Bullet Points: 2022 Indoor Conference Weekend

The Friday of conference weekend can sometimes be a weird day. Prelims, being tactical in nature, rarely produce nationally-impactful results. However, there are always a few key results that appear in those first-round races. The same can be said with a few early finals such as the DMR, the 5k and the 3k.

Below, we opted to implement a "bullet point" format, briefly highlighting some semi-notable (and some very notable) results from yesterday. Now, admittedly, we couldn't get to all of the results, as some were a little more impactful than others, but we gave it our best go.

Let's begin...

• North Carolina youngster Taryn Parks had the fastest prelim mile race of the ACC Indoor Championships on Friday, running 4:37 in what was a very encouraging performance. That was the first result of her collegiate career that has truly stood out, although her 2:46 mark for 1000 meters suggested that she could run that fast. Parks was a high school superstar, so it's nice to see that she can still replicate those eyebrow-raising performance as a collegiate. I'll be excited to see what she does in the finals.

• This fact will likely be overlooked, but the Virginia men qualified four men for mile finals at the ACC Indoor Championships. Of those four athletes, three of them hold freshman eligibility. That's a fairly substantial result for Virginia. With only 10 men in this final, two of these Cavalier runners are guaranteed to score barring any DNS or DNF results. It'll be interesting if they opt to control this race as a team during the finals.

• Katelyn Tuohy is BACK. The NC State star toed the line for the women's ACC 5k and dropped a huge time of 15:41 to secure the title. That's a major development, especially since we didn't know what Tuohy's status was after not racing since December. That result will place Tuohy at NCAA #16 in the women's 5k this season, the last automatic qualifying spot for the indoor national meet. Will anyone else run a national qualifying 5k time to bump Tuohy out? That's certainly possible, and if it does happen, then Tuohy could be out of a qualifying spot in this event. There is a very realistic possibility that none of the women ahead of her in this 5000 meter field will scratch the event.

• Really solid runner-up showing for NC State's Alexandra Hays who ran 15:51 in the 5000 meters on Friday. That was a solid result which validates her 3k performance from earlier this year. However, that time was also super on-par with our expectations. I don't think anyone is too surprised by her race.

• Virginia Tech's Seb Anthony and Clemson's Aman Thornton will miss the 800 meter finals at the ACC Championships after failing to qualify out of the prelims. That's a major bummer, but there was also strong potential for a top seed in this field to miss a qualifying mark. It also makes sense that out of the favorites who were unable to make the final, it was the two men with a lack of ACC experience. Anthony, despite being a D2 All-American, joined the Hokies from Queens (NC) as a graduate transfer while Thornton is a transfer from Illinois who had never raced at this high of level prior to this season.

• Seeing Virginia Tech's Lindsey Butler and Hannah Ballow control their 800 meter prelims and score times of 2:04 isn't exactly stunning. However, Florida State's Ruby Stauber running 2:04 in the prelims was a major development. Don't forget, Stauber was a national-caliber superstar during her time at LSU and Oregon and an 800 meter All-American. Now, after a few seasons at Vanderbilt, the newest FSU Seminole seems to be nearing some of her top fitness yet again. This 2:04 mark is super encouraging and it could result in an improved personal best that puts her in the 2:03 range during the finals on Saturday.

• Notre Dame's Matthew Carmody and Josh Methner went 1-2 in the men's 5000 meters, running 13:47 and 13:48, respectively. Both men threw down 5k performances at Boston University the other weekend which came out of nowhere. For each of them to take down a really strong field that was loaded with distance-heavy talents (i.e. the North Carolina and Syracuse men) is fairly encouraging. Carmody stands at NCAA #16 right now in the men's 5000 meters, and with only one man in that national field (Brian Fay) having a realistic reason to scratch from the event, Carmody will need to hope that his 13:27 holds up after this weekend...which, barring any bizarre craziness, I think it will.

• People will naturally make a big deal about the BIG 10 men's mile producing six sub-4:00 results in the prelims. But for the most, this isn't a shock to me. Five of those six men (with Michigan State's John Petruno being the exception) had run under 4:00 this year (either open or in a split) and many of these guys had gone under 4:00 fairly comfortably. A 3:58 result or 3:59 result is now the new 4:03 for some of these guys.

• Great race by Petruno, though. He was a great 1500 meter runner last spring, posting a time of 3:41, but after running no faster than 4:04 coming into this meet, I didn't at all expect him to run 3:58. Major kudos.

• Penn State's Domenic Perretta and Indiana's Cooper Williams were once All-American favorites and national-caliber stars. However, after a very quiet winter campaign, both men ended their indoor seasons by failing to make the 800 meter finals at the BIG 10 Indoor Championships. I'm not quite sure what happened with these two men over the last year or so, but it was a bit surprising to see both names be unable to reach their past elite-level fitness.

