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First Thoughts: Maia Ramsden Leads Fast 1500m Finals in 4:05, Michaela Rose & Gladys Chepngetich Go Sub-2:00 (800) & Maddy Elmore Does Not Contest 5k
- Admin (Garrett Zatlin)
- May 26, 2024
- 11 min read
And there you have it! The NCAA D1 Regional Championships are officially a wrap.
The fields for the NCAA Outdoor Championships are now set and we can soon begin to shift our attention to the NCAA's season finale. Of course, before we do that, we need to digest the latest series of results that just came across our computer screens.
Let's dive in, shall we?
Maia Ramsden Runs Head-Turning Time of 4:05 to Lead Surprisingly Fast 1500-Meter Field in East Region
If I had asked you before the spring season began where we would see fastest set of women's 1500-meter results (collegiately), you would have probably said the NCAA Championships, the Bryan Clay Invite or a few other select meets.
But if I had to guess, you almost certainly would not have said the East (or West) Regional Championships. After all, those races are all about placement and are almost always tactical...right?
Wrong.
I can't remember the last time that the regional rounds were as fast as what we just saw on Saturday. Harvard's Maia Ramsden was the headliner with her 4:05 (1500) mark which is technically her fastest in-season best and, collegiately, a PR. However, Ramsden had actually run the 1500 meters at the LA Grand Prix just last week, producing a monster time of 4:02 in the process.
In other words, this result is hardly shocking for someone as talented as her. And frankly, no one should really be surprised.
But what I found absolutely stunning was that 10 OTHER women also ran under 4:10 for 1500 meters in the East region finals! That is an insane amount of high-end depth, even if all of those women have shown that they were capable of those results to varying degrees.
The 10 other women who ran under 4:10 on Saturday afternoon were Florida's Flomena Asekol (4:07), Providence's Kimberley May (4:07), Providence's Shannon Flockhart (4:08), South Carolina's Judy Kosgei (4:08), Rider's Teagan Schein-Becker (4:08), Georgetown's Melissa Riggins (4:08), LSU's Lorena Rangel Batres (4:09), NC State's Sam Bush (4:09), Virginia Tech's Lindsey Butler (4:09) and Lipscomb's Kiara Carter (4:09).
Florida State's Suus Altorf was the final national qualifier into the meet with a time of 4:10.
For most of those women, those times aren't too surprising, although there were a few key takeaways that I had from the results.
First off, Schein-Becker and Bush are peaking perfectly. Both of those women have been gathering tons of momentum in recent weeks and their latest times show that. They are two women who I would not want to have to deal with in the 1500-meter prelims of the NCAA Outdoor Championships.
Rangel Batres is another name who deserves a ton of credit. While LSU teammate Michaela Rose has (rightfully) captured all of the attention, this Tiger middle distance star has been excellent in her own right. She's been quietly consistent, has made subtle improvements and has been really good when having to contest multiple races in a single weekend.
I'm not necessarily saying that this LSU talent is an All-American lock, but I wouldn't argue with anyone who wanted to put her among their top-eight on the national stage -- and I don't know if I would have said that with the same conviction earlier in the week.
We then come to Kiara Carter, the Lipscomb runner who deserves an apology from myself. I sincerely believed that Carter should have contested the 800 meters instead of the 1500 meters at the East Regional Championships. In fact, I was a bit critical of the decision in our latest episode of the Blue Oval Podcast. But instead, she ran a 4:09 PR and had a phenomenal weekend, advancing to the national meet despite having to battle a LOADED field.
Kudos to Carter and the Lipscomb staff. They are having quite the year, overall.
As for the women who will not be advancing to the national meet, it was tough to see names like Lauren Freeland (Michigan State), Esther Seeland (Virginia), Molly Hudson (Boston College), Kiliegh Kane (Penn State) and Alex Carlson (Rutgers) fall outside of the top-12. And yet, when I look at all of the women who made it out of the East region over 1500 meters, I truly feel like the 12 best metric milers are advancing and I don't necessarily think anyone got robbed.
Let's now chat about the West region which was far less eventful, but still interesting.
The top finisher in this field was Texas Tech freshman Juliet Cherubet who ran 4:09. However, surprisingly enough, Washington's Sophie O'Sullivan ran 4:09 in the same 1500-meter prelim.
Now, admittedly, O'Sullivan is a runner who has a 4:02 (1500) PR and had an unreal summer of racing throughout 2023. When she's firing on all cylinders, she is a major problem for a lot of runners, even a good number of pros.
But what makes her latest result a surprise is because earlier this month, an Instagram post from O'Sullivan suggested that she has been recovering from a tibia injury. That would explain her recent stretches of racing absences and her slow start to the spring months.
Of course, a 4:09 (1500) mark is a no-joke mark (despite what the East region made it look like). Plus, with two weeks until the national meet, O'Sullivan could only bolster her fitness even further and peak right on time. Be sure to consider that if you're making national meet predictions.
