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Camel City Invitational 800 It’s tough to start this weekend’s wrap-up anywhere other than JDL Fast Track and the incredible race over four laps. Ajee’ Wilson led a massive race to set the flat-track world record in 1:59.26. That race pulled Martha Bissah of Norfolk State to the NCAA #1 qualifying spot in 2:03.99 (converts to 2:02.58). Bissah has shown incredible strength this season after qualifying for the NCAA final last June. Heading into 2019, doubt surrounded Bissah’s role in the NCAA title race; however, the Norfolk State star has shown that June’s race was not a fluke, but a breakout. Abike Egbeniyi struggled in this race with a time of 2:06.59 for Middle Tennessee State. Egbeniyi still slots in at NCAA #3 from earlier in the season, but this race will not inspire any confidence moving forward. Mile Welcome back Virginia Tech! The Hokies had appeared in some 1000 meter races earlier in the season and had not given a true go at any NCAA qualifying events until now. Rachel Pocratsky and Sarah Edwards finished in identical 4:36.49's to tie for the NCAA #5 spot (converted 4:33.78). While Pocratsky’s result was expected, Edwards tying her teammate is huge for a potential Virginia Tech DMR. Last year, Edwards anchored the team at NCAA's while Pocratsky opted to skip the relay. Laurie Barton has still yet to appear for Virginia Tech, so the Hokies may need both of them on relay duty in 2019. Earning mile qualifying times this weekend eases the pressure though and opens up more possibilities for this duo. Kim Hallowes of Duke and Nevada Moreno closed out the invitational section with times of 4:48 and 4:52. Meanwhile, Duke’s Liz Lansing and Leigha Torino ran 4:51 in the open sections. 3000 While the collegiate athletes could not get the win in this event either, it did result in an NCAA lead. Elly Henes finished 5th overall and as the top collegiate runner, established the new NCAA #1 with her flat-track timeof 9:06.36. This converts to 9:01.72 and puts Henes in the NCAA qualifying conversation in all three distance events. Only Karisa Nelson of Samford can claim an equally impressive trio of results so far this season. Hannah Steelman of Wofford was close behind Henes in 9:03.22 which converts to an NCAA #2 placing. Steelman has run career bests in the 800, mile, 3k, and 5k this indoor season. Who knows how much more time Steelman can knock off or which race she might target. Regardless, the Wofford star could play spoiler with another improvement in the next few weeks. Morgan Ilse of North Carolina also flew up the NCAA list to #6 with her flat-track 9:13 (converted 9:08.54). Ilse, like Steelman, is on the outside looking in for NCAA's, but could certainly play spoiler with another breakout race. Dominique Clairmonte of North Carolina State was the final runner under 9:20 with her 9:19.41 (converted NCAA #12 9:14.66). Clairmonte and teammate Henes have represented the Wolfpack extremely well in 2019 and could combine for a DMR challenge. The rest of the 3k invitational field had very respectable results too, as did the leaders of the open race. BU Bruce Lehane Scarlett and While Invitational 800 UConn’s Susan Aneno raced to the top collegiate finisher status in 2:04.67. Although it's not an improvement, it is within a second of her season best and shows that Aneno is in good form. Monmouth’s Allie Wilson did make an improvement though, as she moves up the list with her 2:05.14. Wilson’s time is good for NCAA #6 and displays her own consistency after two weekends of 2:06's. Wilson is probably outside of NCAA qualification with this result, but has set herself up well for more improvements and continues to carry the 800 meter flag for Monmouth with Dylan Capwell now graduated on the men's side. Ashley Lewis of George Mason clocked in with a 2:06.71 as the last NCAA athlete under 2:10. This was her first 800 of the season after racing off distances in preparation for the four-lapper. Mile The top D1 result from this race was UConn’s Mia Nahom in 4:44.83. Hannah Reinhardt and Clare Severe of Albany and Lehigh, respectively finished close behind in 4:45. DII's Simon Fraser took the top overall NCAA mark of the meet with Addy Townsend running 4:44.81. 3000 UAB’s Emily Drouin earns another mention in the weekend reviews as she is the top college finisher in 9:35.28. Power Five Invitational 800 Aurora Rynda of Michigan ran a very quick 2:06.80 to beat out all but Nike athlete Shannon Osika. Rynda led teammate Hannah Meier to a 2:08.67 with Indiana’s Mallory Mulzer close behind in 2:08.90. Michigan’s Lauren Biggs and Alice Hill also broke 2:10 to make it four Michigan Wolverines under 2:10. Mile Bethany Hasz of Minnesota took the first win for the Hasz twins as she broke away from the field to run 4:42.79. Katherine Receveur of Indiana earned a 2nd place finish in 4:47.96 after a series of disappointing DNF's earlier this season. Anne Forsyth of Michigan is also building on an impressive freshman resume after running 4:48. Bailey Hertenstein of Indiana also ran 4:48. Another noteworthy time is a 4:50 result from Sharon Lokedi of Kansas. Lokedi is not expected to make an impact in the mile, but that result is slightly concerning for her ability to compete in a championship 5k. Lokedi ran 15:15 in December, but will need to have more speed than what she showed this past weekend to compete at Nationals. 3000 The second Hasz victory came from Megan in the 3k as she raced to a 9:31.63. She outraced Kathryn House of Michigan who ran an impressive 9:35.51 to bolster the Wolverine’s depth. Lynsie Gram of Michigan State and Patty O’Brien of Minnesota rounded out the top four in 9:36 and 9:39, respectively. DMR Vanderbilt edged Pittsburgh, Michigan, and Georgia Tech as all four teams were within four seconds of each other. Kendall Derry anchored Vanderbilt as they took the win in 11:37.34. Colorado Invitational 800 Skylyn Webb of UC-Colorado Springs led the field to set the DII NCAA record at altitude. Her raw time of 2:04.68 was good enough to set the record by a full second. That’s before the altitude conversion which would have dropped the time to 2:03.87. The DI ranks were well represented as well by Cammy Sargent of Northern Colorado with a 2:07.32 which converts to 2:06.50 for NCAA purposes. Colorado’s Mann sisters Elissa and Karina both ran 2:09. Mile Tabor Scholl of Colorado broke into the mile conversation with a 4:41.85. That time converts all the way down to an NCAA #9 4:34.98 and likely cements Scholl’s spot in the mile at NCAA's. This is a good sign for a Colorado's DMR and the rest of the Buffalos’ chances moving forward. Scholl led Sarah Feeny of Utah and Roisin Flanagan of Adams State to 4:46's. Those times convert to approximately 4:39. 3000 Makena Morley of Colorado stepped back onto the track as well this weekend with a 9:20 to convert to 9:04.89 for NCAA #3. Morley qualified in both the 3k and 5k in 2018 and will certainly want to return to those races after and having a resurgence during cross country. Sage Hurta ran 9:27, but was competing unattached. Notre Dame Meyo Invitational 800 Kelly Hart of Notre Dame set the top DI time in 2:07.00 as Rachael Walters of Grand Valley State narrowly edged her to move up the DII list. Hattie Plumb of Illinois State managed 5th overall with 2:09.14 with Janelle Noe of Toledo was right behind in 2:09.52. Lyndsie Schinkel of Northern Iowa and Erin Sullivan of Notre Dame also managed to break 2:10. Hart bolsters a strong Notre Dame lineup that may opt for a quick DMR, especially with Alex Wilson being on their home track. Mile Annie Fuller and Carlyn Arteaga of Michigan State led the collegiate ranks in 4:39.70 and 4:42.69, respectively. Michigan State was relatively overshadowed by intrastate rivals Michigan and regional individual stars Alicia Monson and Aubrey Roberts. The Spartans are trying to take that attention back and deserve more recognition based on these results. They defeated Aubrey Roberts in this race as the Northwestern Wildcat earned 5th in 4:43.81 and Sydney Meyers of Eastern Michigan in 4:43.88. Indiana State’s S. Brooke Moore jumped into 7th and Rachel DaDamio represented the home team in 8th, both in 4:44. 