First Thoughts: Katelyn Tuohy's 30 Minute Double & Jesse Hunt Runs Incredible 3:37 Mark Over 1500m

With life getting in the way, yesterday was the first day in who-knows-how-long that we didn't publish any new content. But have no fear! TSR has returned for our standard Sunday analysis, ready to breakdown all of the major NCAA distance running headlines from the last few days.

There's no time to waste, let's jump right into it...

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Teagan Schein-Becker Runs 2:02 Over 800 Meters to Take Down Deep Field at Virginia Challenge

The women's 800 meter field at the Virginia Challenge was a race that we opted to highlighted in our weekend meet predictions -- and that battle ultimately lived up to the hype!

Rising Rider star Teagan Schein-Becker has continued to carry over her momentum from the winter months to the outdoor oval. After running 2:02 for the half-mile distance at the IC4A Indoor Championships, Schein-Becker ventured to the Raleigh Relays and posted a monumental mark of 4:10 for 1500 meters!

The Bronco veteran has always been a strong distance talent, but the hot streak that she is on right now was extended/validated this past weekend when she ran 2:02 (800) at the Virginia Challenge. And while that time was plenty strong, it was the women who she defeated that really impressed us.

Defeating Rachel Gearing (Penn State), Isabella Giesing (UMass Lowell) and Esther Seeland (Virginia), each of whom went 2:02, 2:03 and 2:04, respectively, is so much more impressive than some people realize.

Gearing has been sneaky-excellent as of late, and her recent 2:02 mark over 800 meters validates that suspicion. Getting a win over the Penn State standout while she had one of the best races of her career should give Schein-Becker a ton of confidence.

Meanwhile, both Giesing and Seeland are two established, national-caliber middle distance standouts. While some of their races can be better than others, they are still incredibly challenging names to get wins over.

It's time to start respecting Schein-Becker as one of the best pure middle distance runners in the country. So far this spring, only Michaela Rose and Izzy Thornton-Bott have better combined 800 meter and 1500 meter times in comparison to their Rider counterpart.

And truthfully, I could see Schein-Becker eventually dipping under the 2:02 barrier for 800 meters, a performance that would give her an edge over Thornton-Bott in that statistic.

I'm not sure if she'll crack into our rankings this week, but...I'll make every argument that I can.

Baylor Franklin Holds Off Conor Murphy Over 800 Meters As Each Runner Posts 1:47 Marks

This was an outstanding win for Baylor Franklin! The Ole Miss veteran had a very good indoor track season, but this may have been the best win of his collegiate career.

Virginia's Conor Murphy has been on a hot streak this year. He has emerged as one of the best 800/mile runners in the NCAA, is coming off of an All-American honor from the indoor national meet and has been tactically excellent.

And on his home track, it was reasonable to think that Murphy could secure the win over Franklin.

For a moment, that looked like what would happen as Murphy battled with Franklin going into the final straightaway. But in the end, it was the Rebel star who outlasted his ACC opponent en route to a key 800 meter win, 1:47.21 to 1:47.27.

In the grand scheme of things, I don't think anyone is exactly shocked by this pair of results. Both of these men have run in this range before and expecting a tight battle between this duo was somewhat expected.

At the end of the day, both of these men should feel like they gained some confidence.

Murphy snagged a small 800 meter PR and ended up being very competitive with one of the best half-milers in the NCAA. Franklin, meanwhile, is coming off of an All-American honor of his own and just secured a win over one of the top up-and-coming middle distance runners in the collegiate realm.

Simply put, this was one of those rare instances where both men end ended up as winners...even if one of them walked away with gold and the other settled for silver.

Katelyn Tuohy Runs 4:08 (1500) in Season Debut, Doubles Back 30 Minutes Later to Run 15:50 (5k), Maia Ramsden Produces 4:11 (1500) PR

On paper, this 1500 meter effort is probably the most impressive performance of the weekend, at least on the women's side. And yet, at the same time, this result requires very little explanation or analysis.

After running 4:06 for 1500 meters last spring and running 4:24 in the mile this past winter, seeing Katelyn Tuohy run 4:08 for the metric mile this past weekend was very unsurprising. In fact, most people probably believed that she would run faster!

