Day Two Reactions: D1 Indoor Nationals

Beamish and Rizk pull off massive upsets

A guy with a personal best mile of 4:06 just won the national title. Yes, you read that correctly. Northern Arizona's Geordie Beamish pulled off one of the year's biggest upsets as he took down Wisconsin's Oliver Hoare for the gold medal. Remember in our article from earlier in the week where we said that Hoare had the greatest chance of anyone to bring home a national title? Looks like we were wrong. Instead, he will return to Madison without a single gold medal. Surprising would be an understatement.

Regardless, we have to credit Beamish with making one of the smartest tactical moves of the entire meet. He knew that his endurance was his biggest strength and that starting his kick early would be better than waiting. Looks like it paid off for him...

We should also give some credit to Villanova's Casey Comber who showed incredible poise in the first national meet (on the track) of his career. Finishing runner-up to also take down Hoare is wildly impressive and it goes to show that he has far more speed than we originally thought.

As we turn to the women, there may not have been anyone more disrespected by the TSR crew than Julia Rizk. The Ohio State ace ran 4:32 at the BIG 10 Championships, but lost to Hannah Meier in that race by less than .4 seconds. For some reason, that result instantly catapulted Meier into the national title conversation while Rizk was left as an afterthought. Of course, Rizk changed that narrative with a brilliant move on the final turn which put her ahead of Karisa Nelson for the win and left us scratching our heads as to why no one had her finishing higher than 5th.

Hoppel thrives, Dixon falters

Hoppel and Dixon let us know before the final that the pace was going to be fast from the gun, but only one of them seemed prepared to handle the heat. Dixon took the first 200 out in 24 seconds and led the group through 400 meters in 51 seconds. Unfortunately for Dixon, he was unable to keep that pace and eventually faltered to 4th. It depends on who you ask, but it seems like this is yet another championship meet where Dixon has underperformed relative to expectations.

However, Bryce Hoppel did use the fast pace to his advantage as he crept his way to the front over the final two laps and simply pulled away from a field that could not catch him. The consistent performances, rapid improvement, and numerous wins were all sign that he would be in the title conversation. Sure enough, he did just that.

Rivers cuts it close, Akins surprises

The final 100 meters of this race was absolutely wild. It was Monmouth's Allie Wilson holding the lead on the final curve, but (mistakenly?) let Penn's Nia Akins sneak through the inside lane. With 50 meters to go, Akins looked like she was in terrific position and was going to take home the win. However, Penn State's Danae Rivers had different plans as she swung off the curve and used her momentum to barely nip Akins at the line, 2:03.69 to 2:03.74. It was a beautifully executed race by both of these women.

Hull displays absolute dominance, Monson struggles in 3k

In our Group Chat articles from earlier in the week, I named Jessica Hull as the woman who had the greatest chance of taking home a gold medal this weekend. Unlike Oliver Hoare, my prediction was correct as she was the winner in both the DMR and 3000 meters. The Oregon senior has developed a kick that simply cannot be matched by her collegiate competitors and it has given her an advantage in any race, fast or tactical.

As for Monson, she struggled in the 3000 despite winning the 5000 meter title the night before. She simply looked too tired to compete with a top group that made sporadic surges throughout the race. It wasn't her best performance, but she will undoubtedly be a problem for her opponents once again come outdoors.

McDonald establishes himself as top dog in Fisher rivalry

First it was Fisher vs Knight, now it is Fisher vs McDonald. The media (which includes us) loves to artificially create rivalries among the nation's best and this year was no different. However, unlike Fisher and Knight, the best runner in this rivalry seems obvious. McDonald has developed not only strength, but also speed, that seemingly no one in the country can match.

McDonald is now 2-1 against Fisher in the 2018-2019 academic calendar. That one win gap could either expand or disappear depending on how the outdoor season goes, but right now it's hard to bet against McDonald. He is simply at another level and there's not much more you could ask Fisher to do.

Brandt is now a 3x All-American...and an 8th place machine

UCLA's Robert Brandt was 8th in last year's outdoor 10k, 8th in the 5k this past Friday, and 8th in the 3k on Saturday. Is this guy the best 8th place finisher NCAA history? All jokes aside, Brandt has made solid improvements when it comes to consistency. He's clearly a lot stronger and can handle a larger workload better than ever before (which is typically what comes with experience).