2021 D3 Outdoor Top 15 Rankings (Women): Update #2

NOTE: The listed eligibility for these athletes takes into account the eligibility extension granted by the NCAA to make up for the discontinued 2020 outdoor track season.

KEY

(Unranked):

Was not ranked in our last update.

(#/#):

First number indicates how much the individual has moved in the rankings.

The second number indicates where they were ranked in our last update.

15. Melissa Rowland, Junior, Tufts (Unranked)

Rowland made her season debut on May 1st after a fourteen-month hiatus from official racing. Clearly, she made the best of COVID and trained well during that time, as she ran a massive personal best of 10:48 in the steeplechase, over a minute and a half faster than what she was running in 2019.

A week later, she displayed some speed with a solid 4:41 effort for 1500 meters. Her steeple performance ranks her at NCAA #2 in the country behind only Aubrie Fisher.

The sky's the limit for Rowland who has improved immensely since coming to college. Her flat 3k seasonal best during her freshman year was 11:38 and now she is running 50 seconds faster with barriers in the way. The only question with Rowland is whether she can log that type of performance consistently, but there’s no reason to believe that she won’t.

14. Jordan Hurlbut, Senior, Rochester (Unranked)

Jordan Hurlbut finds herself at NCAA #6 on the national list for the 1500 (4:30) and NCAA #22 for the 800 (2:13), with both performances coming at the Liberty League Championships. In that 1500, she beat Parley Hannan, which is a big accomplishment in and of itself, and the 800 was on tired legs.

This is a big season for Hurlbut, as her personal bests coming into this spring were 2:19 and 4:43. Her only national experience has come in cross country, where she finished 193rd in 2018 and 84th in 2019, so it will be interesting to see how she holds her own against some athletes who are more battle tested. However, as we mentioned earlier, she won a championship against Hannan, so we know that she can at least compete with high-caliber names.

13. Fiona Smith, Freshman, St. Benedict (0 / 13)

Fiona Smith is already proving to be competitive at a national level as a true freshman. She has significantly improved on her season best in the 5000 since our last rankings, running 16:53 for the win against a very competitive field.

She has also gone down to the 1500 and has run a respectable 4:40. The fact that she remains at TSR #13 despite having a big breakthrough is a testament to the impressive performances that we have seen across the nation this year.

This is shaping up to be a pretty deep year in the 5000, as we’ve already 10 women run under 17:00 and four run under 16:40, so a national title seems unlikely for Smith. Of course, we’ve seen much stranger things happen.

12. Danielle Page, Sophomore, Tufts (-2 / 10)

Danielle Page is one of the nation’s elite when it comes to the longer events. She currently sits at NCAA #3 in the 10k (35:06) and NCAA #10 in the 5k (16:59). Those marks are the only two races this season for the Tufts star, and both were comfortable wins. Put her in a more competitive environment at Nationals and there is no reason to believe she can’t hang with the Parley Hannans and Kassie Rosenbums of the world in the 5k, the 10k, or both.

Her only national meet appearance so far came during cross country in 2019, and she finished an impressive 6th place during that day, so it’s safe to say that she will put herself in the mix when the big moments present themselves.

11. Sydney Packard, Senior, WPI (-5 / 6)

In what has been a fairly quiet season so far for New England schools, Sydney Packard takes the highest ranking of any woman in the region at TSR #11. It was difficult to know where to rank her because she has the pedigree of having run 2:06 during indoors last year. However, her times this outdoor season haven’t been quite at that level.

With that said, she is undefeated this year, and only one of her 800s has not been part of a double/triple, so it would be foolish to think that she will not be a major contender at the national meet.

Her most recent race was a breakthrough in the 1500, as she ran 4:33 and came within two seconds of her personal best, landing at NCAA #10 on the national leaderboard in a race that is not her primary event.

Even though she is only currently ranked at NCAA #15 in the 800, we believe she has begun to find her form and will be Esther Seeland’s biggest challenger in the event. We don’t see her going for the double at Nationals, but if she does run the 1500, she could also make things interesting, especially if the race is tactical.

10. Therese Olshanski, Senior, Johns Hopkins (Unranked)

A true veteran of the D3 scene, Therese Olshanski is looking to race in yet another national meet. In fact, this senior has never missed a national meet, unless it was cancelled by COVID-19.

