Where Will Sophia Gorriaran Land?

Sophia Gorriaran is an elite and versatile high school superstar who is currently listed at TSR #1 recruit in our top-50 recruit rankings. With personal bests of 54.10 (400), 2:00.58 (800), 4:37 (mile), 9:48 (3k) and 17:20 (5k XC), the Rhode Island native provides immense value for whichever NCAA program that is able to sign her.

Earlier this week, MileSplit recruiting correspondent Tim Casey published an article on Gorriaran. In the article, Casey notes that Gorriaran, who is also a star-caliber lacrosse player, will likely be focusing on only track in college.

Gorriaran has made it clear that she has not yet decided where she'll be attending school next year. However, she did tell MileSplit that she is looking at (in no particular order) schools such as Texas, Virginia, Texas A&M, Harvard and Penn.

It is unclear if any other programs have/could come into play.

Runner's World also reported in August of 2021 that Gorriaran had toured North Carolina and Duke, in addition to the University of Virginia, before going into her junior year of high school.

So where will this dynamic track talent end up? How could she impact certain teams? Which programs would theoretically be the best fit for this high school senior?

Below, we highlighted the five most recent colleges that Gorriaran is considering and evaluated what a commitment to one of those schools could look like...

It's simple: If you are an 800 meter superstar recruit at the high school level, then you're likely going to consider Texas A&M at some point or another.

The Aggies are one of the most dominant middle distance programs in the NCAA. They have been responsible for developing countless all-time greats in the half-mile such as Sammy Watson, Athing Mu and Jazmine Fray. That list of accomplished stars becomes even longer when you add in the men.

Armed with a personal best of 2:00.58 for 800 meters, as well as an appearance at the 2021 US Olympic Trials, Gorriaran seems like an absolutely perfect fit for this juggernaut program.

But to be clear, Texas A&M has done more than just consistently land elite-caliber recruits at this distance. They're also responsible for helping nearly every high school 800 meter megastar set collegiate records and/or win national titles.

If there is any program in the NCAA capable of preparing Gorriaran for national and world championship stages, then it's the Aggies.

However, the somewhat recent departure of Athing Mu, who opted to turn pro in the summer of 2021, has left the Aggies void of any nationally-known names in the middle distance events (and the longer distances, for that matter).

Yes, it's true, former UNLV star Avi' Tal Wilson-Perteete did run 2:02 for Texas A&M last year as a graduate transfer, but she did not qualify for the NCA Indoor Championships and then failed to advance out of the prelims at the outdoor national meet.

And with Wilson-Perteete either out of or on the verge of expiring her remaining eligibility, the Aggies are almost certainly thinking about their future, a future that hopefully involves Gorriaran.

But the value that Gorriaran brings to Texas A&M extends far beyond the simple symbiosis of the 800 meter prowess that both parties boast. The Rhode Island native brings top-tier 400 meter speed to a program that thrives in that event. She also offers legitimate talent in distances longer than 800 meters, something that isn't exactly plentiful on the Aggies' current roster.

With a 17:20 (5k) personal best -- which was run at the 2020 RunningLane XC National Championships (where she placed 7th) and a Rhode Island cross country state title -- the scoring potency that Gorriaran could bring to College Station over 6000 meters on the grass could be monumental.

The Texas A&M women were viewed by many as a possible contender to earn an automatic qualifying bid out of the admittedly weak South Central region this past fall. However, the Aggies ultimately faded to 4th place overall and are now in a position where many of their veteran runners will be out of eligibility.

The South Central region is highly limited on long distance depth and the Texas women have not looked quite as strong as they have in years past. There may still be a future avenue for Texas A&M to snag an automatic qualifying spot to the NCAA XC Championships, especially if Gorriaran is able to translate her cross country success to the collegiate realm.

Oh, and don't forget that Gorriaran has a 4:37 mile PR. Could she team up with the other highly talented middle distance women on this roster and put together a nationally competitive DMR squad? That's not an unrealistic scenario.

Everything that we just said about Texas A&M, generally speaking, could also apply to the Texas Longhorns as far as Sophia Gorriaran's recruitment is concerned.

The women from Austin, Texas aren't necessarily the same Earth-shaking force in the 800 meters that Texas A&M has historically been, but their middle distance success is still among the best in the NCAA.

In fact, during the 2022 indoor track season, the Longhorns had two women qualify for the NCAA Indoor Championships in the 800 meters, Valery Tobias and Brooke Jaworski. Those two women have secured personal bests of 2:02 and 2:03, respectively, and Tobias was a two-time All-American in the event last winter and spring.

There have also been a handful of other top-tier half-mile talents to come out of this middle distance program over the last decade including national qualifiers Gabby Crank, Katie Hoaldridge, Kendra Chambers and Mary Beth Hamilton.

