Friday Frenzy: Washington Men Blast 9:21 DMR, VT DMRs Impress, Talbi Defeats Kemboi & Kiptoo in 3k

Welp, Friday night was undoubtedly eventful and as I'm writing this, eye-catching performances from Saturday are beginning to trickle in as well.

However, to keep this article from becoming too long, we'll be talking about (some of) the Friday results today and the rest of the results, mainly from Saturday, tomorrow.

Please note that there was no women's DMR field at the Arkansas Qualifier meet. Additionally, the women's 3k at the Arkansas Qualifier meet did not have anyone break 10:00 on Friday night. As a result, those events won't be detailed in this article.

Let's begin...

Washington Men Blast 9:21 DMR, Five Total Relays Sub-9:25

Remember when sub-9:30 was fast for a DMR?

Those were the good ol' days.

The Arkansas Qualifier meet in Fayetteville, Arkansas featured a wildly entertaining DMR race which had FIVE relays go under the 9:25 barrier. There was no women's DMR field at this meet.

In a battle that featured Washington vs Alabama vs Oklahoma State vs Iowa State vs Arkansas, it was the Huskies who came out on top with a lineup that was incredibly strong, although the heroics of their anchor leg is what gave them such a monumental time of 9:21.

Brian Fay will get a lot of attention for his 3:52 split on the anchor leg (rightfully so), but Luke Houser continues to be a wildly impressive name, running 2:52 on the opening leg of this relay.

Despite Cass Elliott stepping up and matching the other 800 meter legs in this field with a 1:48 split, Fay was actually put in a position where he had to hunt down the rest of the field, getting the baton in last place.

To see Fay not only catch up to Kipsang (Alabama) on the anchor leg, but to then out-run him as well is not something I expected to happen this weekend. Sure, the time and the win are strong, but when Fay is able to be at a deficit (which was "only" by 1.36 seconds) and still takes down an aggressive front-runner who rarely relinquishes leads, all while having to battle other top-tier anchors, I can't help but think that he had the best race of anyone this weekend.

However, maybe the biggest development of this relay is not who ran on the relay, but rather who didn't run on the relay.

I am, of course, talking about Kieran Lumb, Washington's 3:55 miler who hasn't competed since the second week of January. To not see him on this relay is concerning, as is an Instagram story of him doing some pool treadmill work at Washington's facility on Friday.

If Lumb is out for the season, and that is not at all confirmed, then he may open up a key spot to the indoor national meet in the mile. Washington's DMR will also become heavily reliant on the success of Houser on the 1200 meter leg which, as we saw on Friday night, it's necessarily a bad thing.

As for the rest of these relays, Alabama got the job done with a mark of 9:22. Kipsang should naturally get praise for his 3:55 split, but much like Washington, the unsung hero of this relay will be Hillary Cheruiyot.

The long distance specialist is known for his prowess in events like the 3k and 5k. To have him drop down in distance to the 1200 meters and split 2:53 on the opening leg, even if it was the second-slowest 1200 meter split of the race, is still super clutch.

Not only that, but Jacob Lamb came out of absolutely nowhere, splitting 1:48 to keep pace with the other 800 legs in this field. In fact, he actually had the fastest overall split, only by a slim margin.

Lamb, who previously ran for Montana, is coming off of a 1:49 personal best at Vanderbilt the other weekend, so maybe the idea of him splitting 1:48 wasn't totally out of the question.

Even so, seeing Lamb become an integral part of this relay is super encouraging, especially for an Alabama team that has to battle every other relay in the NCAA that seems capable of earning All-American honors.

The Crimson Tide, as we saw this past weekend, can certainly be an All-American relay, even if Kipsang is doubling back from the mile. However, in order to do that, they needed to put their star anchor in a good-enough position on Friday.

And based on the results, it looks like they did just that.

As we move to Oklahoma State, it appears that the Cowboys had a lineup of Messaoudi (1200), Diego Castro (800) and Schoppe (1600) which ultimately put together a 3rd place finish in a time of 9:22.

