2022 D1 Indoor Top 25 Rankings (Men): Update #2

Click here to see our Just Missed and Honorable Mention names.

Listed eligibility takes redshirts and Covid-related extensions into consideration.

TFRRS is used as a general guide when determining eligibility.

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.

25. Yusuf Bizimana, Freshman, Texas (-3 / 22)

Bizimana hasn't exactly stood out in a major way over the last few weeks, but he hasn't been bad, either. He currently sits at NCAA #8 in the 800 meters with a flat-track converted mark of 1:48.29 and that was coming off of a race where he finished as the top collegiate at Camel City.

Bizimana also ran a 1:48 mark at Texas Tech a few weeks ago (a track which sits at minor altitude), giving his resume some consistency so far this winter.

All things considered, this Texas star probably deserves to stick around in our rankings. We know he's capable of doing more and this year's 800 meter field doesn't seem to be that competitive anyways, at least not compared to other distance events.

Knowing that Bizimana also has 3:57 mile speed helps his argument in these rankings, although we'll need to see a little more from him if he wants to stay in our Top 25 during our next update.

24. Sam Ellis, Senior, Princeton (Unranked)

While a lot of athletes are showing off range between the mile, 3000 meters and 5000 meters, it's Ellis who is flexing his talent this season in both the 800 meters and the mile. Right now, Ellis sits in national qualifying positions in both of those events, securing times of 1:48 and 3:57 this season.

Yes, it's true, Ellis is only on the fringe of qualifying for the indoor national meet with that 3:57 mile mark, but he is comfortably in position to qualify for the 800 meters.

I love the experience that Ellis has and his ability to add some middle distance versatility to his resume was the main reason why he earned a spot in our rankings.

23. Sean Dolan, Rs. Freshman, Villanova (-2 / 21)

The Villanova miler is actually in a position where he will probably qualify for the indoor national meet in the 800 meters...and not the mile. Much like Ellis, the 800 meter and mile versatility that we've seen from Dolan this season (via marks of 1:48 and 3:57) give his resume enough of a spark to stay in our rankings conversation.

Even so, the mile and the 1500 meters is where Dolan has thrived over the past year. To see him potentially being forced to contest a distance that is half as long as his preferred discipline at the indoor national meet isn't exactly ideal.

For that reason, Dolan drops (only a little bit) in our rankings.

22. Amon Kemboi, Rs. Senior, Arkansas (-11 / 11)

Gosh, I hate to drop such an accomplished distance talent and a veteran All-American star this far in our rankings. Even so, a 7:51 mark for 3000 meters is the best result (and only result) that Kemboi has this season.

With three weekends of competition remaining, and the national qualifying cut-off times becoming faster, Kemboi is in a scary spot where he may not make it to Birmingham, Alabama come March.

Now, granted, Kemboi has only raced once this year and he still sits at NCAA #16 in the 3000 meters, so it's not all doom and gloom for him...but things aren't exactly looking great, either.

21. Adam Fogg, Junior, Drake (-3 / 18)

Fogg falls a few spots in these rankings mainly to make room for a few new names, not necessarily because of anything that he has done. We also can't ignore the fact that the mile is deeper than it ever has been, so a 3:56 mile time may not hold the same weight that it once did.

Regardless, this 3:56 miler from Drake has been great this season and despite a tough trip during the Michael Blum men's mile at the Millrose Games, Fogg looks like someone who could contend for an All-American honor in March.

20. Matthew Payamps, Sophomore, Georgetown (Unranked)

What an absolutely HUGE performance for Georgetown stud Matthew Payamps. His recent 3:55 mile effort at Boston University this past weekend was wildly impressive. He didn't just win, he DOMINATED a field that held numerous sub-four milers.

With a personal best of 1:47 for 800 meters, it's really hard to dislike Payamps at this point in the season. He looked so unbelievably poised in his latest race and frankly, I want to rank him higher.

Of course, with the amount of talent in the NCAA this year, specifically in the mile, we have to be careful about ranking some of these elite milers too high compared to other event specialists.

19. Brian Fay, Junior, Washington (Unranked)

Brian Fay was a very solid and talented addition to Washington's roster. Prior to joining the Huskies, Fay was a respectable 5k and 10k talent who also held his own in the mile. However, an 8:29 steeplechase mark during the summer really boosted his resume.

Even so, I'm not sure anyone outside of Seattle saw Fay running 3:55 in the mile the other weekend. He finished 2nd overall in that race to professional runner Jake Heyward and took down numerous sub-four collegiate milers in that race, including Nico Young and Abdi Nur.

