Five Things to Watch: Bruce Lehane Scarlet & White Invite

There are numerous two-day meets that will headline this upcoming weekend of NCAA action.

With the Camel City Elite meet already previewed and the rest of the two-day meets already beginning, we thought it would be best to highlight one meet that has yet to begin: The Bruce Lehane Scarlet & White Invitational at Boston University.

The one-day Saturday indoor track meet doesn't have the same firepower or diverse superstars that a few other invitationals boast. Even so, the Boston University-hosted meet still has some exciting races to keep an eye on.

Below, we detail our "Five Things to Watch" in Boston this weekend...

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Jack Salisbury Makes Season Debut, Jordan & Stokes Join

Jack Salisbury, the Georgetown veteran, made major noise last spring, emerging as a superstar talent in an already-loaded 1500 meter event. The Hoya standout ran a time of 3:37 for 1500 meters, quietly flexing his tactical prowess and matching the raw fitness needed to emerge as an All-American on the national stage.

Now, after a decent, but uneventful cross country season, Salisbury is finally ready to make his indoor debut for this season. The Hoya ace will be toeing the line in his marquee event, the mile, with numerous teammates alongside him this weekend.

Salisbury's personal best in the mile is 3:56, although that time came during the outdoor track season. His best indoor mile time is actually 4:03, a mark that he should absolutely shatter.

Assuming that Salisbury is near the same fitness that he was in during the 2021 outdoor track season, then a time in the 3:57 range seems to be a realistic goal for this weekend. In fact, he'll need to run no slower than that mark given how fast the national qualifying time has become in order to make into this year's indoor national meet for the mile.

The only question is whether or not this field, which features mostly Georgetown men at the top, can set up Salisbury for a fast enough race. The mile veteran has given us little reason to doubt him and in a race controlled by his teammates, I like to think that he can get somewhere close to a 3:56 mark.

Also joining Salisbury will be veteran teammate Andrew Jordan and up-and-coming talent Parker Stokes.

Jordan is a long distance guy, mainly focusing on events like the 3000 meters, 5000 meters and 10,000 meters. However, his last few races have been very encouraging, specifically his 5k effort at Boston University back in December when he ran 13:28.

Jordan's fitness is undoubtedly the best it has ever been, but how his endurance translates to the mile -- an event where he owns a personal best of 4:02 on an outdoor track -- is what will be our greatest uncertainty for him this weekend.

Stokes, meanwhile, has run 3:59 in the outdoor mile, but should/could be primed to go under the four minute barrier yet again. The steeplechase star is clearly at the peak of his fitness, recently running a surprisingly quick time of 2:22 for 1000 meters to pair with a 1:50 mark for 800 meters which he ran at Virginia Tech.

It's abundantly clear that Stokes has been developing his speed in preparation for this all-out mile assault. I don't have any reasons to believe that he won't break four, but how far under four minutes he goes is the real uncertainty.

As for the other names in this field, Georgetown has a massive army of men entered, including Matthew Payamps, Jantz Tostenson, Camden Gilmore, Lucas Guerra and others. On paper, at least one of these guys are capable of running sub-four, and I think that will be Payamps given his underrated rise in the middle distances over the last few seasons.

Also, keep an eye on Derek Holmes. The UMass Lowell runner is due for a big performance. After running 4:02 back in January, he could very easily dip under 4:00 in this field.

Anna Juul's Season Debut in...Everything?

We sometimes forget how good some of these Ivy League athletes actually are thanks to the conference's once-stringent stance on competing during the pandemic. With many of these athletes returning to NCAA competition this past winter and spring, we get to see the joyful return of certain star talents

On of those talents is Harvard's Anna Juul.

Some may forget that Juul was one of the top milers in the country. The Harvard star ran 4:37 in the mile during the 2020 indoor track and was primed to make the trip to the NCAA Indoor Championships with teammates Kieran Tuntivate (now at Bowerman Track Club) and Abbe Goldstein (now at New Mexico) that year.

However, Harvard scratched all three athletes from the indoor national meet as concerns for the pandemic grew. The indoor national meet, as we all know, was eventually cancelled in its entirety.

