2022 D3 Outdoor Top 15 Rankings (Women): Update #4

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. Clara Mayfield, Sophomore, Carleton (-2 / 13)

Mayfield had a solid double at the MIAC Championships, taking 2nd overall in both the 5000 meters and the 10,000 meters with respectable marks.

However, her name has flown a little bit under the national radar this year, mainly because of Fiona Smith has been taking all the glory...for now.

Mayfield has been outstanding at national meets during this academic calendar, showing off her improved ability to perform in the clutch. Her consistency feels like it has been overlooked and the progression in her personal bests has been beyond promising.

The 10k/5k double is always a tough one to manage, but it wouldn’t surprise us to see Mayfield pull out multiple All-American performances at the outdoor national meet.

14. Delaney Sall, Sophomore, Calvin (-4 / 10)

Sall had a busy day at the MIAA Field Day meet two weeks ago, running the 800/1500/4x400 triple. She set a new PR in the 1500 meters, running a strong 4:35 mark while also winning the prelims and the finals in the 800 meters.

Her performances in the half-mile have been trending in the right direction all season long, setting her up to capitalize on her fitness and peak at the national meet. And when you consider her success from the indoor national meet, it feels easy to say that she is one of the more reliable names to pick for an All-American spot at the national meet.

It would not surprise us at all to see Sall improve upon her 6th place placement from the indoor national meet in the 800 meters. However, the only reason she drops is because of other names making improvements.

13. Hope Murphy, Sophomore, Baldwin Wallace (Unranked)

Murphy had an excellent performance at the Harrison Dillard Twilight meet, running a breakout 4:26 mark in the 1500 meters to move her to NCAA #3 in Division Three for that event.

While she has made the final in the 1500 meter and the mile in her previous two attempts at national meets on the track, Murphy has surprisingly never earned All-American honors. However, with the way she's been running this outdoor season, that could very well change when you consider that she’s peaking at the perfect time.

Murphy may also have the advantage of being one of the few non-doublers in the 1500 meters this spring, as many other women will likely be doubling, unless her 800 meter mark of 2:11.82 sticks past the weekend, currently sitting at NCAA #19 in Division Three.

Either way, Murphy has been a consistent and underrated force in D3. She has found herself near the top of competitive races since the indoor season and her ability to slowly emerge into a contender following a nationally competitive mark validates the great year that she is having.

12. Kathleen McCarey, Sophomore, SUNY Geneseo (0 / 12)

Has not competed since our last update.

11. Zanzie Demco, Senior, UW-Oshkosh (-2 / 9)

At the WIAC Championships, Demco completed a strong 800/1500 double, running 2:10.38 in the 800 meter prelims and 4:29 in the 1500 meters, ultimately winning both event titles.

Demco was the most successful 800/1500 doubler at last year’s outdoor national meet, being the only woman to earn All-American status in both events. That’s tough to do when you consider that she had two prelims and two finals over the course of that national meet.

It would not shock us at all to see her execute the same double at this year’s outdoor national meet as Demco is a very reliable doubler and a clutch performer. But maybe more importantly, she has never looked this strong before.

One could argue that she is having the best season of her career.

And yes, she does drop a bit in our rankings, but that's more because of the performances that we saw from other women in this field rather than anything she did.

10. Margaret Trautner, Senior, Caltech (Unranked)

In her last two races, Trautner has secured national qualifying marks in both the 800 meters, running 2:08.43, and the 1500 meters, running 4:27.35. Someone seems to be peaking right on time, a development which complements her year-long consistency.

These new personal bests give Trautner the flexibility to choose either event at the outdoor national meet or even consider the dastardly 800/1500 double, which can be a bit tricky to navigate, having to go through two preliminaries and two finals.

When you consider that she tripled well in the 800/1500/4x400 meter relay at the SCIAC Championships, winning both the 800 meters and 1500 meters with respectable marks, I wouldn’t put the double out of the question for Trautner who seems like she quietly delivers every time she toes the line.

9. Aubrie Fisher, Sophomore, Wartburg (-2 / 7)

Fisher went after a tough triple at the ARC Championships, winning both the 1500 meters and the steeplechase, while taking runner-up in the 5000 meters behind Kassie Parker. All in all, it was a promising display for Fisher who handled multiple races and multiple rounds at a championship meet.

It’s extremely likely that we’ll see Fisher compete in the steeplechase and the 5000 meters at the national meet considering that she did the same thing in 2021 with fairly solid success.

Will she go with Evie Miller to make the steeplechase a real battle? If yes, then Fisher could certainly throw down a PR and potentially vie for back-to-back finishes as a steeplechase national champion...even if Miller is the overwhelming favorite.

Fisher drops two spots in our rankings, but the incredible performances that we saw from Emma Kelley and the promising postseason rise of Ari Marks took priority in our rankings...for now.

8. Emma Kelley, Sophomore, Washington U. (+3 / 11)

Emma Kelley has competed in 16 races this outdoor season and has not lost a single one.

16!

And not one loss!

That is incredible!

For Kelley, who competes in the very competitive UAA conference and has stretched down to the 400 meters and 4x400m relay many times, this accomplishment is wildly impressive. The number of race scenarios that she has had to navigate through to get those wins makes her an extremely reliable name on the national stage this year.

