Let's Get Caught Up (Part Two)

Click here to read Part One

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Yesterday, we spoke about a handful of notable results from this still-early winter season, specifically on the middle distance side of things.

Of course, the 3000 meter and 5000 meter results at both Boston University and at Arkansas were the true headline-grabbers, leaving us at The Stride Report with plenty to talk about and to analyze.

While we can't necessarily cover every single result from those meets, we did want to highlight some of the more competitive marks that these meets produced.

So with that, let's jump right in...

* * *

Let's start at Boston University, a venue that was home to numerous elite-level marks in both the 3000 meters and the 5000 meters.

In the women's 3k, we saw a slew of outstanding results as West Virginia's Ceili McCabe validated her rise to stardom during the cross country season, running 8:52 and earning the NCAA #8 all-time mark for the distance.

This was a statement race for McCabe, maybe more so than anything she ran during the fall. Coming into this winter season, there was no question that the WVU star was one of the better distance talents in the NCAA. However, there was plenty uncertainty as to how she would translate her grand success on the grass to the indoor oval.

Apparently, McCabe only gets better when she moves to the track.

McCabe is such an interesting name and someone who will be fascinating to watch moving forward. She's still on the younger side, leaving her with tons of potential and plenty of time for her to further refine her tactical prowess.

There is a lot that we still don't know about McCabe, mainly because we've never seen her at this level on the track before. She was a very strong and very underrated talent last spring, but her recent boost fitness is still pretty fresh.

How will she perform in other events? Does she have enough speed to thrive in tactical settings? Which race gives her the best chance to win a national title?

Of course, the answers to those questions aren't exactly important at this immediate moment. McCabe continues to impress us and continues to leave us with few doubts about her capabilities.

As for the rest of that 3000 meter field, former collegiates Anna Camp Bennett and Amy Cashin earned solid 8:52 marks of their own, but it was NC State's Katelyn Tuohy and Samantha Bush who caught our attention.

The Wolfpack duo posted a pair of 8:54 marks in the same race.

This was a huge race for both ladies and we actually learned quite a bit about both of them.

And yet, at the same time, I now have more questions than ever before.

Let's start with Tuohy, the NC State youngster who is finally delivering on her true potential after a slow and steady beginning to her collegiate career.

Few coaches in the NCAA have been under more pressure than Laurie Henes has been in the last year or two. Not only was Coach Henes tasked with delivering a cross country national title before her best scoring weapons left the program, but she was also responsible for developing a young phenom in Katelyn Tuohy who was rumored to be injured early-on in her college career.

Make no mistake, Tuohy has been great for the amount of time that she has been in the NCAA. She held her own throughout the entirety of last year and was clearly evolving into an elite low-stick this past fall.

However, seeing Tuohy return to the indoor track and drop a massive time of 8:54 for 3000 meters is monumental. The NC State superstar has never looked better and is clearly at the peak of her powers despite the somewhat quiet start to her college career.

Running an American Junior record feels like validation for the theory that Tuohy will be an elite megastar at the collegiate level. This was the kind of result that everyone was expecting to see from her. Major kudos to Coach Henes who properly and patiently developed the young talent, eventually getting her to the point where she is at now.

However, for as good as Tuohy was, her teammate may have stolen the show. I'm not sure many people were expecting Samantha Bush to run 8:54 for 3000 meters in the same race.

The Wolfpack standout has been a solid and steady talent for the past few seasons. She has proven to be fairly reliable and has respectable range as well.

When looking at her results, one could say that this past fall was a breakout season for Bush. The Wolfpack ace held her own in a handful of competitive races and eventually finished 32nd at the cross country national meet.

There was no question that Bush had talent on the grass, but I'm not sure anyone thought that those results put her in "elite" territory. That is, not until she crossed the line at Boston University.

Bush's 8:54 performance is excellent, but it also leaves us with so many questions. What can she run in other events? Can she replicate that kind of performance later this winter? How much better is she relative to her cross country results? Can she hold her own in a speedier, more tactical setting?

Simply put, this performance is still so new for us, at least when we're talking about Bush as a nationally competitive name. We'll be eager to see what else she can bring to the table later this year.

* * *

As for the rest of the field, two more collegiates dipped under the 9:10 mark.

