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Three Sentences Or Less: 2023 D3 NCAA Outdoor Championship Women's Steeplechase Preview
- Kevin Fischer
- May 24, 2023
- 7 min read
Updated: May 25, 2023
Written by Kevin Fischer, 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 Division Three 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 outdoor national meet. Stay tuned!
The below list is ordered by seeding
1. Aubrie Fisher (Wartburg)
Aubrie Fisher has been up at the top of the D3 steeplechase scene for years. And after finishing runner-up to an unstoppable Evie Miller at last year's national meet, she will be hungry to earn her 2021 crown back. She will be challenged, but should be a slight national title favorite, nonetheless.
2. Rachel Hirschkind (SUNY Geneseo)
After finishing 4th at last year’s outdoor national meet, Rachel Hirschkind is operating at an entirely new level this season. She was just a few tenths of a second away from running the fastest steeplechase time in D3 this spring, as well as improving in the flat events by bringing her 5000 meter personal best down from 17:15 to 16:48. If anyone can beat Aubrie Fisher this weekend, it’s this still-rising SUNY Geneseo star.
3. Caroline McMartin (Central College)
Caroline McMartin has improved all-around this year, taking substantial chunks of time off of her 1500 and 5000 meter personal bests. However, her biggest improvement was in the steeplechase. After never breaking 11:00 before this season, she opened with a 10:43 (steeple) mark and ultimately ran 10:32 to earn herself the status of one of the more complete and dangerous distance talents that D3 has to offer.
4. Christine Albrecht (St. Olaf)
Christine Albrecht had a massive day at the MIAC Championships to solidify herself as one of the top names in the steeplechase, running 10:37 for the win in a solo effort. Her 4:31 (1500) speed is among the best of anyone in the field which may serve her well in a championship-style race. However, it's unclear if this race will be tactical or a test of fitness.
5. Sara Stephenson (Johns Hopkins)
Since running her 10:37 (steeple) mark back in March, Sara Stephenson hasn’t replicated that type of performance, but she has come fairly close. It doesn’t look like she has lost much ground, so we know it is absolutely in her to be very competitive this weekend and use her extensive experience to her advantage.
6. Megan Johnson (Central College)
Megan Johnson appears to be closing-out her spring campaign in impressive fashion with her most recent steeplechase effort being a 10:38 mark that was enough to earn her a 3rd place finish at the American Rivers Championships only behind Aubrie Fisher and Caroline McMartin. That’s certainly not bad company to be in and right now, there's more things to like about her resume than not.
7. Sydney Khosla (Wittenberg)
After a really solid indoor track season, Sydney Khosla showed us that her progress could be translated to the steeplechase, running a PR all three times that she contested the event this spring. This Wittenberg distance talent is on a hot streak and may still have more room to get even faster as she enters this weekend.
8. Ella Whinney (Wellesley)
Ella Whinney’s freshman campaign keeps getting better and better, culminating in a 10:42 steeplechase effort last week at the MIT Final Qualifier which got her comfortably into this field. Despite her inexperience with collegiate racing, she has shown a lot of poise, so don’t be surprised if Whinney extends her impressive trajectory.
9. Haylei Coolican (St. Lawrence)
The last time that Haylei Coolican contested a flat 3000 meter race was in February of 2020, posting a personal best of 10:50. But now, she is running the steeplechase faster than that. It has been a long journey to get to this stage, but Coolican has been sneaky-good this season and has thrived in most races over 1500 meters.
10. Adriana Crabtree (Illinois Wesleyan)
She took a little bit of time to find her groove in the steeplechase in her freshman season, but Adriana Crabtree is rolling now. After debuting in the event with a 12:09 mark, she set a PR of at least 16 seconds in each of her four subsequent races, culminating in the Augustana Final Qualifier where she won in 10:43. It’s not often that you see a progression like that, meaning that Crabtree's youth-driven upside may not be fully tapped yet going into this weekend.
11. Molly Fitzgibbons (Williams)
Molly Fitzgibbons has also only run the steeplechase twice this year, one of which was the NESCAC Championships where she won comfortably while the other effort came in March, so we can’t judge her slightly underwhelming times too harshly. Besides, she ran a 1500 meter PR two weeks ago, so it’s without question that her fitness is still at an all-time high. The Williams ace has great potential to outperform her seed time and possibly come close to her 3rd place finish from last year’s outdoor national meet.
