Five Things to Watch: 2023 Ivy League Indoor Championships

Admin (Garrett Zatlin)
Feb 24, 2023
8 min read

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Unlike their fellow D1 counterparts, the Ivy League Indoor Championships are held on Saturday and Sunday of this weekend. That, as a result, leaves us with some time to craft a preview. Admittedly, this article won't be quite as long-winded as our ACC preview was, but we wanted to at least get something out for our readers in the northeast.

Here are five things to watch for at Dartmouth this weekend...

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Men's Mile: Duncan Miller vs Rhys Hammond vs Vivien Henz

The men's mile within the Ivy League has been quietly strong this year. Princeton's Duncan Miller has picked up from where he left off from last winter, running a 3:56 PR in the event earlier this season.

And with Graham Blanks not entered in this field, the Tiger veteran looks like the favorite.

What I like about Miller is that he has two convincing sub-four mile efforts on his resume in two different seasons. That's encouraging and it's a nice indication that his 3:57 mile time from last year wasn't a fluke.

But it's also been hard to gauge just how good he is relative to other national-caliber talents. He hasn't necessarily had any bad races, but Miller's 3:56 mile effort is the clear outlier from a season of otherwise respectable times.

On paper, he's still the mile favorite, but by how much is he the title favorite in this event?

I think that's the better question to ask.

Speaking of guys who we're still trying to figure out, Harvard runner Vivien Henz captured attention earlier this season when he ran 3:57 in the mile. Of course, for someone who ran 3:38 for 1500 meters in Luxembourg before he came over to 'States, that time makes plenty of sense.

We're still learning more about Henz. But what we do know about him is that he's not afraid to push the pace -- something that we saw in Boston a couple of weeks ago. And with a 3:57 mile mark, you have to think that Henz is thinking about a potential birth to the national meet if he runs fast enough.

In theory, Duncan Miller would probably welcome that kind of pacing as he too tries to put himself on the national stage.

But tactically, the most proven runner in this field may be Cornell's Rhys Hammond. The Big Red distance talent captured our attention last spring when he emerged as a pleasantly surprising national meet qualifier over 1500 meters. And since then, he's validated his talent.

The Cornell ace was a cross country national meet qualifier this past fall and also ran 3:58 in the mile this winter. If this race becomes speed-based, I like to think that Hammond's positioning and in-race execution would be just as good as what we see from Miller and Henz.

Women's Mile: Will Ramsden Lead Others to Fast Times?

The grass is green, the sky is blue and Harvard's Maia Ramsden is probably going to win the women's Ivy League mile title this weekend. She owns a 4:30 mile PR from earlier this season and is just flat-out better than everyone else in this race.

But that's not necessarily the important part.

Instead, we should be asking how fast Ramsden wants to make this race.

If the Crimson star wants a tactical affair, then Julia Fenerty (Dartmouth), Margaret Liebich (Princeton) and teammate Maya Rayle (Harvard) could be names to keep an eye on. They also have some respectable level of speed in the middle distance events. They still wouldn't be favored against Ramsden, but it does leave the door open just the slightest bit for an upset (I'm talking like 3% chance).

Ramsden also doesn't have any incentive to put in a hard effort and make this race fast. She's also entered in the 1000 meters (which comes after the mile) and probably doesn't want to put in a super hard effort before the national meet if she can avoid it.

That, of course, is just speculation.

However, with 4:39 miler Margaret Liebich (Princeton) also in this field, Ramsden may opt to make this race fairly honest in order to safely earn a win. And if that happens, then someone like Liebich could be due for a new personal best.

Men's 3k & 5k: Can Anyone Challenge Blanks & Iverson?

I'll be honest, I have no idea how anyone is going to get anywhere close to this Harvard duo.

Graham Blanks and Acer Iverson are at a completely different level this year. Blanks has run 3:56 (mile), 7:44 (3k) and 13:18 (5k) so far this winter. Iverson, meanwhile, has run 3:58 (mile), 7:47 (3k) and 13:26 (5k).

Columbia's Tyler Berg is a sneaky-good talent who has offered great value for the Lions over the last few seasons. If there was going to be anyone to give this Crimson pairing any trouble, then it would be him.

