The New Standard of D3

Additional contributions made by Garrett Zatlin

---

In this unbelievably crazy winter of souped-up distance performances, there is arguably been no division more exciting than Division Three right now.

As we speak, the dozens of athletes who we have already ranked (plus a handful of others) have undergone the process of changing the standard of what it means to be a top-level D3 runner.

National record after national record has fallen, leaving no distance record truly safe by the time the NCAA Indoor Championships roll around.

Here's a quick list quickly sum up the fallen records...

- Men’s Mile: Aidan Ryan (3:56.88)

- Men’s 3k: Aidan Ryan (7:54.48)

- Men’s DMR: John Carroll (9:41.56)

- Women’s 800: Esther Seeland (2:05.39)

- Women’s Mile: Ella Baran (4:40.53)

- Women’s 3k: Ella Baran (9:13.32)

- Women’s 5k: Kassie Parker (15:58.58 -- All-Conditions Best)

Being a Division Three athlete is not the same as it once was. The bar has risen dramatically and there’s no reason to believe that the bar won't continue to rise over the next few weeks and into the spring season.

So how do we comprehend all of this? How do we put these elite performances in perspective? What about all of the other names on the national leaderboard? How did this past weekend impact certain postseason endeavors?

These are tricky questions to answer, but I attempted to address and analyze some of those topics below in a written freestyle of sorts. Let's begin...

---

MEN's ANALYSIS

On the men’s side, it is abundantly clear that one name in particular has risen above the rest.

Aidan Ryan hasn't just risen the bar, he has become the bar.

Obliterating both the mile and 3000 meter national records was the icing on the cake for the Williams superstar whose career atop the Division Three level has been nothing short of electric. His 3:56.88 mile time took down D3 legend Jeremy Hernandez’s mark by over two seconds from a weekends ago.

That just doesn’t happen every day.

After throwing down a spectacular 3:56 anchor split on Williams’ 9:42 DMR at Boston University this past weekend, Ryan then came back the following day and ran 7:54.48 for 3000 meters. While only a one-second PR off from his previous monster performance at the University of Washington back in January, he lowered the D3 record from it's original mark of 8:07.02.

An entire 13-seconds of pure destruction.

In the 2019-2020 season, we thought Ryan’s 8:08.96 mark for 3000 meters was out of this world – untouchable, as we thought.

Now, it’s crystal clear that things have changed.

So who can step up? Who could even have a chance at taking down arguably the best runner in D3 history?

The answer to those questions may be no one, at least not individually, but on a relay, the story is actually quite different.

Even with a 3:56 anchor split and running FOUR seconds under the previous national record in the DMR, the Williams’ quartet found themselves in the wake of John Carroll’s legion of doom.

In a DMR race that featured many of D3’s finest eastern distance programs, the Blue Streaks of John Carroll traveled a squad to Boston University in hopes of securing a national qualifying mark.

Their result ultimately proved to be much more than just that, with the quartet of Ian Pierson, Garrett Clark, Caleb Correia and Alex Phillip sending their names into the rafters as national record holders.

Their splits as a whole were jaw-dropping.

Pierson split 3:01 on the 1200 meter leg, Clark ran 47.0 for the 400 meter leg, Correia hit a time of 1:50 on the 800 meter leg and Phillip closed things down with a 4:02 mark in the 1600 meters.

Together, they ran 9:41.56, a national record by more than five seconds. Four guys who could very well be All-Americans in their individual events came together to produce greatness.

It seems like something you don’t always hear, but unbelievably, John Carroll’s middle legs carried them to this DMR record-setting performance, at least relative to the other top-tier DMR teams.

None of the other D3 teams in that race had a guy run in the 47-second range on the 400 meter leg while having another guy run in the 1:50 range on the 800 meter leg.

Giving the stick to Alex Phillip over six seconds ahead of Aidan Ryan was the breathing room he needed, as it’s surely quite daunting to have a 3:56 miler chasing you down. The D3 cross country national champion was able to hold his own and anchor JCU to the national record, but make no mistake, that race was a complete four-man job.

