2022 D2 Indoor Top 25 Rankings (Women): Update #3

TSR Collaboration
Feb 22, 2022
17 min read

Written by Grace McLaughlin & Eric Baranoski

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. Lindsay Cunningham, Freshman, Winona State (-8 / 17)

Has not raced since our last update.

24. Franziska Althaus, Sophomore, Adams State (Unranked)

Sneaking just a few spots ahead of teammate Precious Robinson at the Husky Classic, Althaus’ recent personal best of 16:33 (5k) is good for NCAA #7 on the national leaderboard.

Althaus continues to demonstrate why Adams State is one of the top distance running programs in the nation, securing her second PR in her second long distance event. It's also seems safe to say that she fares pretty well in races where she's chasing a fast pace. In theory, that should benefit her at the indoor national meet.

Not only that, but this is her second PR in the month of February, indicating that she may be reaching a postseason peak at the perfect time, something that not all of her competitors have been able to mimic.

Her development from when she was at Wingate to now is like “night and day”.

Most likely, we will see her in either the 3k or 5k in Gunnison, Colorado for the RMAC Indoor Championships later this week.

23. Natalia Novak, Senior, Academy of Art (-4 / 19)

Natalia Novak has yet to compete at the NCAA Indoor Championship...ever. The pandemic was partially responsible for that in 2020.

However, after her latest effort at Pittsburg State on February 12th, her fortune may have changed. She helped her Academy of Art DMR squad win the meet and secure a national qualifying time, placing the Urban Knights at NCAA #8 on the national leaderboard.

While her individual times haven’t been as good as years past, Novak has still been a fairly steady and consistent contributor who offers national-caliber talent in a variety of events. She is currently ranked at NCAA #19 in the 800 meters, NCAA #21 in the mile and NCAA #22 in the 3000 meters.

That's fairly solid and very even range. Pairing all of that with her top-tier success from the past makes it challenging to drop Novak out of our rankings this week.

Without a conference championship, a last chance meet could be the spark that Novak is likely looking for as the national qualifying window begins to narrow.

22. Layla Almasri, Senior, UC-Colorado Springs (Unranked)

Coming down from altitude and racing in Kansas was just what Layla Almasri was looking for. With a chance to showcase her fitness and national qualifying times at stake, Almasri cashed-out in a big way.

The UC-Colorado Springs veteran was your double winner at Washburn. First winning in the mile and later winning the 3000 meters on two separate nights. Two unconverted personal bests later, Almasri may be wishing that the rest of her schedule was at sea level.

With NCAA #11 time in the mile and NCAA #16 time in the 3k, the UCCS veteran will at least have solace knowing that she is...probably?...going to qualify for the indoor national meet in one event.

Assuming she gets there, Almasri is good enough to navigate through the often-tricky tactics of the preliminary and utilize her underrated range to score an All-American honor.

She was more than capable of doing that last winter (but was unable to do so individually) and despite being ranked lower on the national leaderboard, two late-season wins as well as a personal best make her a sneaky-good name for the indoor national meet.

21. Annika Esvelt, Freshman, Seattle Pacific (-5 / 16)

Esvelt can no longer be considered a one-race wonder. Yes, she was once known for having a fast 5000 meter time (which is still NCAA #6 by the way), but now she boasts a wicked-fast 3000 meter mark. Her recent 9:38 effort made her the winner at the Whitworth Invite, placing her at NCAA #17 on the national leaderboard.

Only a freshman, not a lot is known about the youngster, although the one thing we do know is that she is distance oriented (think 3k and 5k) and not as great of a 1500 meter runner despite mostly running that event last spring,

Yes, she drops a few spots in our rankings, but it's not necessarily because of anything she has done. With the way the national leaderboard has been shuffled, Esvelt's times are simply less potent, only relative to what her opponents have done.

Inexperience isn't a great aspect to have on one's resume going into the resume, but this Seattle Pacific youngster looks like she's more than capable of mixing it up on the national stage if the race unfolds in her favor.

20. Katie McCune, Senior, Drury (0 / 20)

Drury's Katie McCune has showcased impressive range this season, running fast times in the 800 meters up to the 3000 meters. However, that's not specifically why she is ranked here. Her 800 meter time this season is top-tier.

Most recently finishing 3rd at the Arkansas Qualifier in a mark of 2:09, McCune is one of seven ladies in all of D2 who have broken the milestone 2:10 barrier.

