First Thoughts: Sumner's All-Time Effort, Green's Big Kick, Rooks Over Hamilton & Robinson's Double

Gosh, what a wildly entertaining national meet! The men's races gave us a series of nail-biting finishes, ultra-fast marks, legacy-defining performances and expectation-shattering results. Let's dive into the men's season finale from Friday night...

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Men's 1500 Meters (Finals)

Let's not try to overcomplicate things. The men's 1500 meter finals was basically a jog fest through the first 1100 meters as an entire pack swapped positions and saw a handful of lead changes.

And then, with 400 meters to go, the race actually started.

Adam Spencer (Wisconsin) and Luke Houser (Washington) took over for Liam Murphy on the back straightaway, battling each other with surges that they likely didn't want to exert that early. And with 200 meters to go, it was fellow Husky Nathan Green who approached the right shoulder of Spencer, ultimately slinging off the curve into the final straightaway and giving himself a comfortable win (as far as tactical races go).

Washington's Joe Waskom would ultimately find another gear to overtake Spencer for silver while Anass Essayi, Isaac Basten, Jesse Hunt, Ezekiel Rop and Evan Dorenkamp would crowd the final five All-American spots.

Fouad Messaoudi finished a surprising 9th place overall.

Was Green a national title favorite in the eyes of our TSR writers? No, he wasn't, but in a scenario that was this tactical, something that even the Washington men apparently didn't expect (per a post-race interview), it makes sense that Green emerged victorious.

It's hard to properly gauge Green's season as a whole. He ran once prior to the regional and national meets, going 3:42 over 1500 meters to win the PAC-12 title. He later ran 3:38 at the West Regional Championships and then won a national title in a tactical race that felt like it was anyone's to win.

But regardless of Green's limited resume this season, there's also nothing that we can be critical of. In his three 1500 meter finals that he contested this spring, Green is undefeated in all of them (conference, regional and national).

Not only did he split 51.90 seconds in his final 400 meters at the PAC-12 Championships, he also split 51.88 for his final lap on Friday night. And as a result, we have to question if it's Green who has the best kick in the NCAA nowadays and if he is the best tactical runner in the country (at least over 1500 meters).

However, maybe more importantly, Green gives Washington their third different mile/1500 meter national champion in the last 365 days. Waskom won the 1500 meter national title in 2022, Houser won the mile national title last winter and Green just took home gold last night.

That has to be a HUGE marketing ploy that the Huskies will lean on when it comes to recruiting. Let's say that there are 12 mile-centric distance runners on their roster (which is a number that I just made up). Coach Andy Powell can now point to that group and tell any recruit, "Hey, if you come here, you legitimately have a 25% chance to win a national title."

And with Waskom securing silver last night, it's hard to discount the championship prowess of these men. This is a historic group that has found ways to combine fitness and tactical awareness more effectively than anyone else in the country.

Let's take a look at everyone else, shall we?

Great race for Adam Spencer who validated some pre-national meet hype that we were giving him. Things could have gone very poorly in the final 100 meters as the Washington men overtook him, but he hung on for bronze.

Admittedly, I do think that the charge from Luke Houser on the back straightaway forced Spencer to exert some energy that he did want to in order to keep his lead position on the inside rail.

From the position that he was in, Spencer made the right call to respond to Houser's surge. However, I can't help but wonder what kind of damage this Badger ace could have done if he was able to swing off the curve on someone's shoulder.

As for everyone else, I don't have a ton to say here. If you had told me that Essayi (4th), Basten (5th), Hunt (6th) and Rop (7th) would finish in those places before the 1500 meter finals went off, I wouldn't have been totally shocked.

In fairness to Rop, I had significant questions about what he would be able to do in this kind of race scenario. His rise to the elite level of the metric mile this season was completely unexpected and in a slower race, I had serious questions about whether or not he had the turnover to stay competitive.

But the Iowa State star has done everything right this season. He has answered the call time and time again and has made me look silly more times than once.

It's a somewhat similar story for Evan Dorenkamp, the Penn State ace who has been slowly rebounding from an injury that he sustained last spring. The Nittany Lion standout took advantage of a fast finish on Friday night which perfectly suited his skillset as a true speed-oriented miler. And while an 8th place finish may not be anything flashy, it was a good result which showed how dangerous this guy could be in tactical races.

Sure, he was far from perfect in his postseason races this spring, but Dorenkamp always did enough to get by. And as a result, he was rewarded with the first All-American honor of his career.

