TSR's 2023 D2 Indoor Top 25 Individual Rankings (Women): Update #2

Marissa Kuik
Feb 6, 2023
21 min read

Updated: Feb 7, 2023

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Written by Marissa Kuik

Additional edits and commentary by John Cusick & Garrett Zatlin

Click here to see our Just Missed and Honorable Mention names.

Listed eligibility takes redshirts and Covid-related extensions into consideration.

TFRRS is used as a general guide when determining eligibility.

KEY

(Unranked):

Was not ranked in our last update.

(#/#):

First number indicates how much the athlete has moved in our rankings.

The second number indicates where the athlete was ranked in our last update.

25. Kaylee Beyer, Junior, Winona State (-1 / 24)

Kaylee Beyer has had a fairly busy couple of weekends as she raced the mile two weekends ago at the Mark Schuck Open in Mankato. She then raced both the mile and the 800 meters at the Lewis Invitational this past weekend.

Her first mile of the two weekends was a very solid 4:56 mark which would earn a track size conversion of 4:53. She then came back the following weekend to contest the mile again where she won the race in a time of 4:50. Her new PR currently places her at NCAA #16 on the national leaderboard.

Though she did not improve on her 800 meter mark, she does still sit at NCAA #11 on the national leaderboard in the event, meaning that she has a shot at qualifying in both races if she does choose to race both (though the mile/800 is a difficult double at the national meet).

Furthermore, competing in the mile and the 800 meters in one meet and still finishing very highly in both fields shows us Beyer’s strength. She also improved in the mile and was able to move up on the national leaderboard, allowing us to keep her at TSR #25 in our rankings.

24. Chrissani May, Junior, Lincoln (MO) (-11 / 13)

Ranking Chrisanni May has presented itself as a difficult challenge.

On one hand, May has an incredible PR of 2:06 in the 800 meters and has finished 4th at the 2022 outdoor national meet. She also has competed on Lincoln’s 4x400 meter relay, continuing to showcase the speed that makes her such a force.

On the other hand, she has not raced much this season and when she has competed, she has performed significantly below her standard. This past weekend, May ran a lackluster 2:20 mark for the half-mile distance. In December, she also ran the event, but just snuck under that 2:20 barrier.

We are keeping May on this list solely because of her incredible end to the 2022 outdoor track season and her 800 meter PR. However, if there is no improvement after this weekend, then she may have to be dropped from our rankings.

23. Luisarys Toledo, Sophomore, NW Missouri (Unranked)

Luisarys Toledo enters our rankings for the first time after posting a 2:09 mark in the 800 meters at the Bearcat Invitational. Her time shoots her up on the national leaderboard, placing her at NCAA #4.

If her name seems unfamiliar, then that is because she has spent the first part of her college career at New Mexico Junior College where she competed as a multi-event athlete. In fact, she won the NJCAA indoor and outdoor titles in the pentathlon and heptathlon. But as of right now, she is currently sitting at NCAA #3 in the 400 meters on the national leaderboard with a time of 54.70.

Although TSR focuses on the distance events such as the half-mile and up, it is hard to leave out Toledo’s speed and her fantastic mark in both the 400 meters and the 800 meters. Since she has competed more often on the sprints side, we will have to see how she develops and if she chooses to compete in the 800 meters in the postseason.

She will stay in our rankings because of her recent performance, but time will tell what she decides to compete in at the national meet.

22. Madison Brown, Junior, Dallas Baptist (Unranked)

Coming off of a great 3k performance in Boston at the John Thomas Terrier Classic, Madison Brown finds herself in our rankings for the first time this season.

The Patriot veteran ran a time of 9:36 which ties her PR and is good enough for an NCAA #11 spot on the national leaderboard. Brown has quietly gained a lot of momentum throughout her time at Dallas Baptist and has consistently qualified for the indoor and the outdoor national meets.