And honestly, I don't have much to say here.

While you could have certainly argued that 3:56 miler Alex Maier was a candidate for this relay, it makes much more sense for Schoppe and Messaoudi to be on this DMR instead. Maier has way too many individual events that he could pursue at the indoor national meet, making the DMR less of a possibility for him.

Admittedly, Messaoudi ran faster than I expected, splitting 2:51 to give the Cowboys a fairly comfortable edge through the first leg. Even so, everyone else on this relay ran up to par. Diego Castro running 1:48 and Schoppe running 3:55 seems to make sense given their past performances and how fast the NCAA (in general) has become.

This team looks like they are built for the DMR, and while I want to say that they'll be All-American locks, it's hard to say that when every team in this national DMR field now has a seed time within a few seconds of each other.

When we look at the Iowa State men and their 4th place finish with a time of 9:24, it's easy to shrug and say, "Well, that's just the product of a super fast race in a super fast season." Which is partially true!

However, Jason Gomez emerging as the second-fastest split on the 1200 meter leg with a time of 2:52 is really great to see, especially since Gomez hasn't quite been at the same level as last year. He has run 1:48 this season, but a couple of DNF results and a couple of 1:50+ marks haven't inspired much confidence.

However, this result does.

We've known that Gomez can be an elite 1200 meter leg, splitting 2:49 and edging Cole Hocker last winter. But to see him returning to his top form is crucial, especially for an Iowa State DMR that doesn't have a sub-3:57 anchor like most of these relays do.

That, of course, isn't a dig at Cyclone anchor Nehemia Too who ran 3:57 on his 1600 meter leg, a split that is much faster than anything he had previously shown us before.

Don't get me wrong, Too is an underrated and awesome talent who has run 1:48 for 800 meters this season. However, the Iowa State middle distance standout had never run faster than 4:01 in the mile coming into this race.

With a 3:57 split, he massively outperformed expectations.

And then we have the Arkansas men which, if my calculations are correct, should be able to sneak into the national meet with their 5th place time of 9:24.

While I do want to say more about this relay, I'm not sure that I can.

Kibet splitting 2:53 (1200), Taylor splitting 1:48 (800) and Schreml splitting 3:57 (1600) pretty much mimics past results that we've seen from all of three of these men. No one on this relay really blew our away our expectations, but each of these athletes ran well and got the job done.

And frankly, that's all that you can really ask of them.

However, I do have a new question: What will Kieran Taylor run at the indoor national meet?

He could do the 800/DMR double. That is certainly one of the more challenging doubles, but it is doable. Of course, whether or not he should do that, especially with the 800 meter finals on day two, is a debate for another day.

The bigger and more important question right now is...will Arkansas' 9:24 mark be enough to make it to the national meet? After seeing the results at Notre Dame's Alex Wilson Invitational, the Razorbacks sit at NCAA #12 in this event, the last national qualifying spot amongst relays.

With the season rapidly coming to an end, will any non-qualified DMR try to kick the Razorbacks down one spot to earn a national meet bid? It's certainly not out of the question...

Virginia Tech Women Earn JDL DMR Facility Record, Numerous Relays Now in NCAA Qualifying Positions

The Hokies of Virginia Tech have been a dominant force in the middle distances and in the DMR for a while now. Considering the makeup of their respective men's and women's rosters, it was no surprise to see the Hokies headline the DMR in Winston-Salem last night.

The Virginia Tech women DOMINATED their competition yesterday, running 11:00 on a flat-track and beating a Washington lineup (overall) by four seconds which, on paper, was favored to win this race.

With a seven-second conversion of 10:53, the Virginia Tech women now boast a DMR time which could rival the Arkansas women for the national title come March.

Leigha Torino as the Hokies' 1200 meter lead-off proved to be a safe choice as she ran 3:23 on the opening leg. That was a solid time that kept Virginia Tech well ahead of their competition in the first heat.

