The Group Chat: Breaking Down The NCAA D3 Championships

The NCAA D3 Championships are all wrapped up, but there is PLENTY to discuss. So, we asked our three D3 distance running analysts to answer a few questions and offer their thoughts on a wild weekend of action.

Let's begin...

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MEN's ANALYSIS

Coming into this academic year, if I had told you that MIT’s Ryan Wilson would win both the indoor and outdoor national titles in the 800 meters, what would you have said?

Brett: I would have said “Garrett, are you out of your mind?”

On paper, Wilson was an extremely unheralded name before the 2021-2022 academic year, but made the most out of his national meet appearances, being able to perform on the highest level and just at the right time.

Kevin: I would have been surprised, but only because I wasn’t paying close enough attention. It really should not have been a shock that the guy who ran 1:48 unattached at Stumptown Twilight last year while at MIT, who was not competing due to COVID, ended up winning two national titles.

That performance somehow ended up going under the radar, and I didn’t even realize it happened until it was mentioned in the commentary at the outdoor national meet.

As a New Englander I’m a little annoyed at myself for not realizing just how good Wilson was until recently, but in hindsight, it should not have been a shock that he did what he did.

Hannah: I would have assumed Mike Jasa was hurt and didn’t race.

Ryan Wilson came into this year never qualifying for a national meet and having taken basically the last two seasons off because of COVID, so he was relatively unknown. The indoor title was shocking and a huge upset, but somehow, he was still considered to be an underdog coming into the outdoor national meet.

This spring season, he ran four 800 meter races and they were all 1:50 results. That consistency came up huge for him as he was able to hold off the field to win the outdoor title as well.

Which of the men in this 800 meter final benefitted the most from how this race unfolded?

Brett: My knee-jerk reaction is to say both Ryan Wilson and Ben Kuxmann.

Those two guys had enough room at the front to make their necessary moves and not get caught up in traffic while names like Tucker Cargile, Mike Jasa and Steven Potter did not have that same luxury.

Hannah: I agree with Brett. Wilson and Kuxmann executed a great race plan that led them to the top-two finishes. It seems like Mike Jasa had the same problem as he did at the indoor national meet where he left his move too late (the last 100 meters) and it was too crowded to move around and pull away from the field.

Kevin: Brett and Hannah have it spot on. By being at the front of the race, Wilson and Kuxmann were both able to race freely, avoiding any congestion and not having to worry about any potential carnage.

Who was the unsung hero of this men’s 800 meters?

Brett: Ben Kuxmann. I thought he had that race won after Ryan Wilson passed him and he then came right back alongside him, but Kuxmann truly made that race what it was.

Kevin: It has to be Ben Kuxmann. The pace in the first 400 meters wasn’t blazing by any means, but it was at least fairly honest thanks to the work that he did early-on.

Sometimes, when that happens, you see the leader get swallowed up, but he held on for a very strong 2nd place finish and was threatening to win the title right up until the last few steps.

Hannah: I agree with Brett and Kevin. They have it spot on.

By the time his NCAA career ends, how many national titles will Sam Verkerke have won?

Brett: With the way that Sam Verkerke demolished that star-studded field, akin to how he’s competed all season, bodes well for his future championship racing. Removing any sort of teammate bias, Verkerke will certainly be in contention for national titles in the middle distances for years to come.

I'll say four more future national titles.

Hannah: Brett is biased. I think it’s too soon to say Verkerke is the next 1500 star. He has had one good season.

He didn’t race indoors last year and didn’t qualify for the national meet last spring or this indoor season. It’s hard to see the future and account for possible injuries, having an "off" season, a national meet not going their way, etc.

I am going on the conservative side and saying maybe two more titles, and that’s a strong maybe.

Kevin: He definitely has the potential to win a lot more titles. The progression we’ve seen from him has been insane, and he executed that 1500 meter final perfectly. His 800 speed will benefit him in the future as well.

The only caveat I have to offer is that anything can happen at one meet. He could come into any future national meet with one of the top seeds like Aidan Ryan, Ezra Ruggles, and Bennett Booth-Genthe did and get left out of the final if he has an "off" day. For that reason, I think he finishes his career as “only” a three or four-time national champion.

Is it fair to say that the men’s 1500 meters had the most surprising preliminary round you’ve ever seen?

