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PREDICTIONS: 2025 Boston U. Terrier DMR Challenge
Get excited everyone! DMR week is finally here!
The week before most of the major conference championships is what most people around the country would consider to be "DMR week." This is when the strongest distance programs in the NCAA assemble their best possible lineups to go after a national qualifying mark in this event.
Usually, the Alex Wilson Invite at Notre Dame and, more recently, the Arkansas Qualifier and Husky Classic, have been the meets that most teams venture to in order to run a fast DMR time. And while those meets are set to be plenty entertaining, it's the "Terrier DMR Challenge" at Boston U. that will also be drawing plenty of attention this weekend.
Below, we offered our full predictions for all of the distance events at Boston U. this weekend and even offered a bit of analysis as well...
NOTE: These predictions were made prior to the release of the heat sheets.
Boston U. Terrier DMR Challenge (collegians only)
*Denotes that a collegian is also entered in another individual event. In these predictions, TSR is assuming that each runner is contesting an event fresh (i.e. not doubling back). At time of publishing, the entries for this meet were not split into heats and athlete names who will be running in the DMR were not yet released.
Women’s 800 Meters
Star Price (Virginia Tech) - 2:02
Hannah Riggins (Princeton) - 2:04
Ella Auderset (North Carolina) - 2:04
Alyssa Hernandez (North Carolina) - 2:06
Analysis: While this 800-meter field may not be crazy deep, there are still a small handful of pro and unattached runners who will be the headline acts. One of those unattached athletes is Virginia Tech's Lindsey Butler who does not have any indoor track eligibility left.
However, I would imagine that Butler's main goal (or at least, one of her goals) for this race is to put Hokie ace, Star Price, in a position to qualify for the indoor national meet over 800 meters. The latter has already run 2:03 for that distance this season and is somewhat clearly the best collegian in this field. If she runs one second faster, then her chances of extending her season to March should raise dramatically.
Men’s 800 Meters
Mahamed Sharif (UConn) - 1:48
Colin Boler (Princeton) - 1:49
Kaleb Tipton (CSU-Pueblo) - 1:50
Alex Brown (Boston College) - 1:50
James Joyce (Boston College) - 1:51
Analysis: On paper, Mahamed Sharif is the most accomplished collegian in this field. However, the 1:46 (800) man hasn't been nearly as sharp as he has been in prior years. He should still emerge as the top NCAA finisher in this race, but anything beyond 1:48 for the half-mile distance would be considered a great day for the UConn veteran.
Women’s Mile
Chloe Foerster (Washington) - 4:27
Mena Scatchard (Princeton) - 4:27
Amina Maatoug (Washington) - 4:29
Vera Sjoberg (Boston U.) - 4:30
Molly Hudson (Boston College) - 4:30
Analysis: Collegiately, this field is stacked -- an understandably so.
Nearly all of the top collegiate women in this field are entered with the sole goal of bettering their position on the national leaderboard (in the mile). And when you look at each of the women who are entered for this race, each of them bring different reasons for optimism to the table.
Washington's Chloe Foerster is arguably the best pure miler in this field. After upsetting Ceili McCabe last week, Mena Scatchard may have the single-best mile win (this season) of any collegian found in these entries. Boston U.'s Vera Sjoberg, along with Scatchard, has some of the best seasonal momentum of any woman in the NCAA. And when it comes to Washington's Amina Maatoug, she is the most proven collegian in these entries. She has also been nearing peak form in her last few races.
At the end of the day, I chose Foerster to emerge as the top NCAA finisher. I trust her in all-out regular season affairs and her recent 800-meter PR, which was only by 0.02 seconds, felt like a good step in the right direction. Even so, Scatchard is on a hot streak that will make her incredibly difficult to defeat.
Men’s Mile
Foster Malleck (Boston U.) - 3:54
Reece Sharman-Newell (CSU-Pueblo) - 3:55
Joe Ewing (Harvard) - 3:56
Viktor Idhammar (Virginia Tech) - 3:58
Noah Ward (Harvard) - 3:58
Analysis: For as much respect as I have for guys like Joe Ewing (Harvard), Viktor Idhammar (Virginia Tech) and Noah Ward (Harvard), the only collegian in this field who has a realistic shot of qualify for the D1 indoor national meet in the mile is Foster Malleck.
This is going to be a top-heavy field featuring talented pro runners. And with a coveted spot to the NCAA Indoor Championships on the line, you can expect Malleck to be fairly aggressive with his moves and surges. The only question is whether or not he can hang on to a fast pace for long enough.