However, things got progressively better as the relay unfolded.

Hannah Ballowe's 2:06 split was one of the faster marks in the overall field for the 800 meter leg while Lindsey Butler showed that she isn't just an 800 meter runner. The Hokies' anchor split a jaw-dropping unconverted time of 4:34 for 1600 meters.

For perspective, Butler's 4:34 split was over four seconds faster than the next-best anchor (overall) in this field. That is beyond impressive.

This Virginia Tech relay, on a perfect day, could win the national title in the DMR, especially with the Arkansas women potentially tinkering with their own lineup to account for doubles.

However, the same issue could be had for Virginia Tech considering that Butler will likely qualify for the indoor national meet in the 800 meters. Not only would she run the 800 meter prelims and have very little rest until the DMR, but Butler should be favored to make the 800 meter finals. Would she want a second race under her legs before that 800 final?

So what does Virginia Tech do? Do they let Butler try the double? Does she only do the 800 meters and have someone replace her on the relay? Does she run only in the DMR and give up a probable individual All-American honor?

I don't have the answers to those questions, but it'll be fascinating to see what happens.

As for the Washington women, their mark of 11:04 was solid and plenty respectable. I thought they would run a little faster, but it's not a bad result.

The 1200 meter leg of this relay, who was presumably Madison Heisterman, put the Huskies in a great position with a 3:21 split. The middle legs of this lineup were fine, but the rest of the field was able to stay in contention while Schadler did enough with a 4:39 split to get the job done.

Overall, I don't have much to say about this relay, mainly because I don't think we'll see this lineup at the national meet. Or, if we do, then two major legs may not be fresh. And at that point, trying to guess the postseason potential of this Washington DMR becomes a challenge.

Meanwhile, the NC State women placed 3rd overall in a time of 11:05 which seemed to match expectations. Assuming Samantha Bush was the lead-off leg, she held her own with a 3:23 split while the middle portion of this lineup did their job.

Savannah Shaw, however, was probably the main reason why this team was able to stay competitive and place 3rd overall. Her 4:38 split was the third-fastest split in the overall field and the second-fastest split amongst the top-five teams.

I could very easily see this exact same relay running at the indoor national meet. Both Bush and Shaw will likely run the 3000 meters on day two of the NCAA Championships, allowing them to run the DMR on day one completely fresh.

With so many of these relays likely having certain women doubling -- or top women opting out of their relays for individual glory -- the NC State women could actually be All-American favorites.

As for the rest of this field, the Kentucky women placed 4th overall (11:05), the Virginia women placed 5th overall (11:07) and the North Carolina women placed 6th overall (11:08).

With roughly seven seconds being cut from those times due to flat-track conversions, the Kentucky Wildcats are likely safe in terms of national qualifying. However, the Virginia women sit at NCAA #12 right now with a converted 11:00 and a team like Florida, which sits at NCAA #13 with an 11:00 mark, is probably hungry to get their bid to the national meet back.

Don't be surprised if the Gators go all-in for another DMR at the SEC Championships.

Overall, I loved that Kentucky went for another fast DMR. They were smart to do so. The women from Lexington didn't necessarily surprise us, but they toed the line, executed on their race strategy and walked away with a no one having a poor race.

As long as they did that, a national qualifying spot was going to be secured.

Virginia Tech Men Earn JDL DMR Facility Record of 9:32, But It Won't Be Enough For NCAA Qualifying

Some weeks, I think that flat-track conversions are too fast. Other weeks, I think that flat-track conversions are too slow. After seeing the results from Friday's JDL DMR Invite, I am currently in the "too slow" camp.

Much like their women's team, the Virginia Tech men dominated their competition at the JDL Fast Track facility on Friday night. The Hokies ran an unconverted time of 9:32.96, a mark which converted down to 9:25.

That mark is unbelievably not going to qualify the Hokies for the NCAA Indoor Championships.

9:25!

Not good enough for the national meet!

