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Three Sentences Or Less: 2023 D2 NCAA Outdoor Championship Men's 1500 Meters Preview
- John Cusick
- May 20, 2023
- 6 min read
Updated: May 26, 2023
Written by John Cusick, edits and additional commentary via Garrett Zatlin
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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 outdoor national meets. Stay tuned!
Predictions coming soon
The below list is ordered by seeding.
1. Miguel Coca (Adams State)
Miguel Coca is the reigning D2 indoor mile national champion and he has looked just as good this spring as he did in March. His raw speed and newfound aerobic strength make him much harder to knock off than he already was during the winter months. Not to mention, Coca gets to race at altitude for a national title which plays directly into his strengths.
2. Charlie Dannatt (Simon Fraser)
Charlie Dannatt missed the indoor national meet due to illness, but that was (probably) just a fluke incident. The Simon Fraser ace put together a strong outdoor track season, running 3:41 for 1500 meters which makes him the fastest over that distance this spring without an altitude conversion. We know Dannatt is fast, but he's arguably the most complete metric miler in Division Two as well.
3. Luke Julian (Colorado Mines)
Luke Julian has the most experience out of everyone in this 1500 meter field and should find himself in the finals fighting for a national title. He’ll need to capitalize on his strength-based fitness and find the perfectly-optimal position to strike/make his move. If he does that, then there’s a very good chance that Julian could knock off the field for his first national title in thrilling fashion.
4. Jagger Zlotoff (UC-Colorado Springs)
Jagger Zlotoff "only" holds a personal best of 3:47 in the 1500 meters from earlier this season. It’s fitting that Zlotoff is seeded at the fourth position in this field as he ran an unconverted mark of 3:48 in Pueblo, Colorado to qualify for this meet. If he races like that again, then there is no reason to believe that Zlotoff couldn't replicate his 6th place mile finish from the NCAA Indoor Championships this past winter.
5. Jared Gregoire (MSU-Moorhead)
Jared Gregoire is the biggest wild-card headed into the national meet. After his stunning 3:43 (1500) effort at the Bryan Clay Invite, we weren’t sure if that mark would be replicable, especially while competing at altitude. That said, Gregoire has posted two 3:43 (1500) marks this season (with one of those effort coming in a championship setting), leading us to believe that he’ll find his footing early-on in Pueblo.
6. Evan Graff (UC-Colorado Springs)
Evan Graff likely holds the most championship experience after Luke Julian in this 19-man field. The UCCS standout will make his fifth national meet appearance (on the track) while looking for his second All-American honor. Graff has admittedly struggled making it through the preliminary rounds in the past, but he's just as naturally talented (or at least, has a similar amount of potential) as the other top seeds in this event.
7. Alberto Campa (Colorado Mines)
Alberto Campa is the definition of an aerobic-based talent. Campa has contested the 1500 meters just five times in his career and has never run faster than 3:50 (1500). Sure, they’ve all come at altitude, but it still leaves us with more questions than answers about how this Colorado Mines runner will fare in a field of this caliber.
8. Alexander Vance (Colorado Christian)
Alexander Vance is nearly identical to Campa as his personal best for the metric mile is 3:49 which came at CSU Pueblo’s "last chance" meet in early May. That’s a good sign considering that the national meet is being hosted on that exact same track, but this will also be the first time that Vance competes on the national stage as a track athlete. He’ll need to overcome that lack of inexperience while putting together the best race of his career to have a chance at finishing in the top-eight.
9. Dillan Haviland (Northwood)
Dillan Haviland was one of our "most improved" candidates from the indoor track campaign and he has now taken that momentum into the outdoor track season. The Northwood star ran a new personal best of 3:44 (1500) earlier this month to secure the G-MAC crown and convincingly qualify for the national meet. The recent All-American will look to replicate his 4th place finish from the NCAA Indoor Championships, but he'll need to heavily rely on his excellent racing IQ/tactics whilst competing at altitude for the first time in his career.
