The Weekend Review: Part 1 (5/28/17)

NCAA West Regionals

800

This field may not have been as established and experienced as the men in the East Region, but there was plenty of respectable depth which meant that some notable names would inevitably be left out.

How about USC’s Robert Ford getting through the rounds and qualifying for NCAA’s with a near PR of 1:47? The last time Ford ran 1:47 was at Mnt. SAC in 2016 (although he failed to make NCAA’s that year). Ford will look to capture his first All-American honors in his career in two weeks.

After strong performances earlier this season at the Sun Angel Classic, Iowa State’s Jaymes Dennison and Roshon Roomes both failed to make the National Championship. The Cyclone duo had only run the event two times (each) before coming into Regionals. It wasn’t too big of a surprise to see them struggle against an elite and loaded field like this one.

Iowa’s Carter Lilly and Will Teubel did not make NCAA’s either. After a breakout season in 2016, all eyes were on Lilly to make NCAA’s and grab his first All-American honors in 2017. Unfortunately, Lilly’s season got off to a slow start and he didn’t seem to have the edge we saw last year.

On a lighter note, let’s talk about the rise of Nate Roese. The Minnesota senior had never broken 1:50 until May 3rd of this season when he ran 1:49.63 to win the Bear Cat Twilight meet. After placing third at BIG 10’s, Roese entered Regionals and hit a 1:48 personal best to advance to NCAA’s for the first time in his career (in an individual event). Roese will be accompanied by teammate Mitch Hechsel when they depart for NCAA’s.

Finally, I feel like Nick Harris (Colorado), Eric Brown (Wisconsin), Vincent Crisp (Texas Tech), Ricky Fuare (Wyoming), and Bryce Hoppel (Kansas) deserve a mention. This group has been incredibly consistent all season. They ran great times and won plenty of races. I thought at least two of these guys would make it to NCAA’s, but unfortunately that was not the case.

1500

There were very few surprises in the preliminary round of his race. However, Arizona’s Carlos Villarreal was a favorite of mine to make NCAA’s. Unfortunately, he finished last in his heat and last overall (by seven seconds). Did he fall? Get ill? Simply have a bad race? I’m a bit surprised that someone of his caliber was that far behind the group.

Shane Streich (Minnesota) is another name I felt confident would get to NCAA’s. He had a very underrated indoor season and had been pretty consistent throughout the spring. Despite his recent success, he fell out of contention in the preliminary round.

The real surprises didn’t happen until the final on Saturday when we saw some big names miss the cut to Nationals. Of the five Oregon Ducks entered, all of them made it to the final but only Haney and Gorman qualified for NCAA’s. I’m not too surprised about Tamagno and Stanovsek failing to advance. Running multiple tactical races on the big stage is something that requires experience. A situation like that isn’t easy for most freshman.

Sam Prakel, on the other hand, is a guy I thought would get through. He has so much experience and was having an awesome season coming into Regionals. Based on the results, it looks like he just got unlucky in the final kick of his heat and missed out on the last automatic qualifying spot (held by Craig Nowak) by .21 seconds.

California’s Thomas Joyce was a step ahead of Prakel and missed Nowak by .15 seconds. He will not make the trip to NCAA’s.

It’s tough to say what exactly happened to Joyce after his breakout season in 2015. After running personal bests of 13:34 and 3:39, everyone thought this guy would be the next big star in American distance running. But as fate would have it, Joyce plateaued throughout the 2016 and 2017 seasons and never hit those times again. He would, however, show flashes of brilliance like when he ran a 3:58 mile this past indoor season to qualify for the indoor national championships. Still, whatever happened to the guy that earned seven wins in a season?

Jonah Koech is in a similar boat. The UTEP Miner was taking the NCAA by storm during his freshman year. Then the phenoms of Korir and Saruni entered the program and he hasn’t been the same since. He didn’t even come close to hitting his 800 PR of 1:46 this season. His best time in 2017 was a 1:49.99. Although I believe Jonah Koech made the right choice by running the mile, he simply got unlucky as he was the first man out of NCAA’s in this event.

And what about Kasey Knevelbaard of Southern Utah? I was convinced that this guy would be the next collegiate great miler. He had some sneaky good races during the indoor season and blew away the competition at the Stanford Invite when he won the 1500 in the slow section with a time of 3:41. Solid performances in the 800 and 5k along with a double gold effort at BIG Sky made this guy seem like a no-brainer to qualify for NCAA’s. Unfortunately, Knevelbaard ended his season as the second man out of NCAA’s after a tactical race didn’t go his way.

Yet, for every big name that missed Nationals, there is an underrated sleeper pick that many of us missed. Daniel Gagne (Bradley) is a name that deserves some respect after his National qualifying performance this past weekend. The Bradley program has really stepped up their game over the past year and they have proven that they can run with the goliaths of Division One.