Fay is clearly an upper-echelon distance talent, but that 3:55 mile performance kind of came out of nowhere. A 3:57 mark would've been totally expected and you probably could have convinced me that Fay was going to run 3:56 in that race.

But 3:55?

Well, that's next level.

Unless you believe that steeplechase fitness perfectly translates to mile speed, this result was a little out of left field. I'll be fascinated to see how Fay handles his other races over the next three weekends. I imagine he'll go after a fast 3k effort in the coming weeks alongside Kieran Lumb.

18. Duncan Hamilton, Rs. Sophomore, Montana State (+1 / 19)

Hamilton has had a lot of conversation surrounding him this season following his heavily converted mile and 3k marks. Well, this past weekend, Hamilton went down to sea level to validate his conversions, running an impressive weekend double of 3:59 (mile) and 7:56 (3k).

Do either of those marks help his case? Honestly, I don't know, but at the very least, Hamilton had a great weekend. The Montana State ace put some good results under his belt and built consistency heading into the latter portion of the season.

Did those performances change my opinion of him? No, not at all, but in the grand scheme of these rankings, that may actually be a good thing.

17. Yaseen Abdalla, Freshman, Texas (Unranked)

Coming into this weekend, I mentioned in our Camel City Elite preview that Yaseen Abdalla was an underrated talent. He was a cross country All-American this past fall, ran a 4:01 mile to open his season and just recorded an unconverted 3k mark of 7:51 which eventually turned into a flat-track converted time of 7:46.17.

Right now, Abdalla is on absolute fire. His last three races have been outstanding and his 3k mark seems to be the perfect medium between his mile speed and his cross country success. Personally, I'd like to see him go after a fast mile time over the next couple of weekends as a quick mark at that discipline would help my thoughts about his postseason potential.

Either way, Abdalla is an electric talent and he's been delivering big results over the last few times that he's toed the line. If he can carry this momentum with him into the postseason, then he's going to be an All-American.

16. Colton Johnsen, Senior, Washington State (+1 / 17)

Colton Johnsen ran 13:34 for 5000 meters at the beginning of the indoor season and ran 3:55 in the mile back in mid-January. Those performances were so impressive that it made his recent 3k effort of 7:54 feel unexciting.

The men's 3000 meters is so deep this year, so it's hard to fault Johnsen for his 3k effort which was only a second off of his personal best. He still has an automatic national qualifying time in both the mile and the 5000 meters, something that only three other collegiates (Nico Young, Abdi Nur and Abdirizak Ibrahim) can boast.

For that reason, Johnsen largely sees very little change in our rankings.

15. Ayman Zahafi, Junior, Miami (FL) (Unranked)

Zahafi is now one of three men who have broken 1:48 for 800 meters this season. The former D2 star from Texas A&M-Kingsville has been an elite half-mile stud throughout his collegiate career and now seems to be reaching his full potential with the Miami Hurricanes.

The Moroccan half-miler just ran 1:47.80 this past weekend to take down a VERY good 800 meter field which featured 1:45 man Samuel Voelz, Dartmouth graduate transfer Tim Zepf, a veteran star in Alex Lomong and an established talent in Frank Hayes.

With the 800 meters lacking the traditional firepower that we're used to seeing, Zahafi's 1:47 mark stands out more than it usually does at this time of the year. Earning a win over an elite field this past weekend also helps his case in our rankings.

14. John Rivera, Senior, Ole Miss (+6 / 20)

Rivera honestly hasn't done a whole lot since our last update. He split 1:49 on Ole Miss' DMR the other weekend, a relay which actually took a loss to Indiana.

However, Rivera continues to share the NCAA lead in the 800 meters with Brandon Miller. When you consider that there are only three weekends of non-national meet competition left, Rivera's 1:47 mark looks increasingly more impressive with each passing week, especially with the top portion of the event still not getting too crowded.

13. Antonio Lopez Segura, Senior, Virginia Tech (Unranked)

Running an unconverted 3000 meter time of 7:49 on a flat-track is wildly impressive.

Antonio Lopez-Segura has built his reputation of success in the 3000 meters, but he has also flexed great speed in the mile (3:59) and the 1000 meters (2:20), so I truly didn't know how those results could translate to the longer distances, specifically for this season.

However, Lopez Segura absolutely stunned me. A converted 7:43 mark, which sits just behind Morgan Beadlescomb for an NCAA #2 spot, is wildly impressive. This is someone who has now proven that he boasts elite long distance stamina and very strong middle distance speed.

I'll admit, I want to see what else Lopez Segura can do in other races over the next three weeks. I'd also be curious to see how he handles the ACC Indoor Championships.

This latest 3k result was so wildly impressive that I almost need to see another result that validates it. There was never any question that Lopez Segura was a national-caliber talent, but I didn't imagine that we would be placing him in the top-15 of our rankings.

