Bullet Points: Regional Rounds (Day Four)

TSR Collaboration
May 30, 2021
9 min read

The final day of the regional meets are now wrapped up. With Friday competition in the West region being pushed into Saturday due to inclement weather, we had to separate this article into two sections: men and women. Let's give this a go...

Women

1500

The biggest highlights of this event came with a pair of 4:09 marks -- one at each regional meet. In the West region, Julia Heymach (Stanford) had an other-worldly performance, obliterating her personal best of 4:16 (set in prelims) by severn seconds en route to a 4:09 that won her heat over Krissy Gear (Arkansas). We had seen flashes of potential and exiting firepower before from Heymach, but this race was a whole different level. She has now displayed a level of versatility that actually surpasses Gear. Heymach has every tool to be a major player on the national stage and seems to be peaking at the right time.

Over in the East region, Amaris Tyynismaa was the top finisher by over two seconds, notching a personal best of 4:09 and solidifying her as a title threat to Hurta. The Alabama sophomore has been one of the biggest breakout stars in 2021 and continues to exceed expectations with each week of competition. She just hasn't faltered in competition this year since her breakout and on paper, looks like she's been consistent enough to challenge for NCAA gold.

For the most part, the regional meets played out as expected. Almost all of the favorites across each region qualified for Nationals. However, some of the notable casualties included Olivia Hoj (BYU), Katelyn Tuohy (NC State), Bailey Hertenstein (Indiana), and Allie Schadler (Washington).

Both Hoj and Tuohy had been running well this spring, whereas Schadler had been struggling since indoor ended. Meanwhile, we had argued that Hertenstein was probably better suited for the 5000 meters after her 15:38 from earlier in the season. It's hard to say for certain whether or not that was the better option, but it sure seems like it was.

How about those veterans? Christina Aragon (Stanford) and Danae Rivers (Penn State) had flown relatively under the radar this year, but both earned auto-qualifiers in their preliminary rounds. Aragon narrowly earned the fifth "big Q" in her heat while Rivers came away with the win in her race. Both are highly experienced on the national stage and could make some noise in Eugene. Rivers is a uniquely interesting name as we haven't seen her race competition outside of the BIG 10 prior to this past weekend.

And on the flip-side, what about the freshman? Olivia Howell of Illinois had a huge breakthrough race to earn a trip to the NCAA Championships, fresh off a surprise win at the BIG 10 Championships. In the East region, Tori Herman of Kentucky placed 5th in her heat to move on and will have an opportunity for redemption on the national stage after being eliminated during prelims of the mile indoors. Herman was only 8th (!) at the SEC Championships a couple weeks back.

3000 Meter Steeplechase

The depth in the West region was incredible this season. Two women broke 10:00 and did not even qualify for Nationals. That’s insane. While the top-end may not be as strong as the Quigley/Frerichs/O’Conner era, the depth of talent across the NCAA (particularly the West region) should make for spectacular racing in Eugene.

Speaking of those women running sub-10:00, 14 women broke that barrier in the West region with Adva Cohen (New Mexico) and Rebekah Topham (Wichita State) shockingly missing out on Nationals. Cohen was an IAAF World Championships qualifier only a few years back, which only speaks to how good the NCAA has become. Still, it's a stunning development that she didn't qualify for the national meet. She's arguably the most experienced steeplechaser in the NCAA and has top-level times on her resume, so this was quite the result.

In both regions, the favorites did what we expected. Gabrielle Jennings soloed a personal best of 9:40 to win her heat with Joyce Kimeli (Auburn) and Hannah Steelman (NC State) also cruising through the East region. Courtney Wayment (BYU) led the way in the West region with Charlotte Prouse (New Mexico) and Katie Rainsberger (Washington) easily moving on. This was Prouse’s first steeple since her season debut, but that clearly had no effect on her performance on Saturday.