3000 Erin McDonald of Michigan State took home the victory for the Spartans in 9:19.10 ahead of Jacqueline Gaughan and Karrigan Smith. Gaughan of Notre Dame ran 9:22 while Smith of Michigan State ran 9:25. Loyola (Ill.)’s Lindsey Brewis also ran 9:25.62 while Rachel King of South Dakota State ran 9:29.79. DMR Illinois State’s team of Hickey-White-Plumb-Beattie earned a time of 11:39 to take the victory. Villanova Invitational 800 McKenna Keegan of Villanova earned the top slot at 2:07.26. She will be an important part of the Wildcats’ DMR later this season. Mile Rachel McArthur rebounded after a rough race last week to run 4:37.79. She will team up with Nicole Hutchinson as a formidable duo in the mile. New Mexico Classic Mile Adva Cohen of New Mexico had a wonderful double in 4:45.98 after running a 2:10 for 800 meters. Her mile converts to 4:39.75. Close behind was Lilian Koech of UTEP who ran 4:46.21 which converts to 4:39.97. Hannah Nuttall of New Mexico and Carolyne Chepkosgei of UTEP ran converted 4:41's. Texas Tech Open 800 Kansas’ Marleena Eubanks beat teammate Nicole Montgomery, 2:07.94 to 2:08.79. They will earn a small altitude conversion to help them up the qualifying lists. Doc Hale VT Elite 800 While her teammates were crushing times at Camel City, Shannon Quinn earned the home victory in 2:08.01. That result offers the Hokies an extra 800 leg for their DMR if some individuals opt to go for individual events only at NCAA's. Rod McCravy Memorial 800 Annie Ubbing and Aziza Ayoub continue to improve for Ohio State as they ran 2:08.61 and 2:08.82 for the top two spots. Mile Julia Rizk of Ohio State ran away from the field to go 4:43.78 and followed that up with a 2:11 800 double. Rizk and the entire Ohio State team is starting to impress and beginning to show that they can make a difference at BIG 10's (and maybe NCAA's if they pull together a great race).

Camel City Elite 800 The Camel City Elite meet in North Carolina produced some admirable results, especially when you add in the flat-track conversions. Clayton Murphy was able to secure a flat-track world record of 1:45.92 and dragged a few collegiates to some fast times in the process. Duke's Matt Wisner was the top collegiate and 3rd overall in a time of 1:49.22 while Virginia Tech's redshirt freshman Bashir Mosavel-Lo finished close behind in 1:49.46. After conversions, Wisner now owns the #8 time in the country with a 1:47.68 while Mosavel-Lo is #9 at 1:47.92. Those times should be enough to qualify for Nationals, but it will be close. Regardless, these are strong results, especially for Wisner who has matured into a reliable ace for the Blue Devils. Mile Edward Cheeserek led the way, dominating the field with a 3:55. However, Virginia Tech's Diego Zarate was able to find some success of his own. He finished runner-up in a time of 4:03.37 which would eventually convert to a 4:00.31. Kentucky's sub-four miler Ben Young kept things interesting with a 4:04.11 while Iowa State's Festus Lagat was close behind in 4:04.99. Both of those times convert to 4:01. 3000 The 3000 meters turned out to be one of the more exciting events of the evening as a slew of top-tier distance runners toed the line. The 2016 NCAA Cross Country champion (Patrick Tiernan) took home the win in 7:48 and led a number of collegiates to strong times. The top collegiate was Eastern Kentucky's James Sugira who finished in a time of 7:58. He was closely followed by Edwin Kurgat (Iowa State) and Peter Seufer (Virginia Tech) who each ran 7:59. After conversions, Sugira now owns one of the fastest times in the country with a converted 7:52 (NCAA #9). Meanwhile, Kurgat and Seufer were able to secure times of 7:53 (NCAA #11) and 7:54 (NCAA #12), respectively. Last year's top 16 cut-off for Nationals in the 3000 meters was 7:53.37. With the Husky Invite and Iowa State Classic still on deck, expect this year's qualifying mark to be lowered closer to 7:51 high / 7:52 low. National qualifying aside, these are three exceptional performances from men who had breakout cross country seasons. There were questions as to whether or not they could translate their fitness from the grass to the track, but no one will be doubting them from here on out. NC State's Ian Shanklin also had a nice race, finishing as the fourth-best collegiate in a time of 8:09 which converted to 8:03. Power 5 Invite 800 Georgia Tech's mid-distance specialist Avery Bartlett took home the win in a time of 1:49.02 which was enough to hold off Pittsburgh's Drew Glick who ran 1:51.27 for 2nd. Mile Kansas' Dylan Hodgson edged out Georgia Tech's Nahom Solomon for the victory, 4:08.23 to 4:08.67. Indiana's Josephy Murphy closed out the top three in 4:08.88. 5000 Indiana's Bryce Millar battled with Louisville youngster Emmanuel Cheboson. Millar crossed the line in 1st, holding off Cheboson 14:17.57 to 14:17.81. Frank Sevigne Husker Invite Mile In one of the best matchups of the weekend, we got to see Nebraska phenom George Kusche go head-to-head with Missouri's Kieran Wood. Entering the race, there was plenty of hype in regards to the potential sub-four we could see from Kusche, a freshman from South Africa. In a race that got the crowd to it's feet, Kusche and Wood charged down the final straightaway. The end result would Kusche in 1st and Wood in 2nd, both running under the legendary four minute mark. Kusche's time of 3:59.61 (NCAA #11) was enough to edge Wood who ran 3:59.64 (NCAA #12). For Kusche, this time validates the impressive performances we saw from him during cross country. From an outsider's perspective, Kusche has given Nebraska a spark that they have desparetely needed for quite some time now. As for Kieran Wood, this is a phenomenal performance which shows that beating Iowa State's Andrew Jordan earlier this season was no fluke. Much like Kusche, the sophomore is giving life to a Missouri team that has suddenly developed some depth. Freshman Martin Prodanov and sophomore Dustan Davidson also had big races, posting times of 4:03 and 4:07, respectively. Not bad for a pair of underclassmen. If you're looking for an underrated distance program with a bright future, keep your eye on the Missouri Tigers. After Kusche and Wood, we saw Drake's Kevin Kelly and Illinois' Jesse Reiser cross the line, each running a time of 4:01. They contributed to what was (arguably) the deepest race of the weekend. Bruce Lehane Scarlet & White Invitational 800 In a relatively deep field, Harvard's Myles Marshall made his season debut for 800 meters. Marshall ran a respectable 1:49.27 to secure the win over a handful of professionals. UMass Lowell's Sean Munnelly dipped under 1:50 for the fifth time in his career, finishing 3rd overall in a time of 1:49.73. Canadian Sebastian Saville (University of Ottawa) and George Mason's Blaine Lacy also ran a pair of 1:49's to round out the top five. 1000 Stephen Evans (University of Ottawa) was the top finisher thanks to a blistering kick. His time of 2:25.78 was enough to hold off Lehigh's Kyle Berman and Sean Brown who rounded out the top three with times of 2:25.96 and 2:26.81, respectively (in a separate heat). Mile The field produced two sub-four minute performances from a pair of professionals, but the top collegiate was unable to break the barrier. Iowa State's Dan Curts ran a respectable race, but was unable to hang with the leaders, finishing 3rd in 4:00.56. While it must be frustrating to not break the four minute barrier, Curts can find comfort in the fact that he still has a few more big-race opportunities left in the season. Finishing 7th overall out of the non-invite heat was Penn's Colin Daly who ran a big personal best. His time of 4:03.65 bettered his previous PR of 4:05.19 which was also run at Boston in 2018. It looks like Daly might be able to contend with Columbia's Sam Ritz for the Ivy League mile title later this month. Georgetown's Jack Salisbury and Lehigh's Matt Kravitz rounded out the top 10 with times of 4:04.39 and 4:05.69, respectively. Salisbury was likely aiming for a mark closer to four minutes, but you have to appreciate how he has matured as a competitor who can consistently run top times. A sub-four mile may not be in the cards for 2019, but he's certainly moving in the right direction. As for Matt Kravitz, he'll shake things up in the Patriot League later this month. His new personal best will make him a legitimate title contender against guys like Keegan Smith (Army), Jake Brophy (Navy), Jacob Stupak (Bucknell), and a number of men from Boston University. Mountain T's Invite Mile The NAU men showed off their ability to drop down in distance with a handful of strong mile performances. Geordie