And maybe that race was an indication, a formula if you will, for how to defeat a Ryan-anchored DMR at the indoor national meet. On paper, those middle legs need to deliver. Otherwise, outrunning a 3:56 miler who is only a few strides behind you seems unlikely.

That John Carroll DMR, plus Phillip’s 8:07 time for 3000 meters and even Jamie Dailey’s 14:19 effort for 5000 meters at Grand Valley State that same weekend, all proved one thing: John Carroll is not an "up-and-coming" program anymore.

They are now solidly one of the best distance programs in D3.

If these guys, along with the likes of Williams, SUNY Geneseo and Loras, opt to go all-in for the DMR at the indoor national meet, then we could see the greatest D3 DMR race of all-time -- something that we're also saying about the D2 level nowadays.

Alas, the postseason possibilities for Alex Phillip and Aidan Ryan are seemingly endless. On paper, there is a greater chance that one of these relays don't have their superstars on the anchor leg.

Phillip should be favored to win the 5000 meter national title while you could say the same thing about Ryan in the mile. Those potential entries seem like the closest things to title locks as either Phillip or Ryan will find this season.

On paper, Ryan would be the pick to win the 3000 meter national title, but anything could happen on day two of the national meet, especially if Ryan comes off of a mile final on day two or a DMR final from day one (maybe both?).

In that case, I wouldn’t count Phillip out in a clutch 3k scenario where he potentially runs away from the field, avoiding the potentially lethal mile speed that Ryan has displayed as of late.

As for my other thoughts from the men’s races at Boston University...

* * *

Ezra Ruggles (SUNY Geneseo) split an eye-opening 2:56 mark on the 1200 meter leg, well ahead of John Carroll, Williams and company. He had thrown down some respectable marks throughout the season, but that relay split and his 4:08 mile time the following day bring Ruggles into the national scene more than we were originally expecting.

Ruggles, much like Ryan and Phillips, now has a very important and very impactful decision to make.

Does a mile/DMR double seem reasonable to him and the SUNY Geneseo coaching staff? Should he just go all-in on the DMR? If he does, then is it fair that teammate Nick Andrews could still run in the 3000 meters the next day after competing in the DMR on day one while Ruggles sacrifices individual glory for relay freshness? Does that scenario really matter? If Ruggles does opt of the DMR, could SUNY Geneseo still find success with Alec Andrews, a guy who ran 1:52 this past weekend?

Look at how one name can create so much madness.

Let's transition to Williams rookie Graham Tuohy-Gaydos who ran an NCAA #2 All-Time indoor 5000 meter mark of 14:00 this past weekend. Fun fact: Despite sitting at NCAA #2 in the indoor record books, Tuohy-Gaydos is only the THIRD-fastest 5000 meter runner on his team when including outdoor personal bests.

Tuohy-Gaydos is a true freshman which is huge for the Ephs considering that Ryan and Elias Lindgren are in their final seasons of eligibility. The Williams first-year talent proved during cross country that he was a legit third man for the Ephs in what was already a dangerous lineup.

However, this 5k performance puts him in a league of his own and possibly an individual title contender in the 5000 meters come March. That's pretty rare to say, especially for youngsters who lack experience and an understanding of collegiate tactics on the national stage.

Yet, for whatever reason, Tuohy-Gaydos seems completely unfazed by all of that. Maybe, just maybe, this freshman has already the "it" factor that we have seen from his teammates.

Separately, Colby's Tyler Morris continues to be quite legit with his 14:11 (5k) performance at Boston University putting him at NCAA #6 All-Time in the indoor D3 record books.

And somehow, he continues to fly under the radar because of how crazy the rest of the NCAA has become. In any other year, we would suddenly be talking about Morris as a national title contender.

And maybe he still can be! But is he the title favorite? Well, I'm not how many people are going to avoid choosing Alex Phillip for that designation.