The NC State phenom settled for 3rd place overall at the Wake Forest Invitational, but emerged as the top collegiate. And while we would try to talk about every nuance of this race for the rest of this article, that would probably be pointless.

Tuohy went out with the pacer, chose to be aggressive, stuck around the lead until the final lap and fought valiantly against a field of established pro runners.

But the real stunner was seeing Tuohy come back literally 30 minutes later to also run in the 5000 meters! She settled for a 4th place overall finish and a time of 15:50 for the distance.

That's a race that we'll dive into separately, but regardless, it's clear that Tuohy was going through a workout of sorts. The Wolfpack runner seemingly wanted to get her regional qualifying times out of the way and despite being on the 30 minute double, did exactly that.

With regional qualifying marks in the 1500 meters and the 5000 meters now taken care of, one has to ask...could the 10k be in Tuohy's future? The long distance star has never contested that event, but she would undoubtedly be favored to win gold if she were to toe the line for that race on the national stage.

Regardless, Tuohy put together a nice season opener, but didn't necessarily produce anything that took us by surprise.

In that same 1500 meter race, we saw Harvard ace Maia Ramsden post a very impressive time of 4:11. And believe it or not, that's a new personal best! The Ivy League superstar ran 4:12 for 1500 meters at the outdoor national meet last spring and then dropped a huge 4:30 mile PR on the indoor oval a few months ago.

Ramsden's fitness is clearly at a new level this year compared to last year -- and she was already an accomplished runner in 2022! So while this is a new personal best and one of the better times in the country so far, no one should be shocked by this result.

At the very least, I would think that Ramsden is capable of running around 4:10 in the metric mile, and maybe even 4:09 as well. She's still one of the more complete mile/1500 meter runners in the NCAA, although I don't think a race like this, which largely acted as a time trial, would really be able to tell us something that we don't already know about her.

Jesse Hunt Drops Monster 3:37 (1500) PR, Emerges as Top Collegiate & Leads Three Other NCAA Men Sub-3:40

Here's the thing: I knew North Carolina's Jesse Hunt was good.

Maybe even really good!

But I didn't exactly believe that he would be someone who could run 3:37 for 1500 meters.

Sure, he was great during the winter months, running a 3:56 mile PR and winning ACC gold in the same event, but a 3:37 mark for 1500 meters seemed like a stretch.

But on Friday night, I was happily proved wrong. In a race that was aggressively paced by former D2 star and New Balance pro Christian Noble, it was Tar Heel ace Jesse Hunt not-so-quietly putting himself in the mix with the leaders. Joining him in that battle for gold was two unattached runners in Athanas Kioko and Amon Kemboi, as well as rising Wake Forest standout, Luke Tewalt.

Throughout the race, Hunt and Tewalt exchanged moves within that lead pack, battling for position. And despite this race being fast from the gun, both men seemed to be in surprisingly great control.

On the final lap, Hunt attacked the lead, but Kioko responded accordingly. And in the end, it was Kioko battling Kemboi in the final straightaway as the two former collegiates each ended up running 3:36 over 1500 meters. But very much in that mix was Hunt who never fell out of frame. He ended up running 3:37 while Tewalt ran 3:38.

Harvard's Vivien Henz and Wake Forest's Paul Specht each held strong for 3:39 (1500) marks.

For Hunt, this race completely changes how I view him.

Yes, it's true, the Aussie miler has always been competitive and he has posted top times before. He ran 3:39 for this distance last year, recently ran 3:56 in the mile this past winter, won the ACC indoor mile title back in February and has also run 2:20 for 1000 meters.

In terms consistency, experience and tactics, Hunt has always been a fantastic miler. In fact, I would even argue that he was one of the better milers in the NCAA who didn't qualify for the indoor national meet this past winter!

But a 3:37 PR for the metric mile gives Hunt's resume a massive injection of firepower that I don't think we initially realized was there. The North Carolina star now sits at NCAA #6 on the national leaderboard for this event and suddenly has one of the more complete resumes in the NCAA.

Yes, it's true, Hunt still needs to validate that incredible performance over the next month and a half. Maybe not necessarily by running a similar time, but by at least by matching the caliber of this result once or twice more before the NCAA Outdoor Championships.

As for Luke Tewalt, it's a very similar story.

