TSR Collaboration
Mar 2, 202312 min
Written by Kevin Fischer & Brett Haffner
Additional edits and commentary by John Cusick & Garrett Zatlin
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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.
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.
As good as he’s been over the years, it’s a little surprising that the two-time cross country All-American in Andrew Mah has never competed at a national meet on the track.
That will absolutely change this year.
The MIT veteran has shown flashes of brilliance in the past, but now it looks like he is truly fulfilling his star potential. After running 14:10 over 5000 meters to get into the “Honorable Mention” section of our previous rankings, he has put together two great 3k races, most recently going 8:09 at the Boston University Last Chance Meet.
After years of being a really solid D3 runner, Mah has finally taken the next step into the elite category, and it will be fun to watch him compete on the national stage in a couple of weeks.
Carter Oberfoell hasn’t improved upon his season-opening converted mark of 1:50.40 (800) from December...but he is getting closer.
The Loras middle distance talent most recently finished 4th in the 800 meters in a tight (and incredibly deep) American Rivers Conference race where all three of the guys ahead of him finished in the top-10 at last year’s outdoor national meet.
In other words, Oberfoell is still knocking on the door of where he wants to be. He can still compete with some of the best in the nation, but in a week and a half, he'll need to be on the more favorable side of the scenario he saw himself in this past weekend.
As the indoor national meet nears, Oberfoell is still a favorite to make the 800 meter final despite the drop he has seen in our rankings and the national leaderboard.
Since our last update, Spencer Moon has run 14:07 over 5000 meters and won both the 5k and the 3k at the ARC Indoor Championships in convincing fashion two weeks later.
The Simpson ace is sitting at NCAA #8 in the 5k and NCAA #11 in the 3k right now, but certainly has the potential to place higher than that in both events, nationally. It looks like he should have no problem doubling back, either.
The ARC follows a similar schedule to the indoor national meet. And this past weekend, Moon managed to pull away from a very competitive field, including our TSR #10 runner, Christopher Collet.
Moon may have dropped a couple of spots, but we are still very high on him as a competitor.
Jamie Moreland hasn’t done anything flashy since his 4:03 mile effort that vaulted him into the top-10 of our rankings, but he did record an 800 meter win at the Centennial Conference Indoor Championships with a converted mark of 1:52.21.
He also was tasked with anchoring Haverford’s DMR where they posted a converted 9:52 result which qualifies them as the last team into the national meet.
Even though he had a tough day at the Millrose Games in the mile, we still think that Moreland is in a good spot to be an All-American favorite at the indoor national meet. Since he already ran a mark in January that would get him safely into the national meet, it’s no surprise to see him work on some turnover as he tunes up for the postseason.
Moreland was a 1500 meter All-American last spring as well, so there aren’t really too many doubts about his competitive capabilities at this point. Still, the last few weeks have been a bit underwhelming and very quiet. As a result, he drops quite a bit in our top-20.
The UAA Indoor Championships men’s 800 meter final was an absolute barnburner. The top-seven finishers put down seasonal best marks and five of them currently sit in the top-20 of the national leaderboard for that distance.
Even with almost the whole field having big days in the final, Alex Ivanov still managed to stand out. He ran faster on a flat track than he ran at Boston University two weeks ago. Plus, his time of 1:51.40 converts to under 1:49.83 which is NCAA #4 on the national leaderboard.
Now, he didn’t come completely out of nowhere as he was a qualifier for the outdoor national meet last spring. Of course, he finished 17th on that stage.
We are looking at a guy who has steadily improved and is now at a point where he is ready to not only improve upon last year's learning moment. But now, Ivanov can seemingly be competitive with almost everybody in the country.
Sikorski has had a really nice last few weeks, going 4:04 in the mile at the Millrose Games and then winning both the mile and the 800 meters at the Liberty League Indoor Championships.
His wins looked really convincing in both events, dropping our TSR #12 runner, Matthew Lecky, in the latter-half of the mile and then winning the 800 meter title by almost a full two seconds.
The Rochester veteran is among the elite of Division Three in both the mile and the 800 meters. It is absolutely conceivable that he could do the daunting double in a week and a half and come away with All-American honors in both events.
We knew what Travis Martin had the potential to do.
He was a 3:47 (1500) guy who went up to the 3000 meters earlier in the season and performed really well. So a big mile PR at the David Hemery Valentine Invite was certainly in the realm of possibilities.
But going out and executing is a different matter. And Martin not only executed, he put together a near-perfect race to run 4:03 (mile), good enough for NCAA #3 on the national leaderboard.
Yes, his last weekend of racing was a little underwhelming as he only ran 4:13 (mile) and 1:55 (800) at the New England DIII Championships. But one tough day isn’t too much of a concern given that he just ran 4:03 two weeks ago!
Martin is one of the nation’s best milers and his thrilling dynamism will perfectly complement the electric nature of this mile race at the indoor national meet, shortly.
Ryan Kredell has not raced since our last update.