Let's briefly talk about Fouad Messaoudi. I'm not entirely sure what happened to this Oklahoma State runner this spring. He ran 3:35 for 1500 meters at the Bryan Clay Invitational and looked incredible while doing so. But the rest of his spring campaign wasn't quite as convincing.

The Cowboy ace looked gassed at the Penn Relays, but then ran 3:36 for 1500 meters at the BIG 12 Championships to fend off a legitimate challenge from Ezekiel Rop. And after running 3:38 for 1500 meters at the West Regional Championships as well as 3:39 for 1500 meters in the prelims of the national meet, Messaoudi just didn't have enough pop in his legs to stay competitive over the last lap of last night's race.

Messaoudi, on paper, is absurdly talented, but he didn't look nearly as refined this spring as he was in the winter. Running four 1500 meter races under 3:40 this season isn't an easy workload to handle, but it's also hard to say if that was why he looked the slightest bit off over the last two months.

Was it a bad season for him? No, of course not. In fact, it was largely a fantastic spring campaign. But after setting the bar so high during the winter months, we were obviously expecting more from this Cowboy superstar.

Men's 3k Steeplechase (Finals)

In terms of how this race played out, there isn't a whole lot to talk about. Certain guys like Ed Trippas (Washington) and Matthew Wilkinson (Minnesota) opted to take control of the lead for a few early laps, but it was Duncan Hamilton who then threw down a big surge halfway through in an attempt to break open the field.

But slowly stalking the Montana State star from a few spots back was BYU's Kenneth Rooks who inched his way up to the lead with only a couple of laps remaining. And with 500 meters to go, it was Rooks who put in a surge that Hamilton just couldn't match. The patented late-race strength of Rooks proved to be too much on the final lap and the Cougar veteran secured the steeple national title in a time of 8:26 as a result.

Hamilton would place runner-up, but Victor Kipiego of UTEP, the redshirt freshman, nearly took advantage of the defeated Bobcat talent, settling for bronze by a slim margin.

When it comes to Rooks, no one should be surprised that he won the national title and no should be surprised by how he won it. The BYU star easily had the best finishing strength and kick of anyone in this steeplechase field. And as long as he was in / near the lead going into the last lap, he was most likely going to win.

And now, the idea that he'll make the USA team for the World Championships this summer looks increasingly more likely.

That said, I can appreciate what Hamilton was trying to do. The Montana State standout likely recognized that he didn't have the same turnover that Rooks did in the final moments of a steeplechase battle.

As a result, Hamilton put in a hard surge mid-way through this race and then again from 800 meters out. If he was going to win this race, he needed to establish a gap that was going to be too difficult for his BYU counterpart to make up.

And truthfully, when you look at the rest of the field, that tactic largely worked on most of these men. Of course, Rooks is not like most men.

Would I have maybe advised Hamilton to make his big surge a little later? Yes, I would have, but that's far easier for me to say now than in the moment or before the race.

Let's talk about Victor Kipiego, the redshirt freshman from UTEP who is flashing shades of former Miner distance star, Anthony Rotich. Here's what I said about this up-and-coming distance runner following the steeplechase prelims...

"This UTEP ace is getting significantly better with each passing week, and he's doing so at a rapid pace. While athletes as young or as inexperienced as him often lack tactical nuance, they also hold upside that can make them massive problems for even the most established veterans.

And knowing that Kipiego just ran 8:26 over the barriers two weeks ago makes me nervous about omitting him from my All-American predictions for this event..."

Well, sure enough, Kipiego secured 3rd place and nearly caught a fading Hamilton at the line who had exhausted himself while fending off Rooks. In a race that featured a chaotic surge and a handful of veterans, it was the UTEP youngster who seemed unfazed.

The wildness of this field sent established stars like Matthew Wilkinson and Ed Trippas fading backwards, but Kipiego didn't have any issues.

Rooks and Hamilton are now at the tail-end of their NCAA careers. Rooks still has a year of eligibility remaining, but if he makes it to the World Championships, then it's plenty possible that he snags a pro contract and forgoes the rest of this collegiate eligibility.

And if that happens, then it may be Kipiego who will evolve into the new face of the NCAA steeplechase.

As for everyone else, I can't say that I'm too surprised.

Nathan Mountain (4th), Matthew Wilkinson (5th), Abdelhakim Abouzouhir (6th), Victor Shitsama (7th) and Derek Johnson (8th) all settled for the remaining All-American spots. That's roughly what we expected, although none of our TSR writers had Johnson finishing in the top-eight this weekend (whoops).