The Demon Deacon standout has clearly been viewed as the next face of Wake Forest distance running. With guys like Aaron Las Heras, Zach Facioni and Thomas Vanoppen nearing the end of their time in the NCAA (or with Wake Forest), it feels like Tewalt will be responsible for leading this team moving forward -- and understandably so.

Tewalt emerged as an All-American this past fall. And throughout last year, he ran 3:59 (mile), 7:56 (3k) and 13:43 (5k). But since the fall months, this sophomore distance talent has been quiet. He never ran under eight minutes over 3000 meters in two tries this past winter and it's a similar story for the four-minute mile barrier.

A 13:47 (5k) result at the Raleigh Relays was fine, but nothing on Tewalt's recent resume suggested that he was going to run 3:38 for 1500 meters. That, of course, is why you run the races -- paper can't always tell you the full story.

The still-young Wake Forest talent is still developing and refining his clearly-outstanding fitness. But on Friday night, Tewalt showed a level of guts, poise and aggression that I thought was admirable. He was facing a handful of upper-tier talents, but was never shaken off.

We'll still need to see him add some consistency next to his recent 3:38 (1500) PR, but this is a massive step in the right direction, one that could officially signal Tewalt being the next face of Wake Forest distance running.

Speaking of the Demon Deacons, what a race for Paul Specht! We knew that the German distance ace was talented, but given his collegiate inexperience and inability to crack the four-minute mile barrier on the indoor oval, I was not at all expecting him to run 3:39 for 1500 meters this weekend.

What does that mean for 20-year old European moving forward? Honestly, I don't really know, but for a roster that is soon losing a handful of key distance stars, having both Tewalt and Specht produce sub-3:40 (1500) results is massive.

As for Vivien Henz, his 3:39 mark isn't a PR (he has run 3:38 before), but it's still a really nice result. The newest Harvard standout ran a 3:56 mile PR this past winter before struggling in his first two 1500 meter races of this spring season. In fact, he hadn't run under the 3:50 mark for 1500 meters in those two races before Friday night.

Henz didn't need to run 3:36 or 3:37 to prove his value or talent. A 3:39 mark was perfectly fine, especially since this result should reignite some momentum and allow him to progress entering the postseason. At the end of the day, this race was more about momentum and confidence for the Luxembourg native than it was about time.

Anthony Camerieri's 3:38 PR Over 1500 Meters Allows Him to Fend Off Martin (3:39), Idhammar (3:39) & Mountain (3:39)

I have been such a big fan of Anthony Camerieri since the fall months. He evolved into a true low-stick when racing over the 8k and 10k distances and then flexed how dynamic he was on the indoor oval.

But when Camerieri won the Stanford Invite 5k in a time of 13:26 earlier this year, I couldn't help but feel like his stock was at an all-time high. That, however, would have been a bad time to sell...which is why I'm a writer and not a financial advisor.

I say that because on Friday night, the Ole Miss graduate student threw down a fantastic time of 3:38 for 1500 meters. That mark not only gave his resume an elite-level of versatility and dynamism, but it also allowed him to take down three other men who ran 3:39 for the same distance!

Now, admittedly, not many people would have argued if Camerieri was picked to win. In comparison to Nathan Mountain (Virginia) and Viktor Idhammar (Virginia Tech), the Rebel star was definitely favored.

But UVA rookie standout Gary Martin is more of a pure miler than Camerieri and was racing on his home track. Taking him down, despite his youth, was not going to be easy for the SEC distance talent.

However, with a win over an upper-tier miler now on his resume, we now come to an interesting question...what will Camerieri run at the regional and national stages?

A 3:38 mark over 1500 meters may allow him to have more of an impact in terms of All-American contention, but running 13:26 (5k) feels like a time that makes him more of a guaranteed bet to qualify for the national meet.

I don't know if that made sense to you, but it did in my head, so work with me here.

As for Martin, I'm not surprised, but it's still a great result. Mountain and Idhammar are no-joke talents. Defeating both of those men while they're running 3:39 for the metric mile should at least give the freshman ace a nice amount of confidence as we head into the month of May.

NC State Women Load Up 5k, Amaris Tyynismaa Drops 15:30 PR While Kelsey Chmiel Runs 15:43

Unfortunately, the ESPN stream for the Wake Forest Invitational stopped after the 1500 meters, meaning that we didn't get to see how the men's and women's 5k and 10k races played out. That, however, doesn't take away from the highly impressive performance that we saw from Amaris Tyynismaa in the 5000 meters.