BYU's Lexy Halladay and Georgetown's Sami Corman posted marks of 9:02 and 9:08, respectively.

In theory, that 9:02 mark should qualify Halladay for the national meet. Then again, we weren't expecting three women to run faster than Courtney Wayment's mark of 8:54.90 from last year in the first major 3k race of the indoor track season.

So maybe the depth of the NCAA will catch up to Halladay...

Regardless, this is still a very strong result and it confirms our suspicions that she is going to be (or at least, can be) the next big-time star for the Cougars. Halladay proved to be a solid talent as just a freshman and had a very strong cross country season this past fall.

The BYU youngster is still incredibly young and her ceiling is plenty high. If she can carry this momentum with her through the holiday break and into the true start of the indoor track season, then she could potentially dip under that 9:00 barrier.

However, if I had to guess, I would think that Halladay may actually be better suited for the 5000 meters. But hey, I've been wrong before...

As for Sami Corman, I really liked her 9:08 result. It won't get her into the national meet, but it's a solid mark for someone who is arguably more of a middle distance runner. In fact, that was only the second collegiate indoor 3k race of her career.

After a respectable cross country season and a 9:08 mark for 3000 meters, Corman is clearly taking a step up in her terms of how nationally competitive she can be. The real uncertainty, however, is how this newfound strength-based fitness will impact her middle distance efforts in the 800 meters and the mile.

With personal bests of 2:06 (800), 2:48 (1k), 4:16 (1500) and 4:39 (mile), Corman has shown that she has the necessary speed to be a competitive name in most of the fields that she toes the line against. However, with her improved endurance, she could potentially post a mile time as fast as 4:36 or 4:37 and get into the indoor national meet.

From that point, she could be one of the more dangerous names in the field.

* * *

Alright, let's close out the women's 3k at Boston University and briefly chat about the men. That race was far less eventful.

Over the last few seasons, Campbell's Athanas Kioko has shown an improved understanding of race tactics and has perfectly meshed that understanding with his incredible raw fitness.

Earlier this month, Kioko won the 3000 meters at Boston University with a solid mark of 7:52, giving him the win. Providence's Liam Back and BYU's Lucas Bons rounded out the top three with marks of 7:54 and 7:55, respectively.

Admittedly, there isn't a ton to analyze here. All three of those marks are fairly strong, but they aren't exactly surprising to see, either. Kioko is better suited for the longer races, so expect him to eventually pursue a fast 5000 meter effort in the near future.

He may end up running the mile later this year and may potentially dip under four minutes when he does, but unless he throws down something insanely fast, all signs point to him attempting the 5k/3k double at the indoor national meet this year.

As for Back and Bons, neither of their results come as much of a surprise. They'd be better off at the national meet in different events, but for the time being, these are solid results.

* * *

Let's close out our conversation about the 3000 meters entirely by moving to the Woo Pig Classic where the women posted plenty of quick marks of their own.

While McCabe was earning most of the BIG 12 headlines with her 8:52 mark, conference rival Taylor Roe was making noise of her own. The Oklahoma State star ran 8:58 earlier this month, a personal best which led to a win over a quietly loaded field.

As I sit here at my laptop looking through her results, I struggle to see any major piece of analysis that I can pull for Roe. This kind of result is on par with our expectations and when you look at her competition, it seems fair to suggest that she was the clear favorite.

However, the interesting note is that despite being an experienced veteran, we have not yet seen Roe run the 5000 meters on the track. That's crazy! How many multi-cross country All-Americans do you know who have never run a 5k race on the track despite being in the NCAA for years?

I'll be very excited to see what Roe can do in the 5000 meters if she ends up toeing the line for that race this winter. Otherwise, she's had success in the mile and that could be an interesting event for us to monitor. Is there a possibility that Roe pursues the mile/3k double at the national meet? It's certainly not out of the question...

As for the rest of this field, it's admittedly hard to be surprised about many of these results.

Arkansas veteran Logan Jolly (née Morris) posted a mark of 9:07 for 3000 meters which was a personal best for the Razorback runner. She's been a very solid and very consistent distance talent during her time in Fayetteville. When Jolly toes the line, you can feel pretty confident that she's going to deliver a strong result.

However, the next step for her is seeing if she can take that next leap up in fitness and earn a time that puts her into the national qualifying conversation.