From his exploits in the mile in 2022, we knew that Matthew Lecky could rip a fast mile in 2023. Sure enough, he took advantage of the opportunity, running 4:03.77 at the David Hemery Valentine Invite.
The established RPI talent sits at NCAA #6 which is crazy to think about with a time of that caliber. You'd think he'd be in the top-three at the least. Even so, that effort still makes Lecky a strong All-American contender in the event.
Lecky also sits at NCAA #6 in the 3k which puts him in that “sneaky” position of not being one of the favorites, but somebody who we’d call a dark horse.
It was a little concerning to see him not win any titles at the Liberty League Indoor Championships, but Lecky is a really strong national meet performer, so we aren’t too worried with just one “off" performance.
After his astounding 14:01 (5k) race back in January, there was a question about whether we could see Kearney replicate that caliber of a mark in an event like the 3k.
Ultimately, after a swing and a miss at the David Hemery Valentine Invite, Kearney took another shot at the 3k at the Boston University Last Chance Invite, redeeming himself with a brilliant 8:04 mark, putting him at NCAA #5.
With those two events carrying him to national meet qualification, Kearney’s case to bring home at least one All-American honor from the indoor national meet is looking very strong. And two top-eight finishes? It doesn't seem improbable, at all.
Prior to this edition of rankings, we really hadn’t seen much for Christopher Collet from this indoor track season which was a little surprising.
Since then, he’s been on fire, producing three straight meets of great results. He split 4:06 on the anchor leg of Wartburg’s DMR, coming back the next day to run a converted 8:08 in the 3k and a converted 4:03 mile at the ARC Indoor Championships.
These confidence-building results give Collet the flexibility to run multiple events at the indoor national meet. It wouldn’t shock me to see him run the mile, 3k and even the DMR, considering Wartburg has a strong relay and can contend with the rest of Division Three.
Tor Hotung-Davidsen has been one of the better 800 meter runners in Division Three for a while now. That's why it was nice to see his 1:49.17 half-mile performance at the David Hemery Valentine Invite back up his underappreciated resume, putting him at NCAA #3.
With a week to pursue a DMR national meet qualification with his Lynchburg teammates, we’ll have to wait and see if Hotung-Davidsen may have the opportunity to double at the indoor national meet. The Hornets currently sit at NCAA #14 (excluding Washington U.’s “B” team) and will have to improve their 9:53 seasonal best by a few seconds to secure qualification.
Otherwise, Hotung-Davidsen will likely be less raced than people like Ryan Wilson or Mike Jasa who are likely to triple at the indoor national meet. That additional rest could play into the Lynchburg star’s hands as he may only need to navigate one preliminary race before the final in the 800 meters.
Keep an eye out on this guy as he may be flying under the radar heading into the indoor national meet. He is one of the more complete 800 meter talents in the nation.
There’s no bigger wildcard on our list than Bennett Booth-Genthe.
It’s no surprise that this Sagehen star was capable of running 4:01 in the mile, something he did at the David Hemery Valentine Invite the other. It’s also no surprise that he split 1:49.01 on the 800 meter leg of the DMR.
However, last year’s outdoor national meet sits heavily in our minds as Booth-Genthe was the top seed in the 1500 meters heading into that weekend. Of course, as we all know, he didn’t make it out of the preliminary rounds.
If Booth-Genthe can replicate the quality of performances that we’ve seen from him in the 2022 regular season, as well as the ones mentioned above, then we could see some really big things from this guy a week and a half from now.
These “things” could include giving anyone in the mile a run for their money, or even assuring the Sagehens on the DMR that they can hang with Mike Jasa and the Duhawks.
The sky’s the limit for Booth-Genthe,
Sam Acquaviva continues to answer our questions and clamp our doubts about his abilities on the track as he’s run 13:57 in the 5k and 4:10 in the mile since our last update.
Considering that he’s qualified for the NCAA Indoor Championships in the 5k, the 3k and ran the anchor leg on MIT’s DMR (which ran 9:44), might we see him triple at the indoor national meet?
Although he’s never run at a national meet on the track, Acquaviva has been extremely clutch on the grass at the NCAA XC Championships, performing at the highest levels when it matters most.
It would not be surprising to see those clutch abilities translate to the track in less than two weeks when he toes the line in Birmingham, Alabama.
We’ve known how aerobically strong Ethan Gregg has been, but his 13:52 mark in the 5k was the end result of a monstrous jump in fitness over the 2023 indoor track season.
It’s also hard to put into words how impressive this result was.
Gregg’s split of 4:06 (mile) on the Eagles’ 9:54 DMR was also a big plus as he was able to compete with tried-and-true milers like Steven Potter and Christopher Collet. It was also an encouraging display of turnover
The UW-La Crosse star clearly has the strength and aerobic ability to hang with a hot pace. But can he kick down a field when he needs to? If he’s got the courage to make a move from a long distance out, then Gregg could find himself as a prime contender to take down the title favorites in either the 3k or the 5k.
Of course, he's not far off from being one of those title favorites, himself.