Of course, this Texas track and field squad is under a completely different coaching staff nowadays and the times that once got some of those women to the national stage five to ten years ago likely wouldn't be enough in today's competitive landscape, at least not with their times.

Even so, there is a long history -- and more importantly, a recent history -- of upper-echelon success in the 800 meters at Texas. And when you consider that the Longhorns are one of the best overall track and field programs in the NCAA, recently finishing runner-up at the outdoor national meet last spring in the team standings, it would be hard for a talent like Gorriaran to ignore that.

It's very clear that Gorriaran's skillset would pair fairly well with the Longhorns. However, the identity that this Rhode Island native could give to Texas' middle and long distance groups would be unbelievably valuable.

Despite qualifying for the cross country national meet this past fall, the Longhorns recorded a concerning total of 983 points in their season finale, placing them in last by 269 points.

And while Gorriaran would only be able to offer so much scoring on the grass, her presence alone would likely be able to fend off any other South Central regional rivals looking to knock off the Texas women.

Not only that, but the addition of a truly elite high school star could potentially attract other top talents -- maybe more so in the mile than the 3k or 5k -- to venture to Texas. And even if that doesn't happen, then Gorriaran would still be able an incredibly dangerous Swiss Army Knife of sorts across all three seasons of competition.

If Gorriaran never races further than the mile during her time in the NCAA, then that would still be a welcomed boost to a distance squad that hasn't had much of a national presence above 800 meters as of late.

Historically, the Virginia women haven't had a ton of middle distance success. Their current indoor 800 meter school record sits at 2:05 while their former outdoor 800 meter school record sat at 2:04 until the spring of 2021 when Michaela Meyer ran 2:00.28.

But what this team was in the past doesn't necessarily dictate what they are now and what they will be in the future.

The introduction of Vin Lananna as the Cavaliers' newest head coach in 2019 has led to incredibly promising results ever since, oftentimes in the middle distance events such as the 800 meters and the mile.

The aforementioned Michaela Meyer joined the UVA women as a graduate transfer directly after COVID-cancelled seasons and had massive success. Mia Barnett, a current sophomore on the team, was beyond fantastic as a rookie, running 4:33 in the mile at last year's NCAA Indoor Championships.

And who can forget what happened just last month? At the NCAA XC Championships, the Virginia women stunned the country by placing 9th overall despite their top-four scorers consisting of only sophomores.

But all of this rising success has stemmed from the incredible recruiting efforts of Lananna and his coaching staff. Many of the nation's best high school talents are now opting to join the UVA women as of late and that couldn't be more evident than with the Class of 2023.

Not only that, but former D3 superstar Esther Seeland, who ran 2:02 for 800 meters during her time at Messiah, joined the Cavaliers earlier this summer as a graduate transfer. She will be a key name to watch on the indoor oval over the next few months.

The reason why I mention all of this is because the University of Virginia is slowly evolving into a powerhouse. They're not there yet, and they may not be there for a few more years, but the possibility is certainly there. And in our opinion, the middle distance events may become a big factor why this team will have national-caliber success in the future.

There is a legitimate argument to be had that the Cavaliers' 800 meter and mile groups may be in a better long-term situation than both Texas A&M and Texas.

The mile is admittedly not a point of emphasis for either of those Lone Star schools, but it's not exactly crazy to suggest that Virginia may have better depth in the half-mile over the next few years, especially if they earn a commitment from Gorriaran.

Just like the middle distances on the track, Gorriaran would also be walking into an absolutely perfect cross country situation in Charlottesville, Virginia. This is still a very young team and many of UVA's best scorers on the grass have at least two years of eligibility remaining.

When you factor in the potential for strategic redshirts for certain names over the next year or two, we could see a collegiately-developed Sophia Gorriaran toeing the line for a cross country squad that will be aiming for the podium in 2024 and maybe even 2025.

We'll be honest, Harvard wasn't one of the first schools that came to our minds when we thought about potential landing places for Sophia Gorriaran.

The Crimson have a respectable (and recent) history of developing upper-echelon milers, but their 800 meter history isn't super extensive, at least not during this millennium. And frankly, Harvard just isn't the same established track and field powerhouse that some of these other schools are.

But when you dig into Gorriaran's background, the idea of her landing in Cambridge, Massachusetts becomes a bit more plausible.

For starters, we're talking about a Rhode Island native. None of the schools that have been listed in this article are closer to Gorriaran's home town than Harvard. In fact, it's actually less than a one hour drive between the two towns!

If proximity to home becomes an increasingly more important factor for Gorriaran to consider, then the Crimson women would have to be viewed as a serious contenders to land this middle distance phenom.

But Harvard's status as a contender to land Gorriaran isn't based on just geographic location. We should also look closer at her family's background; her brother attends Boston University where he runs track and her sister plays lacrosse at Penn.