Ever since cross country season, this Drury veteran has been on fire. We guess it's safe to say that she just wasn’t a cross country runner and that she has found all of the fitness that she has been looking for. In fact, that cross country fitness has been on full display as shown by her ability to effectively move up and down in certain distances.

19. Hannah Becker, Senior, Grand Valley State (-4 / 15)

Becker has taken an unusual approach to racing this indoor season.

The Grand Valley State superstar and her coaches likely already knew that she was going to run the 3000 meters and the DMR at the indoor national meet, so they got a national qualifying time for the 3000 meters in December and a national qualifying time in the DMR at the GVSU “Big Meet”.

In between those races, she contested a mile to keep things interesting, posting a very respectable, but semi-unexciting time of 4:52 in the process.

What should we expect from Becker in the postseason? Is all of this a simple setup to have her peak in the postseason? It's hard to say as her results this winter don’t exactly scream "championship contender", especially when you compare her times to the rest of D2.

However, we do know one thing: Don’t doubt the Lakers' coaching staff. As we have seen in the past, they will have Becker ready to go when it matters most.

The earliest evidence of that will likely be at the GLIAC Indoor Championships. The events she will compete in? Honestly, we have no idea, as she has run the mile, 3k and 5k this season.

18. Alexa Leppelmeier, Senior, Walsh (-4 / 14)

Walsh's Alexa Leppelmeier continues to breakdown time barriers in her senior campaign. Especially when the GVSU “Big Meet” 3K is involved.

Last year, it was that meet that sent her to the NCAA Indoor Championships in the 3000 meters when she ran 9:38 to place 5th overall. This year, she ran 9:32 and finished runner-up at the same regular season meet.

The notable takeaway from this result is that Leppelmeier ran 9:32 at the NCAA Indoor Championships last year, so she is ahead of her 2021 fitness if we're looking at it from that perspective.

Leppelmeier is a steady veteran distance presence who keeps chipping away at her times. Not only that, but an underrated aspect of her resume is that has learned how to compete in high-level fields while still dropping fast times.

She is definitely a dark horse contender for the national meet in March.

17. Morgan Hykes, Freshman, Adams State (-5 / 12)

Much like her teammate Nicole Lawrence, Adams State's Morgan Hykes had herself a meet at the Husky Classic, producing a faster 3k time (9:39) and a slower mile time (4:51) than Lawrence which, albeit, were still unconverted personal bests.

Hykes has put herself in contention for a national bid in the 3000 meters, although she might need a little help and potentially a faster time. Still, that mark, paired with her earlier 4:46 altitude converted mile (NCAA #8) and most recent mile effort shows us tons of promising consistency and a proven ability to be nationally competitive multiple times in the same weekend.

Another thing to notice is that Nicole Lawrence is on the DMR team while Hykes is not, so she may be looking to qualify exclusively for the national meet as an individual.

Another chance at running herself into the national meet, specifically in the 3000 meters and maybe even the 5000 meters, will come at the RMAC Indoor Championships in Gunnison, Colorado which is noted for its generous altitude and flat-track conversions with the facility sitting at 7700 feet.

Yes, Hykes drops in our rankings this week, but as we have mentioned with so many others, that isn't necessarily because of anything that she did. Hykes' ranking is more dependent on the relative success of her competitors around the NCAA.

16. Precious Robinson, Freshman, Adams State (+7 / 23)

Robinson quietly ran a time of 16:41 at the Husky Classic to secure the NCAA #9 time in the nation thus far for 5000 meters. When paired with her NCAA #9 mark of 9:31 (converted) for 3000 meters, there is a lot to like about the Grizzlies' rising star.

The Adams State star has had a very impressive freshman campaign, running fast at both altitude and sea level, therefore making it more challenging to doubt her capabilities regardless of when she toes the line and against who.

Robinson has made it clear that she can compete when it matters the most, as evidenced by her 11th place finish at the NCAA XC Championships this past year...but how about the track? If we had to guess, we imagine it's a similar story, but we still don't know what her ceiling will be in March.

15. Taryn Chapko, Sophomore, Grand Valley State (-2 / 13)

This Grand Valley State star is rounding into form quite nicely as the championship season rapidly approaches.

Her most recent go-around on the blue oval came at the famed “Big Meet” hosted by Grand Valley State. There, she ran one event a day over the course of Friday and Saturday to deliver two noteworthy performances.

The first result was a time of 2:10 for 800 meters. While not a personal bests, it is roughly the same time that she ran last year at this time of the season and she ended up running a mark of 2:08 to close out her indoor season.