Beamish was the top finisher in a time of 4:06. He was followed by teammates Luis Grijalva and (4:07 high) and Tyler Day (4:09). Southern Utah's George Espino was 4th in a time of 4:09.92. Keep in mind that these times were run at nearly 7000 feet of altitude. Therefore, the conversions give these men times of 3:57.99 (Beamish), 3:58.92 (Grijalva), 4:00.18 (Day), and 4:00.36 (Espino). Beamish's time is now the new NCAA leader while Grijalva is now sits at #5. Unlike the 800 or 3000 meters, it feels like the this year's mile field doesn't have the same amount of depth like we've seen in years past. Obviously, the qualifying marks for Nationals will continue to get faster, but it feels like 3:58 high could make it into the national meet this year. 3:57.64 is what it took to guarantee a spot to Nationals last year. Colorado Invite Mile The Adams State men went to work this past weekend, taking the top two collegiate spots in this race. Elias Gedyon and Austin Anaya each ran a pair of 4:06's which converts to just over 4:00. As expected, the Grizzly duo have entered the DII national title conversation. How about Colorado State freshman Michael Mooney? After an impressive season opener where he ran unattached, the CSU coaching staff must have decided that he was fit enough to run in a Ram's singlet. Mooney was the top finisher in his heat with a time of 4:11 which converts to 4:05.20. 3000 Colorado's Joe Klecker gave us the race of the weekend. The Buffalo ace threw down a winning time of 8:01 (at 5300 feet of altitude). After conversions, Klecker has now secured the time top time in the NCAA with a jaw-dropping 7:48.32, besting Oliver Hoare's time of 7:48.81. Regardless of whether or not you believe in the conversions, Klecker's performance shows us that he has taken his fitness to another level. It's time to put him in the title conversation for March. After Klecker, we saw former Buffalo Morgan Pearson (now of Tinman Elite) and teammates Ethan Gonzales and John Dressel take the next three spots. Gonzales and Dressel each ran times of 8:16 and 8:19 which convert to 8:03 and 8:05, respectively. Wyoming's Christopher Henry rounded out the top five with a converted time of 8:05. 5000 It was a battle between Adams State and Northern Colorado in this one. The ASU duo of Kale Adams Danny Dominguez went 1-2, each running a pair of 14:56's. They were able to hold off Northern Colorado's Josh Campbell (14:56) and Stephen Haas (14:59). After conversions, Adams and Dominguez were gives times of 14:29 and 14:30, respectively. Campbell and Haas earned conversions of 14:30 and 14:33. Notre Dame Meyo Invite Mile In one of the tightest races of the weekend, we got to see four men finish within one second of each other. Notre Dame's Yared Nuguse was the winner on his home track in a time of 4:01.10. Eastern Michigan's Owen Day and Miami (Ohio)'s Sean Torpy rounded out the top three with times of 4:01.25 and 4:01.81. In total, 20 men ran under 4:10 in this race. 5000 Indiana State's Akis Medrano took the win over Notre Dame's Kevin Salvano, 14:19 to 14:21.

Boston University is hosting another high-level meet this weekend on their indoor track. The Bruce Lehane Scarlet and White Invitational will showcase some of the best talent from around the northeast and beyond. The BU track will be fast as always and should yield some impressive performances. Last weekend’s Terrier Invitational brought some first-time sub-four miles as well as strong performances in the 3k and 5k. We could see the same this weekend with a handful of guys approaching 4:00 as well as some deep fields in the 3k and a strong group in the 5k. 800 Georgetown will be hoping to solidify themselves as one of the top middle-distance programs in the country (again) this season with a solid squad entered in the 800. Junior Joshua Bell has a PR of 1:53 and has run 2:25 in the 1000 meters this season. Freshmen Ethan Delgado and Ian Delgado are entered as well in what will be their first collegiate 800's. Ethan ran 1:21 in the 600 in January and ran 1:54 in high school. Ian has run 1:19 for meters 600 and 2:28 in the 1000 this season. He ran 1:49 in high school which could set him up to be in a very good spot as a true freshman. 1:49 might not be good enough to get into NCAA's, but with some college training under his belt you never know… The rest of the field is pretty stacked as well. George Mason senior Blaine Lacey comes in with a 1:48 PR. Last weekend’s meet was won in 1:48 so he could be in the mix to win. Joseph Novak, a senior from Penn, is entered with a 1:52 PR. Following along with an impressive Ivy League crew, Harvard’s Myles Marshall and Ryan Thrush will be coming in with PRs of 1:47 and 1:51. Jackson Gallagher of UMass Lowell has a PR of 1:53 and could be a factor too. 1000 The 1000 meter at BU this weekend does not look like it will be as competitive as the 800, but we could still see some fast times. BU’s own Johnny Kemps is entered, and while he only has a 1000 meter PR of 2:29, he has run 4:05 in the mile so I’m sure he can better his 1k time this weekend. Lehigh’s Sean Brown is entered with PR's of 1:53 for 800 meters and 3:50 for 1500 meters, but he is not listed as ever having run a 1k before. His 800 time should put him in the mix this weekend. Louis Dilaurenzo is a freshman at Monmouth University and has run 1:54 for 800 meters this season. Greg Pelose from BU is also entered with a 2:27 PR. Mile The 4:00 barrier will be under watch again this weekend as a few guys should be able to go under the mark for the first time in their careers. Syracuse’s Aidan Tooker ran 3:59.39 to break 4:00 for the first time last weekend, and a fellow Orangeman could do the same this weekend. Noah Affolder is entered and holds a personal best of 4:02. Tooker’s PR going into last weekend before he ran a three second improvement? Also 4:02. Can the training partners both break the barrier two weeks in a row? Georgetown’s Jack Salisbury holds a mile PR of 4:04 and a 1500 PR of 3:44. Salisbury just ran 2:24 for 1000 meters, so he seems to be in great shape heading into the bulk of indoor season. Penn’s Colin Daly has run 4:05 and his teammate Noah Carey just ran 4:08. Carey may be a little far from 3:59, but he could still go for a big PR and hang up front in this race. One of the highlights of the entire meet could come from a Boston University athlete. Paul Luevano has a PR of 4:02 and could break the barrier in front of a home crowd. If Luevano is on pace through 1000 meters, that field house may get pretty loud as Luevano races the clock and his fellow athletes. 3000 Penn will be bringing a strong crew of William Daly, Sam Webb, and Mitchell Poynter for the 3k at BU. Daly has run 8:19, Webb has run 8:24 (and recently a 4:06 in the mile), and Poynter has run 8:21. This trio should all be able to lower their personal bests and have a strong presence at the front of this race. Boston University will be entering a solid duo of Brett Davidson and Alexander Seal. Davidson has run 8:25, and while this appears to be Seal’s 3k debut as a senior, he has run 4:01 for the mile before and has also gone under 24:00 for 8k in cross country. Seal could be a bit of a wildcard here, but don’t be surprised if he is able to blast a quick time. Drew Dorflinger of Bucknell has run 8:20 and also 14:18 for 5k. Lehigh’s Victor Yegon has a listed 3k PR of 8:41, but has run 9:00 in the steeplechase so he should be capable of much faster than that this weekend. 5000 Penn has also entered a pretty big group in the 5k that could be capable of doing some damage. Daniel Cohen has a PR of 14:49, but just ran 8:26 so we may see a much faster 5k out of him. Colin Daly is entered in the 5k along with the mile, so it is unclear if he will be running both (same day) or just picking one. He has a PR of 14:41 which could also be significantly lowered should he choose to run the 5k. William Hare is entered as well and does not have a collegiate 5k time on record, but has run 8:21 in the 3k so he is right in the mix with his teammates. Alex Roth has a PR of 14:34 and Anthony Russo just ran 8:29 in the 3k so he may be a possible contender depending what his fitness is looking like right now. The 5k field is pretty small this weekend and Penn is the only team bringing serious firepower, but a lot of other entries have personal bests right around 15:00. We could see some guys dip into the 14:40 range if the race goes out fast.

