2022 D3 Outdoor Top 15 Rankings (Women): Update #3

TSR Collaboration
May 4, 2022
8 min read

Written by Brett Haffner and Kevin Fischer, 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.

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. Claudia Harnett, Freshman, U. of Chicago (Unranked)

Harnett returns to our rankings after winning the UAA title in the 1500 meters last week in a PR time of 4:30. She currently sits at NCAA #6 on the D3 national leaderboard in the 1500 meters and has also flexed her middle distance speed with an NCAA #7 mark in the 800 meters.

If you recall, Harnett sacrificed individual plaudits by scratching from the open 800 meters at the indoor national meet to help her teammates in the DMR. However, the spring season will provide her with a chance to earn those individual All-American honors. She could very well end up as an All-American in the 1500 meters or the 800 meters, or possibly both!

And as we’ve mentioned before, this is a true freshman. The potential upside that we could see from Harnett in the postseason, especially with one national meet already under her belt, makes her a very dangerous name to watch in the future.

14. Ana Tucker, Junior, Hope (Unranked)

Hope College's Ana Tucker has bounced back in a major way after an indoor season where she looked just a small step off.

This past weekend, Tucker competed in the 5000 meters at the Drake Relays and ran an excellent time of 16:36, a one-second PR and her best race in a long time.

The fact that her most recent 5k mark only made her the fourth-fastest D3 finisher in that field is pretty wild, but even in today’s Division Three landscape, it was a good-enough performance to earn her a ranking.

Tucker's prior experience and past successes make her a tough name to ignore going into the postseason. With a potentially momentum-boosting result now under her belt, Tucker end up being very dangerous a few weeks from now.

13. Clara Mayfield, Sophomore, Carleton (0 / 13)

Clara Mayfield toed the line for the 5k at the Drake Relays this past weekend, emerging as the third-best D3 runner to cross the line in a mark of 16:33, faltering behind behind only TSR #3 runner Kassie Parker and TSR #6 runner Fiona Smith.

Mayfield's last three races have been head-to-head battles against Smith, and she has fallen to her regional rival in each of those instances. They do, however, seem to bring the best out in each other, as Mayfield has run season bests in all of those races. She now sits at NCAA #5 in the 10k, NCAA #6 in the 5k and NCAA #17 in the 1500 meters.

This Carleton star has improved quite a bit in the longer distances given that the mile appeared to be her focus during indoor. She still needs to find that edge in order to compete with the upper-tier of women in these rankings, but Mayfield is fairly consistent and has found ways to post nationally competitive times in numerous events.

12. Kathleen McCarey, Sophomore, SUNY Geneseo (-4 / 8)

Has not competed since our last update.

11. Emma Kelley, Sophomore, Washington U. (-4 / 7)

Since our last update, Emma Kelley won the 400 meter title at the UAA Championships in an excellent mark of 56.08 seconds.

That is an incredible result for someone who primarily runs the 800 meters. It also gives Kelley something to think about in terms of her event selection at the outdoor national meet. A double, however, may not be feasible given the close scheduling proximity of the 400 meters and the 800 meters. She is also likely to run a leg on her 4x400 relay as well.

Either way, Kelleey is in a great position to record a high finish in either event. She's been super consistent this year and has seemingly gained an even greater edge on some of her competition since the indoor track season.

10. Delaney Sall, Sophomore, Calvin (+5 / 15)

Sall continues to impress this season, most recently dipping under the 2:10 barrier in the 800 meters with a 2:09 victory at the Davenport Invitational. If it weren’t for Esther Seeland, she would be a national title contender in the event.

It feels like the two-time All-American has been one of the bigger names in D3 for a long time. So the fact that she is in just her second year of competing collegiately is a little scary given the fact that she is constantly improving and shows no signs of stopping. Her momentum will make her to take down a few weeks from now.

9. Zanzie Demco, Senior, UW-Oshkosh (+1 / 10)

Prior to our last update we had already seen some good racing and nice wins from Zanzie Demco this season, but the fast times hadn’t quite come yet.

That, however, changed at Drake Relays when she ran 4:27 for 1500 meters at the Drake Relays to finish 4th in the unseeded section and 1st amongst non-D1 competitors.

Demco is in a great position headed into the postseason to add to her collection of accolades. She is tactically one of the better women in Division Three and she is arguably one of the most experienced women in the Division Three middle distance events. Her balance of 1500 meter strength and 800 meter speed makes her a key name to watch.

8. Ari Marks, Senior, Wellesley (-3 / 5)

Has not competed since our last update.

7. Aubrie Fisher, Sophomore, Wartburg (-1 / 6)

Fisher got another crack at the steeplechase when competing at the Drake Relays, running 10:21 to set a new PR in the process, taking 2nd overall.

Fisher's ongoing trend of improvement this outdoor season has been very promising in both the regular distance events and the steeplechase. However, she’s got a whole storm of challenges coming for her when she gets the chance to race Evie Miller over the barriers.

