West Coast Relays Preview

Written by Maura Beattie & Sam Ivanecky

One of the nation's biggest and best college meets is taking place in Fresno, California where many of the NCAA's most elite west coast distance talents will toe the line in an effort to post some of the country's top marks. Below, we break down all of the key entries and attempt to analyze what certain results could mean for certain athletes.

Let's unfold everything...

BYU highlights this women's 800 meter field based on how many entrants they have, but none of them are necessarily the favorites to take home the individual win. The Cougars do have four women at 2:04 or better in this field, and all of them could challenge for the victory, but Colorado’s Sage Hurta has the fastest seed time with a mark of 2:00.62.

Hurta just raced at the USATF Grand Prix in the 1500 meters, posting an NCAA-leading time of 4:08. Her mix of endurance and speed could bode well for her in this race and with the way she’s been running as of late, it's fair to ask...could Hurta go sub-2:00 this weekend?

BYU’s Claire Seymour, Lauren Ellsworth and Anna Camp-Bennett will surely make Hurta work for the win. Seymour, the 5th place finisher in the 800 meters at the NCAA Indoor Championships, owns a PR of 2:02 and just ran a solid 55 seconds in the 400 meters. Working alongside teammates like Ellsworth, another 2:02 runner, and Camp-Bennett, a 2:03 runner, could help these three enter the upper-echelon of an elite women's 800 field.

Seymour has proven herself on the indoor oval that she can hold her own against top-tier competition and seems to thrive in aggressively-paced fields. If that holds true, then Seymour may be able to replicate her 2:02 personal best...or maybe even improve upon it.

Teammate Camp-Bennett has similar skills as Hurta as she is strong over the middle distances, but can put up top marks in the longer events as well. That aerobic strength should allow Camp-Bennett to stick with a fast, aggressive pace if it gets to that point.

Boise State’s Kristie Schoffield matches her competitors' personal bests with a 2:02 mark of her own. The Bronco senior was an All-American in the 800 meters back in 2019, but she has been notably absent from the top of the leaderboard since then. After a modest 2:07 opener at the Oregon Relays, this weekend's West Coast Relays will give Schoffield a much needed opportunity to go under 2:05.

When she's at her best, she's a top-tier talent, but the women's 800 meters is beyond deep this year and Shoffield will need to capitalize on this chance to reignite her momentum and head into the postseason on a high note.

Now, yes, Hurta and the BYU Cougars are the favorite in the field, but Washington’s Carley Thomas will be making her return to racing after working her way back from an injury that she sustained from this past summer. She is entered in the non-invitational section of the women's 800 meters.

Thomas turned heads during the 2020 indoor track season as a freshman when she ran 2:02. At the UW vs WSU Dual, Thomas recorded a DNF in the 800 meters (maybe she was pacing), but that simple DNF gave us hope that she could begin racing soon and this seems to be the moment that we were waiting for.

Trying to come back from a broken femur requires extensive rehab, so the idea that she's even entered in this field is incredible. Do we expect her to be at her absolute best? Maybe not, but we'll definitely be interested to see how she rebounds.

BYU's Conner Mantz is entered to compete in the 1500 meters this weekend rather than his typical 5k or 10k event selection. Seeing the NCAA cross country champion drop way down in distance is pretty surprising, especially since this isn't an event that he will pursue in the postseason. He has a current PR of 3:45 for this distance, but will his endurance and grinding from the gun race tactics help him in this deep field?

The Cougars are also expected to field Lucas Bons and Casey Clinger, two guys who just ran the mile at altitude, earning converted marks of 3:36 and 3:37 (respectively) for 1500 meters. We'll also get to see teammate and 3:39 ace Talem Franco toe the line. Could one of these guys be taking on pacing duties to help Mantz break 3:40? Or will they be after the win?

It's admittedly a bit surprising to see all of these BYU men going after the 1500 meters, especially since Bons, Clinger and Franco just ran super fast times last weekend and because Mantz will surely not pursue this race in the postseason. Admittedly, these entries have left us scratching our heads a bit.

Washington’s Sam Tanner and Mick Stanovsek are the two super talented men to watch at the front of this race. Tanner is the NCAA indoor 1500 meter record holder with his 3:34 and Stanovsek is an accomplished talent himself based on his 3:39 (1500) and 3:57 (mile) personal bests.