Though she has yet to earn an All-American honor on the track, she did just come off of one of her best seasons in cross country where she finished 21st at the NCAA XC Championships. And when you consider that this is also her first race of the official 2023 indoor track season, she still has a lot of room for improvement.

We also imagine that Brown will choose to contest the 5k next, a race that is arguably her ideal distance, or even try to bring her 3k time down.

Seeing Brown open up her season by basically matching her PR from last year while coming off of the best cross country season of her career means that this could be Brown’s best-ever indoor season. It could also mean that she leaves the month of March with another All-American honor.

21. Courtney McAlindon, Senior, Westminster (UT) (Unranked)

Courtney McAlindon is someone who has clearly put in some serious work during her tenure at Westminster. And based on her recent results, she has slowly worked her way up into national contention when it comes to the mile.

McAlindon posted a converted time of 4:46 in the mile at the Mines Winter Classic. Her time was good enough for an overall victory at the meet and an NCAA #8 spot on the national leaderboard. She was also able to out-kick Katie Doucette on the final lap, a wildly impressive feat no matter the distance.

McAlindon was also part of Westminster’s DMR team, running the 800 meter leg, where she helped her squad run a converted time of 11:35. That mark now sits at NCAA #2 on the national leaderboard.

It looks like McAlindon is ready to get out of the preliminary round of this year's indoor national meet and make a run at an All-American spot -- and maybe even a top-three finish. The Westminster ace is in the best shape of her life and she is clearly ready to compete with some of the best milers in the nation.

20. Cailee Peterson, Senior, Minnesota-Duluth (Unranked)

You would not be completely wrong if it feels like Cailee Peterson appeared out of nowhere. This is Peterson’s first year as a part of Minnesota-Duluth’s roster and before this past fall, she competed at the Division One level, running for South Dakota State.

Peterson started off her running career as a Bulldog quietly, but respectably, by placing 62nd at the NCAA XC Championships. She then kicked-off her indoor track season by running an unconventional distance, the 1000 meters. And despite the odd event, she ran a great time of 2:51, a performance that seemingly flew under the radar.

But Peterson's resume is now too good to be ignored. In her second race of the indoor track season, Peterson ran a monster time of 4:47 in the mile at the Jack Johnson Classic in Minneapolis. Her time is right on par with the personal bests that she ran at SDSU, meaning that she is likely ready to mix it up with the best of the best in the Division Two ranks.

Seeing this former SDSU runner take form after a quieter cross country season makes Peterson a name who you need to keep track of for the rest of the winter months.

19. Helen Braybrook, Junior, CSU-Pueblo (-3 / 16)

Dropping Helen Braybrook this many spots feels like a crime, even it's just three places, but we had to make some room at the top for other great performances from these past two weekends.

Since our last update, Braybrook has come away with new personal bests in three events. She raced back-to-back weekends and both times were at New Mexico.

At the New Mexico Team Open, she ran the 600 meters in an impressive time of 1:33 and then came back and ran the 800 meters in 2:10. She would get a small altitude conversion, dropping her time to 2:09, good enough for NCAA #5 on the national leaderboard. Her raw 2:10 mark is also an indoor best.

The next weekend, the Thunderwolf was back in Albuquerque, taking another stab at the 800 meters. She ended up running a second slower, but it was still a good consistent effort, nonetheless. The next day, she also contested the mile where she ran a converted 4:54 time.

That performance will likely not be fast enough to get her into the indoor national meet, but it was still a great result for someone who predominantly races the half-mile. She showed off some of her endurance that she built during the fall months, translating her fitness between the two seasons fairly easily.

Braybrook has been fairly consistent throughout this season in the 800 meters and if she stays on the path that she is on, then she will be right in the mix for a top spot in the wide-open half-mile field at the national meet.

18. Amanda Montplaisir, Senior, Minnesota State (-4 / 14)

Each week, Amanda Montplaisir runs PR after PR -- and these past two weekends were no different. The Minnesota State ace followed up her 3k performance from earlier this season with a PR in the 5k and then a PR in the mile the following weekend.