Also in the race was Minnesota's Abby Kohut-Jackson who rounded out the top-three collegiates with a mark of 9:10 in the 3000 meters. This is a very solid result for the Golden Gopher distance talent, but it's hardly surprising. The Minnesota runner was an All-American on the grass this past fall and had shown plenty of signs of promise via her steeplechase marks during the spring.

In fact, one could argue that she's probably capable of running faster than she did.

* * *

Alright, now for the 5000 meters.

Seeing as how we've been talking about the women for quite a bit, let's chat about the men first.

At Boston University, Iowa State's Wesley Kiptoo followed a Joe Klecker-paced field to a time of 13:14 for 5000 meters. Northern Arizona's Abdi Nur and Nico Young finished as the second and third-best collegiates in the field, each sporting marks of 13:22.

Behind them, Air Force's Sam Gilman (13:25), Butler's Barry Keane (13:25), Northern Arizona's Drew Bosley (13:26), Georgetown's Andrew Jordan (13:28), Iona's Ehab El-Sandali (13:28) and Northern Arizona's George Kusche (13:28) all ran under 13:30.

This was a historic race, showing depth that the NCAA has never even come close to witnessing before. Nine men currently sit under the 13:30 barrier for 5000 meters...and it's not even Christmas yet.

For perspective, there are currently more men under the 13:30 barrier this season than the past nine indoor track seasons COMBINED.

That is insane! Does anyone realize just how incredible that is? And of course, that number of sub-13:30 runners this season will likely grow even larger. It is extremely possible (dare I say likely?) that you could run under 13:35 for 5000 meters this year and not qualify for the national meet.

Just absurd stuff.

As for the men who recorded those results, seeing Kiptoo run this kind of time isn't exactly surprising. Don't get me wrong, seeing him run 13:14 for 5000 meters on an indoor track was faster than what I was expecting, but it wasn't unrealistic, either.

The question moving forward with Kiptoo is whether or not his understanding of tactics, which seemed to have improved during the cross country season, will make a big enough difference during the indoor national meet.

In most scenarios, Kiptoo can hit the gas and run hard from the gun. Nine out of 10 times, that strategy is going to work out for him. Of course, as we saw last spring, that approach didn't work...at all.

Let's cover the NAU men all at once. Nur, Young, Bosley and Kusche are clearly elite-level talents. Having one team with four men who can all run under 13:30 for 5000 meters is boarderline unbelievable.

At the same time, it's hard to be too shocked by these results. Nur and Young are two guys who thrive in fast settings and have had no problems in the past settling in with quick paces. There is less evidence of that with Drew Bosley, but he also seems to be someone who thrives when he's in an aggressively paced and fast race.

Even so, much like Kiptoo, we have questions about the speed of this group.

The Lumberjacks haven't been in too many tactical scenarios and their best performances have come in time trial-like settings. How will this group respond at the national meet? Will slow, tactical awareness even matter if Kiptoo takes the pace out as aggressively as we think he will?

This conversation is more of me playing Devil's Advocate than anything else. On paper, there is a lot more to like about this NAU contingent than dislike.

As for Kusche, he may have just run 13:28, but it likely won't matter as the mile and 3000 meters may be where he is better suited relative to the competition he would have to face.

The concern for Kusche coming into this year is the fact that he has struggled in the postseason. A lot. However, after seeing him earn All-American honors on the grass and taking a massive leap upwards in fitness (by virtue of his latest 5k mark), the tides may be changing for Kusche.

When it comes to names like Keane, Gilman, Jordan and El-Sandali, I'm not sure there are a ton of takeaways here. All of these men are true distance running veterans who thrive in the longer distances.

Now, admittedly, if you would have told me before the race that all four of those men would run under 13:30, I'm not sure I would have believed you. However, on an individual basis, I don't think these results are necessarily shocking.

I will like all four of these men, but for different reasons.

However, Sam Gilman is a name who catches my attention the most. He's been great on the grass, he just posted an elite 5k mark on the indoor track and he has some decent range as well. The Air Force star may be a sneaky-good name to watch on the national stage in March.

* * *

Let's briefly chat about a few other names who didn't run under 13:30.

