TSR Collaboration
Apr 4, 202311 min
Written by Hannah Thorn & Kevin Fischer
Additional edits and commentary by John Cusick & 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.
NOTE: Because we are in a new season, we are treating this week's rankings update as a new series of top-20 names. Therefore, we are not indicating any movement from our winter lists.
The 10,000 meters at the Washington U. Distance Carnival had possibly the most loaded D3 field of any distance race so far this season -- and it more than delivered as the top-five finishers all ran between 35:08 and 35:21.
Katarina Birimac was the best of a great group in the tight contest, taking the 10k win in a mark of 35:08 which currently has her sitting at NCAA #3 on the national leaderboard.
After the big jump that she made in the 5000 meters this past indoor track season, Birimac is showing that her fitness can translate quite well to the 10k. It's clear that the U. of Chicago runner gets better as the distance rises, making us wonder what her ceiling is this spring...
Morgan Lee has yet to race this outdoor track season.
Evelyn Battleson-Gunkel opened up her outdoor track season with a 16:48 mark over 5000 meters at the Washington U. Distance Carnival to finish 5th overall and emerge as the second-best D3 talent in the field.
Before that race, her official 5k PR was 18:51. Based on her mile and 3k marks from her 2023 indoor track campaign, we already knew that her fitness level was not even in the same stratosphere as it was last year.
So despite the two-minute improvement, it somehow isn’t that shocking.
Regardless, it’s a huge performance early in the season from somebody who we saw as more of a miler this past winter. That improved versatility, or at the very least, the ability to be competitive in longer events, is a very promising development.
Ellie Rising followed up her gutsy performance at the indoor national meet with a great start to her outdoor track campaign. She started with the 400 meters and ran an impressive time of 59.31 seconds. She then comfortably won the Westmont Classic in Santa Barbara with a highly encouraging mark of 2:11 for 800 meters.
The George Fox standout hasn’t lost any momentum from the winter months and there’s no reason to believe that she won’t be able to finish as a top All-American at the national level yet again. And if Rising is able to post these kinds of results in late March / early April, then what can she do come the month of May?
Gillian Roeder had a solid outdoor track season debut at the Texas Relays, running 4:36 over 1500 meters. That time puts her in a good spot for this early in the season, but we know that based on her indoor mile PR of 4:52, she should be able to run significantly faster by May.
There’s nothing wrong with not having a breakthrough race in the first couple of weekends of competition. This is still a great starting point to the season for Roeder and her performance shows us that she is still comfortably among the All-American favorites as long as she builds from here.
Plus, given her quietly solid success on the grass this past fall, we would be interested to see how she fares when moving up to the 3000 meter steeplechase and/or the 5k. A decent performance at that distance could boost her stock a bit.
Maddie Hannan has yet to race this outdoor track season.
Rachel Hirschkind wasn’t facing off against anybody at her level in the steeplechase this past Sunday, but that didn’t stop her from laying down a huge mark in the event!
Despite being solo from the gun, the SUNY Geneseo veteran managed to run 10:39 over the barriers and water pits, just shy of her 10:36 steeple PR from last year’s outdoor national meet.
This New York-based distance talent has reminded us as we transition to the outdoor track season that she is one of the best in the country over barriers. And when you pair her consistency with a clear trajectory to run a big PR later in the year, we would monitor Hirschkind very closely this spring.
Sara Stephenson is looking to grab her first All-American honor in the steeplechase this year. She finished in 9th place last spring at the outdoor national meet in that event, narrowly missing the top-eight.
We know that Stephenson is on a different level of fitness this year, so that momentum should translate to her being a stronger contender on the national stage, right? That assumption looks good so far.
Stephenson ran her first steeple race of the year at the Colonial Relays where she posted a time of 10:37, improving upon her previous personal best by 14 seconds. This was a huge step forward for Stephenson as she has now entered the conversation as a legitimate All-American candidate.
Hope Murphy has decided to focus on sprint races so far this spring season as it looks like she is working on that finishing speed for the end of her races.
At the Bob Kahn Invitational, she ran 27.03 seconds for 200 meters and 60.85 seconds for 400 meters. We're not sprint experts, but those look like fairly fast times for someone who is a middle distance runner.
