
Lina Hanich (Academy of Art)
Megan Roxby (Simon Fraser)
Clare Peters (Colorado Mines)
Luisarys Toledo (NW Missouri)
Alexa Keiser (Saginaw Valley State)
Leah Taylor (Western Colorado)
Marissa Insinna (Dallas Baptist)
Marian Ledesma (Western Washington)
Caroline Cunningham (NW Missouri)
Savannah Ackley (Cedarville)
Elise Leveel (Charleston (WV))
Alaysia Brooks (Ursuline (OH))
Josii Johnson (Westminster (UT)
Meg Scheske (Hillsdale)
Morgan Hykes (Adams State)
Najwa Chouati (Stanislaus State)
Allison Beasley (Western Colorado)