Tanner is the projected favorite and it's nice to know that he just ran 1:48 for 800 meters. He'll be out for revenge in this race after failing to make the finals at the NCAA Indoor Championships in the mile. He'll surely want to take down Bons this weekend, the guy who barely edged Tanner for the final spot to the finals at the indoor national meet.

Stanovsek is an underrated name who is probably one of the most experienced mile/1500 runners in the country. He has sneaky-good 1:48 speed and will surely have an idea of how this race will unfold, especially with teammate Sam Tanner at the front of this field. Keep an eye out for the Washington veteran.

Northern Arizona’s freshman stud Nico Young is coming off of a massive 13:24 (5k) effort at the Drake Relays and will be looking to improve upon his solid, but modest time of 3:44 from the Jim Click Shootout a few weeks back. Young has the talent to go sub-3:40 if he is in the right position, but it's clear that he is more of an endurance-based runner. This kind of field will surely lead him to a fast mark, but this will be another important race to watch for the superstar freshman when it comes to his middle distance speed.

Other men who will be looking to break 3:40 this weekend will include Cruz Culpepper (Washington), Colton Johnson and Paul Ryan (Washington State) and Eduardo Herrera (Colorado). Johnson and Ryan have been rising talents as of late in a range of distances and Herrera has plenty of momentum after winning two races so far this season, including a 5k victory over Conner Mantz.

The women’s 1500 features a deep field with personal bests clustered in the 4:15 to 4:20 range. While those are solid marks, it’s going to take a big performance to be considered a contender in a year where Sage Hurta has already run 4:08.

BYU is bringing a host of women to this meet, including cross country stars Anna Camp-Bennett and Whittni Orton, as well as indoor sensations Olivia Hoj, Lauren Ellsworth, Heather Hanson and Kate Hunter. Despite the Cougars' depth, all eyes will be focused on Orton in this race after she opened her spring season with a very clutch 15:42 win in the 5000 meters.

Coming off of an injury from cross country and not competing on the indoor track, Orton will look to reclaim her spot atop the NCAA and this weekend should be a good stepping stone towards doing so. When healthy, she is arguably the most overwhelmingly strong distance runners in the entire country, not counting Athing Mu.

With additional time to regain her strength and refine her speed, what can we expect from Orton in this 1500 meter race? How close to top form will she be in? Those are the major questions that we have for her going into this weekend.

The trio from Colorado will also be looking to mix it up with the Cougars. Rachel McArthur and Michaela Degenero have had strong starts to their first outdoor track seasons as Buffaloes and have both run 4:16 this season. Teammate Madison Boreman is also coming off of an OTQ mark in the steeplechase, clocking 9:48 at the Oregon Relays.

Although Boreman is likely using this as a tune-up race given her focus in the steeplechase, McArthur and Degenero could be aiming for 1500 births at the NCAA Championships. McArthur has a very good balance of speed and endurance while Degenero seems to be capitalizing on her cross country fitness.

Freshman sensation Katelyn Tuohy (NC State) will be racing for the third time this season after running 4:16 in her first go and then 15:47 in the 5000 meters a few weeks later. She ran 4:14 while in high school, so the idea that she could match that mark and earn a new personal best could end up being a massive boost of confident that she can return to that dominant phase of her high school career.

Meanwhile, collegiate veterans Carina Viljoen (Arkansas) and Petronela Simuic (Toledo) are two others who could challenge for the win this weekend. They have a ton of experience racing against top-tier competition and are typically prepared for most high-level race situations. Neither woman has really blown us away as of late, but they certainly have the potential do that this weekend.

Can BYU continue to dominate the steeplechase this year like they have pretty much every other year? To answer that question, Clayson Shumway, Matt Owens and Garrett Marsing will need to run to their full potentials this weekend against the rising talents like Julius Diehr (Washington) and Colton Johnson (Washington State).

Shumway and Owens have competed at the NCAA Outdoor Championships, finishing 10th and 8th, respectively, in 2019. Shumway has already gone 8:47 this season, nine seconds off of his PR, but had a solid start to his season in which he beat Iowa State standout David Too (who just ran 8:40 last weekend). Owens, on the other hand, only ran 8:59, well off of his 8:32 PR, and will need a big performance this weekend to ensure that he will qualify for the West Regional Championships.

These two are experienced veterans who are major All-Americans contenders when they're at their best. Shumway and Owens are likely the favorites to take home the win this weekend based on past performances, but they aren't exactly untouchable, especially with someone like Colton Johnsen in this field.