Each year, Camel City Elite ends up as one of the premier of indoor track meets in the entire country. Their generous prize money paired with their willingness to combine collegiates and professionals makes JDL Fast Track one of the most unique racing venues that the nation has to offer. The 2019 races will likely be some of the fastest we've ever seen at Camel City, which should bode well for the top collegiate women who are vying for a spot to Nationals in March. Let's start with the 800, an event that holds some underrated collegiate talent. Abike Egbeniyi has been on fire in the first half of the season. She has earned back-to-back victories in the 800, run 53 seconds for 400 meters, and has defeated UCONN's Susan Aneno enroute to an NCAA #2 time of 2:03. On a good day, she could be a sleeper pick to win this entire race. However, Norfolk State's Martha Bissa has had some strong performances as well. She is currently #4 in the NCAA for 800 meters with a time of 2:04 and even posted a time of 2:45 for 1000 meters. Don't overlook this accomplished junior, she is carrying some serious momentum right now. Kristen Metcalfe is the last collegiate in this field. She is currently the #2 ranked half-miler in Division II with a strong time of 2:06. She will be looking to close the gap on the D2 NCAA #1 time of 2:05.72, held by Skylyn Webb of UC-Colorado Springs. As we make our way to the women's mile field, it's hard not to get excited about the performances we could see. The Virginia Tech duo of Rachel Pocratsky and Sarah Edwards could make some serious noise in this field after a quiet, but strong start to their 2019 indoor seasons. Pocratsky has only run the 1000 meters (twice) so far this season, but with times of 2:47 and then 2:43, it's clear that the Virginia Tech ace is riding momentum into what should be a breakout mile performance. As for her teammate Sarah Edwards, she has also run a strong pair of times in the 1000 meters (2:52 twice). With a personal best of 4:42, Edwards will likely be eyeing a sub-4:40 performance. If things go well, the Hokies should be looking at a very dangerous DMR in 2019. Nevado Mareno (NC State) and Kim Hallowes (Duke) may not have the same personal bests that the VT duo does, but they'll be contenders who are looking for a big race. Mareno, the transfer from Stanford, is looking to regain some momentum after a few respectable finishes during cross country season. As for Hallowes, she has some sneaky good PR's of 2:08, 2:49, and 4:24 (1500 meters). Don't be surprised if she earns a top mark. As we make our way into the 3000, there are a ton of entries to keep an eye on. I suppose the first few names we should mention are the NC State women. The trio of Elly Henes, Dominique Clairmonte, and Nell Crosby could legitimately be the top three collegiates in this race if the pacing and positioning go in their favor. Henes has already proven that she is one of the top long distance runners in the nation after a standout cross country season and a converted 15:34 5k which was also run on this same track. While Henes will steal the headlines, I'll be keeping an eye on Clairmonte who recorded a 4:38 personal best at Virginia Tech a few weeks ago and upset Henes in the process. I am expecting a breakout performance for her. When you add in Nell Crosby's 9:19 personal best for 3000 meters, the Wolfpack women look awfully dangerous... The Furman women of Savannah Carnahan and Emma Grace Hurley continue to fly under the radar despite a series of strong performances. Carnahan will be a big name to watch this weekend when you see that her personal bests are 9:11 and 15:49. She could be one of the few women to truly contend with Henes on Saturday. If you're looking for a sleeper pick, UNC's Morgan Ilse is someone you may want to consider. The Tar Heel veteran can seemingly do it all with times of 2:09, 4:40, 9:12, and 16:05. With back-to-back PR's at last week's Bob Pollock Invite, Ilse will return to her primary distance where she could surprise a lot of people. Others women like Logan Morris (Clemson), Sara Freix (Virginia Tech), Leah Hanle (Mount Olive), and Hannah Steelman (Wofford) are all respectable competitors, but don't necessarily have 3k PR's that jump off the page. That said, each of these women bring something unique to the table. Whether it's success during cross country (Steelman), impressive range (Morris), an abundance of championship experience (Hanle), or outstanding consistency (Freix), these women will find a way to stay competitive.