Not only that, but Chapko took hold of the 800 meter leg on the Lakers' DMR which ran a 11:31 the other weekend, placing them at NCAA #2. She is a big reason why the Lakers have a shot at repeating as DMR champions.

Overall, Chapko has been really solid and very consistent this year. She hasn't quite taken that next step upwards in fitness (yet), but she is very slowly trending in a positive direction as we near the national meet.

14. Cami Streff, Sophomore, Augustana (SD) (Unranked)

If the name "Streff" sounds familiar, it is because of our TSR #11 runner, Hailey Streff, who is Cami’s sister and a fellow D2 middle distance star. Cami lands just a few spots outside of our top-10 after running 2:09 at the SDSU Indoor Classic for the NCAA #4 time on the 800 meter national leaderboard.

Cami has been flying under the radar this season while running on various relay teams and contesting non-championship events. Her 2:09 effort was her first open 800 this season, but she has also run impressive times of 2:53 in the 1000 meters and 1:33 in the 600 meters.

She was the 800 meter leg of Augustana’s DMR team which currently has the NCAA #3 mark. Streff was also part of the Viking’s 4th place DMR squad last year at the indoor national meet. In theory, she will be a vital part of bettering that performance this year.

We still want to see a little more from Cami Streff in the 800 meters, but her other performances in non-championship events do support the idea that she is a nationally competitive talent.

13. Nicole Lawrence, Sophomore, Adams State (-2 / 11)

Adams State's Lawrence has continued her stellar season in the recent week, producing greater and greater consistency and becoming an increasingly larger threat to be an All-American lock. Her times for both the mile and 3000 at the Husky Classic (at sea level) were extremely competitive (especially for a D2 runner)...and I forgot to mention one thing: Both times were personal bests.

Securing marks of 4:45 (mile) and 9:41 (3k) are very good. However, that mile time is not only looking like an NCAA qualifier, but also an All-American contending result as well, currently placing Lawrence at NCAA #6 in the event.

With the Grizzlies looking to score as many points in the distance events as possible at the RMAC Indoor Championships, what will Lawrence run? The mile and the DMR? The mile and the 3000 meters? The 800 and the DMR?

Either way, the conference meet will be a great way to solidify Lawrence as a national contender and give her promising momentum heading into the national meet.

She drops a little bit in our rankings, but not much, mainly because her resume is slightly mile-centric right now. Of course, when you're as good as she is in the mile, that shouldn't be seen as much of an issue.

12. Zoe Baker, Sophomore, Colorado Mines (Unranked)

Zoe Baker is no stranger to our TSR rankings, but this is the first time that she has made the list this season since our preseason list was published.

The Colorado Mines distance star currently has the nation's second-fastest time in the 5000 meters and the NCAA #11 time in the 3000 meters. She ran a PR of 16:19 at the Boston University Valentine Invitational to place 17th amongst a stacked field.

In retrospect, it makes sense that Baker, a long distance who thrives in aggressively paced races, would thrive in a field like what we saw at Boston University.

Last winter, Baker placed 3rd in the 5000 meters and 8th in the 3000 meters at the indoor national meet. This year, she looks like she is a legitimate 5k title contender, boasting extensive postseason experience and a resume that perfectly fits her abilities contend in the longer distances.

Baker not only has plenty of championship experience, but also the endurance of a 10k specialist, which should help her handle most aggressive paces that she could see at the national meet.

With Florance Uwajeneza not racing this season and Lauren Bailey now on the D1 scene, Baker should be viewed as a 5k national title favorite...in theory.

11. Hailey Streff, Senior, CSU-Pueblo (-4 / 7)

CSU-Pueblo's Hailey Streff jumped up another notch on the national contender ladder as she set a four-second personal best in the mile at Pittsburg State, running a huge time of 4:47 (NCAA #10). Couple that time with a mark of 2:11 in the 800 meters, and Streff had herself quite the weekend.

After a few years of running at altitude, it looks like Streff has finally found the magic formula for how to run fast at sea level. Of course, despite running so well as of late, we did have to drop Streff a few spots.

This is less because of her performances and more because of what everyone else did. In fact, there were three brand-new names who recently joined these rankings, as well as a few others who just had monumental performances.

The NCAA these days...it always keeps you on your toes, huh?