Marsing opened up his 2021 outdoor season with an 8:50 mark at the Hayward Premiere meet, which happened to be a four-second PR. He benefits from getting to train with some of the best steeplechasers in the NCAA and has the opportunity to add to BYU’s recent steeple legacy. The Cougars' long-standing history of success seems to be materializing in Marsing, so we would expect a potential improvement upon his overall personal bests this weekend.

We then come to Washington State’s Colton Johnson who has a lot of momentum heading into this weekend and he could shock a few names. After running remarkable times of 3:57 (mile), 7:53 (3k) and 13:43 (5k) during the indoor track season, Johnson immediately dropped a 14 second PR in the steeplechase, taking down conference rival Julis Dieher with a big time of 8:43. He finished three seconds ahead of Diehr, who just so happened to match his 8:46 PR.

Both Johnson and Diehr are on the right track (pun intended) to post big times after their strong starts. Johnson has all of the momentum in the world right now while Diehr is a veteran who is plenty familiar with navigating these high-level fields. We'll see which of those aspects proves to be the bigger difference maker this weekend.

On paper, Hannah Steelman of NC State is the favorite to win the women's steeplechase, and rightfully so given her 9:46 personal best. However, an upset is in play and we could see an intense battle for 2nd place.

Steelman’s career has really taken off since transferring from Wofford to NC State at the beginning of the 2020-2021 academic year. A few weeks ago, she ran a solo 9:46 at Duke in the steeplechase, winning by 47 seconds. A week later, she ran a 15:30 (5k) personal best, again winning by a large margin. Can she continue her winning streak this weekend?

Some may say “yes”, but BYU’s Courtney Wayment could have different plans. The indoor 3k champion will be racing the steeplechase for the first time since the 2017 season. She has a current best of 10:04, but after running 4:30 (mile), 8:54 (3k) this past winter, there’s no doubt Wayment could dip well under 10:00. How far under 10 minutes? Well, that's the ultimate question and the answer will determine how much she can really challenge Steelman.

In the end, Steelman has the experience and a recent steak of great performances that has been matched by very few women in the NCAA. That said, no one (other than maybe Athing Mu) was better in the distance events this past winter than Wayment. On paper, this could be the best matchup of any distance race that we've seen all season long.

It will also be interesting to see how Washington’s Katie Rainsberger fares in this field. Even though she has a PR of 10:00 from her debut, she hasn’t run the steeplechase in a field that will be as fast or as crowded as this one. If Rainsberger can manage the barriers and water jumps even with traffic, then we could see her be in the conversation for an All-American honor later this season. If she can run that fast in her first-ever steeple, then we'll be excited to see how much better she has gotten in her second go at the event.

Elise Thorner (New Mexico) and Gracie Hyde (Arkansas) are two additional names to watch at the West Coast Relays. Thorner just ran 9:52 at the Drake Relays, a 55-second improvement from her first steeplechase back in 2019. Hyde, like Thorner, has gone sub-10, running 9:57 a few weeks ago. That was also a big PR for Hyde and sets her up nicely for the remainder of the season.

Mahala Norris is once again expected to make her debut in the steeplechase after not contesting the event at the Stanford Invitational earlier this April. Norris has been putting an emphasis on the 1500 the last few meets and has recorded a personal best of 4:15 just last weekend at Drake. The Air Force distance ace is a strong competitor and could contend for a sub-10 result if she wills herself to go with the leaders. Few women had a better postseason than her this past winter, so we'll be interested to see how she handles a fairly new event.

Unlike the men’s 10k, which will be contested at the crack of dawn, the men’s invitational 5k will be at 10:40pm PST. Under the lights, we could see some big performances and the NCAA leaderboard could potentially see a fairly sizable shake up.

Northern Arizona's Luis Grijalva leads the field with his jaw-dropping 13:16 personal best from the Sound Running Track Meet back in December. He recently ran a very solid time of 3:39 for 1500 meters 1500 at the Jim Click Shootout a few weeks ago, a promising precursor for what could come this weekend. On paper, he should be the relatively clear favorite, especially with his middle distance speed looking fairly refined.

Last weekend, Grijalva's Northern Arizona teammates threw down at the Drake Relays in the 5000 meters, with three men running 13:31 or faster. Will Grijalva be in the same shape as (or better shape than) Nico Young and Abdihamid Nur? Those two just ran 13:24 and 13:26 and although Grijalva has proven that he can run that fast, seeing him doing it again will be no easy task.