Brett: I don’t know if there's ever been a situation where the top-three seeds in the NCAA Division Three (or D2 or D1) preliminary rounds have been knocked out so badly.

Seeing Bennett Booth-Genthe and Aidan Ryan falter so hard was truly shocking. Ezra Ruggles, on the other hand, just got outclassed in the final few steps of his heat.

It just goes to show that regardless of your in-season times, performing at the national meet when it counts is tantamount to success.

Hannah: Some of this was bad luck and unfortunate timing.

Allegedly, Ryan was recovering from COVID and that’s why he seemed to be jogging out there as well as a potential (unconfirmed) injury that hampered his ability to make a move.

Other parts of it was just inexperience and bad decision making. Every announcer always says it, but if you are in heat two and know the time that you need to beat to order get into the final, why are you leaving it to the last 50 meters to fight for a spot with eight other guys?

We saw that come back to bite Wyatt Kelly, Ezra Ruggles, Jack Rosencrans and Nicholas Hoffman this past weekend.

Kevin: Yes. The top-three seeds getting left out of a final (and the fourth seed only getting in after a protest) is pretty unprecedented stuff.

Now, the first and last seeds were separated by only three and a half seconds, so some chaos was to be expected, but not at the level that occurred.

Who was the unsung hero of this men’s 1500 meters?

Brett: I’ve got another two-for-one: Sam Verkerke and Jacob Ridderhoff.

It would be outright disrespectful to not acknowledge making the jump from running a 4:24 indoor mile to becoming the 1500 meters outdoor national champion in the same calendar year. Verkerke’s progression will go down in history as one of the bigger success stories of Division Three.

As for Ridderhoff, I have to give him a nod for taking the lead in that championship final for nearly the entire thing. We’ve seen his kick showcased before at the indoor national meet, but leading in this way led him to a solid runner-up performance.

Hannah: I’ll take Sam Verkerke.

No one outside of the WIAC knew who he was before this outdoor season. To go from a relative unknown, to navigating chaotic prelim rounds, to looking so strong on your way to a national title is wildly impressive.

And even though a lot of the favorites didn’t make it into this race, you still had plenty of established All-Americans in there like Jacob Ridderhoff, Steven Potter, Sam Llaneza, Ryan Harvey and Cal Yackin.

Kevin: I want to say Sam Verkerke too, but for me, it’s hard to say someone is unsung if they ended up winning the race, so I’ll switch it up and go with Justin Krause.

He came into the national meet seeded 14th and was the last finisher in the only other national final he had reached. To end up finishing 4th is a huge day for him.

Given his recent progression and his first national title in the men’s 5000 meters, what will Jamie Dailey’s ceiling be at the D1 level when goes to Cincinnati as a graduate transfer?

Brett: When looking at Cincinnati’s distance roster, Dailey will already be their best runner over 5000 meters and 10,000 meters. However, he may benefit from having some sub-3:50 1500 meter runners to work with when it comes to his speed.

It may be a long shot, but I could see Dailey improving enough to the level where he's sneaking into the NCAA D1 East Regional Championships in the 5000 or 10,000 meters.

Hannah: We’ve seen Dailey set PRs this spring in the 800 meters, 1500 meters, 5000 meters and 10,000 meters which shows us that he still progressing. I think this weekend shows us that he also knows how to race in a championship setting when the pressure is on. He arguably had the best distance double of this past weekend by winning the 5k and getting runner-up in the 10k.

I agree with Brett. I can see him at a regional meet, but he would have to make a massive jump to qualify for the D1 national meet. But either way, this is good for him, we love seeing D3 runners make the jump up to D1.

Kevin: The sky's the limit. Last year alone, we’ve seen Matthew Wilkinson (13:55 to 13:35 for 5k and 8:44 to 8:32 for steeple), Ryan Cutter (14:20 to 14:02 for 5k and 29:43 to 29:00 for 10k) and Jack Whetstone (14:30 to 14:22 for 5k, 8:37 to 8:17 for 3k) enjoy substantial improvements on their personal bests after moving from D3 powerhouses to big D1 programs.

Cincinnati may not be the same caliber of a program as Minnesota, Villanova or Syracuse, but Dailey will still see a boost in competition which could go a long way for him. Not every story is a success story, but in the case of Jamie Dailey, he seemingly has the competitive edge and desire to make a big jump.

In theory, who in this field would have benefitted from a faster pace?