On what world does 9:25 not make it to the indoor national meet???

Well, with results from both Alex Wilson and the Arkansas Qualifier spilling in, 12 teams are currently faster than 9:25 which is the most ridiculous statement I have ever typed in my seven years of covering collegiate distance running.

For perspective, the 2008 Texas men held the DMR collegiate record (until 2020) with a time of 9:25.97. Nowadays, that time wouldn't even make it to the national meet. Heck, it's not even their school record anymore!

I feel awful for the Virginia Tech men. They had splits of 2:55 on the 1200 leg (Fleming), 1:49 on the 800 leg (Anthony) and 3:59 on the anchor leg (Lopez Segura). They ran the perfect race and dusted their competition.

So will the VT men try to go after another fast DMR at the ACC Indoor Championships? Or was this their best and most realistic shot at earning a bid to the national meet? I'm not saying they can't run sub-9:25, but gosh, after such an outstanding performance, it's going to be hard to replicate a national-caliber time like that again.

As for the rest of this JDL field, no one was within five seconds of the Hokies as the UVA men were the next-closest team in a mark of 9:38.

Admittedly, seeing teams like North Carolina, Penn State and Duke falter with such elite anchor legs was a little bit of a bummer. Although, at the same time, I have to wonder...why did this DMR field get split iwo heats? Only eight teams finished, nine collegiate relays were entered and 11 total relays were entered.

I completely understand that flat-tracks can get a bit crowded, but gosh, I just thought it would've been better if some of the teams from heat two were battling with Virginia Tech (and Missouri) in heat one.

That, of course, may not have made much of a difference. After all, no one in heat two had a 1200 meter leg run faster than 2:58 (high) which is...not great.

NAIA Superstar Zouhair Talbi Runs 7:40 (3k) To Take Down Kemboi (7:42) and Kiptoo (7:43), Green Runs 7:49 For 4th

Over the last few weeks, Oklahoma City superstar has outgrown the NAIA ranks and is now in the discussion for top-five distance runner amongst all divisions. So far this season, he has run 3:59 (mile), 13:18 (5k) and as of Friday night, 7:40 (3k).

Now, if the name "Zouhair Talbi" sounds familiar, that's because he probably is. The NAIA megastar was supposed to join the Florida State men back in 2018, but for whatever reason, that fell through and he instead went to the JUCO level.

Since then, Talbi has transitioned to the NAIA and has dominated his competition, destroying the NAIA record books with reckless abandon.

Seeing Talbi go head-to-head(-to-head) with D1 elites like Amon Kemboi and Wesley Kiptoo, and hand them convincing losses in a time of 7:40, is super impressive. We're now talking about someone who could theoretically win a national title at the D1 level over the most elite 3k field we've ever seen.

Based strictly on his eligibility, the Moroccan star is currently a junior, so I have to ask the question...what else does he have left to accomplish in the NAIA? Could he realistically use his final year of eligibility at the D1 level and boost his resume even more to get a (better?) pro contract?

Outside of collecting a few more NAIA titles, there's not a whole lot more this guy can accomplish, mainly because he's already accomplished everything he possibly could.

As we move to the rest of this field, this was a wildly clutch performance by Amon Kemboi who just ran 13:26 for 5000 meters the other week. That was a super fast time for the Razorback star, and it will likely get him a spot to the indoor national meet.

However, the 3000 meters, on paper, seemed like his best event. After all, he ran 7:44 at the Millrose Games a few years ago against Morgan McDonald and Grant Fisher.

Yet, since that 2019 result, Kemboi had never dipped under the 7:50 barrier...not until this past weekend.

His 7:42 result is monumental and it matches the caliber of his recent 5k performance. He'll once again be in the All-American conversation for both events and he will once again have a time which suggests that he can hang with the leaders at the national meet.

The real challenge, however, will be trying to figure out if Kemboi can reach the next level where he's competing for a top-three spot or a national title.