With so much time lost since the start of the pandemic, I like to imagine that Juul is going to come out guns-blazing this weekend, ready to prove herself as a national-level threat once again. This weekend will be her season debut and the first time that she has competed collegiately on a track since March of 2020, almost 23 months ago.

The tricky part, however, is trying to figure out what events she will actually run. Juul is entered in the 1000 meters, the mile and the 3000 meters. Will she actually race all three? Probably not, I would find that hard to believe.

If I had to guess, I would assume that Juul would pursue the mile. It's her marquee event and we are already very late in the season, leaving the Harvard ace only one month to earn a national qualifying mark.

Luckily, the mile will provide Juul with plenty of competition...

Juul vs DeLay vs Ramsden in Women's Mile

We've already spoken about how talented and accomplished Juul is, but the other women in this field have a strong chance of earning top collegiate honors in this mile field.

Harvard teammate Maia Ramsden just had an excellent cross country season this past fall, finishing 59th at the Nuttycombe Invitational, 5th at the Ivy League XC Championships, 9th at the Northeast Regional XC Championships and 110th at the NCAA XC Championships.

Ramsden's performances on the grass were really solid and it showed that she was able to put her top-end talent on full display on multiple occasions. The freshman from New Zealand also has excellent marks on the track, posting outdoor times of 2:10 for 800 meters and 4:23 for 1500 meters prior to her time at Harvard.

Given Ramsden's improved long-distance endurance and her past success in the middle distances, a major breakout race could be on tap for the Harvard rookie this weekend. This will be a strong field of distance runners, but it also shouldn't be so strong that she gets overwhelmed.

On paper, this race sets up beautifully for her.

We also have Yale's Kayley DeLay in this race, arguably one of the most underrated distance talents in the entire NCAA.

The Ivy League veteran was absolutely incredible this past fall, never finishing outside of the top-three in any of her races prior to the national meet. Then, at the NCAA XC Championships, DeLay finished 10th overall, validating her newfound level of fitness.

DeLay has been a strong, underrated talent for a while now, but last fall was a true breakout season for someone who was already on the verge of being one of TSR's 50 best cross country runners in the nation.

Back in December, DeLay extended her postseason peak from cross country with a huge 5k personal best of 15:36, a time that was run on this same Boston University indoor track.

DeLay is clearly at the peak of her powers and has rapidly risen into the elite ranks of NCAA distance running. She hasn't competed since December, but that may have been a concerted effort to develop speed in preparation for this mile race.

There is no question that this Yale veteran can be a major player in this race. Her raw endurance and fitness will likely put her under 4:40. However, the amount of speed and turnover that she has developed will likely be the key differentiator between DeLay running something along the lines of a 4:39 mile versus a 4:36 mile.

Iverson & Pereira Lead Harvard's 3000 Meter Assault

One of the most underrated teams in the entire NCAA are the Harvard men. This team, despite being unable to compete collegiately prior to this past fall thanks to Ivy League rules during the pandemic, has somehow emerged as one of better distance running programs in the country.

This weekend, the Crimson men have entered their two superstars, Acer Iverson and Matthew Pereira, in the men's 3000 meters. Harvard has also entered a variety of other names who have had glimpses of success. Those names include Joe Ewing, Michael Alber, David Melville, Ben Hartvigssen and Reed Pryor.

While there have certainly been signs that we could see one or two breakout performances from that second group, it's the duo of Iverson and Pereira who have the potential to make some major noise.

Last spring, while running attached, Iverson ran 13:42 for 5000 meters. Two weeks later, he ran 29:04 for 10,000 meters -- all of which was accomplished in his second year as a collegiate.

Not only that, but Iverson actually finished 40th overall at the NCAA XC Championships this past fall after an excellent, and sometimes overlooked, regular season.

Iverson owns a personal best of 8:08 for 3000 meters from the winter of 2020, but it's clear that his talent has since trended upwards. Iverson is now viewed as a true low-stick and he'll be able to validate that (once again) at Boston University this weekend.

A sub-8:00 result is undoubtedly in his future, but how far under 8:00 is the real uncertainty.

