2024 Boston U. Season Opener First Thoughts (Part One): Ethan Strand + Parker Wolfe Just Ran 7:30 (3k) & We Have No Idea How to Process That -- Plus, Lemngole's 5k Record & Blanks Goes Sub-13:00

Gosh, how can you not be in a good mood after the evening of racing that we just saw? The Boston U. Sharon Colyear-Danville Season Opener was an absolute thriller as expected. Nearly all of the races beat our already-high expectations, thus leaving us at The Stride Report with plenty to talk about.

Below, I offered a few pieces of analysis and insights on the distance races that took place on Saturday. In an effort to get this article out at a reasonable time, I'll only be detailing the very best performances from Boston.

But don't fret! We'll be sure to push out another article tomorrow that offers a greater in-depth look at all of the top distance action from earlier today.

Let's get started, shall we?

Oregon's Wilma Nielsen (4:31) Wins Mile, Freshman Teammate Ali Ince (4:32) Emerges as Second-Best Collegian

If the Oregon women weren't already considered to be, "Mile U," then they certainly are now. That's because Wilma Nielsen and freshman teammate Ali Ince were flat-out awesome in the women's mile at the Boston U. Season Opener. The former ran 4:31 to secure the overall win while the latter was 3rd overall and the second-best collegian in a time of 4:32.

Nielsen joined the Ducks this past offseason and put together a quietly solid campaign on the grass. And in retrospect, that improved aerobic strength was almost certainly going to translate to a stronger mile time than what I had predicted for her (4:34).

But what I really admired about Nielsen was her ability to so perfectly navigate around a respectable field. Sure, she was clearly the best runner in that field, but that shouldn't take away from her near-perfect execution.

In a post-race interview with The Stride Report, Nielsen noted that she'll likely be focusing on the 800 meters this season. But with a 4:28 mile PR on the outdoor oval and a 4:31 mile time in early December, one has to wonder if the mile will be her focus come February and March.

As for Ali Ince, you could argue that she had the best performance of anyone in that race relative to expectations. Yes, she was an elite middle distance runner at the high school level, but running a 4:32 mile PR in her first collegiate track race is outstanding! That kind of result signals an extremely bright future, especially when you consider her pedigree.

Given her youth-based upside, it feels plenty likely that Ince's best races for this season are still to come. And while this may sound like an aggressive take, one has to wonder if the rookie Duckling could scare the 4:30 mile barrier come the end of the season.

Georgetown's Tinoda Matsatsa Runs 3:54 (Mile) PR to Set Hoya Program Record

I was admittedly pretty conservative with mile my predictions going into Saturday's Boston U. Season Opener. While I really liked the skillset of numerous collegians in this field, I didn't see any upper-echelon milers who were going to run faster than 3:56...or so I thought.

After an outstanding freshman year, Georgetown's Tinoda Matsatsa looked as sharp as ever on Saturday. The Hoya sophomore hung on to Adidas pro Josh Hoey for as long as he could before getting pulled to the finish line with a 3:54 mile PR.

Saturday's mile race wasn't about tactics and it wasn't about trying to knock off any summer and fall-time rust. Instead, the race was a simple test of one's raw strength. And when it came to Matsatsa, his strength turned out to be far greater than we were expecting it to be.

A 3:54 mile PR is just fast enough to make us wonder if he'll consider contesting that event on the national stage come March. Is it likely that he'll choose the mile over the 800 meters assuming that he qualifies for both? No, it's not, but it is a possibility, especially when you consider how dangerous he could be in a tactical mile setting.

But with greater strength under his belt, what can a more experienced version of Matsatsa do over 800 meters? Could he break his own collegiate record over 1000 meters and dip into the 2:17 range? That is a very possible scenario.

Regardless, Georgetown's sophomore star seems to now have the raw fitness to pair with the sneaky-good tactical acumen that he showed in the first-half of his freshman year.

Shannon Flockhart Runs 8:45 (3k) to Emerge as Top Collegian, Upsets McCabe, Appleton & Ayyildiz

I like to think that I had a pretty good grasp of the women's 3000-meter field going into Saturday.

I figured that Nike pro Bailey Hertenstein would be in contention for the win. But when it came to top collegiate honors, I viewed Ceili McCabe (West Virginia), Silan Ayyildiz (Oregon) and Margot Appleton (Virginia) as the three best contenders.

For the most part, that pre-race analysis was largely on par with what happened. Bailey Hertenstein secured the overall win with an 8:45 (3k) mark thanks to a big last lap effort. Behind her, McCabe, Ayyildiz and Appleton went 8:45-8:46-8:46, respectively.

However, what I didn't tell you was that it was actually Shannon Flockhart of Providence who was the top collegian in the field! An impressive last lap kick gave her the honor of being the top collegiate runner with a phenomenal 8:45 (3k) PR!

Over the last few years, Flockhart has proven to be a fantastic miler. She ran 4:04 for 1500 meters this past summer and has earned multiple All-American honors between the 1500 meters and the mile. The Friar ace also had a breakthrough cross country season, emerging as a true low-stick before earning a stunning 24th place All-American finish at the NCAA XC Championships!

When you think about Flockhart's history as a miler, combined with her recent boost in aerobic strength, it almost seems obvious that she was going to run a 3k time as fast as she just did.

On paper, Flockhart is the perfect 3k runner. In fact, I would go as far to say that she is now an All-American favorite in that event after seeing how well she fared on Saturday! And if that seems far-fetched for a predominant miler, then just remember that Providence could assemble a national title-winning DMR later this season.

And among all of the distance doubles that one could attempt at the national meet, the DMR/3k double is arguably the most realistic.