The JDL Fast Track is touted as the fastest 200 meter flat track in the country and this year's collegiate fields for the Camel City Elite meet are slated to be the deepest in meet history. Add in rabbits to every race and a slew of professional athletes and there is a good chance we see some NCAA qualifying marks from these star studded fields this weekend. The Camel City Elite meet hosts three distance events per gender; the 800, the mile, and the 3000. Only a select number of athletes are invited to compete at this prestigious event which will feature a number of Olympians including Ajee Wilson and Nick Willis. The collegiate fields are just as deep, featuring many All-Americans and NCAA qualifiers in each event. One event that is particularly stacked is the men’s 3000 meters... This race features four collegiate stars who finished in the top 20 at Cross Country Nationals this past fall. Edwin Kurgat of Iowa State was the highest finisher among them and will be looking to break 8:00 for the first time this season. Currently he sits at #25 in the NCAA after running 8:00.23 at Arkansas a week ago and would need to run under 7:56 to put himself in contention for an NCAA qualifying mark. However, he may need to run faster as he will be facing strong competition from the likes of James Sugira, Aaron Templeton, and Peter Seufer. Templeton has only raced once this indoor season when he ran a 5k personal best of 13:58 at the BU Opener back in December. That time bettered his lifetime best of 14:03 from outdoors in 2018 and would currently be #7 in the NCAA had he not raced unattached. He will certainly be looking to better his personal best of 8:07, but since he has exhausted his indoor eligibility, this season will be more of a build-up for outdoors. James Sugira of Eastern Kentucky is making his collegiate debut at the 3000 meter distance and has been making waves during his collegiate campaign thus far. He finished 14th at XC Nationals and opened up his indoor season with a win in the mile at the Thundering Herd Invitational where he ran 4:11. Sugira’s stellar performances in cross country suggest he is capable of running under the 8:00 mark which will put him in the national qualifying conversation. Peter Seufer of Virginia Tech and Jacob Choge of Middle Tennessee State are two more collegiates who will be looking to run under 8:00. They own personal bests of 8:04 and 8:11, respectively and have both already run fast times this indoor season. With the race slated to be paced at 4:12 to 4:16 through 1600 meters, expect these two to be in the mix. Dropping down in distance, the 800 meter field also features a strong collegiate contingent with four men who have run sub-1:50 for the distance. Matt Wisner of Duke is the fastest of the four men with an indoor personal best of 1:49.61 and already has a number of competitions under his belt this season. He competed as a member of Duke’s DMR and 4 x mile relay teams at the Dr. Sander Columbia Challenge last weekend and is one of two collegiates in the field to go sub-1:50 indoors. Matthew Harding of Virginia Tech is the other collegiate to accomplish this feat, running 1:49.68 last February. Harding will be a bit of a dark horse coming into the meet as he has some of the fastest times on paper (with a PR of 1:47), but is the only collegiate yet to race this season. Even with an extended hiatus, Virginia Tech tends to show out on the track and Harding is unlikely to be an exception. The other Hokie in this race is redshirt freshman Bashir Mosavel-Lo. He has run 1:48.66 outdoors, but will be making his indoor debut at the 800 meter distance on Saturday. He is off to a strong indoor start after running 4:06 for the mile and 2:26 for 1000 meters earlier this season. He will likely be chasing his teammate this weekend in hopes of cracking the 1:50 barrier. Nickson Rotich will also be looking to break that barrier for the first time indoors. The junior from Eastern Kentucky opened up his season with a 1:50.53 and owns a personal best of 1:49.52 from outdoors. Given he has the slowest marks of the collegiate runners, it will be a stretch for him to come out on top. However, a sub-1:50 mark is certainly within reach given his performances this season. Last, but certainly not least is the mile - a field which features a handful of collegiates looking to break 4:00 for the first time. Of the seven men entered, only two have dipped under that mark. One of those two was Princeton transfer William Paulson (now of Arizona State). Paulson ran a gutsy race in Washington and was the only man in his heat to break the barrier, running a time of 3:59.94. The former Princeton runner will be joined by his teammate (also formerly of Princeton) Garrett O’Toole, who will be looking to break the barrier for the first time this weekend. O’Toole owns a personal best of 4:01.24, but has run the sub-4 equivalent in the 1500 when he ran 3:41.85 (and 3:39 unattached). Breaking 4:00 has been a long awaited result for O’Toole after running 4:01 as a high school senior. With the pacer set to run 1:57-1:58 through 800 meters, this will be his best chance to finally have a breakthrough race. Another runner who has come incredibly close to the mark is Festus Lagat of Iowa State. The junior ran 4:00.83 last weekend at the UW Invitational and will be looking for redemption this weekend. Lagat has great speed, owning a personal best of 1:48 for 800 meters which should set him up with a great opportunity this weekend. If he can hang onto the group for most of the race, he should have the speed to close hard and slip under 4:00 for the first time. Robert Heppenstall of Wake Forest is another athlete with fantastic speed. His mile personal best is "only" 4:08, but he has run 1:46 and 3:41 which indicates the ability to break 4:00. Like Lagat, if he can ride the group for most of the race, he is certainly fast enough to close a gap in the final 400 meters. So far this season, he only has one individual mark, a 1:50.05 from the Bob Pollock Invitational, which he won. All the other collegiates in the field are capable of breaking 4:00 with Diego Zarate of Virginia Tech and Ryan Adams of Furman both owning personal bests of 4:02 and a pair of strong 1500's. The fastest collegiate is Benjamin Young of Kentucky, who ran 3:59.59 last February. So far this season, Young has only one result to his name - an 8:17 in the 3000 at the Clemson Invitational. Predictions All of these men will be hard-pressed to win their respective events given how strong the professional fields are. While Aaron Templeton has the most impressive result of the season, he appears to be someone geared towards longer distances. Edwin Kurgat has some underrated closing speed and will have the added incentive of just missing the 8:00 barrier last weekend to motivate him. James Sugira adds intrigue to the conversation, but Kurgat's personal best of 7:56 makes him my pick to take home the win The 800 has no clear-cut favorite, but Matt Wisner is coming off of some strong performances this season and is also the fastest collegiate in the field. He should face a strong challenge from Harding, but at the end of the day Wisner will finish ahead. Normally betting for the guy with the fastest personal best is a safe way to go, but the mile field has quite a few guys with potential to run a lot faster. Both Paulson and Young have broken 4:00, but O’Toole will finally break the coveted mark and be the first collegiate across the line.

Earlier this month, The Stride Report contributors came together for two pre-season drafts - one for women and one for men. Although the official winners will not be declared until after the NCAA Indoor Championships in March, we thought it would be good to check on the progress our teams have made through the first part of the season. For this midseason update, our fantasy track teams will be scored in two ways . The first is to score the current national rankings like they would be scored at NCAA's (10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1). The second method is to score the number of potential NCAA qualifiers. To do this, an athlete earns one point if their current mark A) would have qualified for the NCAA meet in 2018 or B) they own a time that is currently in the Top 16. An athlete will also receive a ½ point if their mark is not in the Top 16 in the NCAA, but is projected to qualify based on TSR’s Scratch Tracker . Athletes qualifying in the DMR will receive partial points in the first scoring technique and receive individual points in the second scoring method. TL;DR - We have two scoring methods to measure the performance of our fantasy teams MEN The results above are all the top 25 results for the drafted athletes. Those early season results create the following team scores... Based on the current scoring methods, Garrett’s team is clearly out in front in both scoring methods thanks to major points from Nahom Solomon, Kyle Mau, and Amon Kemboi. Mau’s current status of project qualification in four different events clearly benefits this early scoring method. Although he won't be running four events, Mau’s versatility is rewarded in our scoring system because of the high likelihood that he will appear at the championships even if he knocked out of qualification in one or two events. Likewise, teams that selected Oregon runners benefit from the second scoring system since there is a higher likelihood of them running at NCAA's (even though each athlete on the relay will only earn fractional points). Sean’s team looks to be a potential high scoring team in the final totals based on the current standings, but suffers in the second scoring method because his projected points come almost entirely from Kasey Knevelbaard and Oliver Hoare. On the other hand, Ben and Michael own teams with fewer projected points. However, they will have more opportunities to score points at NCAA's. Elliott’s team is similar to Sean’s as Tyler Day accounts for 2/3 of his projected points and is the only active scoring option at Nationals for the moment. John’s team mimics that trend as well with Devon Dixon holding his only NCAA points. Sam’s team depicts the other major trend in the men’s side of the NCAA – the fact that a bunch of big names have simply not raced yet. Only Jonah Koech of Texas Tech has even stepped on a track for competition from his team. This fact really hurts Sam’s team, but applies to Morgan McDonald, John Dressel, Grant Fisher (to a degree), and a whole host of other competitors and pre-season favorites. The return of these athletes could drastically swing these draft totals in Sam's favor come March. WOMEN The results above are all the top 25 results for the drafted athletes. Those early season results create the following team scores... Ben’s team is clearly taking the lead based on the NCAA scoring method, which is a great sign for his chances of winning the overall title at the end of the year. Garrett’s men's team has a ton of projected points thanks to Kyle Mau, but that won’t go his way at the national meet because a distance quadruple at NCAA's is almost impossible. Ben’s scores, however, are reasonable for each athlete. Weini Kelati likely won’t appear in the mile given her past NCAA choices, but since Kelati has not yet raced a 3k, her mile/5k scores in these mid-season point totals is the rough equivalent to a 5k/3k double at NCAA's. The rest of Ben's draft selections are running almost exactly what they were expected to run at Nationals based on our predictions. The fact that Ben’s team is also 2nd in our qualifying scoring metric shows that there’s a high likelihood that his athletes will appear at the National Championships as well. His team (and Michael’s) benefit from how fast the women’s mile is in comparison to last year as 15 athletes have already run faster than last year’s final qualifier. The 5k is similar with 14 women having already toppled last year’s 16th qualifier. As noted above, Michael’s team benefits from those two events almost exclusively. This is a great sign for those athletes as they are clearly excelling early on in 2019. On the opposite end of the spectrum, the entire NCAA is succeeding in this early season portion. Both the 5k and mile could be much faster than the 2018 version of the championships and could knock some of Michael's athletes out of contention. Zach had a great draft as well with a lot of certainty in the top eight of the 5k. Those eight are likely safe and should qualify for Nationals, bringing in some massive points for their respective teams. One of the clearest takeaways from this draft is how few athletes have attempted the 3k. Only Millie Paladino has competed in that event from this draft, and only one athlete in the entire NCAA has run a time that would have qualified in 2018 (Abbie McNulty). It will be very intriguing to see when people start to race the 3000 and how the event evolves, especially as individuals might see it as the easiest spot to qualify for Nationals. A secondary effect of that will be how the transition towards the 3k affects the 5k and mile competition. My guess is that the mile and 5k races before the conference meets might be slightly lighter than normal as the 3k gets more focus. A handful of savvy coaches might hammer a few fast attempts at those events though hoping to sneak in as others focus elsewhere. A final takeaway from the NCAA spectrum is the absence of several stars and full teams. Colorado and Virginia Tech have yet to attempt any NCAA qualifying events, while Christina Aragon, Erin Finn, Katrina Robinson, Anna Rohrer, and Jazmine Fray have yet to appear this season. No one knows where (or if) these athletes will appear and how they will impact competition around the country. All we know for certain is that they will leave their impact on this draft and the NCAA landscape whenever they appear.