For the 5k, Montplaisir raced at Minnesota State’s home meet, the Mark Schuck Open, where she finished in a time of 17:01. After the track size conversion, her time came down to 16:54, placing her at NCAA #9 on the national leaderboard.

The next weekend, she stayed at home again and raced the mile at the Ted Nelson Classic. She came away with another PR, running a converted 4:50 mark, effectively putting her at NCAA #16 on the national leaderboard.

With those two marks joining her 3k effort that she opened up her season with, Montplaisir finds herself ranked on the national leaderboard in all three events, giving her some incredible range. Not many runners boast this kind of range within Division Two, making Montplaisir a major threat in whatever race she decides to compete in.

With some fast 5k times likely to come this weekend in Seattle and Boston, Montplaisir will probably move down the leaderboard a little bit. However, she has only contested each of these events once, so she still has plenty of time to improve and keep moving up on the leaderboard in whatever event she chooses to pursue.

17. Lauren Kiley, Freshman, Grand Valley State (+2 / 19)

Lauren Kiley capitalized on building her fitness during the long 2022 cross country season. She also competed in an early 5k race at the Laker’s home meet in December where she ran an incredible time of 16:41. And since then, we had been patiently waiting for this freshman to return to the indoor oval.

This past weekend, at the GVSU Bill Clinger Invite, Kiley ran a solid time of 4:51 in the mile. And although the Laker rookie may need to run a bit faster to ensure herself a spot to the indoor national meet, a 4:51 mark is a very good time, especially for someone as young as herself.

Kiley still has plenty of time to grow and make improvements. And because of her young age, she may have the most room for growth of almost anyone as she navigates through the collegiate fields.

Experience and tactics, however, are aspects that may need further development.

Kiley may also choose to contest other events like the 3k this season. And if she chooses to go down that route, then she may end up assembling one of the more well-rounded indoor track resumes of any D2 distance runner in the NCAA.

16. Molly Maksin, Sophomore, Colorado Mines (+2 / 18)

Like many other names on this list, Molly Maksin took advantage of the last two weekends of racing as she contested both the mile and the 3k.

At the Colorado Invitational, Maksin posted a raw time of 5:12. That result, at the surface, is nothing special, but for someone who is more accustomed to the 5k and 10k, Maksin busted some rust and got to work on some turnover.

And in the end, she still came away with a PR.

The next week, she competed in the 3k at their home meet, the Mines Winter Classic. She ultimately finished runner-up behind her teammate Zoe Baker in an unconverted time of 9:56. This result would earn her a boosted mark of 9:32, rocketing her up on the national leaderboard to NCAA #10.

This performance gave Maksin a huge PR, giving her a legitimate chance to qualify for the national meet in the 3k -- and maybe even contend for All-American honors.

Typically, Maksin goes after the 5k during the indoor track season as that is usually the only event she qualifies in. She has also proven to be an endurance-first runner via her 10k success on the outdoor oval. But after this past weekend, Maksin was able to bolster the overall value of her resume.

With this improved fitness, we will most likely see Maksin make a big jump in her 5k as well (assuming she races that event in Boston this weekend). Seeing her make such huge improvements in the 3k means that she could be even more lethal over the 5k distance.

15. Vanessa Aniteye, Senior, Seattle Pacific (+8 / 23)

Well folks, she’s done it again.

Vanessa Aniteye has taken another two seconds off of her time in the 800 meters, running 2:08 at the 2023 UW Invite on January 27th. She now sits at NCAA #2 on the national leaderboard, only a second behind middle distance ace, Taryn Chapko.

The Seattle Pacific talent made one of the bigger moves in our rankings based on her consistent and continued improvement in the 800 meters. She is proving to us that she is a legitimate threat for the half-mile national title this winter, even if her experience at this level in the event is fairly limited.

