First Thoughts: Tuohy's 10k Debut, Porter's DQ & Tewalt's Tumble

The first day of conference meets don't usually a hold a ton of results to analyze, largely because we only see preliminary rounds and 10k races. Even so, we had a few (fairly brief) thoughts on the Thursday action from the ACC Outdoor Championships and SEC Outdoor Championships...

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Appleton Barely Escapes Prelims, Tyynismaa Cruises

I have very little to talk about when it comes to the women's 1500 meter prelims at the ACC Championships. In fact, these were probably the least surprising results from all of Thursday...with the possible exception of the 800 meter prelims at the SEC Championships. That's because everyone who was expected to advance to the finals did and they all ran as fast as I thought they would.

There were, however, just a couple of notes that I wanted to make.

Virginia's Margot Appleton dictated a good portion of her preliminary heat before being overtaken by North Carolina's Taryn Parks on the final lap. However, when it came down to the last straightaway, Appleton began to slow significantly.

This, in turn, led to Carlee Hansen (North Carolina) and Brynne Sumner (Clemson) nearly overtaking the Cavalier star before Appleton threw in one final surge to secure a runner-up finish in her heat.

I'm not entirely sure if Appleton was just easing off the gas to conserve energy (that's my guess) or something else happened, but regardless, we almost saw one of the most stunning final round misses of the year.

Luckily, that wasn't the case.

NC State's Amaris Tyynismaa was the top overall prelim finisher in a time of 4:14 (1500) across all heats and looked really smooth while doing so. I'm hoping that she runs something fast enough in the finals to give her more of a reason to go after the 1500 meters at the East Regional Championships instead of the 5000 meters.

Vanoppn Records DNF, Porter Disqualified in Prelims

Gosh, where do we even begin?

Let's first address Wake Forest star Thomas Vanoppen recording a DNF in the 1500 meter prelims at the ACC Championships. For the most part, that wasn't surprising. The Demon Deacon ace fractured his toe in the mile prelims at the NCAA Indoor Championships and hadn't raced all season long.

Not recording a finishing time last night made sense.

But...then why would he toe the line at all? And then immediately pull out of the race once the gun went off? I didn't fully understand that, although there may be some kind of rule about scratching that I'm not totally aware of.

However, based on that result, I think we can safely (and unfortunately) declare that Vanoppen's season, and potentially his NCAA career assuming he's out of eligibility, has come to a close. And if that's the case, then what a time it has been for this Belgium mile ace.

Alright, now let's get to the part that we all want to discuss: Wes Porter being disqualified.

The Virginia standout was viewed as a top contender for this weekend's 1500 meter finals at the ACC Championships. And throughout his preliminary heat, he looked like he was in good position to advance (and initially, he did).

However, with roughly 900 meters to go, Porter clipped the heels of Wake Forest standout Luke Tewalt who was then sent tumbling to the ground. Tewalt, to his credit, bounced back to his feet rather quickly and fought to put himself back in the mix.

On the final straightaway, Porter and Wake Forest rookie Paul Specht fought off Tewalt to take the top-two automatic qualifying times in the heat. And given how slow that heat was, Tewalt wasn't going to advance to the finals based on his time.

However, then the results were updated and Porter was disqualified. The Virginia runner had impeded Tewalt and was therefore penalized from advancing.

Here's a hot take: I don't think Porter should have been disqualified.

Yes, Tewalt has every right to advance to the finals. He fell to no fault of his own and if Porter wasn't disqualified, then I feel like this 3:38 (1500) man would have won an appeal to get into the final round on Saturday.

However, what the results don't show is that Porter, just before Tewalt fell, was (slightly) clipped by Duke's Rory Cavan. And while it's not entirely clear how that affected the ensuing Tewalt tumble, it does seem fair to suggest that his fall was simply the result of Porter getting tripped up as well.

And remember, I'm a Virginia Tech alum, so if you think that I have some kind of bias in favor of Porter (who is an in-state rival from the University of Virginia), then you'd be mistaken.

I can, however, look at the replay and question if that fall was really Porter's fault.

That said...I now have so much respect for Luke Tewalt. He got up right away after falling. He didn't complain. He didn't throw up his arms in disgust. He didn't just give up and bank on the idea of an appeal. Instead, he admirably clawed his way back to the leaders and nearly got an automatic qualifying spot anyways.

Every top distance team around the NCAA has "the guy" who acts as their leader -- a true ace that a program can hang their identity on. And with a handful of top veterans soon leaving the Demon Deacons due to expired eligibility, this preliminary effort makes me think that Tewalt can be "the guy" in Winston-Salem if he's not already.

Also, Conor Murphy (Virginia) lost his spike halfway through his preliminary heat, kicked it off and then proceeded to contend for the win. He finished 3rd overall, but ran a time of 3:41.41 for 1500 meters to get into the finals on a time qualifier.

I have no idea how chewed up his right foot is going to be, but that was pretty cool stuff and maybe the most impressive performance of the men's 1500 meter prelim rounds.

