Four Thoughts: Raleigh Relays (Day Three)

Additional commentary by Garrett Zatlin

As we prep content for the upcoming week, we wanted to wrap up our analysis of the Raleigh Relays, highlighting the steeplechase and the 800 meters. While this article may not be quite as extensive as past articles, we did want to offer some quick analysis from this past and make note of a few

Click here to see Raleigh Relay results

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New Uniform, Same Outcome

One of the many runners who has been absent from competition this past winter is Michaela Meyer, now of Virginia. The former Delaware Blue Hen was rising in the middle distances during the 2020 indoor season, earning what would have been her first trip to a national meet following a monster breakout performance where she ran 2:03 in Boston.

Of course, as we all know, that national meet never happened.

Now, Meyer has returned to use her final season of outdoor eligibility and made her debut this past weekend where she set the meet and facility records in the 800 meters, clocking an outstanding time of 2:02.20. That time was a personal best by 1.2 seconds and will send her to the East Regional Championships later this season.

If this first race is indicative of how the season will go, Meyer should be among the top national contenders, even during a year which is incredibly top heavy with middle distance talents, specifically at the half-mile distance.

However, the bigger aspect of this performance is that Meyer validated her breakout result from over a year ago. Her prior PR of 2:03 from the indoor oval came out of nowhere last year and with no national meet to legitimize that result, we were left wondering what version of Meyer we would see this spring.

Behind Meyer, the experienced veteran trio of McKenna Keegan (Villanova), Brooke Fazio (Richmond) and Alanna Lally (Temple) all set personal bests. Keegan ran 2:03 while Fazio ran 2:04, two marks that will likely get them into the regional meet. As for Lally, she crossed the line in a time of 2:05, although it feels like there is potential for her to run faster.

While we would like to give a bunch of fancy analysis for this section, this group performed up to our expectations. That said, Keegan is building, not just maintaining, the momentum that she found this past winter. Running a new personal best is yet another step in the right direction for this rising Wildcat star.

We should also mention that the Washington pair of Katie Rainsberger and Sophie O’Sullivan didn't have their best performances, although O'Sullivan is only a rookie and Rainsberger doubled this weekend. The two Huskies ran 2:09.19 and 2:09.88, well off their personal bests.

Even so, the season is still young and given the performances that we've seen from these two in the past, both women should likely emerge as regional qualifiers later in the season.

Miami (Ohio) Flexes Middle Distance Depth, Top Names Make Solid Seasonal Debuts

The men’s 800 meters was arguably more predictable than the women’s, with indoor runner-up Finley McLear taking the win in an outdoor debut time of 1:47.43. Two of his Miami (Ohio) teammates joined him in the top-eight with Sean Torpy and Andrew Schroff finishing in 1:49.26 and 1:49.27.

Mick Stanovsek (Washington) made his academic year debut, placing 2nd in 1:48.16. Right on his heels was Christopher Conrad (Missouri) in 1:48.19. Both men set new personal bests.

For the most part, a lot of these results were rather predictable, but Stanovsek's opener was encouraging. A personal best in the 800 meters after such a long time off is a nice display of speed. That leads us to believe that he may be able to translate that middle distance prowess to a fast finish in a tactical 1500 meter race at meets like the Regional Championships.

However, the bigger story of this event may have been the three runners right behind Stanovsek and Conrad.

Dennis Mbuta (Grand Valley State), Seb Anthony (Queens) and Jonathon Groendyk (Grand Valley State) all broke the 1:50 barrier. Along with fellow D2 competitors Ayman Zahafi and Butare Rugenerwa, who were competing at the Texas Relays, a total of five men broke 1:50 for 800 meters on Saturday in D2.

In 2019, only eight men in D2 did that for an entire season. While it seems like a storyline that keeps recurring, this event could be poised for a big finish in June with even more fireworks than we saw this past winter.

#GirlGang Goes the Distance

The women’s steeplechase may have appeared to be one of the weaker fields when entries were announced, but things quickly changed course on Saturday. Furman’s Gabrielle Jennings led six collegiates to sub-10:10 marks, taking the individual win in a time of 9:56. Jennings also set the meet and facility record in the process.

However, that much was expected. Despite not officially racing in a Paladin uniform since last winter, we knew that someone like Jennings was probably the heavy favorite coming into this weekend.

That said, the bigger development was seeing Notre Dame’s star freshman Olivia Markezich also break 10 minutes, finishing in a time of 9:58 in her debut for the event. Markezich was an individual national qualifier in the 3k this past winter and set a personal best of 9:11 for the distance.

Her success over 3000 meters does not seem to be deterred by the barriers and the freshman should be a name to watch this outdoor season. In fact, we love the fact that she's still so young and still has the ability to produce a top-tier time. Imagine what Markezich can do when she has experience, more time to train and more time to get into a rhythm.

Sarah LaTour (NC State), Annasophia Keller (Notre Dame), Leah Hanle (Alabama) and Hannah Brookover (Wake Forest) all finished under 10:10 as well. Those times would have placed them all in the top-28 of the NCAA in 2019, making them solid contenders for regional qualifiers.

This was also a nice result by LaTour who has quietly made incremental improvements over her last few races. Much like Markezich, the redshirt freshman seems to be gaining momentum and showing off some promising talent early in the season.

Noble Knocking on the Olympic Trials Door

Christian Noble has said he wants to take down a handful of NCAA D2 records this outdoor season, one of which is the 8:26 steeplechase mark held by Tabor Stevens of Adams State.

In his 2021 debut, Noble essentially time-trialed for 3000 meters, taking the lead after the first lap and continuing to distance himself from the field. The Lee senior finished in a time of 8:39, smashing his personal best by 16 seconds, but still 13 seconds short of Stevens.

Now, it’s obviously very early, but this is going to be a tough record to take down. Noble also has interest in the 5k and 10k records which means he will need plenty of opportunities with strong fields to chase these marks. With at least three records on his mind and only so many meets, his chances to take them down will be greatly limited.

Maybe Noble can go the distance on his own at a smaller, less competitive meet. He already blew away his previous mark in a solo effort, so there isn’t necessarily a reason to think he can’t do it again. Only time will tell how it all plays out, but it appears that every race Noble lines up for moving forward will be a D2 record watch.

Behind Noble, another six collegians broke the 9:00 barrier. William Daly of Notre Dame came across in 8:52 and was followed closely by his brother, Colin, in 8:53. Ben Hill (Wake Forest), Josh Higgins (Pitt), Zach Lefever (Pitt) and Clark Otte (Butler) also broke 9:00.

The Daly twins are graduate transfers from Penn and seem to be off to a hot start. When you combine their past success in the steeplechase with the ongoing improvements that we've seen out of new Notre Dame runners, we're inclined to believe that Will and Colin are only scratching the surface of what they could bring to the table this spring.