• At the BIG 10 Indoor Championships, Minnesota's Bethany Hasz edged Michigan State's Jenna Magness, 9:06.93 to 9:06.98. For Hasz, this is a really nice win over one of the nation's top distance talents. That, however, won't really matter. Hasz is historically better in the 5000 meters and right now, she isn't in a national qualifying position for that event. She'll need to run in the low-15:40's this Saturday to guarantee herself a spot to the national meet.

• As of right now, Bethany Hasz sits at NCAA #17 in the women's 3000 meters, an event that, in theory, no one is expected to scratch. One random decision from one of those 16 runners could change that entirely, but it is far from a guarantee.

• The Wisconsin men went 1-2-3 in the 3000 meters at the BIG 10 Indoor Championships. The trio of Hacker, Wheeler and Sharp swept the field with times of 7:56, 7:59 and 8:00, respectively. I don't have a lot to take away from this race, but I think the Wisconsin Badgers deserve some serious credit. They've been outstanding this winter and that was reflected in their 3k race this past Friday.

• Oklahoma State's Ryan Schoppe ran a mile personal best of 3:57 in the BIG 12 mile prelims which is a result that keeps him in the "underappreciated" category. He won't qualify for the indoor national meet with that time, but if the BIG 12 mile finals are fast enough, is there a world where he runs 3:56 low or even 3:55 high? Given his incredible momentum and underrated mile prowess this winter, I don't think that's totally unreasonable.

• A small surprise in the men's BIG 12 mile prelims was seeing Texas' Cole Lindhorst miss the finals. He's been so good all year long, so I think you have to simply chalk this up as an "off" day and move forward. I suppose the Longhorns would rather have that happen now than at the NCAA Indoor Championships.

• The BIG East men's 5000 meter race turned out to be one of the better 5k races of Friday. The Butler duo of Simon Bedard and Barry Keane each ran 13:43 for a 1-2 finish while Villanova's Haftus Strintzos and Georgetown's Matt Young ran 13:48 for the 3-4 positions. Seeing Bedard run as well as he did was huge, but in the end, he won't be advancing to the national meet this season as he is almost certainly out of national qualifying contention. Keane, however, can be encouraged by the fact that he secured a nice finish over two standout talents in Strintzos and Young. Hopefully he can translate that to the indoor national meet in the 5000 meters.

• Shoutout to Colorado's Andrew Kent (13:43) and Oregon's Alessia Zarbo (15:50) for winning the men's and women's 5k races at the PAC-12 Invite. Both athletes have been so underrated over the last few seasons and deserve more of the spotlight even though they won't be advancing to the indoor national meet.

• Also, great 5k run by UCLA's Peter Harold who ran 13:46 to complement his seasonal bests of 4:01 (mile) and 7:59 (3k). Keep an eye on this underclassman, he's slowly evolving into a competitive PAC-12 distance talent.

• The PAC-12 Invite produced a THRILLING women's DMR race which featured the Oregon women, Oregon State women and Stanford women ALL running 10:57 to go 1-2-3 in this race. With Aneta Konieczek (Oregon), Grace Fetherstonhaugh (Oregon State) and Julia Heymach (Stanford) all battling on the anchor legs, each relay produced a time that will now qualify them for the indoor national meet at the final hour.

• As impressive and as thrilling as those women's DMR results were, the only true ripple effect that I could see stemming from those relays is how certain individuals will now attack their open events at the national meet. That is largely specific to Konieczek and Heymach who are expected to run the mile at the indoor national meet in March. I don't see any reason why they wouldn't double.

• It should also be noted that the BYU women have had their DMR time from earlier this season pushed back to the NCAA #12 spot, the last national qualifying position. Even if they do stay at that position after this weekend, which I think they will, I still don't see this relay going all-in, especially now that they are ranked so far back. Wayment will likely run the 5k/3k double and Seymour will likely go for the 800 meters assuming her time holds after this weekend (which is not a given).

• Not much to say at the SEC Indoor Championships, although South Carolina freshman Anass Essayi just won his mile prelim in a time of 4:01...don't say we didn't warn you if he rips off something big in the finals.

• What an outstanding 5k race at the SEC Indoor Championships. I say that more for 2nd place finisher Sydney Seymour (15:47) than overall winner Mercy Chelangat (15:43). Alabama's Chelangat was expected to win this race, and it wasn't surprising to see her run in the 15:40s. However, Seymour running as fast as she did should improve her stock quite a bit. That mark won't qualify her for the indoor national meet, but it does bolster her resume in a way that makes her a much more valuable target on the transfer portal (which she is currently on).

• Really strong run by Northern Arizona's Drew Bosley. His 14:05 (5k) at the BIG Sky Championships gave him a comfortable win and a conversion somewhere into the 13:30s range. That should be a nice momentum-building performance that he can take with him into the national meet.