It is unheard of for someone to improve as much as Aniteye has in an event like the 800 meters. That makes us wonder how high her ceiling is since her improvements have been so dramatic.

It will be interesting to see how she does in more tactical, championship-style settings and how she responds to different moves made throughout those races. But for right now, Aniteye is going in the right direction.

14. Kylie Anicic, Senior, Edinboro (+3 / 17)

All aboard the PR train!

Kylie Anicic just ran another personal best in another event, this time in the 3k.

Anicic ran 9:29 over the 3000 meter distance at the Penn State National Open over the weekend of January 27th. That result puts her at NCAA #8 on the national leaderboard, placing herself in the conversation for the coveted All-American spots in either the 3k, the 5k or possibly both.

It was nice to see Anicic back up her 16:26 (5k) mark that she ran in early December off of a great cross country season. Many runners choose to capitalize on their late cross country season peak and run an early-season indoor track race. As a result, we see some pretty fast times to start the indoor track season.

But shortly after, we're left wondering where everyone’s fitness is a month or two later.

To see Anicic run 9:29 in the 3000 meters at the tail-end of January confirms to us that she has maintained the momentum that she started all the way back in December.

Anicic also ran the mile leg this past weekend on Edinboro’s DMR team. They just snuck onto the national leaderboard at NCAA #18 with a time of 12:05.

Although that DMR time will most likely not be fast enough to make it to the indoor national meet, it was still good to see Anicic continuing to work on her turnover. That should at least prepare her for those tactical race situations that often happen during the championship portion of the season.

13. Riley McGrath, Junior, UC-Colorado Springs (-3 / 10)

Over the last weekend of January, Riley McGrath contested her specialty event, the mile, at the Colorado Invitational.

McGrath ended up running a converted time 4:56 putting her at NCAA #38 on the national leaderboard. As a result, she drops in our rankings as her performance did not quite measure up to her capabilities.

To be clear, it's not that 4:56 is a bad time. It does, after all, still get her on the national leaderboard. But with personal bests of 4:47 in the mile and 4:23 in the 1500 meters, McGrath is much better than what that 4:56 mark suggests.

The UCCS ace will need to run faster in order to make it to Virginia Beach in a few weeks for the indoor national meet, that much is obvious. Luckily, McGrath's history suggests that she knows how to peak as the season progresses.

So even though she falls a few places in our rankings, there is not too much concern for her. This race was just a rust-buster for her and she will be ready to run faster once she contests this event again.

12. Florance Uwajeneza, Senior, West Texas A&M (-5 / 7)

After running a modest time of 5:03 in the mile and earning a conversion of 5:00, Florance Uwajeneza came back and contested the 3k, a distance more suited for her skillset. The West Texas A&M veteran ran 9:53 at the Texas Tech Open where her time was adjusted for altitude, ultimately earning her a time of 9:46.

That result puts her at NCAA #24 on the national leaderboard and well off from her 9:23 PR.

Nothing was surprising about Uwajeneza's mile performance. It was her first race of the season and it was also on par with her personal best. However, seeing her run in a 3k race that she is (theoretically) more comfortable in and still underperform does bring some minor concern.

Uwajeneza drops in our rankings, but if she contests the 5k soon and runs closer to what she is capable of, then she will move right back into the top-10 of our rankings.

However, until then, she sits just outside of that range.

11. Zoe Baker, Junior, Colorado Mines (+1 / 12)

Zoe Baker has consistently been in our rankings over the past few seasons and has been a mainstay in the Division Two distance running.

The Colorado Mines veteran has struggled to finish in those All-American spots when it comes to the national stage on the track. But after these past two weekends, Baker is once again presenting herself as a threat at the indoor national meet.

On January 26th, Baker competed in the mile at the Colorado Invitational where she ran a converted time of 4:49. She doesn't contest the mile or 1500 meters often, but this was easily the best display of turnover that we've ever seen from her.