Butler's Simon Bedard (13:32), New Mexico's Abdirizak Ibrahim (13:32), BYU's Brandon Garnica (13:33), Washington State's Colton Johnsen (13:34), Weber State's Christian Allen (13:36), BYU's Casey Clinger (13:36) and Boise State's Dario De Caro (13:38) all ran under 13:40.

As much as I'd like to be surprised by these results, I have to say that I'm not. With the possible exception of Dario De Caro, all of these men own performances that suggested they could run this fast.

Keep an eye out for Ibrahim moving forward. He's also run 3:37 for 1500 meters, making him a serious threat every time he toes the line. Will he be able to fully translate that success to the national stage? That has yet to be seen, but his resume is becoming increasingly more challenging to ignore.

* * *

Alright, that wraps up the men's 5000 meters at Boston University, but there were still plenty of great 5k results at Grand Valley State and at Arkansas.

In Fayetteville, Tulsa's Scott Beattie proved that his cross country success, both last winter and this past fall, was no fluke. He ran a strong mark of 13:40 to take down unattached runners Gilbert Boit (13:43) and Ryan Ford (13:44) as well as the Iowa State duo of Gable Sieperda (13:44) and Thomas Pollard (13:45).

I really like Beattie. I think he's a very solid talent who is only improving. He's a lot stronger than some of his past results may suggest.

Unfortunately, that time will almost certainly not get Beattie into the national meet, which is a shame because in most years, it would. That was probably the best race of Beattie's career, but now he'll need to find an even faster 5k race later this season if he wants to earn a spot to the national meet.

As for Sieperda and Pollard, they posted strong marks and they should be fairly proud of those results. Watch out for Sieperda moving forward. It's taken a few seasons, but he is slowly evolving into a really strong distance talent who is putting up some really nice results.

Moving to Grand Valley State, we saw Wisconsin's Olin Hacker secure a nice win in the 5000 meters with a time of 13:37. That result seems to be on par with our expectations for Hacker. He's been a top talent for a while, but based on his cross country results and his recent 5k effort, Hacker seems to be in his aerobic prime.

Was Hacker the clear favorite to take the win in this race? Yes, but he had to take down Eastern Michigan's Baldvin Magnusson (13:41) as well as Grand Valley State's Isaac Harding (13:41) and Tanner Chada (13:45) in the process.

Make no mistake, Hacker had to work for that win.

* * *

Ok, let's wrap up our conversation with the women's 5000 meters and let's start with a quick reminder before we fully dive in...

Courtney Wayment is really fast.

The BYU megastar ran 15:15 for 5000 meters at Boston University earlier this month, putting her at NCAA #7 all-time in the event.

I want to be surprised and I want to offer some fancy analysis, I really do! But I'm not sure this result should exactly come as a surprise. She's run 8:54 for 3000 meters and one could argue that she gets better the longer the distance becomes.

Look, with the possible exception of the 800 meters, Wayment can choose to win a national title in any distance event she wants this year. She has all of the strength, experience, tactics, speed, etc. to be an overwhelming title favorite.

While I wish I could say more about her result, I don't think there's anything left to say.

Let's move on to the women behind Wayment.

NC State's Kelsey Chmiel and Notre Dame's Maddy Denner each ran a time of 15:27 at Boston University earlier this month, validating the monster cross country seasons that they had this past fall.

For Chmiel, this mark shouldn't be too big of a stunner. The Wolfpack star has been very solid for the past few seasons, earning numerous All-American honors, including two top-10 finishes at the NCAA XC Championships. Seeing her earn a nationally elite time to pair with those results helps round out her resume.

However, Denner is the one who surprised me quite a bit.

The Fighting Irish ace was a standout talent a few years back, making plenty of noise on the grass and smoothing out the learning curve that comes with being a top distance talent in the NCAA.

However, prior to this past fall, Denner was a bit quieter and didn't seem to be the elite name that we knew she could be by this point in her career. That's not at all to say that she was running poorly, but we just felt like her potential was higher than what her results were showing.

Sure enough, she had an incredible cross country season this past fall and just posted a 5k time that I didn't think she would come within eight seconds of.

Denner clearly has a ton of momentum and she's riding that wave of confidence incredibly well. I'll be curious to see what she does in the 3000 meters later this year and how she handles what may be a more tactical race at the NCAA Indoor Championships.

Let's transition to New Mexico's Adva Cohen (15:33) and NC State's Alexandra Hays (15:33).