12. Crayton Carrozza, Sophomore, Texas (Unranked)

I am the absolute biggest fan of Carrozza. The Texas star has run numerous top-tier times this season and has earned marquee wins over his teammates and fellow NCAA competitors.

To start the season, Carrozza took down teammate and 800 meter superstar Yusuf Bizimana. In that race, Carrozza ran an altitude converted time of 1:48.09 which currently puts him at NCAA #5 in the event.

Fast forward to this past weekend and Carrozza once again emerged as the top collegiate, this time in the Camel City Elite mile. The Texas sophomore ran 3:58 on a flat-track which converted all the way down to 3:55, a time which puts him at NCAA #8.

In that race, he took down Duke's Nick Dahl, Under Armour pro Willy Fink and 3:37 (1500) runner Thomas Vanoppen.

I said it in our meet preview and I'll say it again: Crayton Carrozza has the "it" factor. He is unafraid of his competition regardless of the event he toes the line for. He is showing tremendous poise and flat-out dominance in some of these races.

At this very moment, I have to ask: Is there a mile and 800 meter specialist who is currently as good as Carrozza is?

11. Athanas Kioko, Senior, Campbell (-3 / 8)

Yes, I know that Lopez Segura beat Kioko at Camel City, but the Campbell ace still ran a converted 7:45 mark for 3000 meters to pair with his 7:49 result from a couple weeks back. That is some very promising consistency and it goes well with his personal bests of 13:13 for 5000 meters and 3:38 for 1500 meters.

Kioko has improved his understanding of pacing and tactics and that is continuing to show in his race results. He's not perfect, but he still has a chance to be a major player on the national stage and in the perfect race, he could still win a national title.

10. Mario Garcia Romo, Rs. Junior, Ole Miss (-7 / 3)

A 3:57 mile result at the Millrose Games wasn't exactly Mario Garcia Romo's fault.

The race unfolded in a way that wasn't going to be super quick for a mid-pack runner like Garcia Romo. He still ran 3:57, but that time isn't going to qualify him for the indoor national meet.

Do I believe that Garcia Romo will qualify for the indoor national meet this year as an individual? Yes, I do. However, that's going to be a tall task for the Ole Miss superstar who has three weeks left to earn a national qualifying time in either the mile or 3000 meters, two events that have never been as top-heavy as they are today.

9. Abdi Nur, Rs. Sophomore, Northern Arizona (+6 / 15)

I'm not going to lie, I didn't at all expect Nur to run a 3:55 mile the other weekend. That is a level of speed and middle distance talent that he has never once shown us before. For someone who many would consider to be a 10k guy, seeing Nur develop top-tier mile speed is incredibly exciting.

That kind of turnover should prove to be beneficial at the indoor national meet when Nur inevitably toes the line for the 5000 meters.

8. Eliud Kipsang, Rs. Freshman, Alabama (-3 / 5)

A 3:56 season debut in the mile seems to be on par for Kipsang. Honestly, I don't have much to say here. Despite his current seed time in the mile, Kipsang only falls a few spots in our rankings because we know how good he is and we know what he's done in the past.

He's probably still a favorite to finish in the top-three at the indoor national meet in the mile and I don't think anyone would really doubt that.

7. Wesley Kiptoo, Junior, Iowa State (-3 / 4)

Seeing Wesley Kiptoo run two 4:01 mile times and later produce an unexciting 7:55 time for 3000 meters at the Millrose Games (which isn't listed on his TFRRS page) isn't exactly exciting or encouraging.

Even so, we have to remember that this is a guy who has run 13:14 for 5000 meters and, depending on how the race unfolds or who you ask, will be the 5k title favorite at the indoor national meet.

Yes, it would've been nice to see Kiptoo run a faster mile time or produce a national qualifying time in the 3000 meters. However, those results don't dramatically alter our perception of Kiptoo. If anything, those results confirm what we already knew.

6. Kieran Lumb, Senior, Washington (+1 / 7)

He hasn't raced since his 3:55 mile season opener, but given his resume before coming to Washington, which features times of 13:24 for 5000 meters and 7:46 for 3000 meters, we know Lumb deserves to be in the discussion of the NCAA elites.

However, Lumb has only raced once this season and the mile is by far the most top-heavy field in the NCAA right now.

So, for now, Lumb will have to sit outside of the top-five of our rankings.

5. Morgan Beadlescomb, Rs. Senior, Michigan State (+7 / 12)

Beadlescomb was SO good at the Millrose Games in the 3000 meters. He perfectly positioned himself for success, didn't make any unnecessary moves and utilized his underrated middle distance speed to stay with the field in a very fast second-half of the race.