The Alabama-turned-NC State runner battled for top collegiate 5k honors in a time of 15:30 and settled for a 2nd place finish behind Puma's Fiona O'Keeffe who was five seconds faster.

For Tyynismaa, this felt like a very important and necessary result. Since joining the Wolfpack, the established distance star has had moments of brilliance, running 4:32 in the mile unattached this past winter. However, she didn't have the best showing at the Duke Invitational (which featured brutal conditions).

Simply put, this weekend was all about regaining her momentum -- and she did exactly that.

A 15:30 (5k) PR has to be a confidence booster for Tyynismaa. She took down fellow juggernaut teammate Kelsey Chmiel (who ran 15:43) as well as Katelyn Tuohy who had run 4:08 for 1500 meters just 30 minutes beforehand.

I've always viewed Tyynismaa as a mile / 1500 meter runner, but recent history suggests that she may be better suited for the longer distances.

After coming off of an injury, she shockingly qualified for the outdoor national meet last spring in the 5000 meters. Then, this past fall, she secured her second top-10 finish at the NCAA XC Championships before running 8:55 for 3000 meters in December.

Despite being a 1500 meter All-American in the spring of 2021, Tyynismaa's skillset has seemingly shifted to the longer distances. And in my mind, that would make a lot of sense. She clearly has enough aerobic fitness to be an All-American contender in that event, but she also has turnover/speed to be competitive in races that are tactical -- and they usually are on the national stage.

And yet, at the same time, is the 5k a race that Tyynismaa would actually contest at the East Regional Championships?

The NC State women loaded up the 5k last year and got nearly all of their entrants into the national meet in that event. But if Coach Laurie Henes wants to avoid consolidation in the 5000 meters and potentially leave a national qualifying spot open in that event, could she have Tyynismaa contest the 1500 meters in the postseason instead?

Just something to think about...

As for Kelsey Chmiel, I can't help but scratch my head. This NC State veteran was outstanding during the 2022 cross country season and ended her 2023 winter campaign on a high note at the indoor national meet.

But after faltering (slightly) over 10,000 meters and now settling for a 15:43 mark over 5000 meters, I can't help but feel like Chmiel has lost some aerobic sharpness. To be clear, it's not like 15:43 (5k) is a bad time (it's great), but this is someone who should be running in the 15:30s range somewhat convincingly.

I am by no means going to hit the panic button on Chmiel. Again, it's not even like she's posting poor times! Even so, I'd be curious to see what kind of form she is when we reach the ACC Outdoor Championships. Because when she's at her best, she feels like a lock for a 10k All-American honor.

Margot Appleton Drops Huge 5k PR of 15:36 to Comfortably Earn Victory at Virginia Challenge

When Margot Appleton first entered the NCAA, I was convinced that she was going to be primarily a 5k/10k runner -- or at the very least, that would be her best event. But over the last two years, the rising Virginia star has thrived in the mile/1500 meters (and recently the 3k).

After finishing 4th in the mile at the indoor national meet back in March and recently running a jaw-dropping time of 4:08 over 1500 meters, it seemed like the validity of my theory about Appleton's long distance focus was waning.

But then the Cavalier ace just dropped an incredible time of 15:36 for 5000 meters, further renewing my initial hunch that she could be a national-caliber talent at that distance.

However, in the grand scheme of things, I'm not sure we learned much about Appleton from this performance other than she is simply an all-around elite talent -- not just centric to one event.

And given her flashes of endurance-based potential and her recent cross country success, it makes sense that she would run this kind of time after elevating her fitness to a new level over the last six months.

It would be surprising if Appleton opted to pursue anything other than the 1500 meters when she reaches the regional/national stages. She had so much success in the mile last winter and is simply more fit than 98% of the other top-tier 1500 meter runners in the nation right now.

And frankly, given her insane momentum, it feels like she could be an All-American in whatever event she were to pursue.

Venters (15:26), Parker (15:37) & Larkin (15:38) Headline Collegiate 5k Results at Payton Jordan Invite

I'm going to keep this section fairly brief, mainly because the top collegiate results in this Payton Jordan Invite 5k field produced results that were fairly unsurprising.