12. Einat Gavish (MIT)
Einat Gavish just missed out on the steeplechase final at last year’s national meet. But this year, she is not only running faster than she was then, but she has more championship racing experience under her belt. She should be in a great position to change her fate given her solid understanding of positioning.
13. Corrinne Weaver (Meredith)
It’s hard to know exactly where Corrine Weaver is now in her fitness since she hasn’t truly raced a steeplechase in over a month (and hasn’t raced at all in over three weeks). She did do some really impressive things during the season, so if her fitness hasn’t lost a step, then she will be really scary to run against with fresher legs than the rest of the field.
14. Emma Malooly (UW-La Crosse)
An All-American at last year’s outdoor national meet, Emma Malooly hasn’t been at quite the same level this spring, but she is rounding into form with her seasonal best coming in her most recent race. The UW-La Crosse standout is knocking on the door of an even stronger result, so don’t be surprised if the best version of Emma Malooly shows up this weekend and steals a top-eight spot for a second year in a row.
15. Caitlin Jorgensen (U. of Chicago)
After breaking 11:00 in the steeplechase for the first time at the St. Francis Fighting Chance Invitational, Caitlin Jorgensen still had work to do to get a national meet berth. Sure enough, she did what she needed to do a few days later at Augustana, running 10:45 over the barriers and water pits. It will take a big effort to reach the finals, but if she has another breakthrough race in her, then Jorgensen is certainly capable of it.
16. Maddy Vantassel (UW-La Crosse)
Maddy Vantassel missed out on the opportunity to race at last year’s outdoor national meet by just two tenths of a second. This year, despite the bar being raised with D3 as a whole stepping up, she stepped up to an even greater degree and did what was needed with a great day at Drake Relays. She should be coming in with little to no pressure, but a lot of hunger.
17. Julia Patterson (Washington U.)
Julia Patterson was flirting with the 11-minute barrier for the majority of the spring, running between 11:01 and 11:09 in four-consecutive steeplechase efforts before finally getting her big breakthrough at Augustana to run 10:46. This was another level than what we have ever seen from her in the past, so it will be interesting to see if she can replicate that effort in back-to-back weeks.
18. Ellie Meyer (Wartburg)
Despite being the 6th place finisher in the steeplechase from last year’s outdoor national meet, we haven’t seen Ellie Meyer carry quite the same edge this year. She hasn’t been running poorly, but between running a seasonal best that is nine seconds off of her PR and finishing only 5th in the American Rivers Championships, it hasn’t been super convincing that she is at an All-American level. Still, nobody wants to wake a sleeping giant, and when she is fully clicking, Meyer is not easy to beat.
19. Jenna Allman (Calvin)
Jenna Allman is an interesting dark horse to make the steeplechase finals this weekend because even though the majority of the field has run the steeplechase faster than her, she is probably better than the majority in terms of the non-barrier races. The Calvin runner was a national meet qualifier over 3000 meters this past winter, so she may be a mechanical fix or two from having a breakthrough steeple race and substantially exceeding her seed.
20. Ellie Osterberger (Loras)
Ellie Osterberger has been an 800/1500 meter runner for the majority of her collegiate career and only just started running the steeplechase this season. After a bit of a rocky start with an 11:37 event debut, she learned the ropes quickly and has been thriving in her new discipline over these last weeks. She has already raced against super competitive fields this year and should be able to hold her own.
21. Katelyn Chadwick (UW-La Crosse)
At the Eagle Open two weeks ago, Katelyn Chadwick ran a 13-second steeplechase PR to ultimately nab one of the final spots to the Big Dance. This will be her first-time competing at a national meet in any season, but it will likely not be the last. She will gain valuable experience going forward that she will undoubtedly build off of.
22. Mary Kate McGranahan (Amherst)
Since her breakout cross country season this past fall, Mary Kate McGranahan has been a little bit up-and-down on the track, especially during the winter months. But when it comes to the steeplechase this spring, she has been pretty reliable, running between 10:49 and 10:57 in her last four efforts in the event. Her consistency should allow her to remain competitive despite having the slowest seed time and maybe even sneak into the finals if a few other women have tough outings.