She has made the last two 1500 finals and is looking to make it a three-peat this year. After a relatively slow start to her year, she returned to form at the Centennial Conference meet running 2:16 in the 800 and 4:29 in the 1500. She placed 2nd in both races to Johns Hopkin’s teammates, but that just shows the depth of the team.

Her 4:29 has her ranked at NCAA #5 in the country, but her past experience of navigating her way through the prelim rounds is what really makes us confident in her this spring

One last note before we move on. Surprisingly enough, Olshanski sits just outside of qualifying for the national meet in the steeplechase. In her only steeple race of her career, she ran 11:15 which is ranked at NCAAA #20. She has a 9:57 (3k) PR from indoors, so we know that she has the speed to compete in the distance. If she works on the barriers / water jumps and hops in a last chance meet, we could see Olshanski qualify for Nationals in the steeplechase this year.

9. Isabel Cardi, Senior, Dickinson (Unranked)

The senior out of Dickinson hadn’t raced in 13 months when she made her return to the track in early April. While that meet proved to be just a rust-buster (posting a mark of 9:52 for 3000 meters and a leg of the 4x800), it seems that she hasn’t missed a step.

At the Hopkins/Loyola Track & Field Invitational, Cardi set a new PR of 16:44 in the 5k. That time puts her at NCAA #5 in Division 3. She came back two weeks later to break the Centennial Conference meet record in the 5k, taking home the title with a time of 16:58.42.

She’s also been working on her speed lately and just ran a 4:32 1500 PR which sits at NCAA #9. Seeing her trend upwards in numerous events is a good sign as she hopes to better her placement from her last outdoor national meet where placed 11th in 2019, just outside of First-Team All-American honors.

8. Mackenzie Dixon, Senior, Millikin (Unranked)

Mackenzie Dixon is no stranger to the national scene, but is hoping that this postseason goes better than it has in years past. So far, things are going according to plan.

At the CCIW Championships, she walked away with a conference title after running 2:10.96 in the 800. During any normal year, that would be the class of the field. But this year, Dixon ranks at NCAA #2 behind Ester Seeland’s 2:03.

Dixon does bring some serious speed with her to the 800 as she has run 56.04 in the 400, which ranks at NCAA #5 this year. She could try for the 400/800 double or try and help her teammates qualify their 4x400 relay as they are currently the last relay team into the national meet at NCAA #14.

As a senior, she does bring with her some national experience, although it hasn’t always gone the best. She placed 12th in the 800 meters at her first outdoor national meet back in 2018. She followed that up with an 18th place at the 800 during the 2019 indoor national meet. Dixon was then disqualified in the 800 at her last national meet outdoors in 2019.

Hopefully this year she can change her luck and nab that All-American honor.

7. Anastasia Tucker, Freshman, Hope (-2 / 5)

Anastasia Tucker was one to watch after having a very good indoor season. Since then she has raced only three times, but each time has recorded a PR. At the Hillsdale Gina Relays she ran 16:37 5k to absolutely demolish her old best by over a minute. That time has her 3rd in Division 3 right now. She also has a top 8 time in the 1500 after running 4:32 at the MIAA Field Day. She has a good mix of strength and speed that will help her in a tactical race that we often see at championships. Thanks to Covid cancellations this sophomore has never been to a track national meet, so let’s see if in her rookie year she can walk away with a few All-American honors.

6. Ella Baran, Junior, Johns Hopkins (-2 / 4)

It wouldn’t be a TSR ranking without one, or more, runner from Johns Hopkins making the list. Ella Baran makes stays in our top-10 after having a great first-half of the season. She has set PRs in the 800, 1500 and 5k.

Her 5k best came at the George Mason University Spring Invitational where she ran 16:40 which puts her at NCAA #4. Her 1500 best came at the Centennial Conference meet where she broke the meet record, running 4:26. During most years, that would make her national title favorite, but this year everyone has run fast. Right now, that time puts her at NCAA #2 behind Emily Pomainville.

Baran has never made a national meet so this will be her first opportunity. Will that inexperience get in the way of a national title? Or will her upside and recent momentum have the bigger influence on how she performs? Given her results, we're willing to bet the latter.