Utah's Emily Venters ran 15:26 this past weekend, a solid result that is still a good six seconds off of her 5k PR from the winter months. But truthfully, in a field of top pro athletes -- and given her recent momentum from a massive 10k result -- I thought Venters would scare the 15:20 barrier.

Even so, this was a great result and at the very least, it maintains the hot streak that this Utah standout has been on since the fall months.

Kassie Parker, meanwhile, barely set the D3 5k record, taking down Missy Buttry's 2003 mark by less than half of a second in 15:37.00. And while that result is impressive, I don't know if I'm exactly shocked that Parker took down that record. Everything that she has done as of late suggested that she would be able to hit that kind of time.

At this point, I don't know how Parker isn't the D3 distance goat. She has the D3 outdoor 5k record, the D3 10k record, is listed at NCAA #2 all-time for the D3 indoor 5k record and ran an NCAA #2 all-time (all conditions) D3 mark of 9:13 for 3000 meters. She has five D3 national titles and countless All-American honors.

Does Buttry still have an argument to be the G.O.A.T.? Sure, I don't think that's a ridiculous suggestion, but Parker's accumulation of records and wins is way too hard to ignore.

As for Larkin, this was a solid result, but a 15:38 (5k) mark is super unsurprising. Honestly, I predicted her to run 15:37, so that kind of performance doesn't really give me a lot to analyze.

Graham Blanks (13:24) Defeats Parker Wolfe (13:25) & Zach Facioni (13:27) in 5k Showdown at Wake Forest Invite

I would have loved to see this race live. On paper, Graham Blanks (Harvard), Parker Wolfe (North Carolina) and Zach Facioni (Wake Forest) are very similar-caliber runners. Sure, Wolfe could probably be argued as the top guy, but...not by a lot. Blanks has been having a VERY good year across all three seasons and Facioni is far more valuable than some may realize.

When you step back and really think about it, I don't know if Blanks taking down Wolfe and Facioni is a total shock, nor were their final times. In fact, fellow colleague Gavin Struve predicted that both Wolfe and Blanks would run 13:22 (5k) this weekend.

Sure, he wasn't perfect, but he was close!

If you had told me that Facioni had won this race, I would have been a little surprised, but definitely not shocked. And the fact that these men were running in the mid 13:20s seems like it makes total sense.

Truthfully, I keep trying to find a major takeaway from these performances, but...I don't know if I really can. If I'm Blanks, I'm feeling incredibly happy right now. After losing to Kirami Yego over 10,000 meters at the Raleigh Relays, being able to hand losses to Wolfe and Facioni may be able to make up for that early-season loss.

Isai Rodriguez Earns Huge Bounce-Back 10k Win in 28:20, Cole Sprout Runs 28:30 in Season Debut

The Payton Jordan Invitational used to be one of the most prestigious outdoor track and field meets in the entire country. Many of the nation's premiere pro and collegiate athletes would often come to Palo Alto, California to chase after records and legacy-defining results.

But in 2023, the meet has seemingly fallen off, leaving us wanting more potential and thrilling results than what we actually got. That, of course, didn't stop us from getting a few great 10k results. Here are few key men who we need to highlight the Stanford-hosted meet...

Isai Rodriguez (Oklahoma State) - 28:20

What a massive performance for Isai Rodriguez! The long-time Oklahoma State veteran has been very quiet since the 2022 cross country season, racing one very quick 5k in December before posting an unexciting result at the USA XC Championships and then finishing last in the 5k at the NCAA Indoor Championships.

Without really knowing his status, Rodriguez felt like a massive wildcard in this field. At his best, we knew that he was arguably just as talented as anyone else in this 10k race, but to see him actually produce a convincing 10k victory gives us renewed confidence about what he can do in the postseason.

Admittedly, trying to understand what Rodriguez will do in the postseason will be influenced by what he does over the next month, but...how can you not be encouraged?

Cole Sprout (Stanford) - 28:30

For someone who was injured enough to be shut down for the indoor national meet (his second injury in the postseason during this academic year), I thought Cole Sprout's 28:30 mark for 10,000 meters was a really nice rust-buster. That's obviously not what he can do at his fullest potential, but for a season debut, it was solid.

