D2 Deep Dive (Part One)

We've already highlighted all of the major D1 action from this past weekend, so now it's time to jump into the D2 side of things! There were plenty of impressive performances in the Division Two realm over Friday and Saturday, leaving us at The Stride Report with plenty to analyze and talk about.

Let's begin...

NOTE: We already spoke about Aaron Ahl in our Bringing Back Recaps (Part Two) article. Additionally, we will highlight other key D2 performances in Part Two of this article series.

Wes Ferguson Runs D2 Record in 1000 Meters

Coming into the winter months, it was no secret that Wes Ferguson was one of the better D2 middle distance runners in the nation. In fact, back in December, the Nebraska-Kearney star headlined the men's 800 meters with a converted mark of 1:49, a time that still sits atop of the D2 national leaderboard.

With an All-American honor already on his resume, no one was going to be surprised if Ferguson captured some early-season attention.

However, what we saw Ferguson do this past weekend was beyond special and it certainly shattered our expectations. The UNK star just ran 2:23 for 1000 meters, securing a new D2 record for that distance in the process.

Yet, maybe the most impressive part in all of this was that Ferguson took down Drake superstar Adam Fogg en route to that record. Fogg was a top name in our D1 preseason rankings and was an All-American miler last winter.

For Ferguson to run as fast as he did and take down a star D1 All-American in the process is wildly encouraging. It's a massive statement win, but it also leaves us with tons of new questions.

What does this 1000 meter mark mean for Ferguson? Should he be considered a national title contender in the 800 meters now? How fast can he run in the 800 meters later this winter? What does this performance mean for Ferguson in the mile? How fast could he run there?

Regardless of those answers, Ferguson just put every D2 middle distance star on notice this past weekend. If he was able to take down Fogg this past weekend, then he should be able to challenge any middle distance standout at the D2 level.

Andrews-Paul Runs 2:08, Headlines NCAA Leaderboard

It was a great day for Simon Fraser. Not only did teammate Aaron Ahl have a monster performance in the 3000 meters, but Alison Andrews-Paul just ran an NCAA-leading time of 2:08 for 800 meters at the University of Washington.

This SFU standout has proven to be a talented middle distance runner before, posting a mark of 2:09 for 800 meters on the outdoor oval last spring.

However, due to Canadian restrictions with crossing the border during the pandemic, Andrews-Paul and her teammates weren't able to put their talent on full display last year.

That's a shame, because 2:08 and 2:09 truthfully aren't all that close to Andrews-Paul's actual personal best of 2:06, a time that she has run on both the indoor and outdoor ovals back in 2016 when she competed for Baylor.

The New Zealand ace is one of the best middle distance talents in all of D2 when looking at her past results. In theory, she should be a lock to earn All-American honors later this season.

And if this is going to be her rust-buster, then we can't wait to see what happens when she begins to peak for the postseason.

Tanner Maier Posts Converted 1:52 Effort for 800 Meters

The middle distance talent from Minnesota State just ran a flat-track converted 1:52 for 800 meters this past weekend, earning a provisional mark and a win in the process.

Maier is an underrated middle distance talent, qualifying for the NCAA Indoor Championships last year and running a personal best of 1:50 for 800 meters last spring. He's a steady and consistent runner who will likely be involved in postseason conversations one way or the other.

This was a very solid debut for the Minnesota State standout, but the next step is seeing how much Maier can improve from this performance. He's a national qualifying-caliber talent, but now he needs to emerge as an All-American contender over the course of this season.

Ritter Earns Double Win via 4:51 (mile) & 2:13 (800), Teammate Moore Runs Significant 4:56 PR

The Lee women continue to do great things, and that statement should be shocking to absolutely no one. Veteran Celine Ritter got some speed work under her legs this past weekend, running 4:51 in the mile and 2:13 in the 800 meters. Both times resulted in victories for the Lee superstar.

There isn't much to talk about here with Ritter. She's a stud who can effectively drop down to the middle distances to work on her speed when she needs to. It's possible that Ritter will seriously pursue the mile later this season, but the more likely goal is to be a title contender in some combination of the 3000 meters, 5000 meters and DMR.

But for now, this is a nice start.

However, the more interesting development was seeing teammate Toni Moore drop a three-second personal best in the mile to run a time of 4:56 this past weekend.

Most observant D2 fans will know that Moore has been a proven talent for a while now. She has sneaky-good credentials and has often found herself being competitive against other national-caliber contenders. In fact, this past fall, we saw Moore finish 18th place overall at the NCAA XC Championships.

Moore can do a little bit of everything, but mainly thrives in the longer distances. After running so well in the fall and earning a significant mile personal best in her second race of the winter season, we need to be prepared for an upcoming weekend where she drops a big-time mark in the 3000 meters or the 5000 meters.

Noble Blasts 4:00.26 Mile PR, Narrowly Misses Sub-Four

Update: Christian Noble is still a superstar. The Lee veteran went after the sub-four mile barrier once again this past weekend and, like last year, came up just short of the 3:59 mark. Still, his 4:00.26 performance is a new PR and it solidifies the idea that Noble is at the top of his game.

Now, this is usually the part of the article where we jump into a bunch of fancy analysis and try to breakdown what this result means for Noble and the rest of the NCAA over the next two months.

But...I don't really think we have anything new to say. We could talk about the idea of Noble pursuing the mile in the postseason in tandem with another event. However, it seems more likely that he'll pursue a different kind of national meet double that doesn't include the mile.

So as exciting as this result is, I think it's probably best that we just move on for now.