Berg has run 7:54 (3k) and 13:41 (5k), both personal bests. But the Columbia ace is by no means a speed-oriented guy. He doesn't even have a mile result listed on his TFRRS page! If either of these races (3k or 5k) become tactical, the sub-four mile speed of Blanks and Iverson still gives them an advantage.

But there's another caveat to consider -- Iverson's national qualifying standing.

The Harvard standout currently sits at NCAA #15 in the men's 5000 meters (he's actually tied for that spot) and NCAA #20 in the men's 3000 meters.

There is a very realistic (although not guaranteed) chance that Iverson loses his automatic national qualifying spot in the 5k after this weekend. I would also argue that he's almost certainly out of contention for a national qualifying spot in the 3k given that athletes never scratch out of that event.

So what's the plan of attack for Iverson this weekend? Will he go all-out in both of these events? Just one event? Will Blanks try to pace him for either effort? Or is Iverson going to focus on safely earning conference team points rather than running fast?

If either race is super fast, then Berg could greatly benefit from that. The same can be said for Cornell's Rishabh Prakash and Perry Mackinnon. But in terms of how this race actually plays out from a pacing standpoint, your guess is as good as mine.

Women's 800 Meters: Is There a Sole Title Favorite?

I think you could make an argument that the women's 800 meter field at the Ivy League Championships will be just as tightly contested as the men's mile.

In my eyes (and on paper), there are three women who could realistically contend for the overall win at this distance. They are Margaret Hock (Princeton), Samantha Friborg (Yale) and Bronwyn Patterson (Penn).

Hock has run 2:04 for 800 meters this winter. Meanwhile, Friborg has run 2:05 (and owns a 2:04 PR) while Patterson has run 2:06 for the same distance.

Based strictly on time, Hock is the title favorite. She has the fastest 800 meter time this season of anyone in this field. The Princeton talent has also run 2:45 for 1000 meters.

However, you could argue that Friborg has may be a slightly safer bet. The Yale veteran has run 2:05 (800) this season, but owns a personal best of 2:04 in the event. She has slowly progressed as the season has gone on, has shown some well-roundedness and may be one of the more experienced women in this field.

On paper, Friborg may not have the same upside as Hock does, but her floor does seem to be far higher. I don't see a scenario where she has a poor race, and that makes her a somewhat safe bet for an event like this.

But when it comes to "upside" and "ceiling", there may not be anyone in this field who is due for a bigger breakout race than Penn's Bronwyn Patterson.

The Quaker middle distance runner has already run 2:06 (800) twice in just this month alone. She's also progressing from a 2:09 mark that she posted earlier this season as well as a new 1000 meter PR of 2:48.

Not only that, but Patterson posted a time of 2:06 over the half-mile distance in the middle of May last spring. In other words, she has run her PR in three of her last five tries at the event.

If this race is fast enough, then Patterson will absolutely earn a PR.

The only question is...by how much?

Men's 1k: How Fast Can Rodman Go?

If Harvard's Graham Blanks isn't the Ivy League distance running MVP (or "MVR" in this case) for the 2023 indoor track season, then Princeton's Samuel Rodman is probably the next-most deserving athlete of that honor.

And honestly, based on how he has looked this winter, he might even have an argument to win that made-up, non-existent honor outright.

Rodman has been outstanding over the last few months. He ended his 2022 outdoor track season with a 6th place All-American finish at the national meet and a 1:46 (800) PR. And since, then he has picked up where he left off, running 1:47 in late January and then 1:46.96 at Boston University earlier this month.

Both of those races ended with convincing wins.

In terms of speed, tactics, positioning, progression and experience, Rodman should be heavily favored to take home gold in this event. Columbia's Justin O'Toole, who has run 2:21 for 1000 meters this winter, isn't even entered in this field!

Sure, there are other guys like Eric Gibson (Dartmouth), DJ Matusz (Dartmouth) and Damian Hackett (Cornell) who have produced sub-2:23 (1k) marks this season, but one has to believe that Rodman can run around 2:20.

If someone like Gibson has a really good day and guns for a new PR, then Rodman could be pushed for long enough where he might scare the 2:20 barrier over 1000 meters. But this is also a step-up in distance for the Princeton star and he's never contested the event. To suggest that he'll post an all-time mark in his event debut seems unlikely.

Of course, I have wildly underestimated what certain athletes are capable of running this season, so maybe a time around 2:19 (1k) isn't out of the question for him...