If you look at the four men who didn't emerge as All-Americans, all but Ed Trippas make sense. A lot of those guys either lacked experience at this level of simply didn't have the same raw fitness to match a lot of the men in this field.

Men's 800 Meters (Finals)

I was already wildly excited for this race before the gun went off, but the actual entertainment that the 800 meter finals provided was beyond what I could have hoped for.

There are no tactics to discuss. There are no lead changes to highlight. There are no defining late-race moves that determined the end result. Instead, it was Georgia rookie Will Sumner taking over the lead at the initial break -- and he never looked back.

The Bulldog freshman came through 400 meters in 53.12 seconds to lead the pack, but it felt/looked faster than that. So naturally, you can understand my surprise when Sumner found ANOTHER gear and then continued to pull away from Texas superstar Yusuf Bizimana. And by the final 100 meters, Sumner had put a gap on the field that made me tilt my head to the side and think,"Just how fast is this dude going to run?"

1:44.26.

For 800 meters.

That's how fast he would run.

Here's what I said about Sumner going into the 800 meter finals...

"Don't get me wrong, I still think Yusuf Bizimana is the national title favorite in this event going into Friday, but gosh...I would not be surprised at all if Sumner took home gold and maybe, just maybe, scared the 1:45 barrier in the process."

It's absurd to me that Sumner looked as good as he did, even after he finished the race. He had such incredible command of his fitness and he negative split a race where he posted the NCAA #5 all-time mark in this event.

When it comes to the 800 meters, that is VERY rare.

I'm running out of words to truly detail the magnitude of this performance. It was simply that impressive. Sumner clearly peaked at the perfect time, he showed far greater control of his fitness than most elite veterans do and he simply outran the field.

Now the only question is...will he turn pro this summer?

When it comes to everyone else, you can only shrug your shoulders and say, "Yeah that seems about right."

Yusuf Bizimana valiantly fought to catch up to Sumner, but no one was getting anywhere close to the Georgia rookie. A final time of 1:45.74 for 800 meters is plenty impressive and it's a mark that is deserving of silver.

However, maybe the most impressive performance, relative to expectations and seasonal resumes, was what we saw from the 3rd place finisher, Handal Roban.

The Penn State middle distance star capped off a fantastic indoor track season with a bronze medal over 800 meters at the NCAA Indoor Championships back in March. That was a huge, career-defining performance for Roban and it gave him excellent momentum going into the spring months.

However, while Roban was plenty respectable this season, it was understandable as to why he wasn't picked by many of us at The Stride Report to be an All-American.

Roban had never run under 1:47 for 800 meters coming into the national meet. He also faded to a 3rd place finish in the 800 meter finals at the BIG 10 Outdoor Championships back in May. In that race, he lost to Camden Marshall (who didn't even qualify for the national meet) and Adam Spencer (whose best event is actually the mile/1500 meters).

Simply put, there wasn't a lot, on paper, to suggest that Roban was going to be an All-American this season. And if he was, then he likely wasn't going to match his 3rd place finish from the indoor national meet.

That, of course, is why you run the races.

Roban has still never run in the 1:46 range for 800 meters...but he did post a monster PR of 1:45.95 in the event on Friday night! That was enough for him to earn yet another 3rd place result and for him to be viewed as one of the best postseason competitors over the half-mile distance that the NCAA has to offer.

As for everyone else, seeing Abdullahi Hassan (4th), Conor Murphy (5th), Mehdi Yanouri (6th), Aidan McCarthy (7th) and Tiarnan Crorken (8th) finishing where they did was largely unsurprising. Of course, outside of a top-three result, there really wasn't any spot where those men could have finished that would have sparked any major surprises.

That said, I want to recognize Conor Murphy. The Virginia ace has to be one of the most valuable middle distance runners in the entire country.

How many men in the NCAA can realistically be an All-American miler in the winter (6th) and an 800 meter All-American in the spring (5th)? I can't imagine that a number like that is greater than 10 names, especially if they need to hold the same personal bests as Murphy (1:46 for 800 meters and 3:55 in the mile).

The one big surprise was seeing Crayton Carrozza fade to 9th place, the only non-All-American spot in this field. He was certainly favored to be an All-American more than everyone else in this race with the exception of Sumner and Bizimana.