As for everyone else, this was a VERY predictable group of national qualifiers. In fact, I don't think anyone was snubbed.
Michaela Rose & Gladys Chepngetich Go Sub-2:00 (800) as Underdogs Come Up Big to Advance
Let's first begin our conversation with the two women who ended up dipping under two minutes over 800 meters on Saturday: Michaela Rose (LSU) and Gladys Chepngetich (Clemson). Both women competed at the East Regional Championships.
When it comes to Rose, her result is hardly a surprise. Running 1:59 (800) in the faster of the two regions makes plenty of sense, especially since she was in the third heat and knew what she needed to run. For the most part, we didn't learn anything new about the LSU superstar.
However, seeing Clemson's Gladys Chepngetich finish a close runner-up (overall, she was in heat one) was a interesting development.
We've known that Chepgetich has been a top-tier middle distance runner for a few months now. After emerging as a cross country All-American in the fall and showing promise in the winter, the Tiger star produced times of 2:00 (800) and 4:13 (1500) going into this past weekend. And more importantly, the rookie had won the ACC title over 800 meters after finishing runner-up over 1500 meters a few hours beforehand.
There was no denying that Chepngetich was at the peak of her fitness going into this past weekend, but cracking the two-minute barrier puts her in a different tier. With a 1:59 (800) PR, we now have reason to believe that the Clemson ace has a high enough ceiling to potentially battle for an upper-half All-American honor while in Eugene, Oregon.
Admittedly, youth and inexperience are still cautionary factors to consider on the national stage, especially in an event that is so unbelievably top-heavy this year.
Regardless, it feels like Chepngetich is still climbing her ladder of her fitness and that will make her plenty dangerous regardless of her limited experience come the national meet.
As for everyone else, we saw a handful of names come up big in this event (between both regions) to earn a spot to the national meet despite not being favored to do so.
Women such as Joanna Archer (Grand Canyon), Smilla Kolbe (North Florida) and Nora Haugen (St. John's) all found spots to the NCAA Championships, each earning "time qualifiers" in the process.
When it comes to someone like Kolbe, I am assuming that North Florida will be quick to say, "There's nothing surprising about her qualifying for the national meet." And considering that she ran 2:01 to win the 800-meter title at the ASUN Championships a couple of weekends ago, I wouldn't totally disagree with that.
However, Kolbe's breakout season didn't truly begin until she reached the postseason. Prior to the ASUN Championships, the Osprey ace had run no faster than 2:03 for 800 meters (which was still a great time). And while her overall season left no doubt that she had elevated her fitness, we still hadn't seen enough to validate that 2:01 (800) personal best.
But after running 2:02 in the 800-meter finals of the East Regional Championships and securing her spot to the national meet, it's time to give Kolbe her flowers. She has peaked incredibly well for the postseason and has displayed enough proven talent to be competitive in the prelims come June.
As for Archer, her advancement to the national meet was arguably even more surprising.
The Grand Canyon product was having a decent 2024 outdoor track season, boasting a 2:04 (800) PR coming into this past weekend. However, Archer hadn't run faster than 2:06 this spring outside of that 2:04 effort. And yet, that seemingly didn't matter. On the stage that mattered the most, the Loper ace put herself into the West regional finals and posted an excellent 2:03 PR to advance to the national meet over 800 meters.
Whether it was peaking right on time, taking advantage of slower times across the field or simply coming through in the clutch, Archer made sure to capitalize on the opportunity in front of her. And frankly, that's not something that all established veterans can always say.
We then come to Nora Haugen, a runner from St. John's.
This past weekend, I was hanging out with a friend who previously attended St. John's (and who knew very little about NCAA track and field). However, he did see that Haugen had advanced to the 800-meter finals at the East Regional Championships.
"Is she good?" he asked.
"She's definitely good," I explained to him. "But I don't think she'll make it to the national meet. She has a shot, but I wouldn't bet on it."
Well, that's a bet that I would have lost.
Make no mistake, Haugen had shown promise coming into this past weekend, recently posting a 2:04 (800) PR to earn silver at the BIG East Outdoor Championships. But with a heavy number of her times being much slower this season, the St. John's talent was going to have to peak for the East regional meet in a major way.
And sure enough, she did exactly that.
Not only did Haugen run a 2:03 (800) PR in the regional prelims, but she later ran a 2:02 PR in the regional finals! That is an incredibly impressive string of postseason races.
The Red Storm runner is actually fairly new to the 800 meters, having only started racing in that event this past winter. And while inexperience in a certain event is obviously not great, the often untapped upside for someone who is new to that discipline can make an athlete very dangerous.
That, of course, couldn't have been more evident than it was with Haugen.
