First Thoughts: Stanford's Sub-Fours, Whittaker's Debut, Lumb's Statement & Washington Women Impress

Phew! What a weekend!

Friday and Saturday were filled with plenty of fantastic middle and long distance performances, as well as a few headlines in the non-distance events (shoutout to Arkansas star Britton Wilson). Below, we've got thoughts and analysis on all of the major results from the last few days. Let's not waste any more time and jump right into it.

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Four Stanford Men Post Sub-Four Mile Marks, Ky Robinson Impresses With 3:55 Personal Best

It was admittedly hard to know what we should have expected out of the men's mile field at the UW Preview this past Saturday. The field was initially loaded with a handful of top-tier stars, including a few pro talents.

But with Matt Centrowitz recording a DNF and Kieran Lumb scratching the mile in favor of the 3000 meters, this race essentially became a "Stanford vs Nathan Green" battle.

Of course, there weren't exactly many tactics in this race. Thanks to great pacing by Sam Ellis and Aaron Ahl, the field strung out fairly quickly, making the men's mile a simple test of all-out aerobic fitness.

Stanford's Ky Robinson went to the front and never relinquished the lead once the pacers stepped off. He cruised throughout the latter-half of the race and truthfully, he made it look easy. I'm not sure how many guys can look as relaxed as he did when running a 3:55 mile PR.

That was the first recorded mile of Robinson's collegiate career. And while there was no question that he was going to comfortably dip under the four-minute barrier, his 3:55 mark still beats the ambitious 3:56 expectations that I had set for him going into this race.

Robinson is a true long distance talent who is arguably at his best in the 3000 meters, the 5000 meters and the 10,000 meters (as well as the steeplechase). But to see him run 3:55 and take down a nationally competitive field is wildly encouraging to see. That's newfound turnover and speed that we frankly hadn't seen from him before.

And in a year where the national title in the 5000 meters seems wide-open, and less pace-pushers are expected to be on the national stage, Robinson's mile speed could turn out to be incredibly useful in a tactical setting.

Fellow teammate Cole Sprout finished runner-up in a time of 3:56, a massively encouraging performance for a guy who was dealing with a partial hamstring tear at the tail-end of November. For him to recover as fast and as effectively as he did, all while maintaining upper-end fitness, is so impressive.

The mile is probably not what Sprout will focus on later this winter. But if he gets to the point in the season where the 3000 meters and/or the 5000 meters aren't going well for him, then he could pivot his attention to the mile.

Much like Robinson, the newfound mile speed of Sprout (which was likely always there and just never shown) should only benefit him in a tactical setting. But Sprout is already one of the more reliable All-American talents in the NCAA. For the most part, he's a safe bet to be a top-eight finisher on the national stage.

So while his new PR may not tell us anything new, it does show us that he's healthy and still competing at an extremely high level -- and that's great news.

However, maybe the most pleasant surprise from this race was seeing Thomas Boyden throw down a 3:57 mile PR, taking down 1500 meter All-American Nathan Green (who ran 3:58) in the process.

Boyden has been steadily rising for the last few seasons. His value for the Stanford men has grown exponentially. He has quietly produced excellent results on the oval and his range is far better than some may realize.

A 3:57 mile mark indicates to us that this Utah native could be at his best in the 3000 meters. That's an event that theoretically meshes the greatest aspects of his resume from the mile up to the 10,000 meters.

But if Boyden feels like his momentum is best utilized in the mile right now, then he may work to attack that event later this winter in an effort to get to the national stage. However, he'll likely need to run close-ish to 3:55 if that's going to happen.

As for Washington's Nathan Green, I don't think anyone is stunned to see a 3:58 mile PR from him. He's run 3:37 for 1500 meters, so I actually thought that he would be faster on Saturday.

Even so, this guy is still young and despite how good he was last spring, he simply needs to build on his fitness. I think he'll do that over the next two months and run something close to 3:56 (which would put him right on the cusp of qualifying for the national meet).

We wrap up our analysis for this race with John Lester, the second-year Stanford talent who was a half-mile star in high school. And although Lester was a highly effective miler at the prep level, I'm not sure we saw him running 3:58 this winter.

After all, his best times last year were 3:45 (1500) and 4:06 (mile).

Lester is now giving Stanford a great long-term presence in the middle distance events. For as strong as Robinson and Sprout were in the mile this past Saturday, those two men will likely keep their focus on the 3000 meters and 5000 meters.

Boyden could shift his focus to the mile, but history says that he'll likely remain focused on the longer distances.