As someone who runs the 800 meters, the 1500 meters, the 3000 meters and the 5000 meters, Murphy boasts some of the best range in all of Division Three. While the half-mile distance is her sweet spot, it will be interesting to see which event(s) she will attack and experiment with throughout the spring months.
Lexi Brown opened up her season with a strong showing at the Washington U. Distance Carnival, posting a 1500 meter mark of 4:35. Yes, it's true, she wasn’t able to stick with our TSR #5 runner Aoife Dunne, but she still held on for 2nd place which is also where she sits on the national leaderboard.
This rising Wartburg star has established herself as a force to be reckoned with this year. Brown's combination of long distance strength and 800 meter speed will be dangerous when we get to the postseason, especially if she continues to build on her breakout year.
Ana Tucker went up against some great competition at the Raleigh Relays and benefited from having a really fast field. The Hope College veteran ran 34:24 in the 10,000 meters which betters her previous best of 35:19 that she ran at Raleigh Relays this time last year.
If it weren’t for Kassie Parker breaking the D3 record last weekend, then Tucker would have the fastest 10k time in D3. Instead, she sits just one spot below the top, but more than 30 seconds faster than the third-best time on the national leaderboard.
Tucker has some of the most impressive range in D3 right now when you consider that she can also run a 4:47 mile time. That kind of ability will pay off if a future 10k race comes down to a tightly-contested battle over the last few laps.
Emily Konkus didn’t have the best season opener, but we didn’t want to penalize her too much for one modest (but still decent) performance on the first day of April.
At the Washington U. Distance Carnival, Konkus ran 16:51 for 5000 meters. This was only good enough for 8th place in the race and the sixth-best D3 runner in that field.
Now, in fairness, Konkus hasn’t raced the 5k very much in her college career and this was actually a five-second improvement from her previous best. But when you look at what she did this past winter, we thought she would run a good bit faster.
It will be interesting to see if this Washington U. veteran will stick to the 5k or move down to the 1500 meters like we saw her do last spring. The metric mile seems like the right call, but it also feels like there is so much more room for growth in the 5k.
Regardless of her choice, Konkus will be a strong pick to finish inside the top-eight on the national stage in whatever event she chooses.
After a tough indoor national meet, Clara Mayfield will aim to rebound this spring -- something that she has already begun to do.
The Carleton ace opened her season at the Bob Larsen Distance Carnival in California where she had a great day, running 16:30 over 5000 meters for the win. That time was a three-second personal best, bettering her former time which she ran at the Drake Relays last year.
It’s encouraging to see that Mayfield is more fit than she was last year, especially because it’s an incredibly tough 5k field that she will have to face this year on the national stage...but that's something that we already knew. This is a good first step, but Mayfield will need to continue to improve if she wants to take aim at the national title.
After finishing as a two-time runner-up at the national meet from this past indoor track season, Maddie Kelly will be looking to turn one of those silvers into gold come May.
She has taken the first step by opening her outdoor track campaign with many of the midwest women at the Washington U. Distance Carnival. There, Kelly opted for the 5000 meters to debut and finished in 4th place overall, running a very respectable time of 16:44.
This was a step up in distance for Kelly as she normally raced the 3000 meters or shorter this past winter. That's why it was so impressive to see her extend her range with essentially zero issues, bettering her old 5k personal best of 17:29.
That kind of improvement is a testament to the calendar year of racing that Kelly has put together. If she continues to improve and race like this, then this versatile distance weapon will easily become a favorite for a top-eight spot as a worst case scenario.
The steeplechase queen, Aubrie Fisher, is back to her main event, showing off her fitness in her signature event. The 2021 national champion and 2022 national meet runner-up is looking to return to the top of the podium in this event.
Fisher took a big step forward this past weekend at the Washington U. Distance Carnival. There, she opened up her season in the steeplechase where she placed 2nd overall in 10:35.41. That was good enough to take the top spot on the D3 national leaderboard, although she was well shy of her PR of 10:20.94.
But for a steeple rust-buster, that was still pretty darn good. With a few more races, we could see Fisher better her personal best of 10:20 as she looks to reclaim the national title that was once hers.