Eight Women Go Sub-10:00 in East Region Steeplechase, Overall Event Lacks Surprises
I truthfully don't have much to discuss when it comes to the women's steeplechase. Frankly, it feels like a shoulder shrug-worthy event compared to the other distance races. For the most part, nearly all of the top favorites advanced, especially in the East region, and there weren't any times that dramatically altered our perception of how good we think some of these ladies are or are not.
Of course, there were still a handful of women who deserve some kudos for beating expectations. In the East region, one of those women was Lipscomb's Leonie Saurer, a freshman who ran a 10:08 PR to secure the final national qualifying spot in that event.
For a rookie residing in a mid-major conference, we didn't see much from Saurer this year that really captured our attention. Sure, she had a few moments of promise, but a huge 10:16 steeplechase PR to win the ASUN title felt like the biggest breakthrough that this Bison freshman was going to have in 2024.
That, of course, was not the case as Saurer dropped another eight seconds from her PR and put herself onto the national stage. She'll join teammate Kiara Carter who also peaked perfectly over 1500 meters and qualified for the NCAA Outdoor Championships as well.
I said it above and I'll say it again: Kudos to the Lipscomb coaching staff. Their ability to develop their athletes has been so, so impressive.
In the West region, women such as Mattison Plummer (Illinois State), Rachel Anderson (Southern Illinois) and Hannah Stewart (Kansas State) weren't my first picks to qualify for the national meet in this event. And yet, when you consider that all three of those women were seeded in the top-half of this field, it's hard to be stunned.
Not seeing Mia Kane (UCLA), Caroline Jerotich (Washington State), Emily Jobes (Boise State) or Kennedy Fontenot (Texas A&M) advance to the national meet was a slight bummer. But at the same time, none of those women were viewed as locks for the national stage. In fact, they were probably viewed as fringe contenders to finish among the top-12.
Other than that, there's not much more to discuss.
Maddy Elmore Does Not Contest 5k, Silan Ayyildiz Narrowly Qualifies & Multiple Stars Earn Double NCAA Qualifiers
Alright, there are a handful of items that we need to discuss with the women's 5000 meters.
Oregon's Maddy Elmore was having a fantastic outdoor track season. She had run 15:15 (5k) at the Stanford Invite earlier this spring and was more than holding her own over 1500 meters. And yet, despite her streak of great races, Elmore didn't even toe the line for this race on Saturday evening.
That is a crushing development for an Oregon program that was likely expecting her to earn some key points on the national stage.
With Elmore ending her season early (for reasons unknown to TSR), another All-American spot in the women's 5k is now ripe for the taking. And considering how many women will be doubling back from different events (either the 1500 meters or the 10k), having one less fresh distance star to worry about is something that the other women in this field will be very happy about.
Speaking of Oregon women, Silan Ayyildiz nearly didn't advance to the national meet. Despite running a huge 5k time of 15:15 earlier this season, the Duck runner narrowly secured the final national qualifying spot in the West region by less than a second.
With that result, we find ourselves scratching our heads trying to figure out what we should expect from this highly variable distance star on the national stage. The strongest personal best on Ayyildiz's resume is undoubtedly her 15:15 (5k) PR, but her reputation and experience has been built over 1500 meters.
However, in the grand scheme of things, when you look at the 5k results in both the East region and the West region, there weren't too many surprises. In my eyes, all of the top contenders advanced to the national stage.
I will, however, commend how many of these women doubled back from other events so effectively, especially in the East region. Check out the below list...
Florida's Parker Valby doubled back from qualifying for the 10k to qualify for the national meet in the 5k.
Alabama's Hilda Olemomoi doubled back from qualifying for the 10k to qualify for the national meet in the 5k.
Georgetown's Chloe Scrimgeour doubled back from qualifying for the 10k to qualify for the national meet in the 5k.
NC State's Grace Hartman doubled back from qualifying for the 10k to qualify for the national meet in the 5k.
Penn's Lily Murphy doubled back from qualifying for the 10k to qualify for the national meet in the 5k.
Harvard's Maia Ramsden doubled back from qualifying for the 1500 meters to qualify for the national meet in the 5k.
NC State's Sam Bush doubled back from qualifying for the 1500 meters to qualify for the national meet in the 5k.
Florida's Flomena Asekol doubled back from qualifying for the 1500 meters to qualify for the national meet in the 5k.
Texas Tech's Juliet Cherubet doubled back from qualifying for the 1500 meters to qualify for the national meet in the 5k.
Oklahoma State's Taylor Roe doubled back from qualifying for the 10k to qualify for the national meet in the 5k.
Arkansas' Sydney Thorvaldson doubled back from qualifying for the 10k to qualify for the national meet in the 5k.
For those keeping track at home, that is 11 different women who will be doubling back from the 1500 meters or the 10k when they toe the line at the NCAA Outdoor Championships for the 5000 meters. That is a crazy impressive stat even if all of those women are established standout stars.