Alex Phillip (John Carroll) - 28:31

In the latest episode of our "Lane Nine" show, Alex Phillip told TSR contributor Brett Haffner that he wanted to be / needed to be more aggressive with some of his moves and be more willing to follow certain surges.

Well, sure enough, Phillip largely did that at the Payton Jordan Invitational, running 28:31 for 10,000 meters en route to a new D3 record in that event. That's a massive performance that we knew he was capable of, but it doesn't necessarily make him a national title lock. Ethan Gregg has run exceptionally fast over 10k this season (28:40), making this year's D3 national title battle in that event that much more interesting.

Alex Maier (Oklahoma State) - 28:33

To be clear, a 28:33 mark for 10,000 meters isn't bad (at all). But after running 28:55 for this same distance on this same track, I think we were all expecting so much more from Maier. This is, after all, someone who earned silver in this event at the NCAA Outdoor Championships last spring in this event and then snagged two All-American honors at the indoor national meet less than a month and a half ago.

I'm not ready to write-off Maier from the All-American conversation yet, but right now, he just doesn't look nearly as sharp as we were expecting him to be.

Ceili McCabe Solos 9:45 Mark in Steeplechase

Nothing about Ceili McCabe's 9:45 result in the steeplechase this past weekend has us surprised. This is exactly what she was supposed to do. No one in this field was going to be within sniffing distance of this West Virginia star, meaning that she was going to have to solo a fast time -- which she did.

I'd like to offer more analysis on this race, but there really isn't anything new to talk about. I do like that this was her rust-buster/season debut as McCabe didn't have to go through a "trial by fire" of sorts to knock off her winter rust. But in terms of learning something new, I don't think anyone is going to look too deeply into this result.

Katie Thronson's 9:48 Steeplechase PR Gives Her Key Win Over Patterson (9:51), Novak (9:56) & Neglia (9:56)

For most of this steeple battle, we saw Notre Dame's Katie Thronson battle with Columbia's Victoria Patterson. The two women broke away from the rest of the lead pack roughly a third through the race and pushed the pace on their own.

During that separation period, Patterson hit the gas, doing everything she could to gap Thronson who has looked fantastic ever since venturing to Notre Dame as a graduate transfer.

But despite how good Thronson has been, it seemed like it was Patterson, an on-the-rise distance talent from the University of Columbia, who was going to win this race with just one or two laps to go.

However, on the final lap, Patterson clearly began to hit a wall. And when Thronson was able to clear the last water pit with excellent form, the Fighting Irish ace found enough momentum to overtake her faltering Ivy League opponent with a massive kick.

In the end, Thronson secured a clutch steeplechase win in a time of 9:48 while Patterson admirably produced a 9:51 mark of her own.

It is hard to dislike anything that Thronson does. She was great during her time with Tennessee, but she has become far more refined, versatile and simply more fit since venturing to South Bend, Indiana.

Thronson was a top-70 finisher at the NCAA XC Championships this past fall, ran 4:37 (mile) and 9:07 (3k) this past winter before helping her DMR place 3rd at the indoor national meet, has already run 15:44 for 5000 meters this spring and is fresh off of a 15-second steeple PR.

Sure, this Notre Dame graduate student may not have the same flashy and elite times that some of the other women in our rankings (or this article) do, but she has brought so much incredible value to this roster. It feels like she can seemingly be competitive regardless of when she toes the line -- and she's only getting better!

We knew that Thronson would offer the Irish women great utility in terms of three-season contributions, but she has certainly surpassed my expectations.

As for Patterson, I really like what we've seen from her as well. She gave Thronson a run for her money and nearly pulled off what I think most people would have considered to be an upset win.

And truthfully, when you look at her resume from the past year, it's really not all that different than what we've seen out of Thronson!

Patterson finished 41st at the NCAA XC Championships this past fall, ran 9:02 for 3000 meters this past winter, recently posted a 15:55 (5k) PR at the Raleigh Relays and just produced a 9:51 steeplechase mark after soloing a 9:56 result just two weeks earlier.

Very quietly, this Columbia runner has built up some excellent momentum. And while she hasn't truly had a breakout performance, everything that we've seen from her suggests that she's going to drop an absurdly fast time in the near future.

I don't know when and I don't know in what event, but it feels inevitable.