After a great 800 meter run at the indoor national meet this past winter, Aoife Dunne stepped up in distance for her season debut.
Dunne ran the 1500 meters on her home track at the Washington U. Distance Carnival. Her 4:29.48 mark was the class of the field and is currently the class of D3 so far. It’s also worth noting that her time was an eight-second improvement upon her previous 1500 meter personal best.
This step up in distance to the 1500 meters could be a good move from Dunne as she could theoretically be an outside national title contender in this event depending on how the race unfolds. She did, after all, show tons of promise in the mile this past winter.
If she’s able to compete like this at the national meet, then Dunne's ability to kick down her opponents would give her the upper-hand in a tactical format.
The 2023 indoor mile champion, Annika Urban decided to open up her outdoor track season with an 800 meter race at the Emory Thrill In The Hills meet where she ran 2:10.15 for the win.
The junior has never run an open 800 meter race in college, so this was a step outside of her comfort zone. But Urban was simply working on her speed to complement her 1500 meter and long distance prowess -- and so far, it's working. Her 2:10 (800) mark is currently sitting at NCAA #2 on the D3 national leaderboard.
We already know how incredibly talented Urban is. She did, after all, run 4:43 in the mile just a few weeks ago to win NCAA gold. Now we have to see how much further she can extend this fitness over 1500 meters this spring.
The reigning indoor 800 meter champion stuck to her main event when opening up her outdoor track season this past weekend. At the Washington U. Distance Carnival, Kelley ran 2:06.72 for 800 meters to blast the rest of the field by six seconds.
And to be clear, her competition wasn’t made up of chumps, either. This field had national qualifiers in it such as Cyna Madigan, Alessia Sarussi, Libby Geisness and Delaney Sall.
But that didn't stop Kelley from running away from everyone.
Kelley’s time was only a tenth of a second shy of her personal best. If she can get into a faster field, then we could see her chop that 800 meter time south of 2:05. If she does that, then she will cement herself in a rarified air for Division Three.
Only four women have ever gone sub-2:05 for the half-mile distance -- and Kelley could make it five by the end of this season.
Fiona Smith opened up her season at the Wartburg Outdoor Select meet this weekend.
There, she ran the 5000 meters in a blistering time of 16:26 and finished only behind D2 superstar, Lindsay Cunningham. This is a solid start for Smith as it is faster than what she ran during the entire indoor track season.
That 5k time is also only 10 seconds off of Smith’s PR and it currently sits at NCAA #1 on the D3 national leaderboard. However, Smith will probably need to run a little faster if she wants to keep that spot.
The Saint Benedict star had a clear path to double NCAA gold this past winter, but Kassie Parker is back in Division Three and as we all know, she isn’t an easy competitor to beat. If Smith wants to defend her 5k title from the indoor track season, then she will have to start chipping that time down little by little.
She’s backkkkkkkk.
The best runner Division Three has ever seen is gracing us with one last season with her presence. We got a break from this Loras juggernaught during the winter months, but Kassie Parker wanted to ensure that we remember the name.
So what did she do? Well, Parker decided to open up her season in the 10,000 meters at the Stanford Invitational. And once there, she ran a time of 32:36 for the 10k to place 8th overall among multiple top-level D1 and D2 runners.
Not only did she smash her own D3 10k record, but she also became the first D3 woman to go under 33 minutes. Her previous best and the previous record was 33:03.
She won’t need to run another 10k until the national meet, so it will be interesting to see if Parkers sticks with multiple 5000 meter races, dabbles in a 1500 meter race or two, or races for a big-time 10k at a place like the Drake Relays.
Whatever she runs, the rest of the field will be fighting for 2nd place and you can’t convince us otherwise at the moment.
Caroline McMartin (Central College)
Sydney Packard (WPI)
Molly Fitzgibbons (Williams)
Ellie Meyer (Wartburg)
Genna Girard (Williams)
Anna Kenig-Zeisler (U. of Chicago)
Windsor Ardner (SUNY Geneseo)
Ella Behrens (Washington U.)
Ella Ball (Williams)
Hannah Neilon (Tufts)