2022 D1 Indoor Top 25 Rankings (Women): Preseason (Part One)

Written by Sam Ivanecky and Maura Beattie, additional contributions by Garrett Zatlin

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.

25. Maddy Denner, Junior, Notre Dame

Two years ago, there was significant excitement building around Maddy Denner. At the time, Notre Dame was headlined by veteran star Anna Rohrer while Denner was seen as a budding freshman on the NCAA cross country scene.

Between November of 2019 and May of 2021, Denner was somewhat dormant. She had the occasional race that raised eyebrows, good enough to warm the waters of discussion, but not enough to boil the pot.

Tides started changing in June of 2021. Denner was able to qualify for the NCAA Outdoor Championships in the 5k where she finished 11th. Was this it? Was Denner here for real this time?

The answer? Yes, yes she was.

Since then, Denner has won the Great Lakes Regional XC Championships and finished 9th at the NCAA XC Championships. And she wasn’t done there. Carrying that fitness into the indoor season, Denner took 22 seconds off of her 5k personal best with a 15:27 mark at Boston University, a time that currently ranks at NCAA #3.

Denner is slated to be a legitimate 3k/5k contender this indoor season. Her current 3k personal best of 9:15 is from 2020 and based on her latest result, that PR looks to be in danger.

Given her recent performances, Denner will likely go under 9:00 before March. Her 5k will qualify her for the NCAA Indoor Championships, giving her plenty of time to focus on other events.

It took a couple of years, but Denner is finally achieving the potential that she flashed in 2019. Now, we have to see how much faster she can become and if she can apply her cross country fitness to numerous race scenarios on the indoor oval.

24. Cailie Logue, Senior, Iowa State

Iowa State’s Cailie Logue boasts a 5k personal best of 15:40 which makes her one of the more competitive names in the NCAA for that distance. However, the rest of her resume on the track has yet to fully catch up with that mark.

The Cyclone veteran has a ton of momentum heading into the 2021-2022 indoor track season after finishing an incredible 4th place at the NCAA XC Championships, only five-tenths of a second off from the runner-up finisher. In theory, the confidence that Logue likely gained from that race should help propel her on the indoor oval.

It's not every day that you see a top-five finisher at the cross country national meet not be a factor on the indoor oval, so we'd be hard pressed to believe that this Iowa State runner isn't going to be a key name to watch this winter. Not to mention, her new teammate Ashley Tutt, a 16:01 runner, is right there to help Logue improve on the national scene.

Logue is just as talented as anyone else in this portion of our rankings. However, she'll need to round out her resume in other events like the mile and 3k and continue to earn wins over conference foes like Taylor Roe and Ceili McCabe.

23. Micaela DeGenero, Senior, Colorado

It’s been almost two years since Micaela DeGenero competed on the indoor oval. Between then and now, she transferred to Colorado, had her best cross country season ever and made it to her first national meet on the track.

Needless to say, things have been going well.

On the track, DeGenero is poised to contend for the mile national title. At the outdoor national meet, she placed 6th in the 1500 meters last June and is one of only three other women returning to have run 4:09 or faster.

DeGenero was also fairly consistent in 2021, clocking 4:12 or faster in four of her nine races. For perspective, 4:12 was good enough for the NCAA #11 mark last spring. She also ran 2:04 for 800 meters which gave her at a respectable NCAA #23 ranking.

The one caveat with DeGenero is her last indoor mile came in February of 2019. Does that matter? Probably not, especially since so much has changed since then, but it’s worth mentioning anyway.

Colorado has a storied history of top tier milers (Simpson, Jones, Hurta, etc.), and DeGenero certainly could be next on that list. Gear will be the favorite in this event, but with some experience added to her resume, DeGenero should not be overlooked.

This Buffalo star is patient, has growing experience and boasts a perfect balance of speed and endurance. On paper, those qualities should be conducive to a wildly successful 2022 indoor track season.

22. Samantha Bush, Sophomore, NC State

Samantha Bush has been a solid, respectable talent for NC State over the last few seasons. She's put up decent times and has been fairly consistent. However, up until this past cross country season, she was not at all considered to be a nationally competitive name.

This past fall was a massive one for Bush. She emerged as a true low-stick and earned All-Americans honors at the NCAA XC Championships with a 32nd place finish.

Then she went to Boston University.

Bush teamed up with teammate Katelyn Tuohy to throw down a huge time of 8:54.37 for 3000 meters. For perspective, that mark would've ranked Bush at NCAA #1 last winter. At the moment, she currently sits at NCAA #3.