That's why Lester's recent surge in the mile shows tremendous promise for a roster that is expected to keep its focus on the endurance-based events. He'll offer great event diversity and even be a highly valuable piece for a future DMR.

Juliette Whittaker Delivers On Expectations, Secures First Collegiate Victory With 2:02 (800) Mark

In what had to be one of the least surprising results of the weekend, Stanford's rookie superstar, Juliette Whittaker, took home the win over 800 meters in Seattle. She posted a time of 2:02 in her first-ever collegiate race (that she has finished).

The middle distance phenom let professional runner Laurie Barton (Brooks) control the lead for the first-half of the race. But Whittaker took over in the second-half and simply ran away from her competition.

As expected, Barton kept things close and didn't give up when Whittaker began to gain some separation. Even so, it was incredibly clear that the Maryland native was just flat-out better than everyone else.

This is usually the part where we offer some fancy analysis and try to read super deep into this result. But truthfully, there just isn't anything to talk about here. We didn't really learn anything new about Whittaker from this performance.

That, however, is not a bad thing.

All it means is that Whittaker is still really, really, really good.

Sam Ellis & Joe Waskom Stun With Pair of 2:18 Marks Over 1000 Meters, Elliott Cook Holds On To Run 2:20

Going into Friday, one of the men who I was going to monitor closely was Joe Waskom.

The reigning 1500 meter national champion from last spring had proven to be a tactical virtuoso in the mile and 1500 meter distances. However, his overall personal bests weren't necessarily on par with the times that you would expect to see out of most national champions.

Sure, his 3:39 (1500), 3:56 (mile) and 8:35 (steeple) marks are very competitive, but they aren't necessarily "elite" results, either.

So what did Waskom do? Well, he essentially said, "hold my beer" and proceeded to run a jaw-dropping time of 2:18 over 1000 meters on Saturday.

It should be noted that his teammate, Sam Ellis, actually won the race, getting the edge over Waskom in the final straightaway. However, Ellis does not have indoor track eligibility and was running unattached.

For Ellis, this is a fantastic result. It's a clear uptick in his fitness, but he'll have to wait and see what he can truly do during the spring months.

Waskom, meanwhile, was fantastic. Sure, he ran a ridiculously fast time, but I was actually more impressed with how he ran that mark. He put himself near the front of the pack early-on before making an assertive move to the front over the last 300 meters.

I like to think that I do a fairly good job of describing certain races and reading the body language of certain runners. But Waskom, even after having a terrific string of postseason results last spring, just looked better this past weekend...and I don't exactly know how.

For perspective, Waskom's official mark of 2:18.77 puts him at NCAA #3 all-time when including "all conditions bests". And yes, it's true, Waskom's time won't count towards the official NCAA all-time leaderboard, but it's still an insanely fast performance.

And if Waskom is able to run 2:18 for 1000 meters in the second weekend of January...then how fast could he run a mile come February?

I also have to give a shoutout to Oregon's Elliott Cook. His performance may go underappreciated with all of the attention on Ellis and Waskom. However, a 2:20 mark is VERY fast and should be respected by his future competitors.

Coming into this race, I said that this season was a key opportunity for Cook to show us that he could be "the guy" for the Oregon men. And while he still has a long season ahead of him, running 2:20 for 1000 meters certainly puts him in a great position to reach that status.

Don't sleep on Cook. If he gains enough momentum, he may be one of the last names who I would want to toe the line against.

Imogen Barrett Shakes Off Early-Season Rust With 2:04 (800) Victory at Clemson

Florida middle distance star Imogen Barrett was able to shake off the rust this past weekend at the Clemson Invitational en route to an unsurprising win. The Gator ace ran 2:04.89 for 800 meters to easily defeat a field where she was heavily favored.

That mark will probably be just outside of qualification for the NCAA Indoor Championships, but that's hardly a concern for someone as talented as this Aussie standout.

Barrett will almost definitely run faster in the coming weeks/months. She does, after all, own a 2:01 personal best and has run as fast as 2:03 on the indoor oval before. To see Barrett already approaching her indoor PR in early January feels promising.

But I think it's important to keep this question in mind: Will Barrett even run the 800 meters on the national stage?

The women's mile feels wide-open this year in terms of national title contenders and All-American candidates. Barrett has been an indoor national qualifier in the mile before and has also run 4:14 for 1500 meters.

Wouldn't it make more sense for Barrett to attack the mile this year, especially with the women's 800 meters looking incredibly crowded at the top? I think that's a very logical move.