Brett: Michael Obroin, Joe Freiburger, Lucas Florsheim...the list could go on.

Considering that a majority of the guys in this field were fresh, and yet the ones doubling back from the 10,000 meters went 1-2-6-8 in the results, that was a big mistake to let the pace lag by all of those fresh guys.

Kevin: I generally agree with Brett that the guys who were on fresh legs might have had better luck with a faster pace, and I’ll throw one more name out there: Matyas Csiki-Fejer.

Csiki-Fejer finished a very solid 3rd, but if Jamie Dailey and Grahm Tuohy-Gaydos had been broken by a faster pace after a hard 10k two nights before, then a title would not have been out of the question for him.

Hannah: This may be controversial, but I am going to say Christopher Collet.

He had a tough battle in the steeple where it came down to a sprint (still winning) and then he got out-kicked in this race by at least six guys as well. With a 14:12 PR, he might have been able to shake some of those guys who did the 10k this weekend as well.

Now, would he have been able to hold a fast enough pace after doing the steeple? Who knows. That’s why it’s a controversial take...right?

Who was the unsung hero of this men’s 5k?

Brett: It’s really hard to choose between Jamie Dailey and Elias Lindgren.

I have to admire and appreciate Lindgren’s penultimate 60-second lap to break out the field, but wow, that sure cost him in the final 80 meters, going from 1st place to 6th place very quickly.

Jamie Dailey has been the solid, consistent rock behind Alex Phillip’s greatness over the last few years at John Carroll, which made this title even sweeter for the guy whose nickname is “Mr. John Carroll” himself.

Kevin: I have to go with Elias Lindgren here. He was the last seed coming in, but considering what he’s done in the past and his solid performance in the 10k, you knew that he would probably end up in an All-American spot.

What was unexpected was the intensity of his move in the final 1000 meters, and although he was ultimately unable to hold on, gutsy racing like that should always get some form of acknowledgement.

Hannah: I’ll say Graham Tuohy Gaydos. For a freshman to come in and execute a great 5k/10k double is impressive. Even though Elisa Lindgren made a move, Tuohy Gaydos made the right decision to stay within the chase pack. He was even in contention to win with 100 meters to go, and while ultimately Jamie Dailey pulled away, there was a moment where it looked like Tuohy Gaydos was closing-in on him.

On a scale of 1 to 10, how surprised are you that John Carroll’s Alex Phillip and Jamie Dailey went 1-2 in the 10,000 meters?

Brett: Can I say a 0?

Phillip and Dailey were far and away the best 10,000 meter runners in Division Three, so this result was really not all that shocking. They both executed exactly what they needed to do.

Kevin: One. Phillip was a heavy favorite coming in and Dailey had the second-best regular season time coming into the national meet, so a 1-2 finish from them was not highly surprising.

Hannah: I agree with Brett and Kevin, I wasn’t surprised. So I'll go with a one. The only surprising part was that Phillip was so close to losing a race that he was dominating all because he tripped over the rail.

With Phillip and Dailey both leaving the D3 level, who will be the biggest threat to win the 10k national title next year?

Brett: It’s gotta be Grahm Tuohy-Gaydos.

While he was only 5th in this race, Tuohy-Gaydos now has his first outdoor national meet experience under his belt and he proved that he can effectively double by coming back to finish 2nd in the 5000 meters on the final day of competition.

He’s going to be very dangerous going forward.

Kevin: I agree with Brett. Graham Tuohy-Gaydos will be entering his sophomore year having already earned All-American accolades between cross country, the indoor 3k and the outdoor 10k and 5k. This athlete is a special talent and it is only a matter of time before he claims a title.

Some of his biggest challengers will likely be Tyler Morris, Ethan Gregg and Simon Heys.

Hannah: I am going to go with Tyler Morris. He came into the national meet with a 29:36 PR and backed it up by finishing 3rd. I’m sure he’ll take some lessons from this meet as it was only his second-ever national meet.

Not to mention, he’ll be the highest returner who is coming back next year.

Who was the unsung hero of this men’s 10k?

Brett: Here’s some extra-quick reactions of my unsung heroes...

The rail for nearly making this a much more interesting race.

Alex Phillip for still winning the race after a pretty nasty dogfight with the rail.

David Fassbender for his valiant attempt to hang with Alex Phillip for 6000 meters.