Mike Jasa’s consistency in winning races this season is getting pretty common at this point as he contributed to ARC Indoor Championship victories in the 4x800 meter relay, the DMR and the open 800 meters.
We’ll likely see him in the 800 meters and the DMR at the indoor national meet as he’s got a good shot to win the national title in either event.
With Ryan Wilson’s major resurgence in the 800 meters, Jasa’s national title chances in that event will hinge on whether Wilson declares for the event or not. A grudge match between Jasa and Wilson in the national meet final would be electric as they are two very different types of runners.
Regardless of who he faces, Jasa is still a top contender in the 800 meters to bring home the national title.
On the surface, Elias Lindgren running 14:04 over 5000 meters was a very solid performance, but it just wasn’t as impressive as Alex Phillip, Sam Acquaviva, Ethan Gregg and Christian Patzka who posted sub-14:00 marks which were all run on the same day.
However, we actually learned from looking at Lindgren’s splits that he was actually on a sub-13:50 (5k) pace with 200 meters to go. But then he ran out of gas over the final lap as he ultimately ran 45 seconds over the last 200 meters.
It’s clear that Lindgren is extremely fit and capable of a huge performance in the near future. But this isn’t the first time that we’ve seen him struggle to an extreme degree in the final stages of a big race.
If he’s feeling good in the final lap or two of either the 3k or the 5k, then Lindgren is a dangerous threat that can strike at a moment’s notice. He likes to take races by the horns and make people hurt and he’ll need to do that to win a national title this season.
The last few weeks have been quite eventful for Christian Patzka as he set a Division Three collegiate record in the 5000 meters, running 13:49.02, only for Alex Phillip to run faster later that same day.
If you look at the national leaderboard, even though he doesn’t have the collegiate record, you’ll see Patzka slotted at NCAA #1 since he ran his mark on a 200 meter flat track. That converts his performance to an unbelievable time of 13:40.26.
It might be an ironic twist of fate, but that conversion ultimately shows us that Patzka’s race was just as, if not even more impressive, than Phillip’s 13:44 collegiate record. Earning two WIAC titles in the DMR and the 3000 meters adds to Patzka's storied resume which will get a huge opportunity to be boosted at the upcoming indoor national meet.
Patzka certainly bodes one of the biggest threats to Alex Phillip in his quest to repeat his national victories from last winter. The battles between these two men will be quite exciting to follow.
Well, it’s finally happened.
After nearly an entire year of being ranked at TSR #1, Alex Phillip has been dethroned in the midst of an absolutely incredible season.
In what world does running 4:04 in the mile, 7:53 in the 3k, 13:44 in the 5k and holding TWO Division Three collegiate records to his name not put Phillip in the top spot? That’s how incredible Division Three is at this moment, with the bar being raised by incredulous amounts every week.
Winning three more OAC titles was just another step of the process for Phillip’s magical season as he aims to repeat his national title efforts in the 3k and the 5k.
No one has produced mind-blowing, earth-shattering results at the Division Three level quite like Ryan Wilson has this winter. He's not just the best D3 distance runner in the NCAA right now, he's legitimately in the conversation to be the best in Division Two as well.
The rise of Ryan Wilson slowly began in 2022 with national title wins in the 800 meters during the indoor and outdoor track seasons, both of which were viewed as upset wins. Then, he finished in 5th place at the 2022 NCAA XC Championships, a result that was yet another shock to our system.
And to cap things off, two weeks ago he set a Division Three collegiate record in the mile, running 3:55.29 while closing his final 400 meters in 56 seconds!
Clearly, that extraordinary performance wasn't enough for the MIT star as he then did the unthinkable -- running 1:46.61 in the 800 meters, effectively obliterating the Division Three collegiate record by nearly a second.
Ryan Wilson is the best middle distance athlete in Division Three history.
There is no doubt about that.
But the question now remains…what does he run at the indoor national meet? The 800 meters? The mile? The DMR? The 3k?
Whatever events he enters, it will be very difficult to bet against him in nearly any scenario. His closing speed, aerobic ability and general prowess go above and beyond. So much so that he is simply unmatched in Division Three.
Bennett Booth-Genthe (Pomona-Pitzer)
Travis Martin (Trinity (Ct.))
Scott Sikorski (Rochester)
Alex Ivanov (Carnegie Mellon)
Andrew Mah (MIT)
Steven Potter (UW-Oshkosh)
Ryan Harvey (Loras)
Garrett Lenners (Nebraska Wesleyan)
Isaac Wegner (UW-La Crosse)
Wyatt Kelly (Loras)
Wyatt Kelly (Loras)
Steven Potter (UW-Oshkosh)
Ryan Harvey (Loras)
Garrett Lenners (Nebraska Wesleyan)
Isaac Wegner (UW-La Crosse)
Andrew McGovern (Carnegie Mellon)
Ezra Ruggles (SUNY Geneseo)
Cal Yackin (Otterbein)
Max Svienty (North Central)
Simon Heys (Wilmington)