And if the Florida women want to seriously pursue a DMR this year (which is plenty possible), then Barrett running the mile would be conducive to her doubling back for that relay on the national stage, at least more so than the 800 meters.

It's admittedly a bit early to be having this conversation following a simple rust-buster, but it is something to monitor moving forward.

Aidan Troutner Earns 3:56 Mile Conversion, Five Other Men Go Under Four Minutes At Michigan & Vanderbilt

The Washington Preview wasn't the only meet that produced a handful of sub-four minute milers. We actually saw six other men around the NCAA post sub-four marks, one of which came by conversion.

BYU's Aidan Troutner likely surprised a handful of people this past weekend when he ran 4:01 at 4600 feet of altitude in Provo, Utah. That time ultimately converted to 3:56, a mark that I don't think many people expected Troutner to run.

Now, that said, Troutner did run 4:00 in the mile last year (at sea level), so it's not ridiculous to think that he could run under that barrier this winter. He did, after all, have a fantastic cross country season where he clearly improved his fitness to a nationally competitive level.

But a 3:56 mark puts Troutner in a different conversation regardless of how you feel about altitude conversions. This is someone who also struck me as a true long distance runner given his 13:45 (5k) personal best. So if Troutner is running 3:56 via a conversion, then what can he do in the 3000 meters and the 5000 meters after coming off of a high aerobic base from the 2022 cross country season?

Admittedly, I still want to see Troutner run a mile that's not at altitude. He seems to be more of a strength-based runner and miles that are contested at altitude seem to be more strength-based than they are speed-based.

In order to truly test his turnover and leg speed, I'd be interested in seeing what this 2017 NXN champion can do at a facility like the Dempsey in Seattle, Washington.

There were five other men around the country who ran under four minutes in the mile this past weekend. All of them ran 3:59 marks and none of them had conversions.

The Indiana duo of Jake Gebhardt and Camden Marshall each posted a pair of 3:59 personal bests, although it's hard to be too surprised by those results.

Gebhardt, while not necessarily a national-caliber star, has been steadily improving over the last few seasons. He's been fairly underrated at times and was due for a performance like this.

Meanwhile, Marshall showed incredible promise as a rookie. The sophomore had amazing tactical awareness despite his youth, but clearly needed to elevate his fitness to another level if he was going to be more competitive outside of the BIG 10.

And after running 3:59 this past weekend, it seems like he's doing exactly that.

In Ann Arbor, Michigan, we saw the Wolverine duo of Nick Foster and Arjun Jha each dip under the four-minute barrier. They were followed by Eastern Michigan ace, Baldvin Magnusson.

Hobbs Kessler and Morgan Beadlescomb, Adidas pros and members of the "Very Nice Track Club", went 1-2 in this race, each running 3:57.

For Foster, this is a super unsurprising result. He's been a strong miler for years now, holding personal bests of 3:40 (1500) and 3:58 (mile). Sure, this is a great start for him, but I don't think anyone is shocked by this performance, either.

Jha, however, is a different story. This former Indiana runner is a true long distance talent, often excelling in events like the 3000 meters and higher. Yes, he did run 4:00 once in his career during his time with the Hoosiers, but that was all the way back in 2020. Since then, his fastest mile time was 4:02 (up until this past weekend).

A 3:59 mile PR is really encouraging turnover to see from an endurance-based talent like Jha. And while I do think that he has to make a handful of additional improvements before he can be nationally competitive on the oval, this is certainly a step in the right direction.

As for Magnusson, a 3:59 mile time in early January is a nice way to come back from the holiday break. His personal best sits at 3:58, so this wasn't necessarily a stunning result, but it was still a solid performance, nonetheless.

Washington Women Impress With Strong 800/Mile Doubles, Stefanie Parsons Shows Promise With 4:36 PR

In our write-up for the Washington Preview, I said the following...

"Someone from New Mexico or Washington is going to run a big PR or a ridiculously fast time in the women's mile this weekend. But between Stefanie Parsons, Anna Gibson, Madison Heisterman, Elise Thorner and Sophie O'Sullivan, I just don't know who that's going to be."

Well, as it turns out, it was pretty much everyone!

The Washington women had a phenomenal weekend, one that deserves a ton of praise for what they accomplished. Anna Gibson was the top collegiate in the women's mile in a time of 4:35 while her fellow teammates Sophie O'Sullivan and Madison Heisterman ran 4:36 and 4:38, respectively.

