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2022 D1 NCAA Indoor Scratch Reactions
- Admin (Garrett Zatlin)
- Mar 2, 2022
- 9 min read
It's official: The fields for the NCAA Indoor Championships have been finalized. With scratches now in place and declarations now posted, we now know what the distance events at the indoor national meet are going to look like.
Below, we react to a handful of unexpected scratches, as well as the finalized fields, that we will see at the NCAA Indoor Championships. Let's begin...
Florida's Parker Valby Shockingly Scratches From 3k Despite Not Being Qualified in Any Other Event
This was, without question, the most shocking scratch development of the year. Florida's rising superstar Parker Valby has been incredible this winter, electrifying in cross country and running 8:53 for 3000 meters in the final days of January.
Valby is a personal favorite of mine. Despite her youth, the Gator standout was primed to be a star in the month of March. She seemed more than capable of sticking with fast paces and has been unafraid to put herself at the front of high-level distance fields.
However, Valby has since scratched the 3k, leaving us at The Stride Report tilting our heads and wondering why she did that.
It should be noted that Valby hasn't competed since the last weekend of January. She didn't even compete at the SEC Indoor Championships. Maybe that should have been our first sign that something was awry.
A possible injury could explain her absence, and that would be a major bummer if that was the case, but Valby's scratch leaves the door open for Georgia Tech veteran Nicole Fegans who has now qualified for the national meet on what was the track and field version of a Hail Mary pass following her ACC 3k victory from this past weekend.
Washington's Brian Fay Opts for 5k Over Mile
Seeing Brian Fay choose the 5000 meters over the mile isn't what I predicted, but it is also a very understandable move. Fay is plenty of capable of handling whatever kind of race the 5000 meters turns into, whether that be an all-out effort or a tactical approach.
I do think that the 5000 meters will be a fast, hard-from-the-gun kind of race, and I don't think that's as beneficial for Fay as a tactical setting would be. Even so, this Washington star is still plenty capable of earning a top finish in that kind of scenario.
With Fay now running the 5k, this essentially means that the idea of him being on Washington's DMR is extremely unlikely -- and that's reflected in the mile scratches that we see from teammates Luke Houser and Joe Waskom.
Despite Waskom sitting at NCAA #23 and Houser sitting at NCAA #25 in the mile, both men opted to scratch from the mile even though they weren't / aren't in a national qualifying position for any other individual event.
Had Waskom not scratched from the mile, he would have miraculously qualified.
However, both of those men scratching out of the mile indicates that the Huskies are going for a completely fresh DMR which doesn't include Fay -- and that's not a bad approach. Waskom and Houser are two 3:56 milers who are more than capable of being nationally competitive when paired with each other on a DMR.
Would this have happened if Fay ran the mile? Honestly, I don't know, but Adam Fogg is probably thrilled about Fay's decision.
Oklahoma State's Taylor Roe Scratches Out of Mile
I was convinced that Taylor Roe was going to run the mile. Convinced! The Oklahoma State star had been so darn good in the mile this year, running 4:34 to upset Arkansas' Lauren Gregory on her home track and later running 4:33 to win the BIG 12 mile title.
Roe has built her reputation in the longer distances, but her momentum in the mile this year has been incredible. In fact, in our most recent episode of the Blue Oval Podcast, I even asked co-host Ben Weisel what he thought Roe's best event was.
While Ben did ultimately say the 3000 meters, he did acknowledge how challenging that question was.
Even so, I can't criticize this move. Roe has run 8:58 for 3000 meters and her mile speed theoretically makes her a title contender in a tactical race. With Julia Heymach also scratching out of that 3k field, Roe's mile speed becomes a greater factor to consider.
Not only that, but scratching the mile will allow Roe to be completely fresh for the 3000 meters without having to run the 5000 meters on day one, the DMR on day one, the mile prelims on day one or the mile finals on day two.
Not many women in this 3k field can boast the same freshness that Roe will have. Women like Wayment, Mackay, Gregory, Camarena, Chelangat, Tuohy, Chmiel and Hays are all going to be doubling, and that doesn't even take the DMR into consideration.
Wisconsin's Abduhalli Hassan Scratches Out of 800 Meters
This was a surprise! I didn't expect anyone in the men's 800 meters to scratch and if anyone did, I thought it would only be Texas' Crayton Carrozza (who we'll get to in a moment).
