Swarthmore Final Qualifier Recap
By: Michael Weidenbruch
As NCAA Regional qualifying has come to a close, we saw a boom of fast times this weekend as people were working to get under the bubble or to improve their seed time for Regionals. The Power 5 conferences all had their championships this weekend, but many smaller schools who raced for conference titles the previous weekend headed to last chance meets to chase times.
The Swarthmore Final Qualifier is always one of the most competitive last chance meets, and there’s a lot of history on their track. In 2012, Kyle Merber set the American collegiate record of 3:35.59, which was just fractions of a second off of Sydney Maree’s overall collegiate record. No records were set last night, but impressive times were thrown down across all three divisions.
800
Sophomore Iddriss Iddriss (yes, you read that correctly) of Stevenson University was the top collegiate finishing 2nd overall in 1:51.27, which puts him at #10 in Division 3. Nick Neville (junior) of Rowan took the 2nd collegiate spot at 1:51.44, and Liam Lynch (junior) of Haverford was the third collegiate in 1:51.50.
Top Collegiate Finishers:
Iddriss Iddriss (Stevenson) 1:51.27
Nick Neville (Rowan) 1:51.44
Liam Lynch (Haverford) 1:51.50
Gillan Faulkner (SUNY Geneseo) 1:51.65
Nicholas Scullin (Lebanon Valley) 1:51.90
Cavanaugh McGaw (Christopher Newport) 1:52.83
Noah Osterhus (The College of New Jersey) 1:52.85
Vincent Booth (NYU) 1:52.92
1500
As usual, Swarthmore held an elite 1500m section that did not disappoint. While the elite field was filled with professionals like winner Robby Andrews, it is important to take note of William Paulson and Garrett O’Toole finished 6th and 9th in the elite section, running 3:39.51 and 3:40.04 respectively. The Princeton duo and future Arizona State commits ran unattached to both finish under their PRs in the event. It will be very interesting to see what they can do at Arizona State next year.
In the collegiate race, Isaac Garcia-Cassani was the winner in a new D3 #1 time with his 3:42.85. Jeremy Hernandez of Ramapo previously held that spot with his 3:44.55 from the Penn Relays, and he was the 2nd collegiate last night at Swarthmore in 3:45.45.
Some more very impressive times were put down from Greg Morgan of Haverford and Jack Pinho of Springfield. George Washington’s Ryan Depinto led the way for (attached) D1 athletes in the 1500 finishing in a new PR of 3:50.09.
This year’s 1500m field was not as deep as it has been in the last few years (at least not on the D1 side), but this race showed some of the best D3 competition in one race that we have seen all year. It may be interesting to note that Logan Wetzel of Villanova was a DNS in this race. His presence could have shaken things up a bit and possibly pushed everyone to go faster. Wetzel ran in the 1500m prelims at the Big East championship this weekend instead, so it’s very possible that he was a rabbit.
Top Collegiate Finishers:
Isaac Garcia-Cassani (SUNY Geneseo) 3:42.85
Jeremy Hernandez (Ramapo) 3:45.45
Greg Morgan (Haverford) 3:47.72
Jack Pinho (Springfield) 3:47.90
Ryan Depinto (George Washington) 3:50.09
Dylan Gearinger (Haverford) 3:50.38
Benjamin Finnigan (Mount St. Mary’s) 3:50.86
Colin Willis (George Washington) 3:50.95
3000 Steeplechase
Benjamin Schott of Messiah was only 5th overall in the steeplechase, but he was the top collegiate finisher and is now the #2 steeplechaser in Division 3 with his 8:58.50 He will certainly be a contender for a national title at the end of May.
Ian Kellogg of Otterbein was the 2nd collegiate in 9:10.25. This race was dominated up front by unattached and non-collegiate athletes, resulting in the collegiate times being spread out and lacking depth. While the steeplechase is an increasingly competitive event, it tends to be hit or miss at Swarthmore and this year was definitely a “miss”. Perhaps if some of the Ivy League schools had shown up this race would have been more competitive and possibly a bit faster.
Top Collegiate Finishers:
Benjamin Schott (Messiah) 8:58.50
Ian Kellogg (Otterbein) 9:10.25
Samuel Gerstenbacher (Elizabethtown) 9:11.20
Graham Peet (Haverford) 9:11.31
Greg Jaindl (Moravian) 9:13.09
Patrick Watson (Stevenson) 9:13.84
Jacob Thompson (Otterbein) 9:15.48
McQuade Milligan (St. John Fisher) 9:21.77
5000
While Swarthmore is typically known for its 1500 races, this year’s 5000 was very competitive up front. None of the times were shockingly fast, but there were impressive performances.
The top collegiate finisher was Dickinson’s Bryce Decavish in 14:30.46 which puts him at 15th in D3. Greg Arabagian of Stevens Institute was right behind in 14:30.97. These two will likely be in the mix to grab the last couple podium spots at D3 nationals later this spring.
There was a significant lack of D1 athletes in this race, but Wake Forest’s Jack Tiernan (brother of 2016 NCAA XC Champion Patrick Tiernan) was the 4th collegiate overall. This is likely due to D3 conferences holding their championships earlier and having more flexibility in terms of when and where they race in May. The D3 performances in this race, like the 1500, showed a lot of depth for a division that doesn’t get as much attention.
Top Collegiate Finishers:
Bryce Decavish (Dickinson) 14:30.46
Greg Arabagian (Stevens Institute) 14:30.97
Matt Jorgensen (SUNY Geneseo) 14:33.83
Jack Tiernan (Wake Forest) 14:35.04
Sean O’Connor (RPI) 14:35.82
Harley Moyer (Washington & Jefferson) 14.37.21
Grayson Reid (Christopher Newport) 14:39.97
Michael Scarlett (Vassar) 14:43.12