There is no doubt that Bush has elevated her fitness to an entirely new level. However, her rise into the elite tier of the NCAA is still so new and there is still so much we don't know about her.

We have zero doubts that Bush will be a competitive name this winter, but we'll need to see a few more results in order to really validate Bush as the elite star that we think she can be.

21. Amaris Tyynismaa, Sophomore, Alabama

Tyynismaa was one of the more challenging runners to rank heading into this season thanks to her extended absences during the fall. Speculation on the situation is that Tyynismaa likely had some type of injury, causing her to miss substantial time. She did not open her cross country season until October 1st and only raced once more at the SEC XC Championships to close the month.

Without additional information on her current status, it’s a bit hard to guess where she may be at when the real indoor season rolls around.

At her best, Tyynismaa was a rising star in the NCAA. In fact, she might already be considered as established star.

After a quiet freshman year, she burst into the national spotlight when she ran 9:03 for 3000 meters at the South Carolina Invitational in February of 2021. Since then, she’s been hard to miss. Her best event has been the mile and 1500 meters where she has run marks of 4:33 and 4:09, respectively.

She also clocked a huge time of 15:33 for 5000 meters during outdoors, one of the fastest marks in the NCAA that season.

If Tyynismaa is healthy by some point in February, her upside is massive. She has the range to compete with the best women in the NCAA across a variety of events and her consistency is probably the most underrated aspects of her resume.

Her freshman-to-sophomore leap wasn’t a fluke, either. Tyynismaa's average 1500 meter time was only two seconds off of her 1500 meter personal best. And thanks to her speed, she can devastate her competition in the closing lap of longer events.

The big question here isn’t talent -- it’s availabilty. If Tyynismaa comes back this winter at 100%, then she should quickly rise in these rankings.

20. Kennedy Thomson, Senior, Arkansas

Throughout 2021, Thomson has been a runner who has been tricky to gauge. There have been plenty of highs, but also a few so-so results that bring her resume back down to Earth.

On one hand, Thomson earned a bronze medal in the mile last winter at the NCAA Indoor Championships, at her first national meet no less. Her time of 4:33 was a massive personal best...which is exactly what makes her ranking situation so challenging to figure out.

If you look at Thomson’s indoor and outdoor seasons in 2021, each season has one outlier race.

During indoors, that race was her mile performance at the national meet. In her five other mile attempts, her best mark was no faster than 4:38. During outdoors, she ran the 1500 meters six times. One of those efforts resulted in a big personal best of 4:12. However, none of her other five efforts were faster than 4:17.

It’s clear that the talent is there for Thomson, but the margin between her best times and average times makes it difficult to truly figure out her place amongst the NCAA elites. She belongs amongst the best, it's just a matter of where.

Tactically speaking, Thomson is one of the best in the NCAA. Not only does her national meet performance in the mile last year support that, but so do a few underrated 800 meter results. Now she just needs to put the entire piece of the puzzle together to be the national elite that we've seen her show us that she can be.

19. Jenna Magness, Junior, Michigan State

In contrast to many runners, Magness has made consistent improvements in each year with Michigan State. After narrowly missing All-American honors in cross country during the 2019 season, Magness took advantage of the Covid-altered season to build her fitness. She chose to split her efforts between cross country and indoor track last year, leading to her best cross country finish ever, placing 16th overall. She also qualified for her first national track meet, placing 7th in the 5000 meters.

That momentum carried her into the outdoor season where the Spartan star lowered her 5k personal best time to 15:32, en route to a 4th place finish at Nationals.

Since then, the ball has just kept rolling for Magness who would go on to finish 14th at the NCAA Cross Country Championships this past November.

Which raises the question...what's next?

Due to the unusual winter season which featured cross country and indoor track, Magness only ran the 5k on the indoor oval last winter. This year figures to be different.

Make no mistake, Magness will surely continue to contest that event, but her 3000 meter personal best of 9:20 is long overdue for a reset. When comparing Magness to women with similar 5k personal bests (within 10 seconds), those women have an average 3k best of 9:04.

Based on that, it seems reasonable that if Magness runs a 3k this winter, she’ll quickly move into elite territory that her recent results suggest she belongs in.

That potential, plus her established 5k ability, should make her a duel podium threat come March. However, we'll be curious to see how she handles certain tactical races. The biggest moments of her career haven't always required her to rely on a fast finish, so does it even matter that she has yet to put her speed on display?