We then come to teammate Matthew Pereira, another name who doesn't get enough credit for what he has accomplished. Last spring, he ran a jaw-dropping time of 28:24 at the SoundRunning Track Meet back in May. That was a HUGE personal best.

I want to say that Pereira also earned a substantial 5k PR during the same timeframe that he ran his 10k PR, but honestly, I can't find any evidence of that, so do with that what you will.

Either way, Pereira proved that he was the real deal this past fall. He earned numerous top finishes during the cross country regular season, won the Ivy League title and secured All-American honors with his 35th place finish at the cross country national meet.

Pereira is a true long distance juggernaut and honestly, I think the 3000 meters is actually a little too short for him. He clearly seems to thrive in the longer distances and I can imagine him becoming a marathoner in his post collegiate career.

Like Iverson, I could see Pereira going under 8:00 for 3000 meters this weekend. However, his resume leaves me wondering if he has enough leg speed to cover the tight turns and keep up with the pace of a sub-7:55 performance.

Is Pereira fit enough to run in the low-7:50s? Absolutely. However, this feels like a race where he's dropping down in distance and frankly, we haven't seen him at this distance at this kind of fitness before.

Regardless, I can't see a scenario where either Iverson or Pereira have poor efforts.

Quick Notes: Stanford's Appearance & Georgetown's 800s

There are few miscellaneous notes that I wanted to make about the meet. Here are a few brief bullet points regarding certain entries that caught my attention...

• This feels like a bit of a random meet for Stanford to travel across the country to, but that's what happens when Boston University is considered to have the fastest indoor track in the world. Cardinal veterans Callum Bolger and Meika Beaudoin-Rousseau, as well as up-and-comer Evan Burke, are all entered in the men's 3000 meters. They could very easily mix it up with the Harvard guys and if you're looking for an upset pick in that race, keep an eye on Bolger. With a recent 4:02 mile PR, he's due for something big -- and has been for a while.

• Stanford's Christiana Aragon is entered in both the women's mile and the women's 3000 meters. Which race will she focus on? Honestly, I don't know, but she already ran an underwhelming 3k this season and she ran a 4:37 last winter, so I would think that the mile would be her ideal race for this weekend. That race would, in theory, be a perfectly balanced field for Aragon in terms of talent.

• Stanford's Ellie Deligianni is entered in the women's 800 meters. The Cardinal youngster has run 2:05 for 800 meters, but only ran the 800 meters once last winter, earning an indoor time of 2:08. Honestly, I'm not sure why Deligianni is seeded at the #15 spot. I would've thought that her 2:05 PR, or even some of her slower 800 meter results, would seed her higher. Either way, she could be someone to watch as many of these younger runners can often surprise us with untapped potential that we didn't realize they had.

• Georgetown's Melissa Riggins could do something VERY special in the 800 meters this weekend. Her recent 2:43 personal best in the 1000 meters makes her a major factor and the overwhelming favorite. Teammates Katherine Lee and Sami Corman could make things somewhat competitive, but Riggins is the class of this field. The Pennsylvania native ran 2:08 for 800 meters in high school and has clearly upped her fitness since then. I think she's capable of running 2:03 on Saturday, but I just don't know if the field will be fast enough to push her to that mark.

• How many Georgetown men will run under 1:50 this weekend? Between Abel Teffra (2:23 for 1000 meters), Matthew Rizzo (4:02 mile), Ethan Delgado (1:50 for 800 meters) and Tim McInerney (1:50 for 800 meters) you would think that all four of these guys are capable of dipping under that barrier. However, none of these four men have ever run below 1:50 at 800 meters before, a bizarre realization when you consider how strong this middle distance group is. Expect that to change for at least one of these guys this weekend.

• Also, as far as the men's 800 meters are concerned, Wagner's Will Cuthbertson has a very real shot at winning. In fact, he may even be the favorite. He ran 1:49 earlier this season and owns a personal beset of 1:48. He is likely going to be aggressive in this race. The Wagner runner surely wants to put himself in a national qualifying position for the men's 800 meters, so don't be surprised if he tries to get to the front of this race fairly early-on.