We also have to mention RPI standout John Reed following his stellar breakout result of 14:16 in the 5000 meters, a time that pretty much came out of nowhere before this track season.

These guys are running blazing fast right now and should be in the mix come March -- maybe even the national title mix.

There is a somewhat realistic possibility that Alex Phillip opts for the DMR over the 5000 meters in March. If that happens, could we see a national title be won by one of these three aforementioned names?

Based on the potency of their recent performances, that certainly seems possible.

At the same time, Tuohy-Gaydos is still inexperienced while Morris and Reed haven't shown that were capable of racing at this high of a level on the track until this past weekend. This isn't necessarily to criticize, but rather to emphasize how challenging it will be to make predictions for the indoor national meet.

* * *

Time to throw in a sudden tangent!

The depth of D3 milers at Boston University was unmatched this past weekend. Here’s a list of guys who slid into national qualifying positions from that meet...

- Matthew Lecky (RPI): 4:05.97 (NCAA #3)

- Chris Andersen (Ramapo): 4:06.59 (NCAA #6)

- Max Cluss (Middlebury): 4:07.18 (NCAA #9)

- Henry Hardart (MIT): 4:07.79 (NCAA #12)

- Scott Sikorski (Rochester): 4:08.23 (NCAA #13)

- Ezra Ruggles (SUNY Geneseo): 4:08.34 (NCAA #14)

- Arthur Beyer (Johns Hopkins): 4:08.71 (NCAA #16)

- Matthew Kleiman (Johns Hopkins): 4:08.72 (NCAA #17)

These times all speak for themselves. The fact that the only person from this list that we’ve ranked previously was Lecky shows the depth of competition that we’re finally starting to see from the eastern strongholds of the D3 realm.

It also shows how legitimate Lecky is as his improvements have been able to outpace the mass progress that we've seen from the rest of the D3 level.

Oh, and those 800 meters rankings? Welp, they finally had an overhaul!

Similar to the mile, there was TONS of 800 meter turnaround at Boston University...

- Ryan Wilson (MIT): 1:50.16 (NCAA #2)

- Benjamin Steeves (WPI): 1:51.50 (NCAA #5)

- Tor Hotung-Davidsen (Lynchburg): 1:51.75 (NCAA #7)

- Noah Jorgenson (Central): 1:51.84 (NCAA #8)

- Spencer Watry (Emory): 1:51.95 (NCAA#10)

- Alec Andrews (SUNY Geneseo): 1:52.17 (NCAA #12)

- Rece Gobel (Springfield): 1:52.37 (NCAA #16)

- Caleb Correia, John Carroll: 1:52.53 (NCAA #17)

- Jake Kolodzeij (Rowan): 1:52.66 (NCAA #19)

- Pau Iierbaig-Bajona (MIT): 1:52.66 (NCAA #19)

Ryan Wilson, in particular, is on an absolute tear. He also sits at NCAA #5 in the mile this season, having run 4:06.02 last weekend, also at Boston University.

No one in D3 has better combined 800 and mile positions on the national leaderboard than Wilson, making the MIT ace a major force to be reckoned with for potentially doubling at the NCAA Indoor Championships -- wether that be in the mile/800 or the mile/DMR is still unclear.

Or could it be possible that Wilson scraps relay glory and the allure of a double All-American weekend and instead goes all-in for one individual event?

With how unpredictable and top-heavy the middle distance events have been this year, being as fresh as possible for so many unknowns may actually be the best route for Wilson despite his recent. dominance.

Speaking of the 800 meters, what has totally gotten swept under the rug of distance madness is the man at the top of the leaderboard, Loras star Mike Jasa.

He’s thrown down some really good marks this year, having run 1:49.45 on an oversized track, along with a 1:49 split on Loras' DMR which posted a time of 9:45.33, good for NCAA #3 All-Time. However, Jasa hasn’t had the opportunity to face major competition on a 200 meter flat track or banked track, for record-eligible purposes, this season.