However, the icing on the cake came from the St. Francis Fighting Chance Invite, as she set a massive PR in the 800 meters, running 2:08.06 to grab yet another win. She’s on a major roll at the moment, peaking exactly at the right time.

When Kelley gets the chance to compete against names like Esther Seeland or Cassie Kearney at the outdoor national meet, we will very curious to see what will happen. We would not count Kelley out to give either one of those women a run for their money in the 800 meters.

Consistency, plus top-tier marks, plus momentum, plus winning is usually a good recipe for major success, even on the biggest stages.

7. Ari Marks, Senior, Wellesley (+1 / 8)

Prior to our last update, we hadn’t seen Ari Marks contest a 10k, but had high expectations for her in the event given her great performances in both cross country and the 5k on the track.

Well, she absolutely delivered on those expectations with a solo 34:16 effort to win the 10k at the New England D3 Championships. Then, she came back to comfortably win the 5k the next day.

This was her first meet in three weeks, but she showed that she has not lost a single step and that she is ready to compete amongst the very best in championship season. That, however, is something that we already knew after the indoor track season that she had.

6. Fiona Smith, Sophomore, Saint Benedict (-1 / 5)

Primarily a longer distance athlete, Smith showcased some impressive speed at Saint Thomas Tommie Twilight with a 4:29 mark for 1500 meters, a time that puts her at NCAA #9 on the D3 national leaderboard.

The next week at the MIAC Championships, she went back up to the 10k and the 5k, taking home wins in both events over conference rival and TSR #15 runner, Clara Mayfield.

Smith has, of course, run incredibly fast times this season (4:29/16:16/34:33), but she has also continued to show that she can compete and win in clutch championship settings. She's extremely dangerous when racing for position and for wins and has consistently taken down some of the best talents in the nation.

On paper, Smith's resume doesn't have a flaw.

5. Cassie Kearney, Senior, Middlebury (+1 / 6)

Kearney continues to rise in our rankings after winning the 800 meters at the NEICAAA Championships in a highly impressive time of 2:08.05.

She just keeps getting better week-in and week-out and she is approaching her athletic peak at the perfect time. If she opts to go for the 1500/800 double at the national meet, then she should comfortably be an All-American in both event -- and we’ve already seen at the NESCAC Championships that doubling is no issue for her.

A fresh 800 meter race may also be a possibility, and if she takes that route, then she will likely be Esther Seeland’s strongest challenger for that title depending on how you view Emma Kelley.

Either way, Kearney has been great since the beginning of this outdoor track season. She is one of the best combined 800 meter and 1500 meter runners in D3 and has really been able to capitalize on her talent in those events, using the momentum of one PR to earn a PR in a different event.

Oh, and she's also run 16:54 for 5000 meters this spring. What's not to like?

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

Evie Miller had one of the busiest and most interesting meets that we’ve seen in a while at the MIAA Championships a couple weeks ago.

On day one, she won the 10k, beating Ana Tucker and flirting with the 36 minute barrier in the process. The 800 meter prelims were later that same day, where she made it comfortably into the final.

Day two started with Miller earning a 1500 meter win over All-American standouts such as Delaney Sall and Sadie Heeringa. Then she got edged out by Sall in the 800 meter final before running a leg of Trine’s 3rd place 4x400 meter relay, accounting for 34 team points in total.

As ridiculous as this is, it somehow isn’t all that shocking to see Miller run as well as she just did. In a way, this meet was a microcosm of who Evie Miller is as an athlete. If anybody can put together five races in two days ranging from 4x400 meter relay to the 10k, it’s her. The value she brings to a program is overwhelmingly impressive.

3. Kassie Parker, Senior, Loras (0 / 3)

Parker has played around with her speed a little bit since our last update, running a personal best of 4:27 for 1500 meters and 2:17 for her first 800 meter race since 2018. The next week, at the American Rivers Conference Championships, she moved back up to her familiar 10k and 5k distances, winning both events and finishing 2nd in the 1500 meters.

Not much has changed in our evaluation of the Loras ace as she is still very much the title favorite in the 10k and arguably the 5k as well depending on Ella Baran.

2. Ella Baran, Junior, Johns Hopkins (0 / 2)

Has not competed since our last update.

1. Esther Seeland, Sophomore, Messiah (0 / 1)

Esther Seeland is coming off of a very eventful conference meet that saw her win the 1500 meters, the 800 meters and the 400 meters. Her times weren’t anything crazy, but it was a very professional performance where she did what she needed to do to avoid any upsets.

While we didn’t really learn anything new about Seeland over these past two weeks, she has done more than enough to maintain our TSR #1 ranking.

ADDED

Hope Murphy (Baldwin Wallace)

Margaret Trautner (Caltech)

KICKED OFF

Ana Tucker (Hope)

Claudia Harnett (U. of Chicago)

JUST MISSED (in no particular order)

Nicky Johnson (Middlebury)

Ana Tucker (Hope)

Meredith Bloss (Claremont-Mudd-Scripps)

Alex Ross (Johns Hopkins)

Sadie Heeringa (Calvin)

HONORABLE MENTIONS (in no particular order)

Elizabeth Donnelly (Gustavus Adolphus)

Emily Konkus (Washington U.)

Molly Fitzgibbons (Williams)

Allison Uhl (TCNJ)

Alyssa Laughner (Baldwin Wallace)