There are going to be a lot of new names in Eugene. Rainsberger has never competed in the steeple until this season. Abby Kohut-Jackson (Minnesota) ran a phenomenal personal best of 9:46 for her first national track berth. Judi Jones (Nebraska) is one of the other many first-time qualifiers who set a personal best to earn that trip (she has been having a breakout year). We keep waiting for their inexperience to catch up to them...but it never does.

In an event that tends to favor older, more experienced athletes, only two freshmen qualified for more racing. Olivia Markezich of Notre Dame was one of the breakout runners of the season when outdoor racing kicked off, but she has been consistently among the best steeplechasers this season. Also from the East region was Ceili McCabe of West Virginia who set a personal best of 9:51. McCabe had previously run 9:58 and is clearly trending in the right direction.

800

Remember when most of us were up in arms because Athing Mu once again opted to run the 400 instead of the 800? Well, the NCAA record-holder is now the collegiate record holder in the 400 meter as well. En route to qualifying for the NCAA Championships, Mu ran 49.68, trimming 0.03 seconds off of the previous record held by Courtney Okolo. With professional contracts looming in an Olympic year, we may never see Mu compete in an 800 race at the NCAA level again.

Moving on to the actual races, the 800 rounds went surprisingly to plan. In an event typically known for chaos, the results were mostly in-line with expectations. The catch? The results were absurdly fast.

Without Mu or Sage Hurta contesting this event, is Michaela Meyer the new favorite? The Virginia senior set another personal best of 2:00.40 to finish as the top runner in the East region -- almost a second ahead of everyone else. Meyer has been on a tear this outdoor season and although Aaliyah Miller was the indoor national champion, Meyer may be the betting favorite in Oregon. Her consistency and her ability to inch closer to the two minute barrier is hard to ignore.

One of the surprise winners from this past weekend was Kaytlyn Larson of Oklahoma State. The redshirt senior ran back-to-back personal bests to earn her first trip to a national meet and she also won her heat. Larson also led her two Oklahoma State teammates, Stephanie Moss and Sivan Auerbach, to qualifying positions out of this heat.

Of the 24 women who qualified for NCAA’s, nine of them were underclassmen. Moss (Oklahoma State), Auerbach (Oklahoma State) and Wilma Nielsen (Bradley) were the three freshmen to earn qualifiers.

The races were also quite fast across both regions. Of the top-16 runners (32 total) in each region, 22 ran either a season or personal best in the final round. With a lot of these women trending faster, the preliminary rounds in Oregon could get interesting. Occasionally, we see a big breakout performance on the national stage, so will any of these women make a charge for the title? It certainly seems possible, especially with the momentum that some of them have.

5000

The women's 5000 meters had a few surprises, but not to the magnitude where the main favorites were booted. Sure, women like Lexie Thompson (Weber State) and Katie Izzo (Arkansas) didn't advance in this event, but Thompson already qualified in the 10k and Izzo hasn't been quite as sharp this season as she has been in year's past.

Going back to Julia Heymach, she won her prelim, becoming a double national qualifier in the 1500 meters and the 5000 meters. Not only is she the most dynamic distance runner in the NCAA, but she's now proving to be the most durable athlete in the country as well. This Stanford athlete is just at another level right now.

If you look at the national qualifiers in each event, you can't really be surprised. On paper, most of these women are proven enough to be in the national qualifying conversation. In fact, the East region was SUPER predictable. Yes, Tyynismaa and Cardama-Baez recorded DNS results in the 5000 meters (the latter being a bit of a surprise), but generally speaking, these results weren't shocking.

We have to give Tuohy credit for actually going through with the 1500/5k double. It would have been easy for her to cut her losses after missing national qualifying in the 1500 meters and not toeing the line for the 5k. That, however, wasn't the case. She gave it a go and although she didn't qualify, I think we have to acknowledge what she accomplished this year.

Men (West region)

1500

Really positive sign from James West in the men's 1500 meters. He had been struggling coming into this year, but couldn't have possibly peaked at a better time. The Oregon star just ran 3:38 for 1500 meters this past weekend to advance to Nationals after holding his own at the PAC-12 Championships. His speed, experience and ability to get through multiple rounds is arguably the best in the NCAA when he's at 100% and with two weeks to go, he looks like he's nearing 100%.