10. Jakob Rettschlag (Wingate)
The biggest test for Jakob Rettschlag (and many other athletes this weekend) will be how he handles racing at altitude. The Wingate distance talent holds a personal best of 3:44 (1500) in the event and has all the makings to be a serious threat to win the national title despite his seed. Of course, that means qualifying for the 1500 meter finals which he failed to do at last year’s outdoor national meet.
11. Hudson Majeski (Colorado Christian)
Hudson Majeski’s three sentences could be very similar to his teammate, Alexander Vance The breakout distance talent was an indoor national meet qualifier this past winter due to altitude conversion and wound up finishing in the final mile All-American spot (8th) at the NCAA Indoor Championships. His personal best of 3:49 (1500) strays from his competition, but he has proven that he can run well at altitude which should give him a key edge.
12. Patrick Lyell (Grand Valley State)
Truthfully, Patrick Lyell wasn’t a name who was on our radar prior to writing these previews. But then Lyell dropped a huge mark of 3:44 (1500) at Lee University’s "last chance" meet and will now race at a national meet for the first time in his career. Sure, his inexperience and unexpected performance makes it hard to pick him in our predictions, but it’s worth wondering if we’re watching another Laker talent begin a decorated career right in front of us.
13. Luke Stuckey (Nebraska-Kearney)
Luke Stuckey is seeded fairly low going into the outdoor national meet, but if we had to bet on where he places next weekend, then we would be hard-pressed to say anything other than a top-eight finish. Stuckey proved this past winter that he can be an effective and patient runner in a championship race (at the 2023 indoor national meet in the mile). And given that this 1500 meter race will be in Pueblo, Colorado, there’s a good chance that both the prelims and the finals will be tactical which theoretically plays into his racing style.
14. Tyler Nord (Western Colorado)
Nord, a true freshman, was born and raised in Colorado, competed in Colorado as a prep athlete and is now competing for a national title in the same state. Nord could use his experience of racing at altitude to his advantage next weekend. And even though he's still young, he proved at the NCAA Indoor Championships with his bronze medal in the 3000 meters that youth won't limit his upside on these kinds of stages.
15. Drew Weber (Western Washington)
Going into this season, Drew Weber was viewed as an 800 meter specialist who had success stepping up to 1500 meters. But after the indoor track season and his recent spring campaign, Weber is potentially a dark horse pick to win the 1500 meter national title. If things become extremely tactical, then Weber could have one of the more lethal kicks at the end of this race, making him incredibly difficult to hold off in the final moments.
16. Hamza Chahid (Wingate)
There may not be anyone else in the field who poses this big of a threat to win the national title. After winning two national titles this past winter, Chahid has now run 3:44 (1500) and 13:33 (5000), telling us that he’s in fantastic shape going into next weekend. The Moroccan distance star will make things difficult for the rest of this field given that he doesn't seem to have a weakness despite his relative NCAA inexperience and youth.
17. Trent Cochran (Colorado Christian)
Trent Cochran is the third Colorado Christian athlete in this event and his three sentences will echo that of his teammates. Cochran has never run faster than 3:48 (1500) and is a national qualifier thanks to CSU-Pueblo’s "last chance" meet. He’ll likely need the two best races of his career to finish as an All-American, but he's also more naturally talented than some may realize.
18. Simon Kelati (Western Colorado)
Simon Kelati has only raced a handful of times during this outdoor track season, but that doesn’t make him any less dangerous. After racing just once this past winter, Kelati went on to finish 8th in the 5000 meters at the indoor national meet. And with two new personal bests from the Bryan Clay Invite of 3:46 (1500) and 13:51 (5000), the arguments against this Western Colorado ace are dwindling.
19. Clayton Sayen (Michigan Tech)
Clayton Sayen may have been the final national meet qualifier over 1500 meters, but that doesn’t mean that he won’t play be a key part of the action. While he hasn’t set the track on fire this spring, he has quietly run 3:47 (1500) or faster three times. With another year of experience under his belt, we believe Sayen could find his way into the finals and maybe even the All-American range, ultimately ending his successful career as a Husky.