However, seeing Wisconsin's Abduhalli Hassan opting out of the 800 meters was not on my bingo card.
The Badgers do have one of the NCAA's better distance medley relays this season, but with neither Spencer, Sharp nor Hacker contesting any other events prior to the DMR finals, I didn't think it was entirely necessary for Hassan to scratch out of the 800 meters.
Regardless, Hassan will now be fresh for Wisconsin's relay, allowing the Badgers to go all-in with a fresh lineup, something that many of these other relays won't have.
I very much understood the possibility of someone scratching the 800 meters in favor of the DMR, but I thought that we would have seen that from teams like Michigan or Ole Miss.
Did this scratch take me by surprise? Yes, a little bit, but it wasn't entirely unrealistic, either. I'm sure Florida's Sam Austin is jumping for joy right now after getting two scratches that were far from guarantees (via Hassan and Carrozza).
Stanford's Julia Heymach Scratches Out of 3000 Meters
Wow, I did not at all expect this to happen. Stanford's Julia Heymach has scratched out of the 3000 meters and will instead focus on the DMR (probably) and the mile at the indoor national meet.
This was a bit of a surprise, mainly because the national meet schedule works in favor of a DMR/mile/3k triple. While that is certainly a lot of racing, that triple still allows someone like Heymach to focus on her primary events (the DMR and the mile) before ending her weekend with the last distance race of the meet, the 3000 meters.
Don't get me wrong, I definitely think that Heymach's best two events out of those three are the mile and the DMR. However, she essentially had nothing to lose by racing the 3000 meters.
Yes, it would have been a lot of racing in two days, but it was doable and Heymach could have very easily snuck into an All-American spot, especially if the race turned tactical.
Notre Dame's Yared Nuguse Scratches Out of Mile, Michigan State's Beadlescomb Opts for Mile/3k Double
It looks like Yared Nuguse, the Notre Dame superstar, will focus on the DMR and the 3000 meters, something that shouldn't be too big of a shock. Sure, I did think that Nuguse would go for the DMR/mile/3k triple, but if he didn't, then the DMR/3k made the most sense.
With this decision to scratch the mile, Nuguse gets to focus on just one singular race on day one of the indoor national meet (DMR) and one singular race on day two of the national meet (3k).
This, in turn, actually leaves a massive title opportunity available for Morgan Beadlescomb, the Michigan State star who is entered in both the mile and the 3000 meters.
I'll admit, I was the one who suggested that Beadlescomb should actually scratch out of the mile and go all-in for the 3000 meters. That way he would have been able to catch Nuguse with at least one race under his legs in the last distance race of the national meet.
However, I failed to do basic math, ignoring the idea that Beadlescomb running the mile and Nuguse scratching from the mile would give the Spartan veteran a very realistic shot at NCAA gold, one that doesn't involve going through Nuguse.
All in all, these scratches (or lack of scratches) worked out pretty well for both sides.
Florida State's Lauren Ryan Scratches Out of 5000 Meters, Goes All-in For 3000 Meters
The 5k/3k double is one of the most realistic doubles that one can do at the national meet. The two events favor endurance-based athletes, there aren't any preliminary rounds involved and you only have to run one race each day at the national meet.
However, for some 3000 meter specialists, it is understandable why scratching from the 5k could be a realistic option. While everyone is coming back from races earlier in the meet, those who scratch the 5k have the opportunity to be completely fresh for the 3k.
I didn't have Ryan scratching from the 5k, but I did say that it was a possibility -- and it looks like I was right about that.
This Florida State star is one of the strongest NCAA #1 seeds of any distance event based strictly on times / personal bests. Her mark of 8:47 from earlier this season sits comfortably ahead of BYU's Courtney Wayment who ran 8:50 at the Millrose Games.
I like this move for Ryan a lot. It is abundantly clear that the 3000 meters is her best race and while she could maybe salvage an All-American finish in the 5000 meters, it makes more sense for her to be fresh as possible for the 3000 meters.
After all, she is a realistic title contender in that event.
Five Mile Scratches From Non-Automatic Qualifiers Sends Drake's Adam Fogg to the NCAA Indoor Championships
Drake's Adam Fogg needed a miracle.