If the races at the national meet turn tactical, he doesn't always have the turnover to move with the top names in the final lap or two, something that we saw at the SEC Indoor Championships last winter.

As the same time, Kemboi could get too ambitious trying to follow an overly aggressive pace, something that we saw at the NCAA Indoor Championships last year in the 5000 meters.

And yet, somehow, no one is more reliable than Kemboi when it comes to producing All-American finishes as he boasts nine of those honors on his collegiate resume.

As for Kiptoo, his 7:43 time got him 3rd place in a field where only collegiate runners finished the race. Even when Kiptoo is at his best and running the fastest times of his career in fields that would theoretically favor his strengths, he's still placing 3rd.

Something in the matrix must be off...

Despite the losses to Talbi and Kemboi, this race wasn't as much about placing as it was about time. Kiptoo's recent 3k efforts, while not terrible, haven't exactly been great compared to the rest of the NCAA this year.

His 7:55 mark at the Millrose Games a few weeks ago admittedly underwhelmed and his 7:48 result at the Iowa State Classic, which resulted in a loss to Air Force's Sam Gilman, wasn't all that close to a national qualifying bid.

Now, Kiptoo can go into the BIG 12 Indoor Championships with his only focus being to win and to score points for his team. However, there are legitimate and fair questions as to how he will fare in the 3000 meters during the postseason.

The 5000 meters isn't much of a concern, he's a realistic title contender in that event. However, the 3000 meters is the race where he has yet to truly score some big-time wins.

As for Isaac Green, I have been a big fan of his since his high school days. He had a somewhat slow-ish start to his college career, but has really rallied as of late with big-time performances.

The Washington ace ran 13:27 for 5000 meters at the NCAA Outdoor Championships last spring and has since brought over that performance to the indoor oval, running 7:49 on Friday night, letting this field carry him to a new PR.

I really like this performance for Green even though it's not going to qualify him for the indoor national meet. This result should instead be used as a launch pad into the spring season where he can better his 5k result from last spring and become a legitimate All-American contender in the event come June.

From a postseason perspective, I think that 3k result translates well to a tactical (but still competitive) 5k setting.

Logan Jolly Has Breakthrough Race, Runs 4:35 Mile

The Arkansas women have been headlined by numerous top-tier middle and long distance runners over the last few seasons.

Whether that be Krissy Gear, Shafiqua Maloney, Katie Izzo, Lauren Gregory, Kennedy Thomson or a few others, Jolly (formerly Morris) has been an underrated name who has brought great scoring value to this program.

However, after running between 4:39 and 4:44 in the mile EIGHT different times in her college career, the Arkansas Razorback veteran has finally broken through with a 4:35 mile effort. Teammates Isabel Van Camp (4:41) and Krissy Gear (4:42) finished in 2nd and 3rd place.

This result was very much on the way for Jolly. In fact, I even named Jolly in our Husky Classic Preview as someone who was due for a breakout race. However, after sitting in the same range of mile times for so long, I admittedly began to question if she would ever reach the tier of fitness that I thought she could.

And as it turns out, she would!

It just took one week longer than I was expecting.

Right now, Jolly sits at NCAA #19 in the women's mile which is not exactly an ideal qualifying position to be in with a few more major meets to come this season. At the moment, I would expect her to qualify for the indoor national meet after scratches, but that may become more challenging to imagine assuming a few more women run even faster in the coming weeks.

Is there a reality where Jolly fills-in for Lauren Gregory on the DMR, allowing her teammate to pursue individual glory in the 5k and 3k come March? That certainly seems possible.

As for her teammates, Van Camp had a nice race, but her 4:41 result wasn't totally surprising given her 4:38 personal best. Gear's 4:42 wasn't exactly super quick, but we've known that she isn't necessarily at 100% this season. She'll likely rebound in the spring and become the national-caliber star that we know she is once we reach the spring months.

