Admin (Garrett Zatlin)
Dec 2, 20183 min
We got to see some very fast times come out of the Boston for 1000 meters. UCONN sophomore Eric Van Der Els has been slowly developing over the past few years, and now he looks like someone who can compete with the best of the best. Van Der Els took the win in a time of 2:23. He was followed by teammate Peter Garmon was who was runner-up in 2:26.
In total, nine men broke the 2:30 barrier.
Oklahoma State's Noah Gade made his indoor debut and posted a solid time of 8:11 (currently an NCAA leading time). It's nothing spectacular, but it's a nice starting point for the indoor season and something he can definitely build on.
UCONN's Patrick Begley was the next collegiate to cross the line with a time of 8:13.
There was no question that this race was going to be wildly entertaining with fast times and top-tier names. Sure enough, that's what happened. After an excellent cross country season, Amon Kemboi ripped open a monster 13:33 5k performance to take the win. For the past year, we've seen Kemboi develop into an elite-level talent who is now capable of competing at the national level. With such a strong mark under his belt, him and the Campbell coaching staff can now go back to the drawing board and make any fine-tuning adjustments that they would like.
Nahom Solomon the next collegiate to cross the line with a very strong time of 13:41. This is a HUGE personal best for the Georgia Tech senior who had no eligibility for the cross country season. Clearly, waiting in the shadows and preparing for the indoor track season paid off. Solomon had only broken 14 minutes in the 5k twice prior to this weekend. It's clear that he was looking to make a statement (and he did just that).
Iona's Johannes Motschmann and UMass Lowell's Paul Hogan were also able to secure two strong times of 13:53. Those times will likely not be enough to qualify for Nationals, but it should certainly be an encouraging start to their season.
Aaron Templeton was also in the race (unattached), finishing with a time of 13:58. It's not often that we see Furman get too involved with racing during the winter track season, so don't expect the Paladins to make too many more appearances.
The Georgetown mid-distance crew went to work this past weekend. Sophomore Ruach Padhal took home the win in a strong time of 2:24. He was followed by teammates Brennan Munley (Michigan transfer) and Josh Bell in 2:25.
Between Joe White, Ruach Padhal, Rey Rivera, Kenny Rowe, Spencer Brown, freshman Ian Delgado, and now Brennen Munley, the Hoyas have seven men who have run under 1:50 for 800 meters.
Once again, Georgetown has enough weapons to earn the annual title of 800U.
After redshirting the 2018 cross country season, both Kigen Chemadi and Jacob Choge have returned to collegiate competition. The MTSU duo went 1-2 this past weekend, running 4:08 and 4:09, respectively. Teammate Lebo Mosito was 3rd, also in 4:09.
Fresh off a national title, the NAU men went to work this weekend, taking the top six spots. Day, Beamish, Ferro, Hasty, Grijalva, and Lomong finished in that order with Day taking the win in 14:02. However, none of those top six finishers had their eligibility listed, nor did they have hyperlinks to their TFRRS profiles. Although their team affiliation are still listed Northern Arizona, it's hard to say whether or not they were running unattached.
Samuel Voelz, a transfer from DePauw University, opened up his season with a 1:52 win at Notre Dame's home meet. After losing Jacob Dumford and Elijah Silva from last year, Volez will look to give the Fighting Irish some potency in their mid-distance corps.
He was followed by teammates Parker Jones and Matt Frazier who both finished with a pair of 1:53's.
After redshirting cross country, we finally got to see Dylan Jacobs. The Notre Dame freshman stud made some noise this past weekend when he threw down an 8:11 to win the 3000 meters. Teammate Matthew Carmody (also a freshman) also had a nice of race of his own, finishing as the second-best collegiate in 8:22.
It's important that we don't look to much into just one race, but this is a great start of Jacobs who could potentially scare the 8 minute barrier later this season.