top of page
Search

One Sentence Previews: 2022 NCAA Indoor Championships Women's Mile (D1)

  • Writer: Maura Beattie
    Maura Beattie
  • Mar 6, 2022
  • 3 min read

Additional contributions by Garrett Zatlin


For this year's national meet previews, we'll be writing one sentence of analysis for each of the men and women in each of these distance fields. Yesterday was the 3k and today was the mile...


1. Emily Mackay (Binghamton)

Mackay has proven on more than one occasion that she is the real deal in the mile, but her ongoing ability to take down highly-ranked names is what makes her such a dangerous threat in this field.


2. Julia Heymach (Stanford)

Heymach has yet to toe the line at an indoor national meet, but her recent elite-level success and her mind-blowing versatility suggests that she is well-suited for any race scenario.


3. Katie Camarena (Portland State)

Camarena has boasted consistency and underrated positioning in high-level races and despite her lack of national meet experience, her poise could continue to make her a threat in the mile prelims and mile finals.


4. Anna Gibson (Washington)

Gibson has not only dropped tons of time in the mile this season, but she has also shown off her speed in the 800 meters and has continued to make improvements, leaving us encouraged about her current momentum.


5. Eusila Chepkemei (Middle Tennessee State)

Chepkemei practically came out of nowhere the other weekend with a 4:32 mile, but with no other results to truly match that mark, we are left a bit unsure as to what we should expect from Chepkemei next weekend.


6. Sintayehu Vissa (Ole Miss)

After taking the win in the mile and in the DMR at the SEC Indoor Championships, Vissa is no longer running under the radar and could stand atop the podium next weekend after showing zeros flaws and winning all of her individual races this winter.


7. Madison Heisterman (Washington)

Heisterman should still be considered a dark horse in the mile because even though she has one of the nation’s best mile times of 4:33, she has yet to finish higher than 5th place in any loaded mile race she has been in this winter.


8. Madison Boreman (Colorado)

Since finishing runner-up at the 2017 NCAA Outdoor Championships in the steeplechase and eventually falling victim to the injury bug, Boreman has rediscovered her groove and enters next weekend with tons of momentum after running back-to-back 4:34 and 4:33 miles within two weeks of each other.


9. Olivia Howell (Illinois)

After throwing down a 4:33 mile personal best at the BIG 10 Indoor Championships and securing major wins over top-tier competition, Howell's momentum makes her a lethal name to watch on the national stage, especially when you factor in her 1500 meter personal best of 4:09 from last spring.


10. Laura Pellicoro (Portland)

Pellicoro has quietly been climbing up the national leaderboard the last few weeks and although she’s not in the conversation for the win, her sneaky-strong 2:05 speed for 800 meters could make her a factor if the mile prelims or the mile finals turn tactical.


11. Micaela Degenero (Colorado)

Even with a late start to the season, it took only three races for this Colorado ace to eventually run a 4:34 mile PR which backed up her 1500 personal best of 4:09, validated her All-American honor in the 1500 meters and made it increasingly more challenging to pick against her.


12. Aneta Konieczek (Oregon)

Konieczek has been in this position before, earning backend All-American honors in the mile last winter and giving us zero reason to believe that she can't do the same in 2022.


13. Ellie Leather (Cincinnati)

Leather is clearly a different runner this year, coming into the national meet with ultra fast times and with numerous top-three finishes, including key wins over some of the top distance talents in the country.


14. Rachel McArthur (Colorado)

McArthur appears to be peaking at the right time and is no stranger to the national stage, but her best performances have often eluded her when she is chasing All-American finishes.


15. Mia Barnett (Virginia)

The only true freshman in the field, Virginia’s Mia Barnett has built tremendous consistency this winter (running no slower than 4:40 in the mile with the exception of the ACC prelims) and has displayed outstanding poise, showing us that her youth and inexperience may not be as big of a liability as we once thought it was.


16. Bailey Hertenstein (Indiana)

Nabbing the final qualifying spot for the national meet should give Hertenstein some drive, but will the two-time cross country All-American be able to contend for a top finish in her first national meet on the track?


Final Predictions:

  1. Julia Heymach (Stanford)

  2. Sintayehu Vissa (Ole Miss)

  3. Emily Mackay (Binghamton)

  4. Olivia Howell (Illinois)

  5. Katie Camarena (Portland State)

  6. Madison Boreman (Colorado)

  7. Ellie Leather (Cincinnati)

  8. Madison Heisterman (Washington)

bottom of page