Washington's Andrew Jordan and Colorado's John Dressel are the next two men up behind the Lumberjack ace. Jordan’s 13:33 PR came from the indoor national meet earlier this year and he has already run 13:46 this outdoor season. Dressel, another stellar 5k runner, ran his 13:36 PR a few weeks ago at the Hayward Premiere meet.

Both of these men have major experience racing at (or near) the front of high-level fields such as this and that could play in their favors this weekend. Dressel has dealt with injuries throughout his career, but if a 13:36 personal best is what we saw from him after his extended hiatus, then we'll be eager to see what happens when he's chasing Grijalva after an additional month of training.

Washington's Issac Green and Luke Houser, as well as Stanford's DJ Principe could find themselves in the mix of things based on their personal bests. Green and Houser both own PRs of 13:47, but they haven’t been very close to matching those times based on their performances at the Raleigh Relays.

Principe has the most momentum out of these three after he ran 13:49 at the Stanford Invitational. The Cardinal sophomore has a great core group of training partners to push him and when he’s in a fast race, Principe seems to hold his own and finish with a new PR. His cross country performances this past winter were very encouraging and it was likely the most consistent he's ever been over the entirety of the season. Right now, we expect that consistency to translate this weekend.

Two 10k guys stepping down in distance this weekend are Washington's Tibebu Proctor and Utah State's Luke Beattie. At the Stanford Invitational, Proctor and Beattie went 28:31 and 28:33, respectively. Both of these men have current personal bests of 14:00 in the 5k, but after seeing those results from their 10k, Tibebu and Beattie are definitely capable of sub-14:00, especially in a field as fast and as top-heavy as this one.

The women’s 5k field can be split into essentially two groups: Those who have recently put together some promising performances and those who have a handful of questions marks surrounding them.

The first group features names such as Ella Donaghu (Stanford), Aiobhe Richardson (San Francisco) and Poppy Tank (Utah) -- women who have put down top times that will not only get them to the NCAA Championships, but also make them key contenders.

On the other hand, there are a lot of women who will be looking to prove something on Friday. Lauren Gregory had a strong finish to her indoor season, but is only now making her outdoor debut after a supposedly coming back from a minor injury. Similarly, Maria Mettler was phenomenal during December, but was also sidelined until now. Both women should be contenders for the win this weekend if they are in top form, but that's also not at all a guarantee given their recent absences.

Then we have other women who have run recently, just not at the standards that we've previously set for them. Allie Schadler was on fire during indoors and cross country, but has been lackluster in her only outdoor race thus far. Katie Izzo has one of the highest ceilings in this group, but hasn’t been able to put it all together in 2021. Dominique Clairmonte and Haley Herberg were excellent in cross country, but haven't been at their best since then.

Between just Schadler, Izzo, Clairmonte and Herberg, this group of four has an unreal amount of talent and firepower. However, this will be a key opportunity for them to bounce back, especially as we near the postseason.

This field has 20 women who have run under 16 minutes, plus Elise Thorner who made her NCAA track debut with a 9:52 steeple at the Drake Relays. Considering the NCAA implications on the line, as well as potential Olympic Trials qualifying marks (the standard is 15:20) up for grabs, this could be a VERY fast race with some very aggressive pacing.

Due to heat concerns in Fresno, California, the men’s 10k has been rescheduled for 7:30am PST. It will be interesting to see if this schedule switch affects any of the competitors as they may not be used to running that hard that early in the morning.

This race is shaping up to be a battle between NAU and BYU and we will also see a head-to-head challenge between the Garnica brothers.

The headline names entered for Northern Arizona include Abdihamid Nur, Blaise Ferro, Ryan Raff and Nico Young. Young is the surprise entry here as Coach Mike Smith has alluded that he wasn’t going to race the freshman in the 10k due to his age, so this very well could be Young pacing his teammates.

If Young does intend on finishing the race, then he shouldn’t have any problem catapulting to the top of the leaderboards given his recent 13:24 (5k) and 4th place finish at the NCAA XC Championships, which happens to be a 10k.

As for the other three Lumberjacks, all of these men have experience racing a 10k on the track. Nur’s 28:12 from December’s Sound Running Track Meet stands out amongst his teammates, as well as the field, as he leads the next-best individual by 10 seconds. Nur, like Young, is coming off of a strong 13:26 (5k) at the Drake Relays and has potential to compete for the win. Who knows? If the race works out right, Nur may be able to dip under 28 minutes.