With half of the indoor season completed, the run-up to the NCAA Championships has just begun and will continue to rapidly evolve in the coming weeks. While we are surely looking ahead, this is the perfect time to reflect on some of the best results from the season thus far, some of the underrated performances from 2019, and discuss what questions intrigue us most about the rest of this indoor season... What is the best / most impressive result of the 2019 indoor season so far? Men - - - - - - - - - - John: I really think that Devin Dixon’s collegiate records from this weekend is the best performance thus far. To run that fast this early says a lot about him. If you go watch the video, he looks so smooth the entire time from start to finish. My only concern is whether this 1:45 was too early and will if he regress as the season goes on. Ben: I think another performance that needs to be brought up in this conversation is Amon Kemboi’s 13:33 in December. Garrett did a good job of outlining how rare it is for someone to run that fast that early in the season . His time is still the fastest non-altitude converted 5k so far. Sam: If we’re talking the 5k, Tyler Day has the fastest time this season and while it has all the conversions, he’s proven he can compete on the track or the grass which makes me think the time is legit. Sean: Dixon running so fast early is really impressive, but like you said John, it could be a bit early in the season. I suppose on the flip-side is that he has a guaranteed entry to NCAA's which alleviates any pressure of needing to run a big time in the next month. Elliott: It certainly looks like I wasn’t completely crazy when I drafted Tyler Day. I agree he has the chops to perform well come March. The obvious best performance so far this year does have to be Devin Dixon though. That time is ridiculous at this point in the season and while I know you guys are concerned regarding how long he can keep this up, I think that the experience his coaches at Texas A&M have will help keep him fresh and ready going into the National Championships. Despite this, one big performance that stood out to me has to be Jonathan Davis’s 3:58 at Larry Wieczorek. As of now, that time is still the top mark in the nation, and while no true burners have been run in the mile yet, I believe this sets the tone for what could be a magical run come March. Ben: I also think that Kemboi running 3:59 this week validates his performance in a way that Day has not. I find it unlikely that Day will be able to earn a top three spot in the 5k because of his inability to kick. Sean: You all have definitely gone after many of the best individual race performances, but left off Indiana’s DMR of 9:27. That’s a NCAA #6 All-Time mark in a race with no one. Seriously. The next team was Ole Miss in a respectable 9:38, but that was not a race where Mau was pushed on the anchor; he had to do that himself. John: I was just going to mention that Sean. That DMR set the precedent for the season and with the likes of Kyle Mau and Daniel Michalski looking to already be in great shape, the Hoosiers will be in a good spot come March in terms of the DMR and individuals. Sean: I’m becoming a huge Cooper Williams fan too based on the versatility of his results for Indiana. Definitely deserves some credit. Ben: Williams in the sixth round coming up big! Sean: Another performance we haven’t talked about yet is Oliver Hoare’s 7:48 to beat Mau at Indiana. Really fast time and proving that he could be a threat to win the mile and/or 3k at Nationals. John: I think you are going to see Hoare be in two events at Nationals. Either those two Ben mentioned, or the DMR and another. He’s good enough for all three if you ask me. Sam: On the topic of 3k's, my biggest performance this year might have been the men's field in the 3k at the UW Invitational. Nine of the top 11 spots in the country are from that race, the other two are Mau and Hoare. It just goes to show how deep the event is this year, not to mention how many big names have yet to race. Elliott: If we’re still talking 3k’s, Sydney Gidabuday’s 7:54 at Dr. Sanders was pretty darn impressive...if only we had held a Division II draft. Sean: A final name I want to throw in here is Alex Rogers of Texas. Definitely not quite at the level as some of these other results, but Rogers is the only 2019 NCAA athlete to run sub 4:00 in the mile twice. Plus, he’s the first Longhorn to do so since the legendary Leo Manzano. Pretty impressive to me considering it’s only January. Women - - - - - - - - - - Sean: I’m going to take an unorthodox approach to this question, or at least give an unexpected answer and say Nicole Hutchinson’s Dr. Sander Columbia Challenge double. Hutchinson won the invitational mile over 2017 NCAA mile champion Karisa Nelson in 4:33.47 (NCAA#4) and anchored the Villanova DMR to a sub-11:00 clocking without any real competition. I don’t have the full splits for Hutchinson’s DMR anchor, but with a time of 10:59, Hutchinson’s split could not have been any slower than 4:35. I think that makes this the most impressive double of 2019 and thus my most impressive result so far. Ben: I like that answer because it incorporates the entire meet. Obviously one of the top performances was Ednah Kurgat’s 15:14 earlier this year. Sam: Are we restricting this to Division 1 only? Otherwise, Caroline Kurgat running 15:28 is easily my women’s performance of the year. John: Don’t forget her 9:07 from the week before! It would be the second fastest time in D1 if she were to compete right now. She’s locked in. Elliott: D2 FTW! Ben: I agree Sam, I was thinking about that one too just because of how much she broke the record by. Sam: Right now Caroline Kurgat of Alaska Anchorage sits at #8 in the NCAA regardless of division. She was essentially rabbitted through this race, but 15:28 bettered her OUTDOOR personal best by 13 seconds. She looks in shape to win both the 3k and 5k indoors this year and could hypothetically put herself in contention for a Division 1 NCAA title if she were in the race. John: I’m not entirely sure this is the best performance of the year, but Lauren Gregory of Arkansas ran 4:32 to earn a 2nd place finish behind Jessica Hull this past weekend. She redshirted the track season in 2018 and came back this year with a strong cross country season. She ran 2:44 last week for 1000 meters and came back this past weekend with that big mile time. I think she’ll be a major player at Nationals. Elliott: Although not the fastest time-wise, one of my favorite performances this year has to be Alyssa Brewer of USC out-kicking Sammy Watson at the Texas Tech Classic this past weekend. So far her 2:06 is the fastest freshman mark in the nation, and coming from the very back and to edge out Sammy Watson is no easy feat. Look for her to be a dark horse for sure going into the bulk of the season. Sean: I purposely left off Danae Rivers’ 1000 meter collegiate record of 2:38.58 since I wanted to talk about Hutchinson, but no one picked her first?! Ben: I’m surprised people haven’t mentioned the December 5k where everyone ran great times right after cross country season. #recencybias John: I think a big part of that Ben is that we all expected that. Coming off of the cross season, we usually see races like that and while they’re impressive, it’s almost MORE impressive to see them come back after Christmas break and throw those times down. Sam: Agreed with John. Going home for the holidays can definitely mess with your training, even in small ways. Also holiday desserts... Sean: But they’re collegiate records! Ben: Kurgat’s time was #3 all-time though! Sean: Ednah’s was #3 all-time. Caroline’s was a DII record. Rivers was the all division record. I’m still going to give it to Rivers over the 5k duo. Ben: Yes, but it’s the 1000! Sam: What Ben said. John: Caroline’s is more impressive because she was better