Ethan Strand & Parker Wolfe Demolish NCAA 3k Record With Pair of 7:30 Marks, Yaseen Abdalla (7:34) & Gary Martin (7:36) Also Go Under Old Record

I am at a complete loss for words.

I sincerely can't believe what I just saw.

What we just witnessed on Saturday afternoon on a small red track in Boston is so unbelievable that it seems too absurd to even dream about.

I am, of course, talking about the North Carolina duo of Ethan Strand and Parker Wolfe running 7:30.15 and 7:30.23, respectively, over 3000 meters. And for those who aren't aware of what the former collegiate record was, it was 7:36.42 which was set by Drew Bosley back in the winter of 2023.

Now, admittedly, it did feel plenty realistic that the NCAA record could fall on Saturday. In fact, in a post-race interview with Ethan Strand, the UNC star even said that he was expecting to run around 7:34 or 7:35.

But 7:30?

Well, even Strand thought that a time like that was completely out of the question.

Not only did both Strand and Wolfe completely obliterate the NCAA 3k record, but they also earned the World Indoor Championship qualifying standard by going under 7:31.00.

And according to Strand, the idea of going faster than that time was, "ridiculous."

Let's forget about the NCAA Indoor Championships for a moment -- these performances transcend a simple championship meet. Even in an era where nearly everyone is faster than the previous generation, it's this series of results that truly opens your eyes to what the new standard of excellence is in the NCAA.

Sure, Nico Young ran the NCAA 5k record of 12:57 last winter, but having not one, not two, not three, but FOUR different men run under a former NCAA record in one race is completely unprecedented. And frankly, it's not like Strand, Wolfe or Abdalla were ever in danger of NOT getting the record on Saturday -- they surpassed the old mark with relative ease.

But what makes these kinds of results so challenging to comprehend is that, with the exception of Wolfe, you wouldn't have thought that Strand or Abdalla or Martin had the credentials to be "world class" runners.

Strand has never won an NCAA title before and Wolfe has only ever secured one NCAA title across all three seasons. If I had told you two years ago that a pair of collegians who each ran 7:30 (3k) would have only one national title between the two of them, you would be completely dumbfounded, right?

Heck, you'd probably be even more shocked when I told you that neither of those men have finished in the top-five at the NCAA XC Championships before!

The point that I am ultimately trying to make is that you are witnessing a generational shift in understanding of what "greatness" in this sport should look like. And what better example of that than the women's indoor 5k...

Alabama's Doris Lemngole Breaks Parker Valby's NCAA Indoor 5k Record in 14:52.57, Hilda Olemomoi Runs 14:52.84 for Narrow Runner-Up Finish

Few women have ever had a more dominant streak of racing in the NCAA than Parker Valby did during the 2023-2024 academic calendar year. In her final three seasons of collegiate competition, the Florida superstar won five national titles and set three NCAA records (the indoor 5k and outdoor 5k each being separate).

After a monumental year of all-time elite performances, it was personally hard for me to fathom someone matching Valby's talent in the near future. Sure, I knew how incredible women like Doris Lemngole, Hilda Olemomoi and Pamela Kosgei were, but expecting any of those women to emulate one of Valby's career-defining results seemed like a fairly big stretch.

Of course, on Saturday afternoon, that "big stretch" became a reality.

In an aggressively-paced race, both Doris Lemngole (Alabama) and Hilda Olemomoi (Florida) chased after the sub-15:00 barrier -- and got even more than that. When both women stopped the clock, Lemngole had (very narrowly) broken the NCAA indoor 5k record with a time of 14:52.57. Olemomoi barely missed that same record with a time of 14:52.84.

Valby's prior indoor 5k record sat at 14:52.79.

Up until last year, no collegiate woman had ever run faster than 15:12 for the indoor 5k (or at least, they had never done it as an attached runner). Nowadays, three collegiate women have gone under the 15-minute barrier on the indoor oval and a total of five collegiate women have (very comfortably) crushed the old record -- the other two women being Pamela Kosgei and Amy Bunnage who ran 15:00, each.

The NCAA is flat-out faster than it ever has been before. And yet, we can still clearly see how women like Valby stack up against the all-time greats. That's why it feels like Doris Lemngole's recent mark still holds a grand level of importance. Sure, everyone is getting faster, but you could argue that the Alabama superstar is still outpacing the growth seen around the rest of the country.

Graham Blanks Becomes Second Collegian to Ever Run Under 13:00 (5k), Posts 12:59 PR En Route to Dominant Win

Never in my life did I think I would have such little to say about a collegian running under 13 minutes for 5000 meters. That, however, is probably the greatest sign of respect that I can give to an athlete like Graham Blanks -- actually expecting a result like that just goes to show how insanely talented he has proven to be.

The Harvard superstar executed his race plan on Saturday evening exactly how you thought he would. Blanks put himself behind the pacers and simply followed them for the first-half of the race. And once they stepped off, there was no one in the field who could come close to hanging with him.

Instead, he separated himself from everyone else and simply chased the clock. And despite some "just okay" pacing as well as a little bit of lap traffic, Blanks still secured a new 5k PR and sub-13:00 clocking of 12:59.

Did we learn anything new about Blanks with this performance?

Truthfully, no, we did not.

Of course, that isn't supposed to be a bad thing. If anything, his latest effort is simply validation that he is, in fact, the best long distance runner in the NCAA (depending on how you want to define the 3k).

Are there questions about tactics and how he'll handle someone like Parker Wolfe on the national stage? Yes, I think that's fair to ponder, especially after seeing the North Carolina megastar produce a 7:30 (3k) personal best earlier today.

Even so, Blanks has been beyond elite and it's tough to see how he won't be the favorite over 5000 meters come March...that is, assuming he doesn't go pro between now and then.