That is going to be a matchup that we are very much looking forward to in a few weeks, granted that both Miller and Fisher decide to run the steeplechase at the outdoor national meet.

These two will be the best opponents to push each other to get as close to that sub-10:00 barrier as possible. However, Miller is the clear favorite and Fisher will be the one playing potential spoiler -- and given her progression, that latter possibility is not out of the question.

6. Cassie Kearney, Senior, Middlebury (+5 / 11)

We’ve harped on more than one occasion this outdoor season about Kearney’s continued success in the middle distances.

This past weekend at the NEWMAC Championships, she ran 2:09 in the 800 meters, 4:26 in the 1500 meters, ran the 4x800 meters with her teammates and won all three events.

Wow.

We have just been so impressed with Kearney this season, as she’s continued to improve race after race after race in 2022. Her ability to effectively double on multiple occasions is super encouraging for the national meet where she will be racing multiple times throughout that weekend.

5. Fiona Smith, Sophomore, Saint Benedict (+4 / 9)

Fiona Smith has been on FIRE this spring.

In her first 5k race of this season, with a good group of women to race with, Smith capitalized on the opportunity to run in the 5000 meters at Drake Relays. She walked away with a statement 16:16 mark, putting her at NCAA #3 in Division Three this spring.

Smith also got to spend some quality time running with Kassie Parker throughout this race.

This was a huge step up for Smith who has been running consistently no matter what competitive setting that she’s in. She is quietly getting closer to the entrails of the top women in Division Three race by race. With the momentum that she has right now, she may be one of the last people someone would want to race in the postseason.

In the spring, Ari Marks felt like the best pick to produce an upset, even if it was a difficult possibility to imagine.

But this spring, Smith seems like she is that new potential title spoiler.

4. Evie Miller, Senior, Trine (0 / 4)

As we discussed in our First Thoughts article last week, Miller’s 10:06 mark in the steeplechase is unreal. Just unbelievably impressive. Absolutely next-level.

Her rise to success in the steeple has been rapid and wild, making her the early favorite to win a national title in this event. And frankly, she is a convincing title favorite in the steeplechase this year, even with Aubrie Fisher having an incredible season of her own.

However, we do have one question: What OTHER event(s) would she run at the outdoor national meet this spring?

Miller is ranked at NCAA #9 in the 800 meters and NCAA #5 in both the 1500 meters and the 5000 meters in Division Three this spring.

The steeplechase is going to be an obvious choice for Miller, but regardless of the other event that she chooses (if any at all), I am confident in saying that she could be an All-American in any of them.

3. Kassie Parker, Senior, Loras (-2 / 1)

With a few laps to go in the 5000 meters at the Drake Relays, I was not certain if Kassie Parker would finish as the top Division Three woman in that race.

She ultimately rallied, running 16:09, but this race was not her best. With that field and a 15:58 indoor 5000 meter PR to her name, that overall race could have very well been Parker’s race to win.

Nevertheless, running 16:09 for 5000 meters on a “bad” day is still noteworthy, because I would not at all be surprised if she could throw down a sub-15:50 performance in the coming weeks or even at the national meet.

If she's still able to fend off women like Fiona Smith, Clara Mayfield and Ana Tucker on an "off" day and still emerge as the top collegiate, then Parker, despite falling in our rankings, should still be viewed as a fairly comfortable 5k title lock as long as Ella Baran isn't completely fresh for this event.

2. Ella Baran, Junior, Johns Hopkins (+1 / 3)

Getting the opportunity to run in high-caliber competitive settings, Ella Baran has answered the call in a big way, capitalizing on major opportunity at the Virginia Challenge and the Penn Relays.

Her 15:49 mark over 5000 meters at the Virginia Challenge was wildly impressive, but also not shocking – she’s just that good. She leads Division Three by 20 seconds in the 5000 meters this spring, although we're not even sure if that's her best event...

At Penn Relays, even though she was only less than a second away from her PR, running 4:20, we found ourselves expecting just a little bit more from the Johns Hopkins ace. She had, after all, run 4:40 in this past winter.

At the very least, we were expecting her to be the top Division Three woman in that race. However, that honor went to Esther Seeland this time around.

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

Well, it’s finally happened.

For the first time in a good while, our TSR #1 spot is headlined by a new name.

There’s been no shock that Esther Seeland has been the dominant force in the 800 meters this spring amongst the Division Three women (spoiler alert: she still leads Division Three by 5.5 seconds in that event.)

At the Penn Relays, however, her 4:18 performance in the 1500 meters solidified her ability to potentially win a national title in this event, too.

Taking down Ella Baran was a big factor in earning our TSR #1 spot in our rankings as Seeland is the only woman who holds the national lead in two distance events.

If she decides to run the 800/1500 double at the outdoor national meet, then she will have a ton of work cut-out for her later this month...but it's also a risk that could certainly pay off in a big way for her.