Historically, that time has been good enough to qualify for the indoor national meet. Of course, we don't expect Baker to race the mile come March as the 5k and 3k will almost definitely be her focus. Even so, it is good to see this aerobic-centric star working on her speed so she can fare better in the more tactical settings.

But wait, there's more!

This past weekend, Baker ran a converted 9:28 mark for 3000 meters at their home meet, the Mines Winter Classic. That performance puts her at NCAA #5 on the national leaderboard, right there in the mix for the title.

Baker has proven to be strong aerobically and can put together fast times in more structured race settings. However, questions still remain if Baker has the racing acumen come championship season to legitimately battle for a national title.

But with her improved speed, Baker may be ready for whatever race situation is thrown at her, at least more so than what we've seen from her in the past.

10. Natalie Graber, Junior, Grand Valley State (+12 / 22)

Natalie Graber is coming in as our biggest jump in our rankings for this week.

It seems like we have severely underrated this GVSU veteran given that she did run 16:32 for 5000 meters in early December. However, she did not (and does not) have the national meet experience like the others ranked above her and since that fantastic 5k time, we hadn't seen her race.

During the weekend of January 27th, Graber demonstrated improved fitness and ran a jaw-dropping time of 4:44 in the mile at their home meet, the GVSU Bill Clinger Classic. Her time puts her at NCAA #5 on the national leaderboard, slating her into the conversation for an All-American spot and potentially emerging as a national title contender.

That is a massive result for someone who has predominately been viewed as a true long distance talent. And when you realize that this is her first indoor track season, it's understandable why we massively undervalued her turnover.

Seeing Graber run such a fast time alongside the impressive performances of O’Malley and Chapko’s this past weekend also means that she could help the Lakers put together an insanely competitive DMR (like usual).

She has already run monster times in the 5k and now the mile this season, showing off some incredible range. Naturally, her 3k time will see improvement and make her that much more dangerous come the national meet.

9. Katie Doucette, Junior, Western Colorado (-1 / 8)

It almost seems a little unfair that Katie Doucette drops one place in our rankings. But since our last update, we've seen so many ridiculous improvements that it's almost surprising that she dropped just one spot.

After pacing a teammate at Western Colorado’s home meet, Doucette officially opened up her indoor track season with a time of 5:07 in the mile at the Wes Lavong Open. Her effort would ultimately earn her a converted mark of 4:51. She then contested the mile at the Mines Winter Classic, where she ran 4:58, converting down to an incredible result of 4:46.

And although both of those marks came via altitude conversions, Doucette's ongoing improvement in a distance that may be an "off" event for her is super encouraging. Not only is her fitness trending in a positive direction, but her speed seems to the best that it's ever been.

Doucette also helped the Mountaineers the night before that 4:46 conversion, running the mile leg for her DMR team. Their converted time of 11:31 currently sits at NCAA #1 on the national leaderboard.

Overall, Doucette feels like a major winner after this past weekend. She may have lost to the up-and-coming Courtney McAlindon from Westminster in the mile, but that's not the sole reason why she drops a spot in our rankings.

For the most part, her drop is mainly due to others and not necessarily her.

Nevertheless, Doucette is looking just as good as she did last year when she finished 3rd and 2nd in the 5k and 3k, respectively, at the indoor national meet. And right now, she is still someone to look out for no matter what event she contests.

8. Kate Hedlund, Sophomore, UC-Colorado Springs (+3 / 11)

Kate Hedlund was a part of the three All-American finishes for the Mountain Lions in the mile at last year’s indoor national meet. And at the time, she was definitely the most inexperienced out of that trio.

Now, with Layla Almasri gone, McGrath and Hedlund are the ones left from the trio and Hedlund is already racing like a long-time veteran. On January 26th, she opened up her indoor track season at the Colorado Invitational in the elite mile race. Hedlund would ultimately finish 4th in the competitive field with a time of 4:52.

