BIG 10 Preview

Entries have just been released for the BIG 10 Conference Championships and it looks to be setup for an exciting weekend. This conference championship features some of the top individual performers from the NCAA including the Wisconsin male duo of Oliver Hoare and Morgan McDonald, as well as 3k star Alicia Monson of Wisconsin and middle-distance phenom Danae Rivers of Penn State. With plenty of depth in each event, expect the BIG 10 to produce some exciting action on the track this weekend.

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MEN

800

The BIG 10 has three men currently qualified for NCAA's in the 800 and two of them will face-off over the distance this weekend. Cooper Williams of Indiana comes in as the top-ranked individual with a mark of 1:47.24, closely followed by Domenic Perretta of Penn State with a 1:48.09. The third qualifier, Frank Hayes of Ohio State, has opted to run the 600 this weekend.

The field features five men who have all run under the 1:50 barrier which should provide great depth across the four preliminary heats. With how unpredictable the middle-distance events can be, any of these athletes could come away with the title, although we tend to favor the likes of Williams and Perretta.

Perretta’s current mark is over a second faster than anyone except Williams, and WIlliams has almost a full second on Perretta. Assuming the two make it through prelims okay, they should be set for a showdown in the finals. Right now, they rank #8 and #12, respectively in the country which all but guarantees them a trip to Nationals next weekend. This weekend will be a great chance to tune-up their racing skills before they face stronger competition next weekend.

Mile

This race looks to be the most exciting based on the athletes entered. The heats feature four sub four milers, including NCAA leader Oliver Hoare of Wisconsin who has posted a mark of 3:54.83 at the Millrose Games. Behind Hoare is Kyle Mau of Indiana who ran 3:57.61 two weeks ago at Iowa State to claim the #4 ranking in the NCAA. Jonathan Davis of Illinois sits at #10 with a mark of 3:58.06, and George Kusche became the first ever athlete from Nebraska to break the barrier when he ran 3:59.61 earlier this season.

Hoare will come in as the heavy favorite given he has the fastest time in the country and almost three seconds on Mau. Since winning the outdoor 1500 meter title last spring, Hoare has been consistently putting up big performances both on the cross country course and the track. He has shown great range this indoor season, posting the #5 time over 3000 meters of 7:48.81 when he edged out Mau (who ran 7:50.17) at the Indiana University Relays. While indoor miles can be tactile, Hoare’s substantial gap on the field should provide him some extra wiggle room up front and it would be surprising to see anyone beat him this weekend.

Of course things rarely go as planned on the indoor track and one slip-up by Hoare could open the door for either Mau or Davis. Both men have been very consistent this season and have tested their legs over the 800 distance, running marks in the 1:51-52 range. Mau is the defending champion in this event and Davis finished runner-up in the 3K in 2018. While Hoare should be the favorite, keep your eyes on these two as they will surely be ready come Friday.

3000

If the mile does not turn out as planned, Kyle Mau always has the 3K to lean back on. He enters this weekend as the top seed in the event and has a personal best this season that is six seconds faster than anyone else in the field. Assuming he is not burnt out from the mile, he should have a great opportunity to win his first BIG 10 title in the 3K on Saturday.

That title will not come easy, however. Behind him, Indiana teammate Ben Veatch and fellow mile competitor George Kusche will be looking to win their first indoor titles as well. Veatch comes in with a personal best of 7:56.01 and Kusche has run 7:57.16 this season. While both Mau and Kusche will likely have at least one race in their legs, Veatch will have the benefit of fresh legs.

Another man who comes in fresh is John Aho of Michigan. The sophomore has run 7:57.54 this season and is the only other runner to have broken the 8:00 barrier this season. The pace will likely be determined by either Aho or Veatch as both Mau and Kusche have great speed and would likely be content to let the race come down to a fast finish. If either Aho or Veatch want the title, their best bet is to make it an honest pace from the gun and hope the mile prelims take something out of their competitors legs.

5000

The reigning NCAA XC champion will be making his season debut over 5000 meters this winter and is favorite to win the BIG 10 title while doing it. Morgan McDonald of Wisconsin has been having a great 2018-19 campaign and is currently #2 in the NCAA for 3000 meters with a mark of 7:42.76. He has only ever raced the 5000 meter distance indoors twice - both at BIG 10 Championships. At those meets he finished runner-up to Mason Ferlic in 2016 and followed up with a win in 2017. This year, he is poised for back-to-back titles, but will face strong competition in the process.

Obsa Ali of Minnesota burst onto the scene in 2018 when he won the NCAA steeplechase title. Ali had a solid career at Minnesota leading up to that race, but had not produced any huge results until then. After redshirting cross country this past fall, he has been posting indoor personal bests of 7:54.92 for 3000m and 13:38.41 (NCAA #7) for 5000 meters. Ali finished runner-up to McDonald at this meet last year and will be looking to turn the tables this weekend.