The fact that these 800 meter times aren’t even what’s getting all of the attention right now is pretty mind-blowing if you ask me.

Jasa’s mark of 1:50.13 from December has still been untouched the entire season, even before regressive conversions come into play. Even with that stellar 800 meter crew running at Boston University in deep competition, nobody was able to surpass Jasa’s dominance.

That certainly says something about his prowess over D3 middle distance scene right now.

I would be shocked if another D3 half-miler finishes ahead of Mike Jasa this season.

---

WOMEN's ANALYSIS

Now, on the women’s side, we are quite literally seeing a complete overhaul of what it takes to be the best distance runner in Division Three history.

In the past two weekends alone, we have seen the fastest time in D3 history in every individual nationally contested women’s indoor distance event ever contested. That includes the 800 meters, the mile, the 3000 meters and the 5000 meters.

While Esther Seeland has re-established her dominance in the 800 meters, we’ve seen a great battle between Ella Baran and Kassie Parker in the longer distances, namely the 3000 meters.

Both of those ladies have run 9:13 this season, matching the likes of D3 legend Missy Buttry as the only three women in D3 history to break the 9:20 barrier (by a good margin).

However, as we mentioned with the men’s 800 meters, it seems like the half-mile distance as a whole is getting ever-so-slightly overshadowed by the other distance events this indoor season.

There might not be as much drama or fanfare to grab the top women's spot in that event, but my goodness, we are witnessing greatness in the half-mile this year.

Messiah's Esther Seeland has been a familiar face at the D3 level for quite awhile now as she is the two-time reigning national champion in the outdoor 800 meters. She turned some heads with some electric battles with Emily Pomainville over the last year or so, but running 2:02.52 made the point crystal clear that Seeland was in a league of her own.

Seeland is yet another example of someone who competes in D3, but whose marks could very well qualify her for the D1 national meet and even put her in the All-American conversation.

In fact, Seeland will be transitioning to the University of Virginia as a graduate transfer for the 2022-2023 academic calendar to exhaust her eligibility.

The Messiah ace has continued her reign of dominance this winter, throwing down an indoor national record of 2:05.39 this past weekend after running 2:05.90 the week prior. Taking down D3 legend Emily Richards’ mark is a huge achievement considering Richards’ degree of success in the NCAA and beyond.

Not only that, but Seeland has even expanded her range quite a bit, opting to debut with a unique 3k/400 double to start off her indoor season.

And in case you're wondering, that 3000 meter mark that Seeland ran was a time of 9:54.15 which puts her at NCAA #12 on the national leaderboard.

In other words, she’s pretty good at that, too.

Seeland also sits at NCAA #3 on the mile national leaderboard as well, trailing the likes of, you guessed it, Ella Baran and Kassie Parker. From that perspective, her 4:52.25 mark feels very real and very legit, even for someone who specializes in an event that is half the distance.

If the stars align and these three get the chance to square off in the mile, it’ll be a battle for the ages. That, however, seems more like a wish-list item rather a realistic head-to-head-to-head matchup.

The most likely matchup outcome that I would predict would be seeing Seeland vs Baran in the mile and later Baran vs Parker in the 3000 meters, all at the national meet, which are still going to be absolutely nuts if those battles actually happen.

And yet, at the same time, there's still no guarantee that Seeland will run the mile, even though some of us at The Stride Report think she should.

As we return to the original origins of this discussion, I now have a new question: How much lower can Seeland bring her 800 meter national record?

I wouldn’t be surprised if 2:02 (and change) is in Seeland’s future. Her current record is already pretty tough to beat, but she could make it pretty untouchable for quite awhile at the rate she’s progressing.

With the exception of two races, she has essentially matched her 2021 outdoor performances on the indoor oval this winter.

There's only so much time left in the season to enter 2:02 territory, but Seeland has proven that she is capable of running ultra-fast times on numerous, consecutive occasions, even in races where she wins relatively comfortably.

* * *

Alright, let's chat about the 3000 meters because how could we not?

