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Three Sentences Or Less: 2023 D3 NCAA Indoor Championship Men's 800 Meters Preview
- Brett Haffner
- Mar 9, 2023
- 6 min read
Written by Brett Haffner, edits and additional commentary via John Cusick & 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 indoor national meet. Stay tuned!
The below list is ordered by seeding
1. Mike Jasa (Loras)
With Ryan Wilson opting not to enter this event, the door has been opened for Mike Jasa to win the 800 meter national title. After some sub-par national meet results in 2022 that didn’t quite live up to expectations, he stepped up in splendor this year and elevated the consistency of results. There’s never been a better opportunity for Jasa to win his first indoor national title than the one right in front of him.
2. Tor Hotung-Davidsen (Lynchburg)
As one of the more complete 800 meter runners in Division Three, Tor Hotung-Davidsen has been on our radar for awhile now. He consistently handles prelim rounds well, peaks at the right time and gives a great fight in championship finals. Those are all qualities of a 800 meter runner who anybody would love to see win a national title.
3. Alex Ivanov (Carnegie Mellon)
Alex Ivanov’s recent surge to the front of the 800 meter national leaderboard isn’t too surprising considering that he qualified for last year’s outdoor national meet in this event. And while he didn’t make it out of the preliminary rounds last spring, that championship experience should bode well for the Tartan ace this time around. His cross country ability and mile speed (4:14) have improved vastly over this academic year, giving him a full range of racing tools to work with.
4. Andrew McGovern (Carnegie Mellon)
Contrary to his fellow Tartan teammate, Andrew McGovern’s speed-focused background has led him to step up to the 800 meters after multiple seasons of success, primarily in the 400 meters and the 400 meter hurdles. It’ll be interesting to see how McGovern stacks up in his first championship rounds that aren’t run in lanes, but his progression across this indoor track season shows us that he’s peaking just at the right time.
5. Carter Oberfoell (Loras)
Carter Oberfoell’s ceiling in this event may very well depend on whether or not he runs the DMR. Either way, he should have no problem getting his way to the final in the 800 meters as his multi-round running ability at last year’s outdoor national meet was very impressive.
6. Steven Potter (UW-Oshkosh)
As a seasoned veteran in the 800 meters, Steven Potter will be navigating the 800 meters and the DMR at this indoor national meet. With his reliable, consistent ability to make any national meet final, it’s very likely we’ll see Potter’s late-race heroics once again. But the age old question remains -- can the UW-Oshkosh veteran finally win NCAA gold?
7. Garrett Lenners (Nebraska Wesleyan)
Garrett Lenners has been really consistent all year long, running between 1:51 and 1:52 in the 800 meters for the entirety of the season (along with some 4x400 meter relays). His 5th place finish in the 800 meters at last year’s indoor national meet and 4th place finish in the 800 meters at last year’s outdoor national meet speaks volumes to his championship racing ability and reliability. Everything that we've seen from Lenners could very well be replicated, or bettered, this weekend.
8. Wyatt Schmidt (Wartburg)
Wyatt Schmidt's strongest asset is his ability to race well in any proposed racing situation and that was highlighted by his 2nd place finish at the ARC Indoor Championships in the half-mile. Although he missed finals at both the indoor and outdoor national meets in this event last year, Schmidt’s momentum seems to point towards him making his first final this weekend.
9. Ziyad Hassan (MIT)
Ziyad Hassan took advantage of the deep fields at Boston University, lowering his 800 meter PR from 1:56 down to 1:50 in his first attempt at the distance this season. With a seemingly endless ceiling of potential, Hassan has a very real opportunity to score points for MIT's team title effort as well as secure his first All-American honor in this event.
10. Jake Shumaker (Millikin)
Following in the steps of former Millikin ace Ben Kuxmann, Jake Shumaker earned his first trip to the indoor national meet after making it to last year’s outdoor national meet in the 800 meters. Shumaker saved his best race of this season for the CCIW Indoor Championships, peaking at just the right time. Does that mean that he could be even better this weekend?
11. Charlie Glass (MIT)
Charlie Glass opted for the 800 meters over the mile, but might we see him in the DMR as well? Akin to teammate Ziyad Hassan, this could be huge for Glass to qualify for the final in the 800 meters, both for team-scoring opportunities and for the fact that he’s a true freshman, the latter of which could bode well for his future.
12. Spencer Watry (Emory)
Spencer Watry finished in 4th place at the loaded UAA Indoor Championships final in the 800 meters, securing his spot to the indoor national meet. His time of 4:10 in the mile is also of note, giving him more strength than a majority of guys in this field. That could pay off in the right scenario.
13. Caleb Correia (John Carroll)
Caleb Correia’s best known for being apart of John Carroll’s former DMR national record, (which was set last year), but he is now making a name for himself in the open 800 meters. He ran 1:51.53 at Boston University last month and has quietly built up a lot of valuable experience.
14. Andrew Hutchinson (Dubuque)
The first guy on this list who qualified for the indoor national meet via last chance weekend, Andrew Hutchinson took home the win at the Wartburg Final Qualifier, running a converted mark 1:51.60 over 800 meters. That kind of momentum (and maybe newfound confidence) can be super dangerous heading into the national meet and he could prove to be a difficult adversary to shake off.
15. Marcus Cheema (Emory)
Yet another guy to qualify from the UAA Indoor Championship 800 meter final, Marcus Cheema put himself in the right place, right behind teammate Spencer Watry, and punched his way into the national meet. Cheema has made just enough improvement from last year to earn this spot and his 4:14 mile strength adds an extra punch to handle various race scenarios.
16. Haiden Diemer-McKinney (Wabash)
Another true freshman in this event, Haiden Diemer-McKinney has faced little competition this winter unlike the vast majority of his competitors. Nevertheless, he has cranked out many wins and many impressive marks. We still have questions about his ability to navigate the preliminary rounds, but as we said, he's just a true freshman and being here is a win in and of itself.
17. Elijah Meder (Hope)
Elijah Meder is the prime example of great seasonal progression, starting at 1:56 (800) to open up his season and later landing at a converted 1:51.67 (800) mark at the Wartburg Qualifier. Momentum and excitement is key to big performances, and Meder is certainly capable of outperforming his seed if that momentum carries into the national meet.
18. Lance Pfrimmer (UW-Stout)
Lance Pfrimmer was yet another guy to qualify for the national meet from the Wartburg Final Qualifier, running a converted 1:51.77 (800) time in the process. Even though his conference meet performance in the 800 meters wasn’t great, his other half-mile efforts this season were fantastic and his improved ability in the mile and the 3000 meters is an added bonus. And given his consistency prior to that conference meet effort, it's almost a good thing that he got a sub-par result out of the way before this weekend.
19. Chase Upmann (Carthage)
With an up-and-down season behind him, Chase Upmann’s victory at the Ripon Final Qualifier was a nice way to earn his first national meet appearance in the 800 meters. After winning by almost half-a-second, we have to wonder if there's even more upside that this Carthage middle distance has yet to tap into.
20. Kolya Markov-Riss (Amherst)
Kolya Markov-Riss had a really nice breakthrough race at the David Hemery Valentine Invite, running 1:51.81 over 800 meters. That result ended up as the final national meet qualifier for the men's 800 meters, something that Markov-Riss will need to replicate in order to get out of the prelims.