As for Reece Sharman-Newell, he has the chance to make history. The NCAA D2 record in the mile sits at 3:56.10 from Lee (Tenn.)'s Christian Noble back in 2022. And for those who are unaware, Sharman-Newell became the first man to ever (officially) run under the four-minute mile barrier on Colorado soil earlier this season. In doing so, he earned a 3:53 altitude conversion.
Even if Sharman-Newell's altitude converted mile time doesn't fully translate, he should still have a shot at the NCAA record. And given the unbelievably fast nature of the collegiate realm nowadays, I'm willing to bet that he'll get it.
Men’s 5000 Meters
No entered collegians
Analysis: N/A
Women’s DMR
Oregon Ducks - 10:33
Providence Friars - 10:35
Penn State Nittany Lions - 10:40
North Carolina Tar Heels - 10:41
Georgetown Hoyas - 10:41
Virginia Cavaliers - 10:43
NC State Wolfpack - 10:45
Harvard Crimson - 10:51
Boston U. Terriers - 11:10
Analysis: If the Oregon women field both Silan Ayyildiz and Wilma Nielsen for this DMR race -- and I imagine that they will -- then the Ducks may do more than just secure the overall win. In fact, they may be able to completely shatter the NCAA record, including the all-conditions mark of 10:37 that was set last weekend by BYU.
There is simply too much firepower in that projected lineup for any team in this field to counter...well, almost any team.
Providence boasts an elite 1-2 punch in Shannon Flockhart and Kimberley May. Those two women may be the only duo in the NCAA who can (mostly) counter Oregon's pair of stars in this relay. And if the Friars can field a serviceable half-miler, then they'll have a shot at the win as well.
Teams like Penn State and North Carolina don't necessarily have standout stars like Oregon and Providence do. They do, however, feature excellent middle distance runners who are highly experienced. And when you look at their potential lineups, both the Nittany Lions and Tar Heels could field balanced groups that don't appear to hold any glaring weaknesses.
Virginia and Georgetown each have a superstar via Margot Appleton and Melissa Riggins, respectively. The challenge, however, is that there is a bit of a drop-off in their lineups compared to the other talent seen in this field. Sure, Tatum David (Virginia) and Chloe Scrimgeour (Georgetown) are solid secondary pieces, but I'm not quite as sold on their 800-meter legs.
And then we come to NC State and Harvard.
Truthfully, the Wolfpack women lack a strong middle distance presence despite Grace Hartman having run 4:24 in the mile last weekend. She will almost certainly be playing catch up when she gets the baton.
Meanwhile, Harvard has a lethal middle distance duo via Sophia Gorriaran and Victoria Bossong. In fact, through three legs, the Crimson could be in the mix with Oregon and Providence! Even so, there is a rather large talent gap with their anchor leg compared to others in the field. That, in turn, will make this an uphill battle for Harvard.
Men’s DMR
North Carolina Tar Heels - 9:15
Georgetown Hoyas - 9:19
Virginia Tech Hokies - 9:19
Wake Forest Demon Deacons - 9:22
Princeton Tigers - 9:23
UCLA Bruins - 9:26
Boston U. Terriers - 9:33
Analysis: It should be pretty easy to explain why we have North Carolina winning and we have them running a time of 9:15 in the DMR. Simply put, they have Ethan Strand and Parker Wolfe. Truthfully, I don't care how balanced every other lineup in this field is -- the Tar Heels are just flat-out better.
That said, both Georgetown and Virginia Tech are practically built for the DMR.
The Hoyas have Tinoda Matsatsa and Abel Teffra on either end of their relay while Gabriele Angiono should be enough for this team to be a major problem for their opponents. As for the Hokies, their 1200-800-1600 combination is arguably more complete with Nick Plant and George Couttie on either side of their lineup and with 1:47 (800) man, Christian Jackson, presumably in the middle portion of this relay.
The Wake Forest men have a handful of great milers this year. And yet, I don't know if any of their milers will allow them to truly stand out in a field where other relays have just as much firepower, if not more so. The biggest x-factor for the Demon Deacons this Friday is Rynard Swanepoel. If he can deliver a 1:47 (800) split, then Wake Forest has a good shot of advancing to the indoor national meet.
As for Princeton, I am a very big fan of Harrison Witt and I think Connor McCormick is a great complementary piece. However, Samuel Rodman will need to return to the form that we saw from him three years ago when he was running 1:46 for 800 meters.
If Rodman is able to give the Tigers that kind of firepower at the half-mile distance, then this Ivy League power may have a shot at qualifying for the indoor national meet in the DMR.