The field for this race is incredibly deep, with two other athletes having run sub-13:50 this season. Jaret Carpenter of Purdue (13:43) and Timothy McGowan of Penn State (13:46) could find themselves in contention for the win. Both have had strong showings this season and they are currently ranked #19 and #20 in the NCAA for this distance. It would be surprising to see the field chase a qualifying mark (sub-13:42) unless McDonald is looking to race the distance at NCAA's. He has yet to run the event this season making this is only chance to qualify.

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WOMEN

800

Headlining the marquee middle-distance event will be Danae Rivers of Penn State. Currently ranked #3 in the NCAA, Rivers has been on a tear this year with dominant showings over the 800 and mile distances. She also broke the collegiate indoor record in the 1000 meters earlier this season when she ran 2:38. Right now, Rivers has a mark of 2:02.95 for this event, almost three seconds faster than any other woman in the field. While Rivers will certainly be running multiple events, there is no reason she cannot or rather should not win.

While Rivers is far-and-away the best runner in the field, Kelsey Harris of Indiana has been making a name for herself this season as well. Harris is the only other BIG 10 woman currently in a spot to qualify for NCAA's in this event with a time of 2:05.46. It is unlikely Harris can beat Rivers even on her best day, but stranger things have happened. Harris comes into this race as a solid runner-up choice and will almost certainly be racing again at NCAA's in the near future.

Mile

With Danae Rivers opting out of the mile, the favorite of the field becomes Hannah Meier of Michigan. Meier is the only woman in the BIG 10 besides Rivers who is currently qualifying for NCAA's in this event. She comes in ranked #11 which all but guarantees her a trip to Nationals next weekend.

This race will be Meier’s to lose. She comes in with a personal best more than five seconds faster than the next woman and no one else has even broken the 4:40 barrier. As long as she can make it through prelims with no mishaps, Meier has a great chance to win her first individual BIG 10 title.

If Meier does falter, keep an eye on Michigan State’s Annie Fuller. The sophomore is the only other woman to have broken 4:40 this season despite only racing the distance twice. She also owns an 800m best of 2:09 which provides excellent finishing speed if the race turns tactile.

3000

As previously mentioned, Alicia Monson is the current NCAA leader for this distance after one of the biggest upsets we have seen all season. In a Millrose field full of experienced professional women, Monson made a late move to take the win in the #3 fastest time in NCAA history, running 8:45.97 for the distance. An interesting note from that performance is it bested her previous fastest mark of 9:14 by nearly 30 seconds - a mark she posted at the BIG 10 meet last year.

This weekend’s race provides a great chance for Monson to earn her first BIG 10 title on the track. No other women is within 20 seconds of her time and she has the fastest mile time of any women in the field which gives her the advantage in a more tactile race.

The race for 2nd should be tight with a number of women having run between 9:10 and 9:20 this season. Bethany Hasz of Minnesota has the #2 fastest mark in the field having run a school record of 9:11 earlier this season at Iowa State. Behind her, both Katherine Receveur of Indiana and Erin McDonald of Michigan State have run 9:19 this winter. Any of those three could come away with 2nd place on the right day and while Hasz comes in with the best mark, Receveur has the best closing speed if this turns tactile.

Hasz will benefit if Monson chooses to string things out early and make it a fast race, but there is no clear-cut runner-up in this field.

5000

This race presents a unique scenario for the Wisconsin women. As of today, the only runner in the BIG 10 qualified for NCAA's is Alicia Monson who sits at #11, but her teammate Amy Davis is ranked #21 and only five seconds out of a qualifying mark. It is unlikely that any of the women ahead of her will scratch the race which means Davis’s only option would be to throw down a fast time this weekend.

As it stands today, Davis would need to run under 15:42 to move into a qualifying position - assuming no one else runs anything faster this weekend. Monson has run 15:34 this season which opens up the possibility of pacing Davis to an NCAA qualifier. Will it happen? Probably not - it would take a big solo effort by Monson to run that fast with no competition and BIG 10s is not necessarily the place to try this given NCAA's are only a week away. On the off chance they make the attempt, this race instantly becomes one to watch.

If the Wisconsin duo get after it, there are a couple other women who may also try and jump on the pace. Katherine Receveur has not had her best season this winter but she owns an indoor personal best of 15:28 from 2017. Her teammate Margaret Allen has also run quite fast this year, posting a mark of 15:49, only two seconds back of Davis. Regardless of if they choose to chase a qualifier or not, this group of women should be leading the charge behind Monson this weekend.