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Three Sentences Or Less: 2023 D2 NCAA Indoor Championship Women's 800 Meters Preview
- Grace McLaughlin
- Mar 9, 2023
- 5 min read
Written by Grace McLaughlin
Edits and additional commentary by John Cusick & Garrett Zatlin
Do you have an interest in writing for The Stride Report? We're looking for high school coverage writers and potentially NAIA coverage writers. Want to know more? Read this and send us an email at contact@thestridereport.com to let us know!
Editor's Note: Our TSR writers were asked to produce three sentences or less of analysis on every entrant in every distance event for every division. We will be slowly rolling out these previews leading up to the indoor national meets. Stay tuned!
The below list is ordered by seeding.
1. Vanessa Aniteye (Seattle Pacific)
The former sprinter has quickly emerged as an elite 800 meter runner this season. Not only that, but the competitiveness and consistency that Vanessa Aniteye has shown throughout the winter months diminishes any worries about her lack of experience in this event. The Seattle Pacific ace is a talent who can rely on her turnover and firepower to finish on top.
2. Taryn Chapko (Grand Valley State)
Taryn Chapko is a reliable and dynamic runner with plenty of experience despite her relative youth, eligibility-wise. Her steady improvement in this event, in fitness and tactics, indicates that she is capable of finishing higher than her 5th place finish from last year's NCAA Indoor Championships in this same event. It's very possible that Chapko could take home the gold this weekend, especially with the title race feeling a bit more wide-open than usual.
3. Helen Braybrook (CSU-Pueblo)
Helen Braybrook showed massive improvement on the cross country course this past fall and her recent results indicate that her momentum isn’t slowing down anytime soon. Her strength-based fitness will be beneficial in a variety of race tactics. Plus, her prior championship experience gives her the upper-hand compared to most of her competitors.
4. Katherine Marsh (Adelphi)
Last month, Katherine Marsh ran 2:08 (800) mark to qualify for the indoor national meet which seems to be an outlier performance when looking at her overall season. The Adelphi product has shown massive improvement and has had a lot of solid performances this winter, but her lack of experience and consistency leaves us with more questions than answers.
5. Isabel Marsh (Adelphi)
Isabel Marsh is the other half of the middle distance duo from Adelphi. Similar to her sister, her 2:08 (800) mark from the tail-end of February was a bit unexpected, leaving us to wonder if she can replicate that mark on the national stage. Regardless, Marsh's jump in fitness and current momentum could be enough for her to make the finals.
6. Alaysia Brooks (Ursuline (OH))
This will be Alaysia Brooks' first appearance at an NCAA Championship meet and she has seemingly come out of nowhere as one of the top 800 meter runners in the country given her recent 2:09 PR. Her experience and ability over 400 meters theoretically gives her turnover that could make her just as dangerous as Kelly-Ann Beckford once was (although maybe not quite as a title contender, yet).
7. Josii Johnson (Westminster (UT))
Josii Johnson is one of the few athletes in this field who has previous national meet experience in this event. She’s been very reliable in RMAC Championship races, but has struggled on the national stage. With more experience and momentum this season, Johnson has a solid chance of making it to the finals, but she'll need to buck her not-so-great trend of prelim performances in order to be an All-American.
8. Rachel O’Brien (Adams State)
The Adams State rookie earned bronze in this event against a competitive field at the RMAC Indoor Championships. Rachel O’Brien is objectively talented and has been surprisingly consistent this season, but how high is her ceiling considering her limited racing experience? She could be a key wild card to monitor this weekend.
9. Aryelle Wright (Colorado Mines)
Aryelle Wright is a veteran in this event, but has consistently been on the bubble of qualifying for finals or earning All-American honors. Given her experience level, consistency and current momentum this season, it feels like this is the national meet where Wright will make the jump from "solid" to "exceptional".
10. Kaylee Harp (Northwest Missouri)
Kaylee Harp is a reliable and dynamic athlete who is on the rise. She may be young in terms of eligibility, but the consistency that she has shown us thus far, combined with her prior championship experience, will be a major positive for the Bearcat talent heading into this meet.
11. Luisarys Toledo (Northwest Missouri)
Luisarys Toledo is actually a multi-event athlete turned middle distance runner who boasts exceptional speed below this half-mile event. The Bearcat runner has seamlessly translated her raw talent to this distance and her national-caliber turnover should be massively beneficial for her should the prelims (or finals) turn tactical.
12. Lieke Hoogsteen (Adams State)
Lieke Hoogsteen is a true rookie, but she’s been fairly reliable in the few 800 meter races that she has contested this winter. While there’s nothing particularly flashy about any of her performances thus far, it seems fair to say that she'll at least hold her own this weekend. That is not something that we can say about a lot of freshmen on this stage.
13. Ines Macadam (Tiffin)
Ines Macadam has shown a small jump up in her fitness after running a new outright 800 meter PR of 2:10 earlier this season. Conversely, she hasn’t been the most consistent, either. Regardless, the Dragon ace is a dynamic runner with experience, making her a key candidate to play spoiler this weekend.
14. Lina Hanich (Academy of Art)
Lina Hanich’s 2023 indoor track season thus far shows an outstanding level of consistency. Admittedly, her lack of experience and current PR of 2:10 (800) will likely put her on the fence of qualifying for the final on Saturday. The good news, however, is that Hanich has displayed a highly encouraging trend of improvement throughout the winter months which could yield a new PR this weekend.
15. Jessica Simon (Adams State)
Jessica Simon is a speed-based runner and this will be her second appearance in this event at the NCAA Indoor Championships. The Adams State middle distance talent has upper-tier turnover and could pose a problem in the latter stages of this four-lap affair. Simon hasn't reached the same level as her breakout outdoor season from last spring, but she's trending in the right direction and could be a sleeper pick this weekend.
16. Emma Kjellsen (Western Colorado)
Emma Kjellsen is a rookie who has steadily progressed throughout the season. Simply qualifying for the national meet in this event, given her lack of experience, is impressive. But even with her current momentum, it will take the best race of her young career to get through the preliminaries.
17. Lainy Williams (Southwest Baptist)
Lainy Williams has continued to be a nationally competitive name over 800 meters, but it's clear that she isn't quite at the same point that she was at last year. While her qualifying mark of 2:10 (800) puts her at 17th in the seeding, she does hold a half-mile PR of 2:07 from last spring. Williams is a dark horse heading into this national meet, especially if she peaks like she did at the 2022 GLVC Outdoor Championships.
18. Erin Dorn (Davenport)
Erin Dorn was completely unknown heading into this season, but she’s developed into a solid middle distance runner over the past few months. Dorn has raced more than most of her competitors this season and has steadily improved with each race. Her 4:58 mile PR also gives her strength that other women in this field may not have, although her lack of experience and long season may play a role this weekend.
19. Caroline Sudbeck (Augustana (SD))
This was a breakthrough season for Caroline Sudbeck and qualifying for the NCAA Indoor Championships is a huge feat in and of itself. But while she has shown a jump up in her fitness, we have yet to see her run under 2:11 for 800 meters or take down a nationally competitive name this season. With nothing to lose, it probably couldn't hurt for Sudbeck to be a little extra aggressive/ambitious in the prelims and see what happens.