With the RMAC Championships fast approaching, will we Streff take on the mile/800 double? Or the mile/4x400/DMR triple like she did when she last ran it two years ago? She's certainly experienced and versatile enough to do either.

10. Allie Ludge, Rs. Senior, Grand Valley State (-2 / 8)

Has not competed since late January. Ludge the NCAA #5 time in the 3000 meters and NCAA #15 time in the mile.

9. Fiona Hawkins, Freshman, Adams State (Unranked)

It takes something spectacular for a runner to go from unranked to into side our top-10, and Hawkins has done just that. The Adams State youngster had been flying under the radar for most of the season, but she made her name known with her recent performances.

The rising Adams State star ran an impressive double of 4:45 (mile) and 9:31 (3k) at the Husky Classic and set massive new personal bests in the process. She now has the NCAA #4 time in the mile and the NCAA #8 time in the 3000 meters, making her one of the more dynamic upper-echelon distance talents that the NCAA has to offer.

The Adams State freshman seems to have adjusted well to collegiate running and could be the Grizzlies’ newest star runner.

We still have questions about how she will handle her inexperience on the national stage, especially in tactical settings, but it's hard to find any flaw on her resume right now.

8. Katie Doucette, Sophomore, Western Colorado (+2 / 10)

After jumping her way into our top-10 during the last round of rankings, Western Colorado's Katie Doucette moves up two spots to TSR #8 after an impressive performance in the 5000 meters at the Ichabod Invite. She ran 16:23 for an event win, a new personal best and the NCAA #4 this season.

Now, when looking at her overall resume this winter, Doucette now sits at NCAA #5 in the mile, NCAA #7 in the 3000 meters, NCAA #4 in the 5000 meters and NCAA #5 in the DMR.

Doucette has been a recognizable name for awhile, but she has never been a national-caliber star capable of making major noise on the national stage...at least, not until this winter. This season, she has shown major improvement and has developed into a versatile runner who is, maybe more importantly, consistently posting her best-ever performances in the month of February.

From a postseason peak perspective, Doucette looks like she may be one of the most dangerous names in D2 right now...

7. Alison Andrews-Paul, Senior, Simon Fraser (-2 / 5)

Andrews-Paul set a new personal best of 2:05 in the 800 meters at the Whitworth Invitational and maintains the NCAA #2 time in the event. The Simon Fraser ace is also part of the NCAA #6 DMR team and was on the NCAA #6 4x400 relay team.

In terms of raw speed and ability, Andrews-Paul has the most of it (compared to others on this list) based on her performances in the 400 meters. She could give Cleyet-Merle a run for her money in the 800 meters, but she would need to have a perfect race and the U. Indy star would need to slip-up.

Regardless, Andrews-Paul is set up for several All-American performances at the national meet. Her experience at Baylor and her ongoing excellence this season makes her a key name to watch.

Yes, she does drop a bit in our rankings, but with the women's 800 meters looking at stacked as it, trying to rank this Simon Fraser star much higher is a little challenging, at least at the moment.

6. Fatima Alanis, Sophomore, Queens (NC) (0 / 6)

Alanis maintains her TSR #6 ranking after several impressive performances in the DMR. She helped the Royals run the NCAA #1 time in the DMR with a mark of 11:37 at the JDL DMR Invitational. A week earlier, the relay ran 11:39 at the GVSU "Big Meet".

In additional to her crucial role as the anchor of Queens’ DMR, Alanis has the NCAA #26 time in the mile, the NCAA #2 time in the 3000 meters and the NCAA #5 time in the 5000 meters.

That string of national rankings puts Alanis is a tough spot in regards to what events she should pursue at the indoor national meet. She could easily score in the 5000 meters, but Queens also needs her in the DMR on the first night.

My bet is Queens will go all-in on the DMR and Alanis will double in the 3000 meters, giving a fair balance of relay duties and individual glory. There is, however, a small argument to be had that Alanis' best event is actually the 5000 meters.

Alanis gained attention last outdoor season after running 16:20 in the 5000 meters. She later placed 3rd in the 10,000 meters and 9th in the 5000 meters at the NCAA Outdoor Championships. The Queens star then placed 3rd at the NCAA XC Championships.

She has earned three top-10 All-American performance in less than a year and has posted top-level results throughout this indoor season.

All of that makes Alanis one of the best up-and-coming distance runners in the nation and despite our prediction that she won't contest the 5k at the national meet, we would not count her out of winning an individual event at the national meet in March.