Another name to mention is Alex Riba (Texas A&M) who has been a respectable miler throughout most of his career. He may not get a lot of wins, but he’s consistent and knows how to race. Admittedly, I wasn’t sold on Riba qualifying for Nationals. The competition he faces in the southern portion of the U.S. isn’t quite as strong as the competition he would face up north or out west. Of course, what do I know? Riba ran 3:48 in his heat of the 1500 final to grab the first time qualifier to NCAA’s ahead of some up-and-coming stars.

It just goes to prove that experience and race tactics can trump talent on any given day. Just look at the results. No freshman qualified for the NCAA 1500 in either region.

3000 Steeple

Overall, there weren’t too many major surprises in this event. Established names like Cale Wallace (Arkansas) and Colby Wilson (Utah State) failed to move on to NCAA’s, but their performances this season weren’t quite as strong as their performances from 2016.

Other notable misses include Yusuke Uchikoshi (Boise State) and Ben Preisner (Tulsa). Both of these individuals had some solid experience entering this season and they both earned personal bests under 8:50 this season.

However, the biggest surprise miss came from Alex Rogers of Texas. Leading up to Regionals, I questioned as to why Rogers opted out of the 1500 and entered the steeplechase instead. He has more championship experience in the 1500 and didn’t even score at BIG 12’s in the steeplechase. Maybe it’s because the title conversation was more open in the steeplechase than it was in the 1500. Then again, the steeplechase field was arguably deeper than the 1500.

In the end, Rogers finished 18th at Regionals and ended his season a week earlier than expected. It was a high-risk gamble and unfortunately it didn’t work out.

Freshman Clayson Shumway led an elite crew of BYU steeplechasers throughout the entire season. With a personal best of 8:47 and other consistent performances, I felt like Shumway had a solid chance of making it through to NCAA’s. Unfortunately, of the three BYU Cougars to make Nationals in this event, Shumway was not one of them.

Weber State also had a very solid chance of sending a representative to Nationals with Luca Sinn and Jordan Cross. Yet, the results showed that neither of them placed inside the top 40 of this event. The Weber State duo was incredibly consistent all season and never gave me a reason to doubt them. They may not have advanced, but you have to credit them for having one heck of a season.

But let’s talk about who actually made it to Nationals! No one in our prediction contest had New Mexico’s Graham Thomas in their top 12. Thomas entered Regionals as the 50th ranked steeplechaser in the NCAA, but finished 3rd overall.

Portland sophomore Noah Schutte was a pleasant surprise as well. He was ranked 56th in the nation coming into Regionals and finished 9th overall. This has been a breakout season for Schutte who secured personal bests in the 1500, 10k, and now steeplechase.

5000

You have to expect surprises in every race, but I didn’t expect this many big-time names missing out on NCAA’s. Mike Tate (Southern Utah), Jefferson Abbey (Colorado State), Matt Baxter (NAU), Dillon Maggard (Utah State), and Reed Fischer (Drake) all failed to make Nationals in this event.

Out of all of those names, Tate had to be the biggest surprise. After a 13:39 solo performance at the Stanford invite and his 13:34 at Payton Jordan, Tate seemed like an automatic lock to make Nationals.

Jefferson Abbey (Colorado State) was another huge miss. After a year filled with struggles, it seemed like Abbey had found his groove again with personal bests of 13:37 and 3:42 this season. His combination of speed and endurance made him one of favorites to get through a tactical regional race.

So who were the guys that replaced the heavy favorites above? Craig Lautenslager (UT-Arlington), Joe Hardy (Wisconsin), Daniel De La Torre (UCLA), and Jonathan Davis (Illinois) all found spots to Nationals.

In an event that requires so much experience and years of base mileage, the underclassmen dominated. Of the 12 individuals that qualified for NCAA’s, one was a freshman and five were sophomores.

10,000

Unlike the 5k, this event was rather predictable and it lacked surprise performances. The notable names that did not make NCAA’s include Alex Short (San Francisco), Cory Glines (NAU), Trent Brendel (California), and Robert Brandt (California).

Overall, it was rather predictable. Tulsa, BYU, Colorado State, and Oklahoma State each had a two individuals work together and snag a qualifying spot. Other established names like Fischer (Drake), Baxter (NAU), Schrobilgen (Wisconsin), and Tanner Anderson (Oregon) took the other four qualifying spots.

Would this result have been any different if Cheserek competed? It’s tough to say. When an entire race centers around one athlete and then that athlete is taken out, you would think it changes the dynamic of how the race is run.

#ncaa #gzatlin #regionals #weekendreview #recap