First Thoughts: Shannon Flockhart Runs 4:04.98 (1500) at Morton Games, Washington Women & Nathan Green Thrive Overseas

Admin (Garrett Zatlin)
Jul 16, 2024
7 min read

Oh? What's that? A "First Thoughts" article on a random Tuesday in the middle of the summer?

Yes, it's true! An article series often reserved for NCAA competition is coming back out for a somewhat broad review of collegians who have been racing overseas. But which races are we going to talk about? And how good does the performance have to be to get mentioned?

Well, there was plenty of USA Olympic Trials coverage across the entire media sphere and June is well past us. For that reason, we'll be covering any notable collegiate result that was produced in the month of July.

Here are some key pieces of action that recently caught our attention...

Providence's Shannon Flockhart Posts Strong 4:04.98 (1500) PR to Win Morton Games

I think most people who consistently read our content know that we're big fans of Providence ace, Shannon Flockhart. She has often thrived on the outdoor oval, has been sneaky-good in tactical settings, brings underrated value on the grass and has continued to improve each and every year.

For the most part, Flockhart's 2024 outdoor track season (within NCAA competition) was a success. She won the Raleigh Relays 1500-meter title over fellow teammate Kimberley May and she finished 6th place overall in the 1500-meter finals at the outdoor national meet, earning All-American honors and producing a then-PR of 4:05.99 in the process.

But for as much momentum as Flockhart has had, it seems fair to say that her latest effort at the Morton Games was her best performance to date.

The Friar star looked unbelievably poised throughout her 1500-meter effort in a more-than-respectable field featuring a handful of great pro athletes. She shadowed the leaders, positioned herself beautifully and looked to be in far greater control of her fitness than anyone else in field as she pulled away over the final 100 meters.

Oh, and she ran a new 1500-meter PR of 4:04.98.

Flockhart is only absolute fire right now. She can seemingly do no wrong each and every time she toes the line. Now, admittedly, it's also fair to point out that Flockhart's metric mile prowess, while plenty impressive, isn't guaranteed to translate to great races on the grass.

But Flockhart has proven before that she can be a nationally competitive name during cross country. She has, after all, finished 69th at the NCAA XC Championships on two separate occasions. And even though middle distance turnover isn't often correlated with aerobic-centric strength, it's hard to ignore that Flockhart was in complete control of her fitness last week.

Sophie O'Sullivan's 4:05 (1500) Effort at Morton Games Headlines Encouraging Performances From Washington Women

In that same 1500-meter race as Shannon Flockhart were a pair of Washington women, each of whom had great outings!

Sophie O'Sullivan had an excellent race. When it seemed like she was fading, the Husky veteran came through with a brilliant last lap and a big kick. That wasn't enough to catch Flockhart who had another gear, but she did pull ahead of a strong field that struggled to keep pace with the collegians.

In the end, O'Sullivan was able to post a time of 4:05.99 for 1500 meters. That wasn't a personal best, but it was another highly encouraging step in the right direction after she dealt with an injury last winter. Since then, she has been slowly working her way back into top form.

What this performance, as well as her recent 2:00 PR over 800 meters, tells us is that O'Sullivan's peak fitness isn't out of reach. In fact, she'll likely enter the cross country season with some of the best momentum that she has ever had -- and that's precisely what the Washington women need if they are going to make the podium come November.

Speaking of Washington, this race also featured Chloe Foerster who ran a small PR of 4:07.66. That's not exactly a stunning result for someone who had barely cracked 4:08 at the Bryan Clay Invite back in April and ran 4:28 mile PR as well. And truthfully, her execution in more tactical scenarios (i.e. the prelims of the national meet) are the bigger points of emphasis for her moving forward.

Even so, it's the cross country season that we're focusing on the most. And when you pair that result with a very solid 8:58 (3k) PR with her latest effort, then it's hard not to be encouraged about Foerster potentially being an All-American later this fall.

In fact, the even more encouraging development was seeing teammate Julia David-Smith run a 3000-meter PR of 8:59 in the same race! Sure, an outdoor track is almost always faster than the indoor oval, but in this context, that doesn't really matter. Simply seeing that she is near her best-ever form likely gives Coach Maurica Powell one less scorer to worry about.

The biggest thing that we have learned about Washington is that the Huskies' top-three women from last year's national meet, each of whom finished in the top-60 on that stage, are all proving to be incredibly fit. And sure, November is a long ways out, but I'd much rather see these positive developments than the alternative.