And if Young and Nur’s strong results weren’t enough, Ferro also ran a great 5k last weekend, finishing with a time of 13:31 at the Drake Relays where he crossed the line as the third collegiate. With a personal best of 28:22 in this event, a clear up-tick in fitness, and an extended period of time where he's finally healthy, this could end up being Ferro's best performance of his entire career.

Raff, the final notable Lumberjack, has a modest 29:27 (10k) PR and will be racing in his first outdoor track meet of the season after a disappointing finish at the cross country national meet. The junior may not have one of the top times in the field, but when working alongside his teammates and looking to take down BYU Cougars, things could turn out well for Raff.

It’s weird not seeing BYU’s Conner Mantz or Casey Clinger debut in the 10k this weekend given that neither of them have regional qualifying times yet, but Brandon Garnica and Michael Ottesen will still look to challenge Northern Arizona.

Garnica has the best chance of taking down the Lumberjacks in his track 10k debut given that he has run 13:26 in the 5000 meters and has run under 13:30 more than once this year. The Cougar distance ace has been slowly gaining momentum and that was on full display during the winter of 2020 and during the last few months.

Although he faltered at the cross country national meet and failed to finish due to heat exhaustion, he seems to be picking up right where he left off. He is coming into the West Coast Relays after running a converted 3:43 in the 1500 meters. On paper, he could take home the win, but we're not sure if he's favorite.

Ottesen joins Garnica this weekend and will be racing in his second 10k of the season after running 28:55 at the Hayward Premiere. He is safely sitting in qualifying position for the West Regional Championships, but will most likely be searching for a faster time given the talent he will be up against.

As mentioned above, this race will also feature a family duel between Brandon Garnica and Caleb Garnica of Utah State. With Brandon running his first 10k and Caleb running his second, experience could become a factor in this race. Caleb ran 29:06 at the Stanford Invitational at the beginning of April in a race that saw plenty of fast times. He also earned All-American status with a 28th place finish at the NCAA XC Championships. Caleb has been on fire as of late and has just as much momentum as his brother.
 

So, right now, Caleb has the upper-hand on Brandon given recent results, but Brandon still has the faster 5k best by over a minute. On paper, Brandon has more raw firepower.

But races aren’t run on paper, so which twin will come out on top?

Just like the men’s race, the women’s 10k has been pushed up to early in the morning, 8:00am PST to be exact.

The women’s 10k isn’t as deep as some of the other events, but that doesn’t mean it won’t be just as exciting. The NAU duo of Jeralyn Poe and Jessa Hanson lead the field with their respective 32:38 and 32:47 personal bests.

Poe has been racing more frequently than Hanson, as she has multiple 1500 meter results and a recent 5k PR under her belt heading into her first 10k of the 2021 outdoor season. Hanson, on the other hand, has only contested the 5k once this season, but she picked up a PR in the process.

Poe just ran 15:49 a few weeks ago, a 17-second PR, in the 5k and appears to be right in line with her 32:28 (10k) personal best from the December Sound Running Track Meet. In the same race as Poe at the Virginia Challenge, Hanson recorded a strong time of 16:06, but has the talent to finish within an arm's length of her teammate this weekend.

Poe and Hanson may be the favorites to go 1-2, but the two ladies behind them, Utah’s Poppy Tank and San Francisco’s McKenzie Yanek, will not make things easy. Tank, a strong 5k runner, will look to lower her 34:08 (10k) PR and it’s likely that she will after recording a 15:45 5k at the Hayward Premiere at the beginning of the month. The Utah Ute has been on a roll this calendar year, highlighted by a strong cross country season that ended with an All-American honor. She continues to post top finish after top finish, but doesn't always get the recognition for what she has accomplished so far this season.

Yanek, a transfer from Alabama, has a current 10k best of 33:58, but appears to be on the rise after a respectable cross country season. The junior held her own at the NCAA XC Championships, finishing 78th overall in her first appearance. She has most likely benefited from training alongside Aoibhe Richardson.

Her recent 5k at Bryan Clay isn’t indicative of her true capabilities, so this weekend will be a chance for Yanek to prove that she belongs on the starting line at the West Regional Championships come late May...and maybe even the NCAA Championships.