Kevin: I would say David Fassbender. When Alex Phillip made a big move early in the race, he and Colin Monaghan of Puget Sound were the only ones to follow, but Monaghan dropped off fairly quickly.

Fassbender paid the price in the end, with the pack swallowing him, but it was a gutsy effort from him, and he kept the chase pack honest.

Hannah: I love Brett’s answer of the rail. I honestly thought Phillip was going to get caught by his own teammate all because he went down out of nowhere.

As for a runner, I’ll go with Elias Lindgren. He came in with the 18th fastest time in the country with a 29:55 mark, but finished 4th overall in 30:11. That is mighty impressive for the senior who made his first track national meet on the indoor oval earlier this year.

Unlike the 5k, his calculated risks of going with the main chase pack paid off.

Following his national title in the steeplechase, is it fair to say that Christopher Collet is the most successfully versatile distance runner in D3? Or is it someone else?

Brett: You’ve hit the nail on the head, it’s Collet.

Being able to be a top-heavy national talent in the 1500 meters, 5000 meters, and the steeplechase is a great skill to have.

Akin to the result of the steeplechase, I’d give next honors to Christian Patzka, who is just a small tick behind Collet in each of those track events, but may have the edge when it comes to cross country.

Kevin: It probably is Collet. To be a national champion in the steeplechase along with running 3:46 in the 1500 meters and 14:12 in the 5k is highly impressive. Nobody else in D3 has that versatility between the 1500 meters, the steeple and the 5k.

You could also make a case for Ryan Wilson. In addition to being a two-time national champion in the 800 meters, he ran 4:06 in the mile on the indoor oval and was also a cross country All-American in the fall. He is the best middle distance runner in the country, but stays nationally competitive as the distance goes up.

Hannah: I think Collet is if we are talking about men only. If we are talking women, then you could argue in favor of Kassie Parker in the 1500/5k/10k, Esther Seeland with the 400/800/1500 or Evie Miller in the steeple/1500/5k/10k.

With Cormac Peppard-Kramer and Ethan Domitrovich finishing 3rd and 4th in the men’s steeplechase, is it fair to say that John Carroll had the best weekend of any team in the distance events?

Brett: I think that goes without saying.

I was expecting to see one of the three John Carroll entrants in the steeplechase walk away with an All-American performance, but Peppard-Kramer and Domitrovich really exceeded my expectations by running sub-9:00 and placing 3rd and 4th, respectively.

Earning 40 points as a distance program was a huge result for the Blue Streaks of John Carroll who have cemented themselves as the program to beat in the distance events.

Kevin: Absolutely. Between the steeplechase, 5k and 10k, the Blue Streaks boasted two national titles along with 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 8th place finishes. No other distance program had a day even close to that, and it led them to a 2nd place overall team finish.

Hannah: Yes. I was impressed with the number of entrants Pomona-Pitzer and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps had, but CMS didn’t finish as well as John Carroll.

Pomona Pitzer had finishes of 4th/15th/19th in the steeplechase, 7th and 19th in the 1500 meters and 15th in the 5k. CMS had finishes of 16th in steeplechase, 19th in the 800 meters, 12th in the 1500 meters and 4th/18th in the 5k.

Who was the unsung hero of this men’s 3k steeple?

Brett: Christian Patzka’s definitive move heading into the final lap was ballsy, but it needed to happen if he wanted any shot at the national title.

The heroic effort from the UW-Whitewater star made that steeplechase final the electric battle that it was as it left both Patzka and Collet to duke it out over the final straightaway of the race.

With 8:50 marks under their belts, along with the return of sub-9:00 guys in Peppard-Kramer and Domitrovich of John Carroll, the steeplechase might be the most top-heavy distance event in 2023.

Kevin: Cormac Peppard-Kramer. Coming into the meet as the 14th seed, he needed a solid outing to even make the final. He took care of business in the prelim to get an auto qualifier and then had the race of his life in the final to grab an unexpected 3rd place finish and dip under nine minutes for the first time.

Hannah: I’ll go with Connor Dolan for the same reasoning as why Kevin chose Peppard-Kramer. He barely made it to the national meet, coming in with the 15th fastest time. He qualifies to the final in 10th and then cuts eight seconds off of his personal best to run 8:58 and finish 5th.

That was his first time under nine minutes and it paid off big time for him.