5. Klaudia O’Malley, Sophomore, Grand Valley State (-2 / 3)

It does not seem fair that Grand Valley State's Klaudia O’Malley moves down two spots in this round of rankings despite owning the NCAA #3 time in the mile, the NCAA #3 time in the 3000 meters and is part of the NCAA #2 DMR team.

This just shows how competitive Division Two is at the moment and highlights the impressive performances by several women across all distance events.

At no fault of her own, O’Malley comes in at TSR #5 after running a new PR of 4:44 to win the mile at the GVSU "Big Meet" while also aiding the Lakers’ DMR to a winning effort.

Despite being runner-up at the cross country national meet, it appears that O’Malley will be focusing on the mile, 3000 meters and the DMR come March rather than taking a shot at the 5000 meters which, in theory, could be her beset event.

Even so, her improvement in the mile and her 9:23 season opener for 3000 meters leads us to believe that this choice will pay off immensely.

4. Yasmine Hernandez, Senior, CSU-Pueblo (0 / 4)

Hernandez maintains her TSR #4 spot due to her NCAA #2 time in the mile and NCAA #3 time in the 800 meters.

This CSU-Pueblo veteran set a new PR of 4:43 in the mile at the Indoor Gorilla Classic to win the event, as well as win the 800 meters with a time of 2:09 for a quietly impressive double, maybe one of the best doubles of the last couple of weeks.

Hernandez is undoubtedly the second best middle distance runner in D2 at the moment, but she has several women not far behind her which will make for an interesting national meet. Her experience, consistency, top-tier times and understanding of her competition makes her a comfortable lock at our TSR #4 position.

3. Celine Ritter, Senior, Lee (Tenn.) (-1 / 2)

If our rankings were based solely on consistent performances throughout the season, Celine Ritter would take the top spot. The Lee superstar has the NCAA #35 time in the 800 meters, the NCAA #7 time in the mile, the NCAA #1 time in the 3000 meters, the NCAA #3 time in the 5000 meters and is part of the NCAA #10 DMR squad.

Talk about an all-around contributor...

Since our last round of rankings, Ritter won three Gulf South Conference titles for the Flames with impressive performances in the 800 meters, the mile and the 3000 meters. Ritter has impressive range from the 800 meters up to the 5k, giving us an argument that she is the most consistent and versatile runner on this list.

Ritter and her head coach, Caleb Morgan, have some decisions to make as to what she should run or focus on at the national meet. There's not necessarily one good answer to that, but she'll be an entertaining name to watch regardless of what she chooses.

2. Brianna Robles, Sophomore, Adams State (+7 / 9)

Robles jumps up seven spots in our rankings due to her amazing performance in the 5000 meters at the Husky Classic from the other weekend.

In that race, the Adams State superstar placed 13th overall and beat several highly respected Division One runners. Her time of 16:03 is the third-fastest time ever run in D2history.

When looking at the seasonal rankings, Robles overtook the NCAA #1 spot in that event and now has the fastest time by 16 seconds, making her the clear title favorite at the upcoming NCAA Indoor Championships assuming the race unfolds in her favor (which is not a given).

Robles also has the NCAA #6 time in the 3000 meters and the NCAA #22 time in the mile. It is almost guaranteed that she will do the 5k/3k double at the indoor national meet.

The question is not if she will be an All-American in both events, but rather how high of an All-American will she be in both events?

1. Berenice Cleyet-Merle, Senior, Indianapolis (0 / 1)

Indianapolis' Bernice Cleyet-Merle set a new D2 record, as well as a new French national record, in the mile the other weekend with her jaw-dropping 4:31.99 performance at the Boston University Valentine Invitational.

Going into this race, we were a bit confused about her seed time of 4:30 because her previous PR was only 4:40. Of course, Cleyet-Merle proved us wrong and bettered her personal best by eight seconds.

We knew Cleyet-Merle was fast, but she proved to us that she is at the next level during this race. She placed 9th amongst that stacked field in Boston and was only bettered by professionals runners, Arkansas' Lauren Gregory (TSR #3 in our D1 rankings) and Binghamton's Emily Mackay (TSR #4 in our D1 rankings).

She currently has the NCAA #1 time in the 800 meters, the NCAA #1 time in the mile, the NCAA #4 time in the 3000 meters and is the anchor on the NCAA #4 DMR team in D2. What more could you want?

With this recent mile record being paired with her performances in the 800 meters this season, Cleyet-Merle will go down as one of the best, if not the best, D2 track athlete ever.