Oh, and her father ran track at Brown University.

Those are all highly-ranked academic institutions (the latter two being in the Ivy League) and they are all northeast-based schools. If Gorriaran's immediate family is any indication about where her collegiate preferences may lie, then Harvard has to feel like they are very much in the mix.

And for anyone wondering, a piece by The Providence Journal from this past summer noted that Gorriaran holds a weighted 3.89 GPA -- academic rigor that is likely on par with the expectations of an Ivy League program.

But what about Harvard's actual team? What about the running aspects? How could Gorriaran fit in with the Crimson across all three seasons?

Like we mentioned earlier, Harvard's 800 meter prowess hasn't exactly blown away their NCAA competition over the last 30 years. The second-fastest half-mile time in Harvard's school record books sits at 2:04 for both the indoor (2014) and outdoor (2013) track seasons.

Those marks wouldn't have been fast enough to qualify for either the 2022 NCAA Indoor Championships or the 2022 NCAA Outdoor Championships (but only barely).

Meredith Rainey, a Class of 1990 Harvard graduate, holds both school records at 1:59.

But when you look at the success that the Crimson women have had in the mile, especially as of late, it's hard to deny that Coach Alex Gibby has a knack for producing nationally competitive distance talents.

Anna Juul, who is now a graduate student at Michigan, was a 2020 indoor national meet qualifier before the championships were cancelled due to COVID. She ran 4:36 during her time with Harvard.

Abbe Goldstein, who is now a graduate student at New Mexico, was also was a 2020 indoor national meet qualifier. She ran 4:35 for the Crimson when she was still in the Ivy League.

Maia Ramsden, a current runner for Harvard and a rising star, has run 4:36 in the mile. However, she is likely due for a larger personal best this winter based on her 4:12 PR in the 1500 meters from last spring and her 11th place finish at the 2022 NCAA XC Championships. She also recorded a new personal best of 8:54 for 3000 meters that she ran two weeks ago.

With a 4:37 mile PR, Gorriaran would perfectly fit into the mile-centric roster that Coach Gibby has crafted, either intentionally or unintentionally, over the last few years. And although the emphasis for this Rhode Island star is likely going to be on the 800 meters at the collegiate level, her talent in the mile will simply be too valuable not to utilize.

We should also note that the Harvard women have a very young cross country team. The Crimson won the 2022 Ivy League cross country team title this past fall and were 4th at the Northeast Regional XC Championships, at times looking like a potential national qualifying contender.

With everyone in that varsity lineup set to return next fall, and six of those seven returnees still holding at least two years of eligibility, Gorriaran would be joining a roster that is structured almost identically to Virginia's (just not quite as good). Could she be the missing piece who puts this cross country squad on the national stage?

This portion of our analysis is going to be a bit shorter than the other programs that we have highlighted. That, however, is only because many of the reasons for Sophia Gorriaran to choose Harvard also apply to Penn.

Gorriaran's family has a history of attending elite academic institutions in the northeast, Philadelphia would be fairly close to home compared to a few of these other schools and her sister currently plays lacrosse for the Quakers.

Admittedly, the last few years have been fairly uneventful for the Penn women, at least on the track. But in fairness to the Quakers, part of that is simply because the Ivy League enforced longer-lasting restrictions on competition during COVID while the rest of the NCAA returned to racing a bit earlier.

Even so, the last few seasons have left us wanting a bit more from the Quakers across a variety of disciplines. Adding Sophia Gorriaran to their roster would give this team a legitimate identity and star power that can potentially match Harvard's Maia Ramsden.

It also wouldn't hurt to pair Gorriaran with Maeve Stiles, a highly promising second-year talent who finished 60th at the 2022 NCAA XC Championships in her first collegiate cross country season.

But maybe more importantly, Penn is also the former home to Nia Akins, a current professional runner for Brooks.

Akins was a national-caliber superstar during her time with the Quakers. The former Penn star ran 2:00.71 for 800 meters on the indoor oval during her collegiate days. And at the time, that mark was only 0.02 seconds off from the indoor collegiate record.

On paper, Gorriaran mirrors the resume that Akins was able to build during her time in Philadelphia. Both women are very clearly middle distance-oriented athletes, but they have also shown promise in a handful of other areas such as cross country.

Remember, this is a team that finished 3rd at the Mid-Atlantic Regional XC Championships this past fall. And although they were well off from the second (and final) automatic national qualifying spot, we should note that this group returns everyone from that regional meet lineup!

Not only that, but five of those seven women from the Mid-Atlantic regional meet were considered to be underclassmen this past fall. Just like Virginia and Harvard, the future looks bright for the Penn women, especially if they can add a girl who finished 7th at the 2020 RunningLane XC National Championships.