Bullet Points: Nationals Reactions (Day Four)

1500 Meters

BYU's Anna Camp-Bennett just pulled off the upset of the meet, running 4:08 en route to a national title over Colorado superstar Sage Hurta. Frankly, when looking at the tape, Camp-Bennett deserved every moment of being a national champion. She positioned herself at the front, but didn't make any unnecessary moves or surges which expended extra energy. We didn't give her much of a chance to pull off the upset coming into this meet, but her 800 meter speed and cross country endurance gave her the perfect balance of fitness for this race.

You still have to give credit to Sage Hurta. She ran a really gutsy race and probably showed off the most fitness as she tried to respond to certain moves. It maybe wasn't the smartest race she's ever run, but it was a race where she certainly showed the most guts.

Really smart races by Donaghu (3rd) and Rivers (4th). They perfectly positioned themselves throughout this battle and like Camp-Bennett, didn't expend excess energy. They slowly worked their way into a great position over the last lap and were rewarded with top finishes and fast times. If Donaghu had made a move earlier or put herself in a higher position sooner rather than later, then she may have been kicking with Camp-Bennett instead of Hurta.

Interesting approach to see Amaris Tyynismaa (7th) take the lead relatively early on. It wasn't necessarily a bad decision as she had one of the faster 5k marks in the field and likely could've handled a fast race that she dictated. Even so, this race was going to be won over the final lap no matter how fast the race was. The tactics of the outdoor national meet are always a bit unique and different, so I think this will act as a bit of a learning curve for the young Alabama star.

What an interesting race. Coming into this meet, many of our writers said that Wayment had a 70% to 75% to win the women's steeplechase title. Well, it looks like that other 25% to 30% came into play as Wayment fell back to 4th place. Instead, Mahala Norris won the national title after barely edging Joyce Kimeli at the line.

Towards the tail-end of the race, after some shuffling of names, we were ultimately left with a group of four which featured Wayment, Norris, Kimeli and Washington's Katie Rainsberger. For the most part, no one in that group really did anything to separate themselves. However, over the final water barrier, Wayment's momentum faltered when she landed awkwardly. That ultimately stalled her momentum and kept her out of the title contention.

I won't lie, when watching the replay of this race, I couldn't help but feel like Norris was expending a lot of unnecessary energy as she was jockeying for position and trying to match certain moves. That, however, is what makes her race that much more impressive, especially for someone who wasn't really having much success in this event before the postseason.

Joyce Kimeli has been a tough name to figure out. She had such grand success at the indoor national meet and was awesome during the regular season, especially in the steeplechase. However, the Auburn ace began to struggle a bit at times later in the postseason and didn't look like she was at her strongest. Luckily, Kimeli shook whatever minor setbacks she was having and peaked when it mattered the most.

How about Katie Rainsberger? I absolutely LOVED the decision for her to take on the steeplechase this spring after a few uneventful attempts in the mile or 1500 meters in past seasons. Her decision to pursue the steeplechase was refreshing, but I did have concerns about her inexperience, especially on the national stage. Plus, who could've predicted that Rainsberger would start the season with a time of 10:00 and end the season with a time of 9:32? Her inexperience should've been a liability and her progress shouldn't have been as drastic as it was...but clearly, Rainsberger doesn't care about what "should've" been. Her decision to go after the steeplechase was one of the best event decisions of any distance athlete in the NCAA this spring.

Notre Dame's Olivia Markezich was my sleeper pick for the women's steeplechase. However, the correct sleeper pick was West Virginia's Ceili McCabe who earned a 6th place All-American finish en route to a mark of 9:37. This youngster was flat-out amazing this year and continued to break expectations every time she toed the line. She was always a little better than we expected and came up clutch in the postseason despite her inexperience.

Michaela Meyer was going to win this race regardless of how it was run. With Maloney and Tanner implementing an aggressive pace early on, Meyer's 1500 strength carried her into the final lap and helped her pull away over the final 200 meters. I'd like to say something analytical about this race, but there really isn't much more to talk about. Meyer was simply the best runner in this field.

Kudos to Laurie Barton. She ran 2:00.65 to finish runner-up. The Clemson star has been excellent this year and has continuously improved in this event, often peaking in the postseason. Barton showed some really impressive strength in this race and kept things honest in the final moments with Meyer. In most other years, she's the one who wins a national title.

Florida's Gabrielle Wilkinson was super strong all season long. She progressed into a legitimate big-time threat, often ran top times and consistently faced top collegiate talents. Given her rate of improvement, Wilkinson finishing 3rd with a personal best of 2:01 is almost boarderline expected. She had all of the signs to suggest that she was going to be a major player in this race.

I won't lie, I wasn't sold on BYU Claire Seymour this spring. After the NCAA Indoor Championships and before the West regional meet, Seymour hadn't run faster than 2:05. When it came to the West Regional Championships, she improved her seasonal best to a modest mark of 2:04. That's why it was a total shock to see her make it to the finals, run 2:01 and finish 4th at the NCAA Championships. Talk about peaking at the right time...

Henes was just...better. She ran the better race, got a top time (15:28) and always put herself in a position to win. She smartly didn't go with Orton, didn't overreact to moves being made around her and simply didn't have any speed-based kickers with her in the final lap.

If Heymach and Orton each tried a different approach, then maybe this race plays out in their favor. However, this women's 5k was also quick enough where a fast finish wasn't guaranteed to happen. Kudos to Henes for the work that she did, but this race also played out perfectly for her.

The same can be said for Notre Dame's Katie Wasserman who very quietly positioned herself for great success. Frankly, I didn't realize just how great of a spot she was in until the final few laps. She conserved her energy, didn't make any crazy moves and just followed the rhythm of the lead pack. Really smart racing by this graduate student.

Generally speaking, this race was fast enough to be considered a strength-based race, and you saw that with the top finishers in this field. 3rd place went to Bethany Hasz, 4th place to Jenna Magness, 5th place went to Mercy Chelangat, 7th place went to Emily Mackay and 8th place went to Clare O'Brien. On paper, those women are supremely talented distance runners, but they're all more strength-based runners. I'm not sure anyone would call them speed-based kickers. Julia Heymach (6th) is a unique case as she can do a little bit of everything at a very high level.