Carrozza started out at the back of the field. And when the pace began to quicken with 400 meters to go, he made a valiant effort to move up. But trying to respond to an aggressive second-half pace while coming from the back of the pack is not an easy thing to do.

And by the final 100 meters, the Texas star just didn't have anything left.

Men's 5000 Meters (Finals)

Truthfully, I don't think the first-half of this 5k battle really needs to be talked about, largely because this event didn't actually become a race until there was a mile to go.

That's because with four laps left, Northern Arizona star Nico Young went to the front and began hammering a pace that was, originally, highly pedestrian.

This, in turn, forced the field to string out almost immediately.

Young attempted to put a gap on the rest of his competition, clearly trying to utilize his strength-based skillset. Giving chase was Carter Solomon (Notre Dame), Jackson Sharp (Wisconsin), Yaseen Abdalla (Tennessee), Brian Fay (Washington), Luke Tewalt (Wake Forest) and then everyone else.

With three laps to go, Abdalla sneaked into the 2nd place spot behind Young while Stanford's Ky Robinson, Harvard's Graham Blanks and North Carolina's Parker Wolfe inched into the top mix (if they weren't already there).

With two laps to go, there were still seven other men right behind Young who had not been shaken from the lead. And with 650 meters to go, it was clear that the Northern Arizona superstar was not going to hang on to the front for much longer.

Sure enough, with 450 meters to 500 meters to go, Ky Robinson took over the front of the race. The rest of the field worked to respond to his move while Young faded backwards. But by that point, this 5k final was over. The Aussie star threw down a monster final lap that was almost identical to what we saw from him in the 10k en route to yet another gold medal.

Jackson Sharp put together a valiant last lap effort in an attempt to catch Robinson, but he would settle for bronze while Blanks would secure gold.

For the sake of simplicity and time, let's break down these results athlete by athlete in list form of where they finished, shall we?

1. Ky Robinson (Stanford)

The Cardinal standout was having a good spring season, but he certainly didn't look nearly as strong over the last few months as he did during the winter months.

Robinson had a highly underwhelming showing at the indoor national meet, had a great 10k race at the Stanford Invitational, slightly underwhelmed again over 5000 meters at the Bryan Clay Invite and then cruised through the rest of the season with fitness-refining races.

Yes, Robinson's two efforts at the West Regional Championships were encouraging, but in a pair of races that were all about placement, it was hard to put much emphasis on those regional results.

But what Robinson did this past weekend is exactly what we thought he was going to do in the 5000 meters and the 3000 meters at the indoor national meet. He bided his time and then threw down a final lap that the rest of the field just couldn't respond to.

Robinson is the first Division One men's distance runner since Edward Cheserek (2015 and 2016) to win the 10k/5k double at the NCAA Outdoor Championships.

Did we view Robinson as a national title favorite coming into this weekend? No, that status admittedly went to Dylan Jacobs and Brian Fay.

But Robinson was certainly in the title contender category. And after seeing him win the 10k national title, as well as Jacobs not even toeing the line for the 5k, the idea that this Stanford star could also win gold in the 5k became increasingly more realistic.

Kudos to Ky Robinson who clearly peaked better than any other distance runner in the NCAA this spring.

2. Graham Blanks (Harvard)

I always thought that the 5000 meters was Graham Blanks' best race, although after his 6th place All-American finish in the 10k, I thought that maybe I had it wrong.

But nope. I was right.

Blanks has always struck me as someone who thrives with fast and aggressive paces. Sure, he may not be the one who is at the front making things fast, but he has done fairly well in those settings. That's why I was pleasantly surprised to see him snag silver in a setting that was far more tactical than it was fitness-centric.

What a hugely successful weekend for this Harvard star.

3. Jackson Sharp (Wisconsin)

I don't know how or why, but Jackson Sharp will continue to be overlooked and underrated in future seasons despite snagging his second bronze medal of the season.

After finishing 3rd overall in the 3k at the indoor national meet, Sharp put together a very similar game plan on Friday night, shadowing the leaders over the last couple of laps and not relenting with his 400 meter kick.

In terms of race IQ and positioning, Sharp has proven to be incredibly dangerous on the national stage. He's not in the national title tier yet, but the Wisconsin ace is certainly closer to that tier now than he was last year. If his fitness reaches one more tier, than this is someone who could potentially win NCAA gold.

4. Luke Tewalt (Wake Forest)

Isn't it crazy to think that a fall in the 1500 meter prelims at the East Regional Championships turned out to be the best thing that happened to Luke Tewalt?