Tuohy Runs 32:56 in 10k Debut, Quarzo Snags Silver

Katelyn Tuohy is really good at running...alright, can we move on?

The NC State ace ran her first-ever 10k last night and easily won the ACC title in a time of 32:56, taking down her own teammate, Gionna Quarzo (33:13), by 16-ish seconds.

We could begin a conversation about whether or not Tuohy will do the 10k/5k double at the outdoor national meet this year. But truthfully, that may not be necessary.

The Wolfpack phenom has already mentioned that the 1500 meters may be an option for her at the NCAA Outdoor Championships this spring. And given how new she is to the 10k distance, it may be best for her to run something that she's more familiar with.

Would that really matter in her title chances? No, probably not, but I think it's a valid thought.

Gionna Quarzo running 33:13 over 10,000 meters is awesome. She took down the entire Syracuse contingent, including Amanda Vestri, by three seconds. And while I don't think that Quarzo is at an All-American level yet, I do feel validated after saying that she is at her best in the postseason over this distance.

Don't be surprised if she advances to the national meet yet again in 2023.

As for Vestri, I wouldn't look too heavily into this result. When Tuohy broke away, Vestri was left in "no man's land," but she also hadn't completely shaken Quarzo at that point. Given how the race unfolded -- via a scenario which we likely won't see throughout the rest of the postseason -- it makes sense why Vestri ultimately had to settle for 3rd place.

Solomon Snags Thrilling Win Over O'Donnell in Tactical & Crowded 10k Battle

In terms of impact on the NCAA landscape and our understanding of how good certain runners are, this race didn't really go a whole lot for us. That, however, didn't make it any less exciting.

Notre Dame's Carter Solomon continues his breakout year, this time winning the men's ACC title over 10,000 meters in a very narrow battle with Syracuse's Paul O'Donnell, as well as Virginia Tech's Antonio Lopez Segura, over the final 100 meters.

In the end, Solomon ran 30:18.84 while O'Donnell ran 30:18.96.

For Solomon, this isn't too much of a surprise. And frankly, for most of the men in this top-five -- Antonio Lopez-Segura in 3rd place, Zach Facioni in 4th place and John Tatter in 5th place -- these results seemed fairly unsurprising.

That said, Solomon's strength in the final 100 meters was really impressive. He has just reached an entirely different tier this year. He looks so sharp and has such a great understanding of how to improve with each passing race.

He's not perfect, but I don't think he's a finished product yet...and that's a good thing.

I also think it's time to give Paul O'Donnell credit where credit is due. A lot of people, myself included, viewed his ACC title in the indoor 5k this past winter, as a fluke. He did, after all, win the "slow" heat and the "fast" heat was simply too tactical to produce a winning time.

However, after a race like this, regardless of whether or not it was tactical, O'Donnell has validated himself as a legitimate Power Five conference-level threat. A result like this also complements his recent personal bests of 13:43 (5k) and 28:42 (10k) from earlier this season.

Is he a sleeper pick to make it to the national meet?

He very well could be...

Anderson & Pender Don't Toe Line For 800 Meter Prelims, No Surprise Misses For Women Or Men

There really isn't a whole lot to talk about when evaluating the men's and women's 800 meter prelims from the SEC Championships. There just weren't any surprises which, in retrospect, may actually be a surprising fact in-and-of itself.

Sure, you could maybe argue that Phoebe McCowan (Kentucky), Cindy Bourdier (LSU) and DeAnna Martin (Kentucky) were projected finalists, but it's not like their absences from Saturday's final round are shockers.

What was surprising, however, was seeing neither Navasky Anderson (Mississippi State) nor Clayborn Pender (Georgia) toe the line for this race despite both being listed in the entries.

Admittedly, Anderson did something similar to this during the winter months when he only ran on Mississippi State's DMR (and nothing else). If the mindset of the Bulldogs' coaching staff is similar this spring, then that could explain Anderson's recent absence.

Pender, meanwhile, has been good this spring, but not quite as strong as he was in 2022. Regardless, not having him race in his primary event on Thursday afternoon was odd. Hopefully he'll back for the regional meets where he has a fairly realistic shot of making it back to the NCAA Outdoor Championships.

Kiprop & Abdalla (Men), Thorvaldson & Paternain (Women) Battle to 1-2 Finishes Over 10,000 Meters

Both the men's and women's 10k races were admittedly jog battles with faster finishes. That, however, didn't stop the best names from rising to the top of the results.

Victor Kiprop (Alabama) overtook Yaseen Abdalla (Tennessee) in the final lap of their race to win gold. Those two men produced times of 29:58 and 30:00, respectively. And while we can't really pull a lot from this result, I do like that Kiprop has refined his finishing speed and was able to comfortably pull away from a top talent like Abdalla.

On the women's side, the Arkansas duo of Sydney Thorvaldson and Julia Paternain worked together beautifully to take down a field that held a solid talent in Jasmine Fehr (Tennessee). Those two Razorback runners each posted times of 35:07 over the 10,000 meter distance en route to their 1-2 finish.