As we mentioned earlier, not one, but TWO women in Division Three have run 9:13 for 3000 meters this indoor season.

If you had told me that we would see those times just a few months ago, I probably wouldn’t have believed you.

Ella Baran (Johns Hopkins) and Kassie Parker (Loras) have taken over the NCAA by force, dismantling the foundations of D3 history and rewriting the record books with their own prowess.

Admittedly, I never expected this record battle, and potential national meet battle, to be so potent and major – Parker’s cross country season was on another level compared to the entire division and I didn't expect anyone to match her in this event.

Baran’s runner-up finishes at the 2021 outdoor national meet in both the 1500 meters and the 5000 meters, along with her 9th place finish at the cross country national meet off of only one regular season race, showed us that she was going to be one of the few D3 elites this winter and spring.

But becoming one of the greatest D3 runners ever?

In multiple events?

Well, I'm not sure I had that on my bingo card.

Her start of the season was quite impressive, running opening marks of 9:36 in the 3000 meters and 4:51 in the mile. Those times exemplified clear improvement stemming from her fitness from this past fall.

However, when presented with the opportunity to get into the invitational heat of the mile at the Dr. Sander Invitational at the Armory, Baran made the most of her opportunity of racing when racing the professionals.

She ended up running a ten-and-a-half second PR, bringing down her best from 4:51.03 to an astounding 4:40.53. The Johns Hopkins ace destroyed Missy Buttry’s former national record by over three seconds as Buttry's previous record was 4:43.92.

Now, Baran has established the national lead in the mile by TEN (!) seconds.

In the mile.

That is unheard of.

All of what I'm saying here is boarderline unreal for the D3 level, but we have now seen what the new standard for national-caliber success looks like. Baran is an integral part of this ever-changing bar that rewrites how fast D3 runners can ultimately be.

Might we see Baran dip under 4:40 in the mile? Or even sub-9:10 in the 3000 meters? Could we see a tough double pay off with a few national titles? Kassie Parker might have something to say about that.

Parker technically has the faster 3000 meter time between her and Baran, but it was run at Notre Dame on their oversized 300 meter track which makes her performance invalid for record-eligible purposes.

Still, at the end of the day, her time of 9:13 for 3000 meters is still a time of 9:13 for 3000 meters. I'm having a hard time wrapping that around my head.

In that Notre Dame 3k race, she beat NCAA DI national champion Joyce Kimeli, All-American Megan Hasz and finished not far behind perennial All-American Bethany Hasz, along with rising D1 talent Abby Kohut-Jackson.

That is some elite company for a D3 runner to hang with.

After that, Parker continued to level-up her resume even further, becoming the first woman in D3 history to dip under 16:00 for the indoor 5000 meters. Her time of 15:58.58 stands as a D3 All-Conditions record which, again, won't count for record-eligible purposes since she ran on Iowa State's 300 meter oversized track.

Parker has had great opportunities to toe the line against fantastic competition with her recent race, but now the ball is now in her court when it comes to the conference and national meets.

Her 37-second national lead in the 5000 meters is unmatched – nobody will touch Parker in that event. Assuming she contests that event at the indoor national meet, there wouldn’t be much doubt as to who should win that race.

For perspective on Parker's dominance, there isn't any male or female distance runner who currently leads the D1, D2, D3, JUCO or NCCAA levels in the 5000 meters by a greater margin than Parker.

Only in the NAIA does Oklahoma City's Zouhair Talbi (13:18) have a greater lead, sitting 44-seconds aheads of the next-best NAIA 5k runner, teammate Shimales Abebe (14:02).

In the 3000 meters, however, Parker and Baran could battle in the most electric race on the women’s side by finally duking it out against each other, a possibility that seems fairly probable.

Baran is clearly as a top-tier miler based on her recent 4:40 mile performance from earlier this year. Parker, meanwhile, is a true long distance juggernaut, thriving in longer events like the 5000 meters and the 10,000 meters.