5. Aubrie Fisher, Freshman, Wartburg (+3 / 8)

For someone who has only run two steeplechases in college, Aubrie Fisher has made the most of it. She’s gone 11:00 and 10:41 this season, the latter putting her atop of Division 3.

Fisher running fast should not come as a shock to anyone as she has been fighting for All-American honors since she got to Wartburg. Fisher has raced a variety of other distances besides the steeple this year, the 5k being her second-best event. She ran a time of 16:57 at the Meet of Champions in mid-April which puts her at NCAA #9 in the country.

Our one hang-up with Fisher is that she is inexperienced on the national level (thanks Covid) and the steeplechase is an especially unpredictable event where anyone could take a fall at any time. The more practice one has with the water pit is key. Hopefully she gets to race it another time to gain some more experience before the semis at Nationals.

4. Kassie Rosenbum, Loras (-1 / 3)

Kassie Rosenbum is the reigning 10k champion from 2019 and is looking to keep that title later this month. She ran a stunning 34:19 (10k) at Drake Relays where she was competitive with numerous D1 and D2 athletes. That time was also a 75-second PR.

That, however, wasn’t her only PR this season. Rosenbum has also PR’d in 800, 1500 and 5k. Her 5k PR of 16:45 has her ranked at NCAA #6 right now behind some pretty heavy-hitters like Emily Pomainville and Parley Hannan. This Loras star has the best chance to win a national title in the 10k as she sits only seven seconds behind Parley Hannan.

We could see her going all-in on that event with hopes of bringing back another national title to Loras.

3. Emily Pomainville, Junior, SUNY Geneseo (+11 / 15)

Emily Pomainville has had a monster last four weeks to move her way up on this list.

Four weeks ago, she ran a 4:22 (1500) PR which places her at NCAA #1 and NCAA #9 All-Time in Division 3.

Three weeks ago, she ran a 56.85 400 which ranks her at NCAA #19.

Two weeks ago, she ran a 16:29 for 5000 meters which currently sits at NCAA #2.

And finally, last week, she ran a time of 2:11 for 800 meters as well as a mark of 4:33 for 1500 meters to win two SUNYAC titles. That 800 time has her at NCAA #3 on the national leaderboard.

It will be interesting what events she chooses to contest at Nationals. SUNY Geneseo currently has the NCAA #1 4x400 team and Pomainville is a huge asset to that relay. We could see her facing Esther Seeland in the 800, 1500 and 4x400 and battling for a national title in all three events.

2. Parley Hannan, Ithaca (-1 / 1)

It’s hard to imagine that running the NCAA #6 All-Time performance in the 5k and knocking on the door of an All-Time performance in the 10k would not land you at the top of this list, but this season has been insane.

Parley Hannan finds herself at TSR #2 in our rankings after running a 16:17 (5k) at the Cortaca Dual Meet. That time is close to her PR of 16:05 which she ran during indoors last year. Hannan also has been strong in the 10k, running 34:12 at the RIT Friday Meet #2. That is three seconds away from getting on the All-Time top-10 list for Division 3.

Hannan leads the nation in the 5k and the 10k and is ranked at NCAA #4 in the 1500. Her 4:25 effort shows us that she has some nice speed which she can utilize at the end of a long race. This could bode well for Hannan if she wants to do the 5k/10k double at Nationals.

1. Esther Seeland, Sophomore Messiah (+1 / 2)

It was an unanimous decision to put Esther Seeland atop of our rankings. She has returned to the form that led her to an 800 national title in 2019. Her most impressive result by far has to be her 800 at the Virginia Grand Prix where she ran 2:03.05. That is the NCAA #3 All-Time performance in D3 for the event. We haven’t seen this type of dominance since Emily Richards, currently of HOKA ONE ONE, ran for Ohio Northern.

Seeland currently leads the division by over seven seconds! The D3 800 record is 2:00.62 by Emily Richards and that will be hard to beat, but Seeland can move ahead of Christy Cazzola for the All-Time NCAA #2 spot if she runs faster than 2:02.95.

However, let’s not focus on just the 800. Seeland also leads the country in the 400 after running a 55.30 at the DeSales University Invitational. And in the 1500, she sits at NCAA #3 with a 4:27. She has the speed to hang with anyone at the end of a race.

Seeland could be walking away with two or three national titles by the time the season is over.