Duncan Hamilton Runs 8:25 in Steeplechase to Earn Statement Win, Parker Stokes (8:34) & Abdelhakim Abouzouhir (8:36) Hold Strong

This is another one of those races where the results were super fast, but...not all that surprising. We knew from the winter months that Duncan Hamilton was exceptionally fit and that he is easily at his best in the steeplechase. He was heavily favored to win this race and fellow TSR contributor Maura Beattie predicted him to run 8:24 (oof, so close).

So while I would like to dive deeper into his performance, I'm just not sure what I could say that would tell you something about Hamilton that you don't already know.

Coming into this year, it was fair to assume that Georgetown's Parker Stokes would be Duncan Hamilton's biggest obstacle towards NCAA gold. He did, after all, run 8:18 in the steeplechase at the 2022 outdoor national meet.

But Stokes had a somewhat underwhelming indoor track season and hadn't been amazing during the early portion of the spring months. So while he wasn't all that competitive with Hamilton this past weekend, the fact that he ran 8:34 in this race given his recent string of results is actually fairly encouraging.

It will be important for Stokes to build on this result. He still has a long ways to go before he can match the fitness that Hamilton is at now. But with a month and a half to go before the outdoor national meet, this Hoya star may have a shot of returning to that point.

We then come to Moroccan distance ace Abdelhakim Abouzouhir, the newest star talent for an Eastern Kentucky squad that just lost defending steeplechase champion Ahmed Jaziri to a pro contract.

For those unfamiliar with Abouzouhir, his 8:36 (steeple) result may come as a surprise. But the Colonels are one of the best programs in the entire NCAA when it comes to recruiting and developing steeplechasers. Abouzouhir actually owns an 8:32 PR in the event and has already run 13:47 (5k) as well as 28:44 (10k) so far this spring.

Given that this was his first steeplechase race of the year, Abouzouhir should be monitored as a potential sub-8:30 guy. His PR from 2022 is already two seconds off from that barrier and his recent string of results suggests that he's in the best shape of his life.

And in my eyes, running 8:29 or faster in the steeplechase this year probably makes you an All-American favorite...right?

Ed Trippas & Victor Shitsama Run 8:31 in Thrilling Steeplechase Battle at Payton Jordan Invitational

In his season debut, Washington's Ed Trippas, a recent graduate transfer from Princeton, left us wanting more. At the Stanford Invitational, Trippas ran 8:40 in the steeplechase, barely fending off Oklahoma State's Victor Shitsama as the two men finished 3rd and 4th, respectively.

Three weeks later, the end result was no different. Ed Trippas ran a much smarter and more composed race this time around, striking with 400 meters to go and giving himself a gap that made it challenging to believe that he would leave.

But very quietly, Shitsama began to respond, closing the gap with hurdle form that was clearly more efficient than what Trippas was showing over the final barriers.

That was nearly what cost Trippas the win, but the Washington graduate student still pulled off the victory in a time of 8:31, barely giving him the edge over his Oklahoma State counterpart who ran just a tenth of a second slower (also in 8:31).

For Trippas, this result is unsurprising. He's run 8:20 in this event before and he was an All-American in the steeplechase last spring. Suggesting that he would run 8:31 (steeple) should be shocking no one.

I did, after all, predict that he would win this race in 8:32.

But Shitsama? Well, I'm not gonna lie, I'm not sure I saw him running 8:31 over the barriers and water pits this weekend.

My fellow podcast co-host, Ben Weisel, said in one of our earlier episodes from this season that he expected Shitsama to be faster than 8:40 in the steeplechase at the Stanford Invite -- even though it was a five-second PR for the Cowboy runner.

In the moment, I disagreed, but clearly, Ben saw something that I didn't.

Shitsama's form looked incredible throughout the entirety of that race. He even fell fairly early-on in the race, but literally rolled back onto his feet for the fastest steeplechase recovery that I have maybe ever seen.

It's only been two races, but Shitsama looks wildly dangerous. His fitness from the 2022 cross country season is clearly translating to the outdoor oval and he now has the confidence to know that he can compete with an All-American-caliber (and maybe national title-caliber) talent in Trippas.

I still want to see a little bit more from Shitsama before making any major declarations about him, but it's hard to dismiss how strong he looked in crucial moments of that steeplechase effort.