A solid 3:38 for Paul Ryan. This Washington State star has just been so darn consistent this year. The men's 1500 meters may be insanely deep this year, but he has found a way to standout with his consistency and ability to throw down top marks.

How about Isaac Basten? The Drake runner just had the race of his life to post a time of 3:40 and qualify for Nationals. He's been a solid talent, but teammate Adam Fogg was clearly the headline name on this roster and I truthfully thought that Basten would never qualify for the national meet in this field. But hey, that's why they run the races...

Tough days for Mick Stanovsek and Jack Anstey. Both had been super solid 1500 meter talents this year with 3:39 personal bests, but this was a tough year for this event and some of these guys were bound to get left out. Not only that, but when you look at the men who did qualify for the national meet in this event, it's hard to say that there were too many surprises, although Dais Malebana was a nice surprise, as was Basten.

Also, is anyone else surprised that Sam Tanner ran 3:39 and finished 7th in his prelim heat? He was still able to qualify for the national meet, but it was cutting it a bit close. I won't lie, I'm personally not feeling quite as comfortable about his All-American chances in Eugene, Oregon as I was a month or two ago.

800

If I told you that Ackeen Colley (Western Illinois), Juan Diego Castro (Oklahoma State), Roshon Roomes (Iowa State), Matt Wisner (Oregon), Marco Vilca (Texas Tech) and Christopher Conrad (Missouri) were all going to miss qualifying for the national meet, I think most people would've not believed me. However, when you look at the names who did qualify, it's hard to be too surprised.

You could argue that the biggest surprise qualifiers were Adam Swanson, Alex Lomong and/or Abdullahi Hassan, but they were 1:47 guys coming into this meet. In fact, both Hassan and Lomong seemed to be peaking at the right time. So, yes, while more experienced veterans may have not advanced, it's not like the names who did qualify were any less talented.

3000 Meter Steeplechase

This race was so predictable that it was boarderline surprising. I mean, just look at the 12 qualifiers. Is anyone shocked? Like at all? When we make these predictions, we usually have to throw in a few sleeper picks and anticipate a few names not advancing to the national meet. But...that just wasn't the case this time around.

That said, the BYU men and Washington men had a few guys like Matt Owens, Julius Diehr, Adam Wood and Joe Waskom who I thought could've snuck in. Owens was the biggest surprise. He was an All-American in this event back in 2019 and has a great history of success in this event. To not see him advance and simply struggle was a bit surprising, although he admittedly didn't look like he was at 100% this season.

Nice runs from Bennett Pascoe and Zach Litoff. I truthfully wasn't a believer in them after their one-time standout performances, but they validated their success and qualified for the national meet. Pascoe is a name who I think should be favored for an All-American spot after this weekend.

5000 Meters

We had quite a few developments in this race as there were plenty of surprise misses in this event. Guys like Isaac Green (Washington) and Olin Hacker (Wisconsin) were fringe contenders who I didn't (and probably wouldn't have) picked to qualify for Nationals.

But the bigger surprises? The misses. Colorado's Eduardo Herrera, who took down the BYU trio of Mantz, Clinger and Garnica en route to a mark of 13:24 for 5000 meters earlier in the season, failed to qualify for Nationals in what was a stunning development. If the national meet 5k plays out like I think it will, then Herrera would've been an All-American in my eyes.

We then had Nico Young fail to qualify and while I'm not going to pretend like this isn't a surprise, I do feel like the signs were there for something like this to happen. His inexperience likely played a role in these very unique and tactical rounds.

Not only that, but his speed this season hasn't really been at that impressive. His 1500 meter PR is a converted 3:39, but his raw time sits at only 3:44 this season. He's been great in all-out efforts, but when it comes to races that require more speed, Young still needs to develop that part of his racing arsenal. But let's not be too critical, he's still just 18 years old! The future is very, very bright for this NAU youngster.