With a time of 7:43, Beadlescomb now sits at NCAA #1 in the men's 3000 meters and he looks like a legitimate title contender. Outside of a rust-buster mile win over Veatch, it's hard to give Beadlescomb an edge over more dynamic talents who are ranked ahead of him.

Even so, I'm a huge fan of this Michigan State veteran and I think this could be the year where he's more a legitimate title contender rather than just an All-American favorite.

4. Nico Young, Freshman, Northern Arizona (+5 / 9)

I wasn't necessarily convinced that Nico Young's altitude converted 3:54 mile time was a great indication of speed. Instead, I thought it showed more of his strength, something that we already knew he had.

However, a recent 3:56 mile effort at sea level from two weekends ago validated the idea that Nico Young truly does have some real middle distance speed...and that's a big deal!

Coming into this year, my concern with Young is that we had yet to see much middle distance speed or turnover out of him. I then pointed out how certain tactical races like the 2021 West Regional Track & Field Championships haven't been his forte.

Well, with a legitimate, speed-oriented mile time now on his resume, the only uncertainty that remains is whether or not Young can translate and utilize that mile speed on the national stage should his presumed 5k race become tactical.

I don't know if Young will actually translate it, but at least we know that he has the leg speed to do so.

3. Olin Hacker, Rs. Senior, Wisconsin (+21 / 24)

Wow. Just wow. This Wisconsin veteran has been lights out this season.

Running times of 13:37 (5k), 3:56 (mile) and 7:45 (3k) is wildly impressive. Not only that, but Hacker has been running these races largely unopposed, winning by at least four seconds in every single one of his indoor races this year.

It's hard to dislike Hacker. He has elite-level marks, outstanding range, has secured dominant wins, boasts plenty of experience, has been very consistent when producing results and is just flat-out talented.

Hacker is everything you could want in a distance talent right now and the idea that he could win a national title later this winter isn't totally unrealistic.

2. Brandon Miller, Freshman, Texas A&M (0 / 2)

Nothing much to say here. Miller has run on a few 4x400 meter relays since our last update and has produced a 600 meter time of 1:15.94. He still shares the NCAA lead with John Rivera and given the lack of firepower in the men's 800 this year, Miller's path to gold is looking more and more clear.

1. Yared Nuguse, Senior, Notre Dame (0 / 1)

Nothing new for Nuguse since his 3:54 mile effort in his season opener. He was pulled out of the Millrose Games 3k and hasn't raced since that opener, so I'm not quite sure what's happening there. Even so, Notre Dame is a program that aims to peak its athletes in the postseason, specifically Nuguse. That could very easily be the case with this Fighting Irish superstar.

ADDED

Matthew Payamps (Georgetown)

Brian Fay (Washington)

Antonio Lopez Segura (Virginia Tech)

Sam Ellis (Princeton)

Crayton Carrozza (Texas)

Yaseen Abdalla (Texas)

Ayman Zahafi (Miami)

KICKED OFF

Jason Gomez (Iowa State)

Finley McLear (Miami (OH))

Reed Brown (Oregon)

Charles Hicks (Stanford)

George Kusche (Northern Arizona)

Adrian Wildschutt (Florida State)

Samuel Voelz (Notre Dame)

JUST MISSED (in no particular order)

George Kusche (Northern Arizona)

Adrian Wildschutt (Florida State)

Samuel Voelz (Notre Dame)

Barry Keane (Butler)

Drew Bosley (Northern Arizona)

Andrew Jordan (Georgetown)

Ehab El-Sandali (Iona)

Dario De Caro (Boise State)

Cameron Ponder (Furman)

Parker Wolfe (North Carolina)

Alex Maier (Oklahoma State)

Samuel Rodman (Princeton)

Simon Bedard (Butler)

Sam Gilman (Air Force)

Abdirizak Ibrahim (New Mexico)

Nate Osterstock (Southern Utah)

Seb Anthony (Virginia Tech)

HONORABLE MENTIONS (in no particular order)

Ryan Schoppe (Oklahoma State)

Dan Schaffer (Binghamton)

Brandon Garnica (BYU)

Cole Sprout (Stanford)

Ben Fleming (Virginia Tech)

Alex Ostberg (North Carolina)

Jack Yearian (Oregon)

Aaron Bienenfeld (Oregon)

Cruz Culpepper (Ole Miss)

Duncan Miller (Princeton)

Nick Dahl (Duke)

Luke Houser (Washington)

Cole Lindhorst (Texas)

Tim Zepf (Notre Dame)

Antonio Abrego (Iowa)

Alex Lomong (Iowa State)

Evan Dorenkamp (Penn State)