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WOMEN's ANALYSIS

Despite not holding the NCAA D3 record in the 800 meters, does Esther Seeland have a case to be the best half-miler in D3 history?

Brett: Esther Seeland will go down as the *second* best half-miler in Division Three history.

After running 2:02 in the 800 meters last year, I was thinking Seeland would make a few-second jump to contest Emily Richards’ 2:00 record, but that didn’t quite turn out in 2022.

She still had an incredibly dominant season, which few can ever say they’ve had, but Richards is still the superior 800 meter runner in Division Three.

Kevin: It’s close, but Emily Richards is still ahead of her.

Seeland has a personal best of 2:02 with five national titles in her career which is truly an incredible resume. Emily Richards, of course, has the D3 record, and she also won nine national titles in her career, including five in the 800 meters.

Esther Seeland is one of the all-time greats, but she remains a very small level below Richards.

Hannah: I agree in picking Richards over Seeland, but if Seeland wants to, she can still race this summer and it will technically count towards the D3 record books. If I remember correctly, that is exactly how Richards got her record in the first place.

Would you say that this race was fairly unsurprising in terms of the women who became All-Americans?

Brett: With the exception of a few select names, the All-Americans in the 800 meters closely resembled the seeds heading into the national meet.

Simply put, the women who have proven themselves before performed well at the national meet.

Kevin: Yes. Reagan Janzen was the only All-American that was seeded outside the top-10. For the most part, the names who we expected to be in the final were there, and everybody in the final ran 2:10 or faster, so there weren’t any big blowups.

Hannah: After they went out super hot, I was afraid that some of the favorites would die, but that didn’t happen. In his predictions, Kevin had seven out of the eight All-Americans correct and even predicted the top-four placements correctly.

Who was the unsung hero of the women’s 800 meters?

Brett: Emma Kelley ran an incredibly fast 800 meter race, finishing in 2nd overall with a 2:06.69 mark behind Seeland.

Kelley knows a thing or two about getting out hard, and that effort paid off big time at the outdoor national meet on the biggest stage.

Kevin: I’m also picking Emma Kelley here. She was facing one of the best 800 meter runners in D3 history, but still took the race to her and never backed down from the challenge.

Ultimately, it earned her a 2nd place finish and a one second personal best.

Hannah: I almost feel bad for Emma Kelley because of how often she gets overlooked, typically because of Esther Seeland. Her national meet this past weekend played out just like it did on the indoor oval. She controls her prelim, qualifies easily, takes the fights to Seeland in the final and ultimately places 2nd.

How different does the women’s 1500 meter finals look for Esther Seeland if Ella Baran decides to contest the event?

Brett: I really don’t know if it would have looked all that different. Regardless of pace, it’s incredibly difficult for any Division Three runner to take down Seeland when it comes down to a kick.

Considering Baran struggled running a fresh 5000 meters at the national meet, I’m not sure how she would have fared adding in two rounds of 1500 meter racing.

Kevin: I think Esther Seeland would still have won, but the race might have been faster. I could see Baran making the pace more honest early-on to avoid letting it come down to a hard kick against someone with as much speed as Seeland.

Either way, I think Seeland would have taken it, but the time might have been closer to the low 4:20s.

Hannah: I think Baran would have won. Even though she didn’t have the best 5k race, we’ve seen that the 1500/mile is more of her jam than the longer races. I agree with Kevin that it would have been faster, but I think Baran would have gotten the job done and won.

Who in this race would have benefited from a faster pace?

Brett: Similar to the women’s 800 meters, the All-Americans were fairly unsurprising in this event, which makes me think that the outcomes of this race wouldn’t have changed too much with a little faster pace.

Kevin: I agree, a faster pace would not have changed the finishing order all that much. The only thing I can think of is maybe Hope Murphy would have had a better shot at finishing 2nd over Cassie Kearney. It was always going to be really difficult for her to out-kick a 2:07 runner for 800 meters, but she still made it pretty close.

Hannah: It would have been hard for anyone to beat Esther Seeland, but maybe some people who did the 800/1500 double would have struggled. So it may have hurt Seeland, Zanzie Demco and Cassie Kearney.

Who was the unsung hero of the women’s 1500 meters?

Brett: Cassie Kearney has had such a solid season at Middlebury over the 800/1500 meter distances and her 2nd place performance right behind Esther Seeland was a great capitalization of her efforts this season, validating her as a consistently solid performer.