After conversions, her time sits at 4:45, placing her at NCAA #7 on the national leaderboard. This time is a significant improvement from where she was last year when she ran 4:51 and snuck into the national meet. That same season, she earned the last spot to get into the mile finals and then went on to finish 6th overall.

Hedlund's massive improvement in the mile makes her that much more dangerous. Because if she can finish as an All-American off of a 4:49 personal best run during the prelims at the 2022 national meet, then how much better can she perform off of a 4:45 PR from January?

If she peaks like she did last year, then the answer to that question is, "a lot better."

7. Ava O’Connor, Sophomore, Adams State (+2 / 9)

After an unexciting fall where Ava O’Connor did not race, the Irish sophomore finally kicked-off her 2023 indoor track season right where she left off in 2022.

O’Connor opened up her winter campaign on January 28th at the Wes Lavong Open on her home track. She ran the 800 meters in a converted time of 2:09, good enough for NCAA #3 on the national leaderboard. Then, the next weekend, she contested the mile with many of her teammates at the New Mexico Collegiate Classic. And after the dust settled, she ran a converted time of 4:42, finishing just behind her teammate, Stephanie Cotter.

That 4:42 conversion now puts her at NCAA #2 on the national leaderboard.

This was a much-needed showing from the Adams State standout as her recent absence in the fall left us wondering what her status was. But even with her racing hiatus, it's clear that she is just as much of a threat this season as she was last year -- and that will spell trouble for her competition come March.

6. Eleonora Curtabbi, Senior, West Texas A&M (-1 / 5)

Eleonora Curtabbi continues to improve with each event that she runs this winter.

Since our last rankings update, she contested the 3k at the Texas Tech Open, earning the win and finishing in a time of 9:36. She would earn an altitude conversion that would put her at 9:29 and NCAA #7 on the national leaderboard.

For someone who was not even in the conversation of contenders during last year’s indoor national meet, Curtabbi's rise feels underappreciated. She is building off of her impressive steeplechase efforts from the spring as well as her 6th place finish at the NCAA XC Championships.

And her ability to translate her fitness from season to season has been seamless.

It will be interesting to see what Curtabbi decides to do next since she has shown strength within the longer distances, but she has also demonstrated a lot of speed with her improvements in the 800 meters.

She could run the mile again to improve her time and move up on the national leaderboard or she could try her hand at the 5k to see if the 3k/5k double might be a better option at the NCAA Indoor Championships.

The latter option makes more sense, but whatever route she decides to take, Curtabbi continues to back up her past performances from other seasons. She only drops one spot in our rankings because of other results which is no fault of her own

5. Taryn Chapko, Sophomore, Grand Valley State (+1 / 6)

The long-awaited performance of Taryn Chapko in her main event, the 800 meters, finally happened this past weekend and she did not disappoint.

Chapko toed the line for the women's half-mile at Notre Dame’s Meyo Invitational where she finished in a time of 2:07. She is now the new NCAA #1 half-miler on the national leaderboard and has become the main threat for the national title in that race.

Although truthfully, we expected that to be the case.

Compared to all of the distance events, the 800 meters is probably the most wide-open in terms of who could win it as well as who could be an All-American. But when you consider that Chapko is more of a veteran despite her sophomore eligibility, it feels hard to pick against this Grand Valley State star.

Chapko has contested the 800 meters twice at the indoor national meet where her best finish came from the first time she competed, finishing in 3rd place overall. Since then, she has finished in the middle of the field, always competitive, but just finishing outside the top-three.

After one of her better finishes in cross country this past season, it seems like Chapko is fitter than she ever has been and could be poised to win her first-ever title come March.

4. Klaudia O’Malley, Junior, Grand Valley State (0 / 4)

Klaudia O’Malley is another Laker who has competed at her fair share of national meets and has had some impressive finishes. Her best results have come from the past two cross country seasons, finishing 2nd and 3rd, respectively, at the NCAA XC Championships.