With the 3000 meters being a perfect medium between the event specialties of these two ladies, and their times being practically identical this season, trying to figure out which all-time superstar will win NCAA gold has become an increasingly more difficult exercise.

And while Baran and Parker could scratch from their day one events, that seems unlikely given how heavily favored they are in the mile and 5000 meters, respectively.

A scratch from one of these women in those respective events would essentially signal to us that they are gambling on beating an all-time superstar in the 3000 meters by not racing on day one and being completely fresh.

In the grand scheme of things, that seems like an unlikely route for either woman to take.

* * *

Three (plus) pages of this word doc later and we’ve only talked about three women.

That’s just how good Esther Seeland, Ella Baran and Kassie Parker are. Seeing an individual national champion come from outside these three would be a complete shock.

However, I’d be remiss to not touch on the other storylines beneath the surface of these record-breaking superstars.

As we’ve seen many times before, mainly at the D3 level, local competition breeds local competition. Clara Mayfield (Carlton) and Fiona Smith (Saint Benedict) did exactly that a few weekends ago via their battle over 3000 meters, earning them the NCAA #3 and NCAA #4 spots on the national leaderboard, respectively.

Mayfield finished in a time of 9:35.77 while Smith was close behind in 9:37.36.

These two marks are pretty incredible for historical DIII standards, putting these two women at NCAA #15 and NCAA #18 All-Time, respectively, for record-eligible performances.

In any other given year, we’d be losing our minds over these two performances.

Mayfield has really stepped up this winter, putting up marks of 4:53.68 in the mile (NCAA #6), and 16:50.08 in the 5000 meters (NCAA #7). This sets her up to be one of the most well-rounded athletes in D3, leaving us fascinated to see as to what she chooses to run at the indoor national meet come March.

Smith also puts herself in the same conversation of well-roundedness with her 5000 meter time of 16:35.24 putting her at NCAA #2 behind Parker and her 4:55.30 mile time putting her at NCAA #7 on the national leaderboard.

Seeing these two battle at the MIAC Championships will be a fun sight to see.

There’s a bit of a theme here on the women’s side: The more well-rounded runners are near the top of the national leaderboard in essentially everything, a rarity even amongst the D1 ranks.

For example, only two D1 male runner sit in the top-20 nationally in three different events. Those runners are Northern Arizona's Abdi Nur and Oklahoma State's Alex Maier who sit in the top-20 (nationally) in the mile, 3000 meters and the 5000 meters.

On the women's side, there are only three D1 runners who sits in the top-20 nationally in three different events: Binghamton's Emily Mackay, BYU's Courtney Wayment and Arkansas' Lauren Gregory.

But when looking at just the D3 women alone? The number individuals with top-20 times in three different distance events climbs to six women -- more than the D1 men and D1 women combined.

Is that stat a bit random? Maybe a little bit, but I thought it was interesting...

* * *

Let's talk about Evie Miller (Trine) and Ari Marks (Wellesley) – two extremely solid distance talents who have proven their fitness time and time again.

Miller (formerly Bultemeyer), was once more known for her lean towards the middle distances, namely the 800 meters and the mile. However, she has now stretched her fitness into becoming more of a true, well-rounded distance runner, having top-seven marks in D3 for the mile, 3k and 5k.

The Trine standout has put some speedy races under her belt this season with a time of 4:53.01 mark from the Windy City Rumble which becomes 4:50.76 if you were at the D1 level and ultimately converted to faster time using flat-track equivalents (which D3 does not do).

That mile mark, which currently places Miller at NCAA #4, looks awfully good next to her times of 9:32.61 in the 3000 meters (NCAA #5) and 16:45.31 in the 5000 meters (NCAA #6).

As for Ari Marks, she is coming off of an outstanding runner-up finish at the cross country national meet in the fall, having made leaps and bounds since her track season in 2021.

She sits at NCAA #6 in the 3000 meters with her 9:36.80 mark and NCAA #4 in the 5000 meters with her time of 16:38.21, giving her flexibility to run either event (presumably both) at the NCAA Indoor Championships.