Kevin: Annika Urban. She set a new 1500 meter PR not once, but twice this weekend, and finished 6th for her first track All-American honors after entering as the 17th seed.

Hannah: I am going to say Brittany McCauly. She came in with the 19th fastest time, qualified in 7th, and finished in 8th place. This was her first All-American award and she earned it by running faster than she had all season long in both the prelim and the final. She has slowly been climbing up the ranks and this was a great way for her to cap her career.

How stunned are you that Ari Marks won the 5k national title and the 10k national title?

Brett: I’m still stunned just a few days later. I was there, and it was truly a shock to watch with my eyes. There was no response from anybody, in both the 5000 meters or the 10,000 meters, once Marks made her move.

Nobody even tried to challenge her for either national title, because when the moves were made, the titles were hers and hers only.

Hannah: On a scale of 1 to 10, I'm going with a 10.

For her to not only win the 10k, but to also run away with the title, was incredible to watch. I kept waiting for Kassie Parker, Alex Ross and Fiona Smith to pull her in, but it never happened. She just kept getting farther ahead.

And then for her to come back the next day and also have a convincing win in the 5k was almost more shocking. If anyone thought the 10k was a fluke, they were proven wrong immediately. And to win against two of the best distance runners we have ever seen in D3 history in Parker and Baran (who was fresh by the way) is beyond impressive.

She is my MVP from this weekend.

Kevin: I’m not necessarily stunned that she won both events. She was always going to be one of the top challengers. What shocked me is the dominant manner in which she won. She made definitive moves in both the 10k and the 5k that weren’t even challenged by the favorites, and those races ended up not being close.

If you were to look at results from the indoor track season and the outdoor track season, who are you ranking higher: Ari Marks or Kassie Parker?

Brett: Wow, this is a lot harder than I’d expect.

Recency bias would lead me towards picking Ari Marks, but Kassie Parker handedly did the same thing at the indoor national meet.

Nevertheless, I’m gonna hand it to Ari Marks.

When you’ve run the 10,000 meters 72 seconds faster than EVERYBODY else in Division Three (i.e. Kassie Parker), not winning the national title in that event isn’t a great continuation from that national record mark.

Marks’ destruction of Kassie Parker at the outdoor national meet was unexpected, but it was also a clear indication of Marks’ running abilities.

Hannah: A difficult decision, but I am going to say Kassie Parker. Although she didn’t have the best outdoor national meet, imagine being disappointed with two runner-up finishes...

Also, this plays into the great debate of what do we value more? National meet results or fast times? Personally, I think it is hard to argue against Parker’s marks during indoors as she had the NCAA #14 all-time mark in the mile, NCAA #2 all-conditions best mark in the 3k and the NCAA #2 all-time mark in the 5k (and fastest all-conditions best).

On the outdoor oval, she holds the NCAA #5 all-time mark in the 5k and the NCAA #1 all-time mark in the 10k by over 15 seconds. To me, that is hard to argue against.

Kevin: That might be the toughest question of the article so far.

I think I have to agree with Hannah and give Parker a slight edge. Both Parker and Marks won two national titles between indoor and outdoor, and Parker’s body of work in terms of times was slightly more impressive across the two seasons.

Who was the unsung hero of the women’s 5k?

Brett: I didn’t know if she’d do it again, but Ari Marks bringing home a second national title in one weekend makes her the automatic hero in my eyes, especially by doing it in such dominant fashion. And with a quick time, too! 16:09 is moving.

Kevin: Erin Magill is someone who didn’t get a lot of recognition after the national meet despite putting together a great performance.

Her last five 5k times coming into this past weekend were 16:54, 16:56, 16:56, 16:58 and 16:52, so it looked like she was starting to level off after a big jump during the indoor track season. However, on the biggest stage of the season, she PR’d by 11 seconds and outperformed her seed to grab the last All-American spot.

Hannah: I don’t love picking the winner as unsung hero, but Ari Marks did have the best performance here. To come into what could be considered the most stacked field of the weekend and not be intimidated by that is very impressive. Even though everyone expected this to be a Parker vs Baran race, Ari Marks left no doubt that it was actually her race.

And no one else.

Is it fair to say that the women who are more aerobic-based runners fared the best in this 10k field?

Brett: Absolutely.