She has also had some impressive performances on the oval, finishing 2nd in the mile at last year’s indoor national meet. And in 2023, this GVSU standout picked up where she left off, running a one-second PR and posting an impressive time of 4:44 at the Meyo Invitational.

O’Malley's latest performance puts her at NCAA #4 on the national leaderboard, once again putting her in the conversation to finish in the top-three at the indoor national meet. And with the major improvements coming from Graber, as well as Chapko showing continued improvement, the Lakers will have a legitimate shot at winning the DMR national title.

O’Malley will most likely be a part of that incredible theoretical relay team, adding to her rising stock. There is not much to analyze here outside of the fact that O’Malley continues to perform each time she steps on the track.

3. Brianna Robles, Junior, Adams State (-1 / 2)

Brianna Robles moving backwards one spot in our rankings doesn't feel right, especially after her performance from this past weekend. But just like we've mentioned with other ranked women, this is not Robles' fault. This ranking drop only stems from someone else have a beyond-phenomenal weekend.

Robles identifies as more of a long distance athlete with her best PRs coming from the 5k and the 10k. However, she has shown that she has some sneaky-good speed based on her mile/1500 marks.

The Adams State star has now improved upon her mile PR and ran so fast she could consider contesting the event at the indoor national meet. That's an unlikely scenario, but she was simply that good.

Robles ran an unconverted 4:49 (mile) mark at the New Mexico Collegiate Classic which is impressive in-and-of itself. But with an altitude conversion, she came away with a time of 4:43, good enough for NCAA #3 on the national leaderboard.

She has yet to run the 5k this season, but there is a good chance that she races that event when the Grizzlies go to Boston next weekend to compete at the David Hemery Valentine Invitational. And if she runs as fast as we think she could, then she may move back up our rankings, especially with some impressive leg speed now on her resume.

2. Lindsay Cunningham, Sophomore, Winona State (+1 / 3)

Two weekends ago at the Mark Schuck Open, Lindsay Cunningham competed in arguably her best indoor track event, the 5000 meters. She ran the race solo in typical Cunningham fashion, earning the win and besting 2nd place by 30 seconds.

Her time of 16:06 would earn her a track size conversion of 15:58, getting her under the legendary 16-minute barrier. She now sits at NCAA #1 on the national leaderboard where the next-best time is 16:26.

Although there are still some key names who need to race a 5k this season, including Robles, Baker, Uwajaneza and Doucette, it does seem like Cunningham is ready to take the 5k title at the indoor national meet.

The only area Cunningham lacks right now is her turnover as her mile PR is a modest mark of 5:01. But given her ability to push the pace in pretty much every single race she contests, Cunningham could do the same thing in March to prevent a sit-and-kick situation.

Maybe she will be unaccustomed to having some competition around her if she chooses to push the race from the gun. But based on her runner-up performance at the cross country national meet and now this incredible run over 5000 meters, Cunningham has some of the best strength and endurance in D2.

1. Stephanie Cotter, Senior, Adams State (0 / 1)

At the New Mexico Collegiate Classic, long-time D2 superstar Stephanie Cotter opened up her indoor track season with a slew of her teammates in the mile.

The Irish distance phenom came away with the win over her teammate, Ava O’Connor, in a time of 4:47. She would then earn an altitude conversion, dropping her time to 4:41 and putting her at NCAA #1 on the national leaderboard.

This is right on par with what we would expect from Cotter who has won multiple Division Two national titles and has never lost a national title in the mile/1500 every time that she has contested those events.

Cotter has always proven that she can race well on the national stage and has an incredible finishing kick which has earned her many of those NCAA gold medals. Put her in a bigger race setting, and she runs an even faster time than what she just did this weekend.

But at the end of the day, we are not even sure she has to run faster. Her ability to race so well, specifically from a tactical standpoint, at the national meet distances her from anyone else in the field.

Cotter is the one to beat and has already shown the country that she is just as good as when she won all of those prior national titles.