This secondary group of Mayfield, Smith, Miller and Marks, in any given year besides 2022, would comprise of the likely national title favorites in the mile, 3000 meters and 5000 meters. Not just because they have great times, but because they all have past national meet experience and notable national meet success.

It wouldn’t surprise me to see someone like Marks, who appears to have more of a long-distance lean, pursue the 5k/3k double at the national meet as we mentioned earlier. That sounds like two very reliable All-American honors coming her way.

And honestly, given her strength and as an endurance-centric runner, an aggressive pace from Kassie Parker in the 5000 meters at the national meet may actually benefit Marks quite a bit.

As for Mayfield, Smith and Miller, it could very well be a huge tossup given their mile times. Could they pursue the mile/3k double? Or will they try the 5k/3k double instead? Could they potentially go all-in on one event?

There are quite a few possibilities for these dynamic distance talents.

It’s been very unique to see such a tight group dominating the top-seven spots or so in the national rankings for the mile, 3000 meters and the 5000 meters. That why's it's been a challenge to find other names to talk about in the national contender conversation. Truthfully, only a handful of women are truly dominating the top ranks of the NCAA.

* * *

One last thing that needs to be touched on here is this: What does the women's 800 meters look like behind Esther Seeland this year?

What’s really cool about this year in the women's D3 800 meters is the seemingly two-school battle that is dominating the national leaderboard. I am, of course, talking about a potential Washington U. versus UW-Oshkosh battle.

Not only do both schools have multiple women in national qualifying position, but many of their women are in potent scoring spots as well based on their seed times.

Let’s start with the Washington U. women and their current 2-6-8 stronghold on the D3 800 meter national leaderboard...

- Emma Kelley (Washington U.): 2:10.86 (NCAA #2)

- Alessia Sarussi (Washington U.): 2:13.24 (NCAA#6)

- Aoife Dunne (Washington U.): 2:13.67 (NCAA #8)

These three women are spearheaded by Kelley who has consistently been in the 2:10 to 2:11 range all season long while also remaining undefeated in all of her individual 800 meter efforts this season. She qualified to the 2021 outdoor national meet in the 800 meters, but didn’t advance out of the prelims.

With the way she’s been running this year, we could very well see Kelley lead the charge behind Esther Seeland for this chase pack. Her consistency is some of the best in the NCAA and even if she doesn't have her best day in the postseason, she could still come out of the prelims with an All-American finish.

Despite her prelim hiccup from last spring, she seems like a pretty reliable name in this field, at least on paper she does.

Meanwhile, Sarussi and Dunne both ran their personal bests at the Midwest Elite Invitational, pushing each other and keeping Kelley within striking distance to provide the backend scoring punch to the deadliest trio of 800 meters runners that D3 has to offer.

If these three ladies from Washington U. can stick between 1-2 seconds of each other heading into the national meet, it wouldn’t be outlandish to ponder the possibility of three All-Americans hailing from Saint Louis.

Now for the squad from UW-Oshkosh:

- Zanzie Demco (UW-Oshkosh): 2:11.49 (NCAA #3)

- Cyna Madigan (UW-Oshkosh): 2:13.27 (NCAA #7)

- Libby Geisness(UW-Oshkosh): 2:14.31 (NCAA #12)

We’ve seen Demco race at a high level a few times before this season with her double All-American performance at last year’s outdoor national meet in both the 800 meters and 1500 meters. That weekend alone solidified her as a top mid-distance talent.

Now, with newcomer Madigan, as well as Geissness alongside her, these three women form a trio that could very well see three national qualifiers come March.

The only thing to consider in this scenario is Madigan’s lack of an 800 meter race in 2022 along with Geisness’ only race in 2022 not being up-to-par with expectations.

However, it really wouldn’t surprise me to see this group get back on track at the WIAC Championships and for the national meet. The indoor season is a long one and it's not totally uncommon for some programs to peak in December, lull in the middle months, and prepare for a second peak in March.