Maybe, maybe not. Either way, Magness is a big-name talent who could be a major problem (yet again) for her competitors this winter.

18. Taylor Roe, Junior, Oklahoma State

There was a lot of excitement around Roe heading into the 2021 outdoor track season after she finished runner-up at the NCAA XC Championships in March. Having run the DMR at the NCAA Indoor Championships only three days prior, Roe shocked much of the running community with a big run on her home course, officially putting her “on the map.”

However, as quickly as she burst onto the scene, she disappeared from it. A handful of quiet results during the outdoor season kept her out of the spotlight until this fall, where she once again showed up.

Roe finished 5th at the NCAA XC Championships this November, validating her surprise performance last spring. If that wasn’t enough, she quickly turned to the track and put down a blistering personal best of 8:58 for 3000 meters.

Roe sat in the second pack during the Woo Pig Classic race until she was a little past the mile where she started making hard, decisive moves. She would eventually fly by former Razorback Carina Viljoen and reset her personal best by 35 seconds.

That race felt like Roe was cementing herself as a legitimate contender on the track. It was obvious that she was the real deal in cross country, but there have often been runners who couldn’t replicate those results on the track.

By the looks of it, that’s not Roe.

Looking ahead, this Oklahoma State Cowgirl could find herself in almost any event at the NCAA Championships. Her 3k mark should easily send her to the national meet and based on her success in the mile (where she owns a 4:39 personal best) and cross country, the 3000 meters looks like the ideal event.

Oh, and there’s also the 5k, a distance that she has never run on the track thus far.

Regardless of what she chooses, Roe will likely factor into the national picture. Still, she'll need to prove that her cross country fitness can fully translate to the track, especially when she runs her first-ever 5k.

Of course, her recent 3k effort should put at ease any doubt about that not happening.

17. Kelsey Chmiel, Junior, NC State

NC State standout Chmiel has had national meet experience under her belt since entering the collegiate scene in 2019. With multiple All-American honors headlining her resume, as well as eye-catching personal bests, Chmiel should once again find herself at the indoor national meet this season.

Chmiel has been consistently improving during her time as a member of the Wolfpack, finishing 22nd (2019), 9th (winter 2021) and 6th (fall 2021) at the cross country national meet. She has also toed the line for the indoor national meet, finishing 11th in the 5000 meters. At the outdoor national meet, Chmiel placed 8th in the 10,000 meters last spring.

All of these performances prove that Chmiel is capable of competing for a top-eight finish in pretty much any long distance event.

The 5k will almost definitely be Chmiel’s best shot at another All-American honor this indoor season. With a shiny new personal best of 15:27 from Boston University earlier this month, Chmiel is already expected to have one of the fastest times in the field by March.

The only thing that we need to monitor with this NC State star is her tactics. Just like a few women in the upper-echelon of the NCAA, tactical races may not be Chmiel's greatest strength.

At the 2021 NCAA Indoor Championships, Chmiel dropped to 11th place in the 5000 meters. The entirety of that race was slower than expected and the leaders were playing games with the pacing at the front.

Will Chmiel need to worry about tactics like that again? Maybe, maybe not, but that shouldn't take away how insanely talented she is.

16. Aneta Konieczek, Senior, Oregon

Based solely on her NCAA performances, this ranking might seem high.

Konieczek was a solid runner in 2021, earning a 7th place finish at the indoor national meet in the mile and a 9th place finish in the steeplechase during the ensuing outdoor season.

Those were respectable results, especially for her first full year at the D1 level, but they weren't anything write home about. However, the real meat and potatoes of her resume were found in her summer performances.

After the NCAA Outdoor Championships, Konieczek went back to her native Poland for to contest the steeplechase where she shattered her personal best. She took nine seconds off of her previous best of 9:34, a mark she had set only two weeks prior at the NCAA Championships.

There’s no perfect conversion, but if the Oregon senior can run 9:25 over barriers, then it seems reasonable she could run under 9:00 without them.

In 2021, Konieczek was a miler without much range. In fact, she only toed the line for two meets last indoor season, the Tyson Invitational and the NCAA Indoor Championships. Admittedly, there wasn’t much substance to her career at Oregon at that point in her career.

However, this season could be different.

Not only could she contend in a (relatively) open mile field, but this Oregon star also could move up to the 3000 meters after showing substantial progress during outdoor track.