This Wake Forest star had run 3:38 for 1500 meters twice this season and he looked incredibly refined as a racer as he navigated through the postseason. But after taking a fall in the 1500 meter prelims at the East Regional Championships and not being moved to the finals, Tewalt still had the 5k to fall back on.

And when you look back at those two races on the national stage, the 5000 meters was clearly the better choice.

Earning a 4th place All-American result in the 5k is certainly much better than what I would have expected Tewalt to do in the 1500 meters, especially when you look back at how tactical that metric mile final was.

Luckily, a highly tactical 5k played perfectly into the speed-oriented skillset of Tewalt.

5. Parker Wolfe (North Carolina)

6. Charles Hicks (Stanford)

I'm grouping these two men together, largely because I don't think there is a ton to talk about.

Parker Wolfe is clearly an All-American-caliber talent and he showed that this past weekend. He's not quite a national title contender yet, but that will come with time. He's only a sophomore.

Charles Hicks, meanwhile, likely had a chance to play a bigger role in this race if he wasn't doubling back from the 10k. The fact that he salvaged a 6th place All-American finish is highly impressive and it deserves to be commended.

Now the only question is...will Hicks go pro this summer?

7. Carter Solomon (Notre Dame)

It wasn't the flashiest All-American result, but it didn't need to be.

Carter Solomon's breakout year has been fantastic. The Notre Dame men needed a new focal star to rally around with the departure of Jacobs as well as Coach Sean Carlson -- and Solomon gave them exactly that.

Admittedly, it felt like Solomon needed an All-American honor on the track to truly validate his rise to the highest tiers of NCAA distance running. He seemed to be one step off from that on the indoor oval, but he responded perfectly to the move that Nico Young made in the 5000 meters on Friday night.

And it was that response that ultimately allowed this Fighting Irish ace to be a top-eight guy.

8. Nico Young (Northern Arizona)

This has not been the best season, or even year, for Nico Young. Yes, his 2022 cross country campaign was fantastic, but he clearly did not have the same edge this winter or spring that he has had in previous seasons.

However, according to a post-race interview with LetsRun, that's because Nico Young sustained an injury after the most recent cross country season.

The Northern Arizona star clearly wanted to make things honest on Friday night by making a big move with a mile to go -- and admittedly, I'm a little torn about that tactical decision.

On one hand, I think an aggressive move that is more strength-based perfectly fits Young's skillset. That tactical decision is far more likely to result in a top finish for this Lumberjack star than a 200 meter sprint is.

However, on the other hand, Young still probably went too early. Making a move like that with a mile to go is almost certainly not going to shake everyone, especially not when the pace was already slow. Had he made his move with 800 meters to go, then I could understand what he was trying to do.

I still have significant concerns and questions about Young's championship tactics and prowess. He is arguably the most naturally talented distance runner in the NCAA, but he still needs to refine a few things.

Even so, seeing Young snag two All-American finishes this year despite not having the same edge that he has had in previous seasons deserves plenty of respect.

9. Brian Fay (Washington)

I won't harp on Brian Fay's performance too much. He knows what the expectations were for him and clearly, things didn't work out. I'm not entirely sure what it is about championship races on the track that have given him so much difficulty. It's hard to see him fall out of All-American contention in this race after seeing him showcase so much incredible versatility and talent this year.

10. James Mwaura (Gonzaga)

11. Casey Clinger (BYU)

There's not a whole lot to talk about here for these two men.

Both Clinger and Mwaura were doubling back from the 10k and just didn't have the same pop in their legs that a few others did. They were very conservative which I can appreciate, but they might have been slightly too conservative in retrospect.

That, of course, is far easier said now that the race is over. I probably would have done the same exact thing if I was in their position.

DNS: Dylan Jacobs (Tennessee)

Not seeing Dylan Jacobs toe the line for the men's 5k final was a surprise. The Tennessee star faded in the men's 10k after being viewed as a national title, but was expected to return to the track and contend for gold in an event that was half the distance.

I was able to reach out to Tennessee Coach Sean Carlson for comment on Jacobs' absence...

"He’s had some back problems come up. Obviously not how he wanted this weekend to go. He put it out there in the 10k and we are proud of him for everything he’s done. Scratching the 5k was a decision we had to make after the 10k to prioritize his health, long term development and goals." - Tennessee Coach Sean Carlson