.png)
First Thoughts: Darius Kipyego & Rivaldo Marshall Drop 1:45 (800) Marks While Doris Lemngole Showcases Surprisingly Strong Speed
- Admin (Garrett Zatlin)
- Apr 7, 2024
- 6 min read
I gotta be honest, I don't think I can personally remember the last time we had a weekend of racing where there were so few national-caliber performances. In fact, I was even questioning if we were going to have enough to write about in our weekly First Thoughts article! If you're a consistent reader of our weekend content, then you know that it is VERY hard for us to run out of things to talk about in these analysis pieces.
Nonetheless, the top-tier results that we DID see this past weekend were absolutely incredible. In fact, some of them may have even altered a certain national title conversation -- or at the very least, they may have more securely locked down favorable All-American odds.
So with that, let's begin...
Darius Kipyego Throws Down Excellent 1:45 (800) PR to Dominate Deep Field
There is no denying that Iowa State's Darius Kipyego has looked like a different (and better) runner this year. His consistency has (mostly) improved, he seems to have a better grasp on in-race positioning and his fitness is flat-out better than it ever has been.
And yet, even after running 1:46 (800) multiple times during the winter months and earning 6th place All-American honors, Kipyego running 1:45.76 for 800 meters in early April is still a result that we very much did not expect.
In the Florida heat, Kipyego fended off a contingent of respectable Penn State and Princeton talents to take home the overall win. And by "fended off" I mean that he dominated and won the race by nearly two-and-a-half seconds.
No singular race defines how good an athlete is, but it can impact their respective resume in a major way. And that's seemingly what we have here with Kipyego. We knew he was due for a national-caliber season of racing -- and he had that this past winter -- but running 1:45 for the half-mile distance changes our perception of what his ceiling is.
When you think of someone who has the pedigree that Kipyego holds, it admittedly makes sense that someone with such immense raw talent would be able to run as fast as he just did. Of course, actually running 1:45 (800) is a lot easier said than done. And with this mark, the the still-rising Cyclone star now sits in a tier that isn't that of a national title contender, but closer to that of an All-American lock.
Rivaldo Marshall Posts 1:45 (800) PR in Arizona
Believe it or not, Darius Kipyego was not the only Iowa-based NCAA athlete who ran 1:45 for 800 meters this past weekend. That's because Iowa's Rivaldo Marshall also ran 1:45 for the half-mile distance, although his mark came in Arizona rather than Florida.
I will fully admit, I didn't have the same revere for Rivaldo Marshall going into this season than I did for a few other men...even though he won the national title at the NCAA Indoor Championships.
In my eyes, last season's national 800-meter field was, in general, somewhat unexciting. And when the top-two seeds failed to make it to the finals at the indoor national meet, it was hard to put Marshall in the same tier as prior national title winners in that event. It also didn't help that he was still relatively new to the Division One level (entering as a JUCO transfer) and had a poor outing at the BIG 10 Indoor Championships.
However, upon seeing Marshall's new 800-meter PR of 1:45.86, the arguments against this Iowa middle distance star are becoming increasingly more scarce. He has now won a national title, defeated multiple top-tier names in non-postseason settings and just ran a time that will allow him to be competitive with the likes of Yusuf Bizimana and Sam Whitmarsh.
The NCAA Indoor Championships showed us that Marshall is a smart runner who understands positioning, surging and kicking better than most NCAA newcomers. And now, with an elite personal best, you could argue that this Hawkeye ace is among the top-three most complete half-milers in the entire country (collegiately).
Alabama's Doris Lemngole Runs Surprisingly Strong 1500-Meter Time of 4:11 to Defeat Florida State's Suus Altorf Who Runs 4:13
At this point, we all know who Doris Lemngole is and how talented she is. The Alabama rookie is an incredible aerobic-centric superstar whose endurance has allowed her to thrive in aggressively-paced races (many of which have been led by Parker Valby).
Naturally, one would assume that Doris Lemngole doesn't have much speed or turnover as is the case with most pure long distance talents. She did, after all, "only" run a mile PR of 4:40 this past winter despite running 15:04 (5k) three weeks later.
That's why you can understand our surprise when we saw that Lemngole posted an excellent 1500-meter time of 4:11.90 on her home track this past weekend! On paper, that 1500-meter effort roughly converts to a 4:32 mile effort, a time that is dramatically better than the 4:40 performance that we saw from this Kenyan freshman in the winter.
Although, in retrospect, it might makes sense that Lemngole has this kind of turnover. When you really think about it, there aren't too many instances where she's faltered in the latter portions of her races. In fact, there are a handful of moments where she has actually been at her best in late-race scenarios.
Think back to her 15:04 (5k) effort at Boston U. during the indoor track season. In that race, there were moments where it didn't look like if Lemngole could hang with the chase pack. Then, at the conclusion of the final two laps, the Alabama star came out ahead of that same chase pack -- and by a decent margin, too.
No, I'm not saying that Lemngole is best suited for a sit-and-kick type of race or that her newfound turnover will allow her to be competitive in any scenario. Late-race strength and late-race speed are two very different things.
And frankly, Lemngole's recent 4:11 (1500) PR, while impressive, largely won't play much of a role once she reaches the national stage. That's because she will almost certainly have to face Parker Valby again. And as we all know, races that feature Valby almost never end with a kick.
As for Suus Altorf, I really liked this performance for her. A 4:13 (1500) mark deserves a lot of respect, especially for a sophomore. But more importantly, this Florida State middle distance runner is beginning to put together a very strong resume.
Altorf, who is gaining tons of momentum right now, currently holds times of 2:04 (800), 2:42 (1k), 4:35 (mile) and 4:13 (1500) on her resume. And do you know who else ran 2:42 (1k) and 4:13 (1500) while on a noticeable hot streak as a sophomore?
Providence's Kimberley May.
In other words, buy stock in Suus Altorf as soon as you can...and buy a lot it.
Samford's Zephaniah Carico-McLennan Runs Massive 800-Meter PR of 1:47 to Defeat Alabama Contingent
Breakout performances happen all the time, especially on the outdoor track over 800 meters. The outdoor oval is, after all, inherently faster. It allows for more open to space to run all-out, there are fewer turns and there are longer straightaways.
And truthfully, it seems like many schools simply place more emphasis on outdoor track than indoor track. That would make sense in 2024 given that it's an Olympic year.
Even so, I don't think anyone could have expected Samford's Zephaniah Carico-McLennan to run a jaw-dropping 1:47 (800) PR practically out of nowhere this past weekend. The Southern Conference middle distance standout was the indoor conference champion over that distance this past winter, but with a more modest 800-meter PR of 1:51, we weren't looking at Carico-McLennan as a serious national-caliber threat.
That, of course, has changed.
With a mammoth three-and-a-half-second personal best, Carico-McLennan will undoubtedly be on our radar moving forward. However, we still don't know a ton about this Samford runner.
Yes, he was a conference champion this past winter and yes, he did just run a 3:47 (1500) PR two weekends ago at the Raleigh Relays. Even so, nothing on Carico-McLennan's suggested that he would be able to reach this level during this spring track season. But that's exactly the reason why he has suddenly become one of the more interesting middle distance athletes to follow this spring.