Isaac Basten Fends Off Joe Waskom, Each Run 3:56 in Mile, Fogg, Ibrahim & Stallings Go 3:57

One of the most underrated races of the day was seeing Drake's Isaac Basten score a major breakthrough performance to take down Washington's Joe Waskom at the Arkansas Qualifier. Basten ran 3:56.10 (1st) to defeat Waskom who ran 3:56.43 (2nd).

Ever since running 3:58 in the mile back in December, and ultimately realizing that he'll need to run much faster to qualify for the indoor national meet, Basten has been chasing a substantially quicker mile time for a while now.

Luckily, with the qualifying window rapidly closing, Basten was able to deliver a clutch performance over a strong field while delivering a major win.

His 3:56.10 mark currently sits at NCAA #16 right now which, despite riding the edge of an automatic qualifying spot, might still be good enough to qualify Basten individually for the NCAA Championships, especially after scratches.

Lumb MIGHT remain absent for the rest of the indoor season (which is just speculation) while Nur and Young will surely scratch in favor of the 5000 meters. Fay could also scratch for the 5000 meters or the DMR.

We then have to consider all of the men who could scratch out of the mile for the DMR and/or to be fresh for the 3000 meters. Beadlescomb, Nuguse and Carrozza are all realistic names who could scratch. There is a small argument for Garcia Romo, Kipsang and Johnsen, but it's more likely that we see them in the mile than not.

I am not saying that all of those names will scratch. Maybe only three of them will. However, that should be enough to keep Basten relatively safe when it comes to his national qualifying hopes...I think.

Waskom, meanwhile, probably won't make it to the indoor national meet with his NCAA #20 mark. Still, this is a guy who just cracked the 4:00 barrier last weekend with a 3:59 mile time. To see him run 3:56 in the mile in a strong field and take Basten to the line is super impressive.

Him and Luke Houser are going to be problems for their PAC-12 opponents over the next few years.

Adam Fogg (Drake), Abdirizak Ibrahim (New Mexico) and Zach Stallings (Washington State) all ran 3:57 mile times to take the next three spots in this race. This trio of results can be filed under the "super expected" category, although the insane consistency that we've seen out of these three men this season really needs to be appreciated more.

Side Note: Pittsburg State's Mason Strader (D2) ran a 3:58 mile in the non-invite section of the mile, making the top portion of the D2 scene that much more competitive.

Texas Tech's Vilca & Cepus Run Converted 1:47s

The Texas Tech men are always one of the more underrated middle distance programs in the nation, usually when it comes to the 800 meters.

Marco Vilca and Sven Cepus have quietly and consistently produced some of the NCAA's better half-mile times over the last few seasons, but have often been left in the shadows of Takieddine Hedeilli and now Moad Zahafi.

However, after this weekend, Vilca and Cepus will (hopefully) not be left unnoticed.

Vilca's time of 1:47.97, which was run on his home track this past weekend, produced a small altitude conversion of 1:47.66 (NCAA #14) while Cepus' mark of 1:48.27 received a small conversion of 1:47.96 (NCAA #19).

Of course, as I seemingly do with every top performance nowadays, I have to ask this question: Is Vilca safe for a national qualifying spot? Assuming no other athletes run faster than him this weekend, which is still possible, he'll have a two-spot cushion for an automatic qualifying spot.

After that, he'll need to hope that certain 800 meter talents scratch in favor of the DMR or the 400 meters.

Guys like Jonathan Jones, Kieran Taylor, Yusuf Bizimana, Cole Lindhorst, Miles Brown, John Rivera, Abdullahi Hassan, Tiarnan Crorken and maybe even the Oregon duo of Elliott Cook and Luis Peralta (assuming they eventually qualify in a DMR) could ALL be potential options to scratch out of the 800 meters.

Even so, I would be surprised if more than two of those men scratch out of the event.

Do I think Vilca is safe in terms of national qualifying? No, I don't, especially not with some of the insane matchups that we'll likely see during conference championship weekend.

However, his chances of making it to the national meet in March are still very realistic.