These two women may have run the same time, but they have two very different stories.

Cohen is an established veteran and is one of the more experienced names in the NCAA at this point in her career. She's no stranger to running fast times. In fact, this wasn't even a personal best for Cohen. Her fastest 5k time actually sits at 15:31.

Long story, short, this wasn't surprising.

However, what was surprising was seeing Hays throw down a time of 15:33.

Much like teammate Samantha Bush, we saw Hays have a very strong and respectable cross country season, but she wasn't necessarily elite. The former Columbia Lion had tons of success in the Ivy League and prospered under Coach Ireland while in New York.

However, this past fall was somehow even better for Hays who posted numerous top-level finishes and earned All-American honors at the cross country national meet.

Despite a great season of racing, I'm not sure this is someone I was expecting to see run 15:33. I'm a big fans of Hays and I have been since she became a nationally competitive name while at Columbia.

However, she never had a performance, even this past fall, that suggested that she would run this fast. With tons of experience under her belt and a leap upwards in fitness, Hays could become a sleeper All-American pick for the indoor national meet come March.

Meanwhile, Yale's Kayley DeLay was the last woman to run under 15:40 with a mark of 15:36. Much like a few women we have already mentioned, her cross country season was surprisingly strong. In fact, her fall season probably resembled Kelsey Chmiel rather than Alexandra Hays given her 10th place finish at the NCAA XC Championships.

DeLay has been a strong, talented name in the NCAA for a while now. However, this past fall was her first true breakout season. She has decent speed and is plenty experienced, so maybe she'll be a factor on the national stage yet again in March.

Behind DeLay, we saw a handful of women above the 15:40 barrier. Those names included Florida State's Lauren Ryan (15:40), New Mexico's Emma Heckel (15:41), New Mexico's Gracelyn Larkin (15:41), Georgia Tech's Nicole Fegans (15:42), Auburn's Joyce Kimeli (15:43), Binghamton's Emily Mackay (15:44), Notre Dame's Lauren Bailey (15:45) and Georgetown's Maggie Donahue (15:49).

Is anyone surprised by those results that I just listed? Honestly, I don't think I am. If you had asked me to predict the 5k times for all of the women entering this race, I probably would have been within three seconds for all of them with the possible exception of Kimeli and Ryan.

Of course, that's a lot easier for me to say now the race has actually been run,

Admittedly, I thought Kimeli and Ryan would comfortably run under 15:40. Kimeli is the reigning indoor national champion in this event and she has often thrived in highly competitive fields such as these.

As for Ryan, her overall resume is super impressive. She has a mix of lethal speed and sneaky-good endurance, making her one of the more versatile runners in the NCAA. I would have thought that she would be closer to 15:35, but she still had a nice race, nonetheless.

* * *

Our conversation in the women's 5k (and this article as a whole) ends with the Woo Pig Classic. The women's 5000 meters didn't produce anywhere close to the same level of depth and firepower that we saw in Boston, but there were still plenty of notable results.

When she's healthy and at 100%, Arkansas' Lauren Gregory is a superstar. She is one of the most dynamic distance runners in the NCAA, has great speed, understands tactics and is able to compete with some of the best women in the country.

Gregory went to work on a strong 5k field earlier this month, posting a time of 15:34 and soundly defeating a field that I thought would've been more competitive.

There aren't many women in the NCAA who can truly challenge Courtney Wayment. However, when Gregory is at her best, she is more than capable of taking the BYU star to the line. In fact, we saw exactly that at the 2021 indoor national meet in the 3000 meters.

If Wayment opts out of the 5000 meters or the 3000 meters at the indoor national meet, Gregory should aim to pursue the event that Wayment isn't running. On paper, that would be her best chance of winning NCAA gold.

As for the rest of this field, Washington's Allie Schadler finished runner-up with a time of 15:50 while the Minnesota sisters Bethany and Megan Hasz ran 15:52 and 15:58, respectively.

I'll admit, I'm a bit surprised that Schadler and the Hasz twins weren't able to keep the gap between them and Gregory smaller. All three of those women are exceptionally talented and admittedly, I felt like all of these women were capable of running under 15:50.

Of course, it's still early in the season and Gregory is just as good as we thought she was.

And if we've learned anything about December results, it's that a lot can change in two and a half months.