Even true Husky freshman Chloe Foerster ran 4:42 to win her heat of the mile!

Yes, it's true. Of those four Washington women, only one of them ran a personal best. That was Sophie O'Sullivan who had previously never run faster than 4:49 in the mile at the collegiate level. She did, however, run 4:17 for 1500 meters last spring.

But what makes this collection of results so impressive is the fact that Gibson, O'Sullivan and Heisterman all came back to run in the 800 meters. They posted marks of 2:05, 2:05 and 2:07, respectively.

As is the case every winter, the Washington women could have a scary-good DMR. I like that they have numerous women who can effectively double back and be fairly competitive. Gibson looks like she's near peak fitness and O'Sullivan is building some incredible momentum right now. I would also bet that Heisterman becomes much better over the next month or so.

However, O'Sullivan wasn't the only one to post a big personal best. New Mexico veteran Stefanie Parsons, a former D2 star who joined the Lobos as a graduate transfer two years ago, posted a huge mile PR of 4:36!

Parsons has been a highly competitive name for the last few years. She was one of the top talents in Division Two for a good amount of time and even qualified for the outdoor national meet last year in the 1500 meters, running 4:14 in the prelims.

There have been some not-so-subtle signs over the last year that Parsons was beginning to reach a new level of fitness. Her tactics have become more refined, she ended her 2022 outdoor track season with a big PR and she ran 9:16 for 3000 meters back in December.

But with a 4:36 mile PR, it's time to start taking Parsons seriously as a legitimate high-end threat at the Division One level. She's becoming increasingly more well-rounded and is posting great results at a fairly consistent rate.

Kieran Lumb Makes Massive Statement With Dominant 3k Victory En Route to 7:43 Personal Best

You won't find a bigger fan of Kieran Lumb than me. I have believed in this Canadian distance star since he first stepped foot in the NCAA. He has elite firepower in numerous events, he boasts underappreciated range and his ability to make in-race adjustments is some of the best that I've ever seen.

And on Saturday, Lumb validated why I think of him so highly.

The Husky superstar, who had run 7:45 for 3000 meters while at the NAIA level in British Columbia, hung close to Johnny Gregorek and Joe Waskom who were the pacers in this race. And when they dropped off, Lumb dropped the hammer even further.

The Washington veteran hit the gas and gapped a field that featured a handful of strong distance talents, including Adidas pro Sam Prakel who had recently run 13:15 (5k) back in December.

In the end, Lumb crossed the line in a time of 7:43. That's a new NCAA lead and a new 3k school record at the University of Washington.

I think it could have been easy to look at Lumb's highly underwhelming 5k effort from December and question how well he would run this weekend. But that first result was very clearly a fluke. And in my opinion, the 3k has always been Lumb's best race.

And if this Canadian ace can run 7:43 without having anyone within (roughly) seven seconds of him...then what can he do when he's actually pushed?

Quick Hits

• Nice run for Texas Tech's Marco Vilca. He ran a converted 1:48 mark over 800 meters, although we've grown to expect that from this Red Raider veteran. Vilca is talented and has shown signs of being a nationally competitive talent, but he needs to reach that next level if he's going to contend for an All-American honor.

• Solid effort from BYU's Lucas Bons who ran a converted 1:49 mark over 800 meters. He has been fairly quiet since his very unexpected breakout freshman campaign in the winter and spring of 2021. I'll be curious to see how he fares this season.

• Nice runs for Devin Hart (7:51), Aidan Ryan (7:53) and Meika Beaudoin-Rousseau (7:54) in the 3000 meters at the Washington Preview. But truthfully, those times were fairly unsurprising and my pre-meet predictions prove that.

• The Virginia men quietly ran 9:37 in the DMR at Virginia Tech this past weekend. They did so without Gary Martin and a handful of top milers. That's fairly impressive for this early in the year.

• I really liked what we saw from Boise State's MaLeigha Menegatti. She's a 2:04 (800) runner who picked up some solid momentum last spring. She just ran 2:05 this past weekend, leading me to believe that she could rival her PR later this winter.

• The women's 3000 meters at the Washington Indoor Preview didn't feature pre-race favorite Zofia Dudek. However, we did get to see Portland's Laura Pellicoro toe the line against Stanford's Lucy Jenks and Oregon's Izzy Thornton-Bott. But in the end, no one really came all that close to Pellicoro who ran 9:05 to earn a comfortable win. That time won't advance her to the national meet, but it's clear that this miler is in the best shape of her life.