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One Sentence Previews: 2022 NCAA Outdoor Championships Women's 1500 Meters (D3)

  • Hannah Thorn
  • May 25, 2022
  • 4 min read

Additional contributions by Garrett Zatlin



NOTE: Athletes are listed in order of their seed position. Final predictions are at the bottom.

1. Esther Seeland (Messiah)

With Ella Baran scratching the 1500 meters, this race becomes Seeland’s to lose as her PR is eight-seconds faster than anyone else in this field and her elite middle distance speed theoretically makes her incredibly difficult to take down in a tactical scenario.


2. Hope Murphy (Baldwin Wallace)

Hope Murphy tends to do better in the prelims than the finals -- 6th/11th at the 2021 outdoor national meet and 5th/10th at the indoor national meet -- but her consistency and clear uptick in fitness this spring could buck that trend.


3. Cassie Kearney (Middlebury)

Doubling in the 800 meters and the 1500 meters didn’t yield the best results at last year's outdoor national meet (12th in the 800, 17th in the 1500) for Kearney, but she now has valuable experience and a resume that makes her a legitimate threat in any race scenario.


4. Zanzie Demco (UW-Oshkosh)

A double All-American in the 800 meters and the 1500 meters last spring, Zanzie Demco is looking to repeat that feat once again, making her a fairly reliable name in this field who has proven that she can navigate out of the prelims with relative ease.


5. Margaret Trautner (Caltech)

Another woman doubling in the 800 meters and the 1500 meters, Trautner has tons of national meet experience and a lot of promising consistency this spring, theoretically making her one of the most reliable women in this field.


6. Emily Konkus (Washington U.)

Konkus had a 1500 meter personal best of 4:42 entering this season, but she dropped 13 seconds this spring to qualify for her first-ever national meet, leaving us to wonder if her momentum or her inexperience will play a bigger role in this field.


7. Windsor Ardner (SUNY Geneseo)

This is Ardner’s first outdoor track season, although she did place 10th in the 3000 meters at the NCAA Indoor Championships this past winter, showing us that she can find (some) success in these kinds of fields despite her inexperience.


8. Abby Scott (Williams)

Scott scratched the 800 meters to focus on the 1500 meters, so hopefully her 2:12 speed helps her pull away from the field in tactical settings, a scenario that could absolutely unfold in both the prelims and the finals.


9. Sadie Heeringa (Calvin)

The 15th place finisher in the 1500 meters at last year's outdoor national meet, Heeringa is hoping to sneak into the finals this year and while her resume suggests that she can, the rest of this field is fairly crowded after the top-eight seeds.


10. Carolyn Shult (UW-Eau Claire)

Dropping her times all season long has led Carolyn Shult to the national meet where we’ll see if she can continue her exciting progression, a possibility that gives her some promising upside in this race.


11. Maddie Kelly (U. of Chicago)

With an 800 meter PR of 2:19, Maddie Kelly might be hoping to make this a faster race as her middle distance foot speed, on paper, doesn't translate to a quick finish if the prelims are tactical.


12. Sarika Temme-Bapat (U. of Chicago)

This is Sarika Temme-Bapat’s first outdoor national meet appearance after placing 14th place in the mile at the NCAA Indoor Championships, although her last two races produced two personal bests in two different events, making her a name on the rise.


13. Maddie Hannan (UW-La Crosse)

Hannan scratched from the 800 meters to try her chances in the mile where she will face her fellow WIAC foes, giving her familiarity with this field that could be beneficial when it comes to responding to certain moves.


14. Brittany McCauley (Mount Union)

McCauley ran the 1500 meters at last year's outdoor national meet, finishing 8th in the prelims but 10th in the final, leading us to believe that she may be one step away from being an All-American.


15. Lucy Gagnon (Williams)

Lucy Gagnon hasn’t raced in a month and in her last outing, she ran a 4:49 mark for 1500 meters, leaving us a little worried about the status of this promising Williams runner.


16. Natalie Bitetti (Claremont-Mudd-Scripps)

Bitetti hasn't come within three seconds of her 4:33 mark which she ran back in March and she has not gone sub-4:40 in her last three 1500 meter races, although the possibility of her replicating that March fitness makes her a sneaky-good name in this field.


17. Annika Urban (Emory)

Urban is doing the rare 1500/5k double, but after running two personal bests in those two events in her last two races, it likely makes sense for her to capitalize on her recent momentum by going after both events.


18. Laura Zimmer (Claremont-Mudd-Scripps)

Zimmer was able to deliver on the last weekend of national qualifying after running 4:34 at the Redlands Final Qualifier, and while it would have been nice to see her be a little more competitive in certain fields this season, peaking at the right time (which Zimmer is clearly doing) matters more.


19. Brenna Sclair (George Fox)

This is Sclair's first national meet and while we will certainly have to monitor how she deals with the pressure of the prelims (and maybe the finals), her 1500 meter consistency in the month of May has been outstanding.


20. Kaitlyn Van Baalen (U. of Chicago)

After barely missing the outdoor national meet in the 1500 meters last year, Baalen has been a different runner this year, running a 4:57 mile on the indoor oval and progressively improving her 1500 meter marks in the month of May, making her one of the better backend seeds in any distance event this year.


21. Megan Wertz (Mount Union)

Wertz is likely a runner who wants this race to be fast from the gun as this year she has run an 800 meter time of 2:21 which isn’t super competitive amongst these women, especially if she has to employ that speed in a tactical setting.


22. Gillian Roeder (MIT)

This is only Roeder's second-ever 1500 meter race and she did not compete at all from November through April, making her a massive wildcard in this field.


Final Predictions:

  1. Esther Seeland (Messiah)

  2. Zanzie Demco (UW-Oshkosh)

  3. Margaret Trautner (Caltech)

  4. Cassie Kearney (Middlebury)

  5. Hope Murphy (Baldwin Wallace)

  6. Windsor Ardner (SUNY Geneseo)

  7. Abby Scott (Williams)

  8. Maddie Kelley (U. of Chicago)

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