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One Sentence Previews: 2022 NCAA Outdoor Championships Men's 800 Meters (D1)

  • Writer: Admin (Garrett Zatlin)
    Admin (Garrett Zatlin)
  • Jun 7, 2022
  • 5 min read

Additional contributions by Garrett Zatlin



NOTE: Athletes are listed in the order that they are shown on the official qualifiers list.

1. Moad Zahafi (Texas Tech)

Running 1:43 earlier this season and later running 1:44 at the West Regional Championships should, on paper, make Moad Zahafi the clear national title favorite if he simply attempts to outrun the field, although his suddenly non-existent late-season injury still lingers as a cautionary aspect for this weekend.


2. Brandon Miller (Texas A&M)

Based on name alone, Miller should be the national title favorite, but he has simply not been himself this spring, faltering in two elite-level fields and forcing us to question if he will be in the mix for NCAA gold this weekend.


3. Lorenz Herrmann (Idaho)

Herrmann may be the most underappreciated name in this field, showing off tremendous consistency, taking down multiple top-level names and recently peaking at the West Regional Championships with a 1:46 PR, all of which make him a high-momentum star coming into this meet.


4. Yusuf Bizimana (Texas)

Bizimana hasn't necessarily been unbelievably great this spring, but he has also been far from bad, leaving us a little unsure as to which version of this Texas middle distance star we will see later this weekend.


5. Christopher Conrad (Missouri)

Conrad is a challenging name to gauge as he isn't the most consistent, but when he's racing at 100%, he's very difficult to outrun, especially when given how experienced he is when racing against nationally competitive fields.


6. Sean Dolan (Villanova)

Arguably the safest pick in this field, the miler-turned-800 meter runner won the BIG East 800 meter title of Matthew Payamps (again) earlier this spring, ran back-to-back 1:47 marks at his regional meet and has the experience of racing the 800 meters at the NCAA Indoor Championships, all of which gives us plenty to like when looking at Dolan's resume.


7. Cebastian Gentil (Iowa State)

Some of Gentil's races have certainly been better than others, but the upside that comes with his 1:46 PR, which was run in a very competitive Bryan Clay field, theoretically suggests that he'll hold his own this weekend, at least in the prelims.


8. Sam Van Dorpe (USC)

This USC standout is a highly experienced runner who had an excellent weekend at the West Regional Championships, but this is someone who has run 1:50 the same number of times that he's run sub-1:49 this spring, making it difficult to know which version of Van Dorpe we will see later this week.


9. Sebastian Fernandez (BYU)

Fernandez was a complete unknown coming into this spring season -- even his high school stats are hard to find -- but after running 1:47 (which converted to 1:46) and running back-to-back 1:47 marks at the West Regional Championships, we have to believe that this BYU rookie is more of a real deal than a fluke.


10. Jason Gomez (Iowa State)

His indoor track season was far from great, but Gomez has been fairly consistent in the 800 meters this spring and given his past national meet experience, he has given us enough of an incentive to at least consider him as someone who will make it out of the prelims.


11. Abdullahi Hassan (Wisconsin)

Hassan is an outstanding racer who is tactically smart, knows how to execute a race plan and can run a nationally competitive time at will, but it feels like he has yet to fully reach his true potential, something that could be fixed this weekend.


12. Dayton Carlson (Arizona State)

Carlson started this season with a 1:50 mark and even ran as slow as 1:53 at one point, although the incredible momentum that he has built-up throughout this spring has produced a 1:47 PR, a time fast enough for us to question if he could get even faster this weekend.


13. Navasky Anderson (Mississippi State)

One of the main title contenders in this race, Anderson has raced against numerous elite fields and has run 1:45 en route to the SEC title, effectively giving him enough firepower and tactical understanding to potentially threaten Zahafi as long as this race isn't in the 1:43 range.


14. Luis Peralta (Oregon)

Peralta is wildly gifted and with a 1:46 PR, he'll be viewed as a top name in this field, although his 2022 outdoor track season has simply not been good and his history at national meets isn't great despite what a recent indoor All-American honor may suggest.


15. Tim Zepf (Notre Dame)

In his last five 800 meter races, Zepf has run 1:47 four different times, making him one of the most consistent high-level performers in this field and a reliable sleeper pick when it comes to your All-American predictions.


16. Ayman Zahafi (Miami (FL))

Multiple 1:47 marks, a 1:46 PR and an ACC title over a top-tier field should prepare Zahafi for the national meet, especially in a preliminary heat that looks very manageable in terms of the talent that Zahafi will have to deal with.

17. Aman Thornton (Clemson)

There are a handful of results on Thornton's resume that have been fairly underwhelming since the indoor track season, but when he's clicking on all cylinders, he's not exactly an easy name to take down.


18. Collin Ebling (Duquesne)

Ebling was one of the underrated names who I praised going into the regional meets and he surely delivered, flexing his underappreciated experience, replicating his 1:47 PR and showing off a strong tactical understanding, something he'll need to get out of a very challenging preliminary heat.


19. Samuel Voelz (Notre Dame)

Voelz has admittedly not been the same runner that we saw last year, but he has remained competitive in a handful of races and with a 1:45 PR from last summer, the upside and experience that he brings to this field makes him very dangerous.


20. Baylor Franklin (Ole Miss)

Franklin has made tremendous improvements this year and he feels like an underappreciated name, running a 1:46 personal best at the SEC Championships (where he held his own against an elite field) and never posting a mark slower than 1:48 in six races this season.


21. Miles Brown (Michigan)

Brown is arguably one of the best true freshmen in any middle or long distance event in the NCAA this year, although his inexperience could be a challenging obstacle to overcome, something I would have said for most NCAA rookies not named Edward Cheserek.


22. Clayborn Pender (Georgia)

Pender came a little bit out of nowhere when he ran 1:46 for 3rd place at the SEC Championships, and although we have fair questions as to how he will handle this new level competition, we also can't deny that Pender is truly the real deal.


23. Jonathan Schwind (Lipscomb)

There is more to like on Schwind's resume than to dislike, especially when you consider that he ran 1:47 to defeat Baylor Franklin and a few others earlier this spring, but his consistently great positioning and tactics makes him a realistic name to advance into All-American consideration.


24. Samuel Rodman (Princeton)

Rodman is young and generally inexperienced, but after breaking out during the indoor track season, he has only improved upon his 800 meter PR (en route to a 1:47 mark) and was a competitive name in a handful of underrated races this spring.


Final Predictions:

  1. Moad Zahafi (Texas Tech)

  2. Navasky Anderson (Texas A&M)

  3. Baylor Franklin (Ole Miss)

  4. Samuel Voelz (Notre Dame)

  5. Ayman Zahafi (Miami (FL))

  6. Brandon Miller (Texas A&M)

  7. Sean Dolan (Villanova)

  8. Jonathan Schwind (Lipscomb)

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