The way Ari Marks made her move, chopping down the pace lap by lap over the final two miles, was a surefire sign of her aerobic strength in earning her first national title.

Behind her, the same can be said about nearly all of the remaining All-Americans, many of which who are more traditional, distance-based runners who specialize in the 5000 meters and the 10,000 meters.

Hannah: I think so, but it’s because of how the women chose to run this race. They chose to make it relatively competitive and fast. No one wanted to make it a sit and kick race, so they kept the pace honest.

Kevin: Generally speaking, yes, although I would say that Clara Mayfield is an exception. She has some speed to her given that she was the 4th place finisher in the mile at the NCAA Indoor Championships. She ran a very solid 10k on Thursday to finish 5th.

Who was the unsung hero of the women’s 10k?

Brett: Ari Marks.

Going into this race, this was Kassie Parker’s race to lose.

And she lost.

Making that courageous move 6400 meters into the race was a risk made by Ari Marks, but it was ultimately a move made with confidence, which led to the shocking result that transpired.

Hannah: Ari Marks is a great answer, but I’ll say Alex Ross.

She came in ranked 7th, but when the field started to break up, she wasn’t afraid to go with the top group. She held onto Kassie Parker and worked with her and Fiona Smith to try and reel Ari Marks in. That proved to be impossible, but Ross wasn’t afraid to really go for it. She was rewarded with a 3rd place finish, her highest finish at a national meet to date.

Kevin: Alex Ross had a massive day. We thought she would be a fringe All-American, but she stuck with Kassie Parker until the end and beat Fiona Smith to finish 3rd.

She’s had a really nice progression over the last couple of years, and deserved to be rewarded with a top-three All-American finish.

What was more predictable: Esther Seeland winning two national titles or Evie Miller winning the steeplechase national title?

Brett: Evie Miller’s steeplechase title seemed like a given, especially from the way she ran away from Aubrie Fisher in the first 1000 meters of that championship final.

However, with the way that Esther Seeland looked so controlled through both of the championship finals, you could say that neither of her wins were surprising, either.

So I'll go with Seeland, especially when you consider how heavy of a favorite she was.

Hannah: I am going to say Esther Seeland.

After Ella Baran scratched the 1500 meters, the next-closest time was eight seconds slower. And in the 800 meters, Seeland was even more dominant with the next-closest time being five seconds back.

Seeland has been dominant since she started at Messiah. The last time she lost an 800 meter race at a national meet was the winter season of her freshman year when she came in 4th place. At least in the steeplechase, something with the barriers or the water jump could have derailed Evie Miller.

There was no stopping Esther Seeland.

Kevin: As Hannah mentioned, Esther Seeland was the top seed by eight seconds in the 1500 and five seconds in the 800 meters. She looked comfortable in both races and took care of business, and it would have taken something really special to challenge her.

In the case of Miller, she was a heavy favorite, but she hadn’t won a national title prior to this weekend, so there may have been just an inkling of doubt in the back of some people’s minds going in.

What are your thoughts on so many All-American steeplechase women being so young?

Brett: Similar to the men’s steeplechase, I think we’re going to see some serious damage done in this event in future seasons to come.

Aubrie Fisher, Molly Fitzgibbons and Rachel Hirschkind all have lots of room to grow in this event throughout their careers.

Hannah: It’s very interesting. In the past, the steeplechase was very much a speciality race, but now it seems like everybody wants to try it. I think that has led to more people discovering the event and discovering it sooner.

We’ve seen so many D3 records broken this year, indoors and outdoors, and with this field being so young, I wouldn’t be shocked to see the steeple record being put on watch in coming seasons.

Kevin: It’s exciting. Nine of the 12 competitors in the final ran a PR, and you had to run 10:40 to be an All-American. The steeplechase is already in a great place in D3, but those times might get even faster soon.

Who was the unsung hero of the women’s 3k steeple?

Brett: Kendall Acetta was the 17th fastest steeplechaser in Division Three with a 10:57 personal best heading into the national meet.

However, the Colorado College standout walked away from the outdoor national meet with a 7th place finish and a 10:40 personal best. She prepared and peaked just at the right time to blow her seed completely out of the water.

Kevin: I’m going to agree with Brett and say Kendall Acetta. In her first-ever national meet on the track, she ran a nice PR of 10:56 in the prelim to get into the final, and then put together the performance of her life to earn unexpected All-American honors.