Nathan Green & Finley McLear Battle at Morton Games, Both Run 1:46 Over 800 Meters

I admittedly don't have too much to say about this result. This was a super unsurprising pair of performances that made us shrug our shoulders and say, "Yeah, seems about right."

Did I think that McLear could have run 1:45 for 800 meters and gotten the better of Green? Yes, that was my expectation. Even so, Green is no pushover when it comes to the half-mile distance and this race wasn't exactly the tactical game of chess that McLear has often excelled at (although he did have a heckuva kick after being at the back for so long).

Seeing Green extend his outdoor track season to the summer isn't too surprising, especially given the excellent spring campaign that he had. That leads me to believe that he'll likely make a very late season debut (just like he did last fall) as he transitions from speed training to aerobic development.

Oregon's Tomas Palfrey Runs 3:38 (1500) PR, Nathan Green Runs 3:53 (Mile) to Win Cork City, Adam Spencer Runs 3:53 (Mile) at Morton Games While Sean Donoghue Runs 3:55 (Mile) at Morton Games

Speaking of Nathan Green, the Washington middle distance star was excellent at the Cork City Invitational in Ireland. The Husky star ran 3:53 over the mile distance to secure a strong summer season win against some well-established pro and his now-former teammates (such as Joe Waskom and Luke Houser).

Was Green's final time surprising? No, not really. Was his win surprising? Honestly, no, I can't say that I'm totally shocked. Of course, just because we're not surprised doesn't mean that we're not impressed. After a rocky month of March, Green has rallied beautifully, putting together one of the best overall outdoor track seasons of any distance runner in the NCAA this year.

We may not have learned anything new about the Husky ace, but running this fast and beating this field three days before running 1:46-low over 800 meters is applause-worthy.

Let's chat about Tomas Palfrey, the Oregon runner who has clearly been brimming with potential for the last few seasons, but is only now beginning to showcase his full talent. After running 1:48 for 800 meters during the indoor track season and posting a pair of 3:40 marks over 1500 meters (one of which got him to the outdoor national meet), Palfrey opted to extend his season overseas.

The Aussie middle distance runner first posted a head-turning 1000-meter time of 2:19 back in June. Palfrey has since gone on to run 3:38 for 1500 meters not once, not twice, but THREE times since then! That is tremendous consistency and an obvious sign of peaking for June (although he seemed to be a couple weeks too late for the NCAA Championships).

Regardless, this is a fantastic development for the Oregon men. Palfrey has now shown that he can be a nationally competitive name in the NCAA when he's firing on all cylinders. And if he can translate those efforts to the indoor and outdoor ovals in 2025, then the Ducks are going to have quite the contingent of middle distance standouts scattered throughout their roster.

Moving back to the Morton Games, Wisconsin's Adam Spencer was the top (still active) collegian in the field. The Badger superstar placed 5th overall in that race with a strong time of 3:53. And yet, you can't help but feel like he should have placed a bit higher.

Of course, if you go back and watch the race, then you'll find that Spencer made a fairly ambitious move with 650ish meters to go. That jump to the front inherently carried risk, but that's something that Spencer likely understood as he chased after a fast time. And frankly, without Spencer, this race probably wouldn't have been quite as fast as it was.

In other words, I wouldn't use this race as a gauge of his tactical know-how or even his fitness. There were probably better ways for Spencer to execute in that race, but it's better to experiment now than in Paris.

We finally come to Villanova's Sean Donoghue, a guy who we've known to be a talented miler for the last few seasons. Prior to the summer months, Donoghue was 3:58 miler who had actually qualified for the 2023 outdoor national meet over 1500 meters.

Even so, we weren't quite expecting the Irish miler find so much success this month within the span of three days. After running 3:56 in the mile at the Cork City Sports meet, the rising Wildcat standout ventured to the Morton Games three days later where he ran a 3:55 mile PR!

Seeing Donoghue make significant improvements is a big development for a Villanova team that just lost veterans Sean Dolan and Charlie O'Donovan. While Liam Murphy is a true national-caliber star, having at least one secondary middle distance ace to lean on has been a luxury that the Wildcats have had for the last few years.

And thanks to Donoghue, he will seemingly give his team another national-caliber middle distance runner while this still-young roster continues to develop.