than the outdoor collegiate record as well. Which team has the most underrated results of the 2019 season? Men - - - - - - - - - - John: This might be pretty obvious, but the BYU Cougars have gotten off to a hot start this winter. They had three men all run between 7:51 and 7:53 this past weekend with two others running 4:02. They’re going to put together a nasty DMR if you ask me. Sean: The NCAA runner-up XC team is underrated? I mean, I guess. It’s not my #1 answer, but I feel like Portland is the more underrated XC team for indoor. John: It’s not a popular answer for sure as we’re talking about being underrated, but they have three runners inside the top eight for 3000 meters and haven’t even run the 5000 yet. With numbers like that, they can compete for a team title at Nationals if everything breaks the right way for them. Elliott: In my opinion, Washington might be one of the more underrated teams at this juncture. The Huskies' two home meets have shown they have a plethora of distance depth. Their DMR team is currently #4 in the nation with a 9:37. On top of that, Fred Huxham quietly ran a 7:51 3k this past weekend and is currently ranked #5 in the country. Sam: I definitely agree with Washington. For what it’s worth, Amos Bartelsmeyer (Georgetown grad) is also currently coached by Andy Powell and he’s run 3:55 and 7:49 this year. John: I just read that Huxham ran 7:51 and furrowed my brow while rapidly switching over to my TFRRS tab. For a team that had a major coaching change in the summer, they are having a strong start to indoor. Not to mention Talon Hull broke 4:00 this past weekend as well. Ben: Washington is a great answer as they have continued to exceed expectations, but I’m going to go on a bit of a hot take and answer similarly to John. I think one of the teams with the most underrated results is Wisconsin. Hoare just ran 7:48, Olin Hacker has run 4:01 and 7:56, and McDonald hasn’t even run yet. I know they aren’t nearly as deep as a team like Washington or BYU, but they could have the top two distance runners in the country with a third who is knocking on the door of qualifying for Nationals in either the mile or the 3k. These guys were expected to run well and I think they exceeded those expectations. I don’t know if enough people have noticed that. Sean: Texas Tech has to come up here in my mind. Their depth is really only at 800 with Vincent Crisp and Jonah Koech, but they’ve managed to find a third top 10 runner in the nation with freshman Sven Cepus. Three men at 1:48 mid or better is very impressive and I wouldn’t be surprised to see a DMR attempt from the men in Lubbock. Women - - - - - - - - - - Sam: Oklahoma State has had a lot of great results that have been somewhat under-the-radar. Molly Sughroue was leading the NCAA in the 3k early in the season with a 9:18 and the team also won the DMR against a loaded field at UW. As the season gets into full swing, it’s likely we will see names like Sinclaire Johnson and Kaylee Dodd run some impressive times in the shorter distances as well. Elliott: I agree, Sam. Oklahoma State knocked off very talented Boise State and BYU squads in the DMR, and now they have a nation-leading time to show for it. Ben: The BYU men get a lot of attention, but how about the women? Erica Birk and Whittni Orton just ran 4:36 and 4:38 in the mile which are #11 and #12 on the NCAA leaderboard currently. Plus, Olivia Hoj ran 9:11 at the UW Invite and is now the #7 ranked runner in country for 3000 meters. Courtney Wayment and Maddie Cannon have also ran 9:21 and 9:24, respectively. Sam: Okay, but to be fair, Orton was an NCAA finalist in the mile last indoor season… Ben: True, but she was also a sixth round pick in our draft who almost wasn’t picked. Sam: True, but I was about to pick her until someone stole her… Sean: Birk and Orton shouldn’t be considered underrated in my mind, BUT the races from Hoj, Wayment, and Cannon definitely deserve some credit so I’ll let it pass. Sean: Throwing out the Hail Mary on this one, but I’m going with Ohio State. They’re a wild card contender for the DMR if they can pull all of their pieces together for a single race. Julia Rizk and Abby Nichols have both run 4:42 for the mile (Rizk has also gone 9:29 for 3k). Meanwhile, Aziza Ayoub and Annie Ubbing have gone 2:09 for 800. If this group enters the BIG 10 DMR fresh and goes hard from the gun, I think they could stage an upset and/or get pulled to an NCAA qualifier. Plus, the results on their own are very good considering how invisible the Buckeyes have been in distance running recently. Elliott: I can’t speak for the rest of the depth chart at this certain university, but NC State currently has two women both at 4:38, Dominique Clairmonte and Elly Henes. If they can put a few more pieces together, they might have a formidable DMR. John: If I mention New Mexico here will I get chastised? They have six runners in the top 21 of the 5000 meters. Sean: Always. Very impressive, but surely expected. John: No doubt, but they only have runners ranked in the 5000 and the mile on the year. And Kelati and Cohen account for four of those times. To end our discussion, what questions are you pondering as we head into the second half of the season? Men - - - - - - - - - - Ben: I know I keep coming back to Hoare, but I think he is the most intriguing runner in the country. What he decides to run at Nationals will have major ramifications. So the biggest question for me is how many events does he run and which ones does he pick? Sean: I think he might end up going DMR/3k. I don’t see him moving up to 5k to challenge McDonald and I can’t see him trying to double Mile/3k either. So why not use McDonald to qualify a DMR and then use Hacker on leadoff at NCAA's? Surely they can pull together a team. Elliott: A big question in my head right now has to be how much deeper can the men’s 800 field get? We’ve already seen Dixon run fast. Then you take a look at the guy’s behind him: Isaiah Jewett (who has run 1:15 over 600 meters this winter), Joseph White, and Jonah Koech are just a couple names who could upstage Dixon. Ben: I think that is a great point Elliott. We haven’t really talked enough about how crazy this 800 final is shaping up to be. Two of the preseason favorites Bryce Hoppel and Robert Heppenstall have not broken 1:50 so far. Once they get rollin they will add to a seemingly never-ending list of favorites that includes *deep breath* Arop, White, Dixon, Koech, Jewett, and you could even add Carlton Orange and Vincent Crisp in there too. Sam: Where will Colorado end up once they race? We have not seen any racing from their top athletes (i.e Klecker, Jones, Dressel, Hurta, etc.) but they always seem to show up when it counts. It will be interesting to see where they will end up when they finally race. Sean: Colorado (and Colorado State for that matter) are big wild cards at this point since they have not done anything yet. Definitely on my list of questions too. John: Sign me up for some more 5000's that are in the 13:30-13:40 range. I’m assuming that’s how fast we will need to see athletes run this winter, but with Colorado State and Colorado still yet to run, how many of those will we get? Day vs. McDonald vs. Klecker could shape up to be one of the best in recent history. Elliott: Yeaaaahhh baby! Ben: I think we need to throw Kemboi in there and if Fisher runs the 5k, oh boy, could that be one hell of a race. John: Damn. My point exactly, we have athletes who I’m already forgetting about. Add them in and we’ve probably got an all-out race from the gun. Sean: I could see an all-out race especially if Kemboi or Kipkoech only qualify in one event for Campbell. Otherwise, I can’t see it being beneficial for anyone to actually take the race out. Elliott: Another question mark that we always seem to come back to has to be the Oregon men. Cooper Teare ran 3:59 this past weekend in