Konieczek is a proven talent, but on paper, she has the potential to make major noise.

15. Katelyn Tuohy, Freshman, NC State

Tuohy will finally have the opportunity to race during the indoor track season without coming off of an injury. This year, she is coming off of a great cross country season, highlighted by a 15th place showing at the NCAA XC Championship and an NC State team title.

During the 2020-2021 indoor season, Tuohy posted respectable performances, including a mark of 9:19 for 3000 meters (on a flat-track) and a 7th place finish in the DMR at the NCAA Indoor Championships.

However, it was during outdoors when Tuohy began to return to her high school superstar form, running 4:12 in the 1500 meters and 15:47 in the 5000 meters.

Before the start of the 2021-2022 indoor season, the NC State runner owned personal bests of 4:39 (mile), 9:01 (3k) and 15:37 (5k), all of which come from high school. Of course, she has already demolished her 3k personal best after running 8:54 at Boston University.

Clearly, Tuohy has some lethal range when she is at the top of her game, although the 3k and 5k appears to be stronger events for Tuohy rather than the mile.

If she can translate her cross country success over to the indoor oval and continue to improve upon her personal bests, it’s very possible that we could see Tuohy challenge for All-American honors in any combination of the distance events at the NCAA Championships. In fact, there's even a chance that she can contend for the national title! Her 3k persoanl bests suggests she could.

Tuohy is still young and admittedly hasn't had a ton of experience being an elite name on the track. We love what we saw out of her at Boston University, but we're leaning on the cautious side and pacing her at TSR #15...for now.

14. Grace Forbes, Sophomore, Rice

Rice superstar Grace Forbes is one of the best in the nation when she simply needs to run faster. She doesn’t often travel to many of the nation's most competitive meets, but that hasn't stopped her from running personal bests of 4:37 in the mile, 8:56 in the 3000 meters and 15:50 in the 5000 meters.

With times like these, Forbes has the capability to challenge the NCAA’s best talents for an individual championship.

During the 2020-2021 indoor track season, the Owl star set her 5k PR in a race that she won by 43 seconds. That performance was then backed up by a triple-crown win at the C-USA Indoor Championships in the mile, 3k and DMR. Her 4:37 mile win was not only a shiny PR, but it was also a 24-second victory over the runner-up finisher.

Forbes opted to focus on the 5k at the NCAA Indoor Championships and earned her first All-American honor with a 6th place finish before finishing 19th at the NCAA XC Championships only a few days later.

Forbes again picked up All-American honors during the outdoor track season with a 7th place finish in the 10k. She had a great cross country this past fall, winning five of her seven races, but she faltered at the national meet, finishing a few places shy of All-American honors.

On paper, Forbes is just as talented as anyone on this list. She has the versatility, firepower, experience, range and consistency to be amongst the elites. However, she has yet to truly have her best day the national meet.

Could this be the season of Grace Forbes? We're about to find out...

JUST MISSED (in no particular order)

Maudie Skyring (Florida State)

Kaley Richards (UMass Lowell)

Hannah Steelman (NC State)

Lexy Halladay (BYU)

Alexandra Hayes (NC State)

Katy-Ann McDonald (LSU)

Kaley Delay (Yale)

Allie Guagenti (Ohio State)

Sarah Hendrick (Kennesaw State)

Lauren Ryan (Florida State)

HONORABLE MENTIONS (in no particular order)

Stephanie Cotter (Northern Arizona)

Carley Thomas (Washington)

Adva Cohen (New Mexico)

Aubrey Frentheway (BYU)

Megan Hasz (Minnesota)

Simone Plourde (Utah)

McKenna Keegan (Villanova)

Olivia Howell (Illinois)

Parker Valby (Florida)

Taryn O’Neill, (Northern Arizona)

Presley Weems (Auburn)

Emma Heckel ( New Mexico)

Key Notes

Oregon is expected to bring in Aussie superstar Keely Small to their program come January. The middle distance phenom boasts credentials that could put her in the NCAA title conversation in multiple events.

The future Duck has run times of 54.97 (400m), 2:00.81 (800m), 2:38 (1000m), 4:07 (1500m) and 4:33 (mile). Clearly, Small is an elite-level talent who could instantly make a major impact on the NCAA.

However, Small sustained a L5 stress fracture back in March. Since then, she hasn't toed the line for a single race.

While we certainly believe that Small is deserving a ranking, we simply need to wait and see her toe the line again before we can put her in our Top 25.