After running 3:56.60 in the mile at the Cyclone Open a few weeks ago, the Bulldog ace ultimately sat at NCAA #26 when entries were due. On paper, it looked unlikely that he would qualify for the indoor national meet.
Fogg needed 10 men who were listed ahead of him on the mile national leaderboard to scratch from the mile. If that happened, then Fogg would join teammate Isaac Basten at the national meet.
Northern Arizona's Nico Young and Abdi Nur seemed like obvious choices to scratch the mile -- and they did. Washington's Kieran Lumb was also a clear scratch from the mile given his inactivity this season.
Outside of those three, there weren't any guarantees that seven other men would scratch from the mile. Names like Beadlescomb, Johnsen, Fay and Nuguse could have scratched the event, but there was a very real possibility that some of them wouldn't.
Ultimately, Beadlescomb and Johnsen didn't scratch, but Fay and Nuguse did.
This left the NCAA with five men who had scratched from the mile.
Fogg still needed five more.
The guys who got in on scratches were Carrozza (NCAA #17), Basten (NCAA #18), Osterstock (NCAA #19) and Bove (NCAA #20).
This left us with just one more national qualifying spot available. With Fogg still five spots away from that open spot, it seemed extremely unlikely that this Drake veteran was going to get into the national meet.
But then, something crazy happened.
NCAA #21 miler Sean Dolan opted for the 800 meters over the mile.
NCAA #22 miler Duncan Hamilton scratched the mile to be completely fresh for the 3k.
NCAA #23 miler Joe Waskom scratched the mile to (presumably) be Brian Fay's replacement on Washington's distance medley relay.
NCAA #24 miler Alex Maier scratched from mile to focus on the 5k, his stronger event.
NCAA #25 miler Luke Houser, just like his teammate Joe Waskom, scratched the mile, likely in favor of Washington's distance medley.
That left Fogg with the final national qualifying mile spot to the NCAA Indoor Championships with an original NCAA #26 mile ranking.
I can't begin to tell you how lucky Fogg is. This is truly unbelievable. Here are few scenarios that could have taken place. If any one of these entry scenarios happened, then Fogg doesn't get into the national meet...
Yared Nuguse had three options. He could have done the mile/3k double, the DMR/mile/3k triple or the DMR/3k triple. If Nuguse chose one of the first two options and not the last one, then Fogg doesn't get to the national meet.
Brian Fay could have gone for the DMR/mile double which, from a points output, would have technically made more sense than the 5k.
Sean Dolan could have very easily scratched from the 800 meters on the condition that he made it into the mile, an event that he was an All-American in last year.
Duncan Hamilton had a very good incentive to go for the mile/3k double, but instead wanted to be completely fresh for the 3k.
Washington could have punted on the DMR, instead having Waskom and Houser try to run the mile if they qualified (which, in this scenario, Waskom would have).
Adam Fogg needs to send a lot of "thank you" cards this week...
Texas' Crayton Carrozza Conditionally Scratches From 800 After Being Accepted Into Mile
Despite being a higher seed in the 800 meters than in the mile, Texas' Crayon Carrozza will actually be contesting the mile and not the 800 meters. Carrozza scratched from the 800 meters only on the condition that he qualified in the mile.
While I did think that a potential mile/800 double was in play for this Texas star, I actually like this choice a lot. The Longhorns have three other men (Lindhorst, Bizimana and Jones) who are entered in the 800 meters. Adding a fourth runner from the same team in that field wouldn't be the most effective way to potentially collect points if that fourth runner could score points elsewhere.
The Texas coaching staff seemingly knew that.
So despite Carrozza not even being an automatic national qualifier in the mile, he is still choosing that event over the 800 meters. I like that choice a lot, mainly because I think Carrozza is good enough to earn All-American honors in the event.
The only uncertainty I have with this move is whether or not Carrozza will run in the DMR or let his non-qualified teammates like Cruz Gomez and Yaseen Abdalla take over the lineup.
Carrozza could certainly double back from the mile prelims to run in the DMR on day one of the national meet, but the Longhorns already have plenty of distance weapons who they can utilize for a distance medley relay.
I suppose we'll just have to wait and see...