Courtney McAlindon Runs Converted 4:58 at BYU

McAlindon, the Westminster College (UT) distance talent, toed the line for her first mile race of the season this past weekend at BYU's indoor track. Thanks to the 4600+ feet of altitude, McAlindon's 5:04 mark became a time of 4:58.

That mark isn't going to put McAlindon in a national contending conversation, but it is a really nice early-season mark. With an unconverted personal best of 2:17 for 800 meters (which was also run at altitude), there is clearly potential for this Westminster runner to build upon her 4:58 mark later this year.

Keep an eye out for this RMAC talent. She ended her outdoor track season on a strong note and could be in a position where she catches fire throughout this indoor season.

Callum Elson Defeats Mutai En Route to 4:06 Conversion

Another year, another American International freshman who has caught our attention. Callum Elson is only a rookie for AIC, but he just toed the line in the mile this past weekend and took down superstar teammate Ezra Mutai in the process, 4:09 to 4:11.

However, after flat-track conversions, those marks read 4:06 and 4:08.

This is a fairly significant performance for Elson, but maybe we should've seen this coming. He ran 14:11 for 5000 meters back in December and ended his cross country season with a 33rd place All-American finish.

Still, running a converted 4:06 is probably the result that catches our attention the most. Right now, this young distance talent has shown off consistency, momentum, an ability to peak on a championship stage, an ability to win and underrated range.

I like Elson a lot and if he continues to race like this throughout the rest of the season, then I would watch out for him at Nationals.

Also, nice race for Mutai. A converted 4:08 mile for someone who is clearly a long distance specialist is a nice mark to have and it shows promising turnover. We shouldn't look to closely into this result, but it's a solid January performance for the AIC veteran, nonetheless.

Katie McCune Runs Huge 4:58 Mile Personal Best

Before we begin, we should note that McCune is not listed on the TFRRS national leaderboard despite running 4:58 in the mile this past weekend. She ran for Drury according to the results, her TFRRS profile says that she ran that time and McCune is listed on Drury's roster.

We're not sure why she's not listed on the national leaderboard, but that shouldn't takeaway from her impressive performance. The Drury standout just had a massive breakout race, earning a personal best by 12 seconds in the mile!

Previously, McCune had never run under 5:10 in the mile and had run no faster than 4:50 in the 1500 meters.

Admittedly, McCune didn't have a ton on her resume coming into this past weekend that suggested that she would run as well as she did. This is a monumental personal best and it really came out of nowhere.

Now, we have to figure out whether this was a one-time surprise or a performance that is truly indicative of her actual talent. I'm not sure I know the answer to that yet, but athletes don't just run 4:58 miles by accident. Keep McCune in mind throughout the rest of this season.

DeHaven Continues Strong Streak of Racing, Pulls Off Upset Win Over Johnson in Mile

Nick DeHaven was one of the names who was on our early-season radar. We knew he wasn't going to be in our preseason rankings, but the Findlay runner was a name who we were monitoring, especially after he ran a flat-track converted 8:14 mark for 3000 meters back in December.

Since then, DeHaven has proven that he is the real deal. The transfer from Cincinnati just threw down a 4:10 mile effort this past weekend, a time that converted to 4:06 high due to the flat-track. That's a very strong and very respectable time, but the bigger development is that he took down Ashland star Ian Johnson in the process (who ran a converted 4:10).

To see DeHaven earn such a strong 3k mark early in the season and then run fast converted mile en route to a 4:06 mark and a three-second win over one of the best middle distance runners in D2 is VERY impressive.

DeHaven deserves more of our respect as we dive deeper into this season. He's running fast times and has convincingly defeating talented names.

As for Johnson, let's not act like this is a big deal. He's still a strong runner, one of the more dynamic middle distance talents in D2 and is highly experienced. The Ashland star is still going to be a major problem for his opponents later this year.

Morrison & Keiser Post 5:01 Marks in Season Debuts

Nothing too crazy here. Both Rachael Morrison and Alexa Keiser earned 5:01 marks this past weekend, two nice results to the winter season for these women. Keep in mind that this was a PR for Morrison while Keiser's personal best sits at 4:51, so these races likely meant two very different things for these women.

For Morrison, this could be a nice building block result for the rest of the season while Keiser is likely viewing this as a rust-buster effort. Either way, it was a great start to winter competition for these two distance runners.

Hutton & Franks Runs 4:07 & 408 at Washington, Franks Doubles Back to Run 8:14 in 3000 Meters

Does Western Oregon have a new rising distance star? Between David Ribich, Dustin Nading, Derek Holdsworth and Justin Crosswhite, there have been plenty of standout talents who have recently made their way through this program.

Now, Hunter Hutton may be the next WOU standout, running a 4:07 mile in his season debut. Keep in mind, however, that Hutton has proven himself to be a respectable talent before. He ended the 2021 outdoor season with personal bests of 1:52 for 800 meters and 3:48 for 1500 meters.

The talent has always been there, but to run a mark as fast as 4:07 this early in the season is promising. Hutton will need to continue to make improvements, but he has an underrated resume that should not be ignored if he keeps getting better.

We also have to recognize one of the more underrated distance performances of the weekend which came from Western Washington's Macauley Franks. Not only did he run 4:08 for the mile, but he also ran 8:14 in the 3000 meters!

That's a super impressive double, something even a few established D2 stars may not be able to accomplish in the same day.

Much like Hutton, Franks is someone who had a respectable resume coming into this weekend, but he just improved his stock dramatically with two nationally competitive performances in the span of a few hours.