Arkansas. Beyond that, not too many Ducks are near the top of the leaderboards right now. I understand that the season is young, but at this moment, how many ducks do you think still have a chance to qualify for Nationals? I think the DMR is still an ongoing experiment, but it will be interesting to see if anybody jumps up in individual events over the next month. Ben: Dang, that’s a tough question. James West and Blake Haney haven’t run the mile yet, so they could get in there, but other than Teare it is looking bleak at the moment for Oregon. Sean: I feel like I’m questioning my own question here, but I’m going to throw it out here anyways. Should/could we see an NAU DMR? Hasty and Grijalva seem like a good duo to me for 1200 and mile. Could they find an 800 and 400 leg though? Elliott: The idea of an NAU DMR sounds amazing. My draftboard and I would definitely love to see them give it a go. John: Lomong for 800 maybe? Basically, give the 400 to someone who won’t completely leave them behind and hope that the 1200-800-mile legs are good enough to compete? Women - - - - - - - - - - Sean: The DMR is clearly on one of its best years with four teams already under 11 minutes (only five did so in 2018). Is it going to take sub 11 minutes to earn a spot at Nationals in the DMR? John: I’ll say no. My guess is six/seven go under 11. The top 11 times came from this weekend. Of those teams, how many of them can add to their relay team and get faster? Sean: So OKST, Boise State, BYU, and Villanova already got it. Stanford can definitely drop the time. New Mexico went sub 11 last year at conferences and could again in my mind. Washington is .35 seconds away so I’m going to say they can cut the time. Oregon obviously. Colorado too. That’s nine. Plus Arkansas. That’s 10. Virginia Tech is 11. Someone else could get pulled to a sub-11 minute clocking surely. Sam: I also agree with Sean. Does Wisconsin have any 800 runners? If so, they could maybe run sub 11 with Monson on the anchor. John: While I don’t disagree with any of this, let’s say Washington, Stanford, and Colorado get to sub-11, that’s seven teams. Do we think that Oregon can cut 17 seconds off of their DMR time? What about Penn State dropping nine seconds? Sean: Oregon can definitely drop the time. Hull moves to anchor and runs 4:31 instead of Gehrich running 4:48. Ejore and an 800 leg can move around to match the other legs on other program. Boom, 17 seconds cut. Penn State on the other hand seems tougher. Maybe Tachinski can move up to the 1200? I’m not so sure, but I certainly wouldn’t rule out Penn State going sub 11. Ben: What are we to make of the 800 field? Preseason favorite Sammy Watson just got beat, Denae Rivers looks unbeatable, Jazmine Fray (indoor record holder) has yet to run an open 800, and Rachel Pocratsky has only run the 1000 (twice). Will Rivers continue to distance herself or will the other favorites rise up over the next few weeks? Sean: I’ve been thinking about the 800 a lot and I think it’s going to return to normal by NCAA's. People forget that Sabrina Southerland was the 16th seed for the 800 last year before winning the indoor national title. Would I feel confident if I was one of the favorites in 2019? Of course not. One of the big players is probably going to miss the meet. Overall though, the event will be back to normal for the most part and the majority of the favorites will rise up. Elliott: If there is one thing we’ve learned from watching NCAA Championships, it is that nobody is guaranteed victory when the gun goes off (i.e. Isaiah Harris and Marco Arop over Michael Saruni in 2018). We’ve seen this played out in 800’s before, both indoors and outdoors on both the men’s and women’s sides. If the field normalizes as Sean thinks it will, it should be a toss-up by the time the favorites toe the line…what’s more fun than that?

KEY (Unranked): Was not ranked the week before (#/#): First number indicates the change in a runner's ranking from week prior Second number indicates where the runner was ranked last week 15. Benoit Campion, American International (Unranked) The freshman from American International has posted some impressive times early on in 2019. He ran 8:27 before Christmas, 4:11 two weeks ago, 1:53 last week, and then improved his mile time to 4:07 this past weekend...wow. The Yellow Jackets may have lost Ackeen Colley who transferred to Oklahoma, but they have found another strong talent in Campion. 14. Felix Wammetsberger, Queens (N.C.) (-1 / 13) We saw Wammetsberger move down in distance quite a bit this past weekend as he ran the 800 at the Liberty Kickoff. His time of 1:58 is nowhere near what he has run before (1:52) and it's unclear as to why he ran as slow as he did. 13. Dennis Mbuta, Grand Valley State (Unranked) The GVSU sophomore opened up his season in a time of 1:50 and followed that up with a 4:11 mile two weeks ago. Between his early season success and untapped potential that comes with being as young as he is, giving Mbuta a Top 15 spot was a no-brainer. 12. Josh Hoskinson, Colorado Mines (+3 / 15) Hoskinson was apart of the DMR lineup that the Orediggers put together at their home meet this past weekend. Hoskinson was the anchor leg and more than anything, it reminds us that he used to be a miler. His speed could potentially play a major role at the end of a championship race. 11. Marcelo Laguera, CSU-Pueblo (0 / 11) Idle. 10. Grant Colligan, Colorado Mines (0 / 10) Idle. 9. Leakey Kipkosgei, American International (0 / 9) Idle. 8. Shaquille Dill, St. Augustines (0 / 8) We finally saw Dill open up his track season two weekends ago. He finished 4th in the 800 meters at the Keydet Invitational, but was the first D2 athlete across the line in 1:55.40. It’s not the fastest time to open with, but Dill opened in a similar time in 2017 and went on to win his first national title. He also helped St. Augustines finish 4th in the 4x400 in a time of 3:16.82. 7. Brett Meyer, Fort Hays State (0 / 7) It’s the third weekend in a row for Meyer in terms of racing and after running 2:26 for 1000 meters, it's hard to ignore how much talent he has. This past weekend, Meyer ran 4:06.08 for a strong 2nd place finish behind Wichita State's Zack Penrod. The Fort Hays State senior has continued to pad his 2019 resume and build momentum as we head into the month of February. The mile is likely Meyer’s strongest event and he’s got a legitimate shot at taking home the crown in March. 6. Elias Gedyon, Adams State (0 / 6) Idle. 5. Enael Woldemichael, Grand Valley State (0 / 5) Idle. 4. Dustin Nading, Western Oregon (0 / 4) Idle. 3. Zach Panning, Grand Valley State (0 / 3) Idle. 2. Sydney Gidabuday, Adams State (0 / 2) Gidabuday headed east this past weekend to the Dr. Sanders Columbia Challenge where he was able to get into the fastest section of the 3000 meters. For anyone that was wary of his altitude converted time of 7:54, he put that to bed rather quickly. The Adams State star ran 7:54.77 which was good enough for 6th place overall in a field stacked with professionals and no other collegiates. 1. Thomas Staines, CSU-Pueblo (0 / 1) Staines is on another level right now. Two weeks ago, the mid-distance star went down to Albuquerque, New Mexico and ran 1.37 seconds off the World Record for 600 meters. He may have finished 2nd behind USC's Isaiah Jewett (1:15.95), but it still shows us that Staines is up for anything this indoor season. His time of 1:16.38 is the third fastest time in the world at the moment. This past weekend, the CSU-Pueblo Thunderwolves ran a DMR lineup which earned them a 2nd place finish in a time of 10:11.50. Staines was the anchor leg for a strong CSUP team that should only get stronger as the season goes on. Rankings broken down in each event... 800 1. Thomas Staines (CSU-Pueblo) 2. Shaquille Dill (St. Augustines) 3. Leakey Kipkosgei (American International) 4. Dennis Mbuta (Grand Valley State) 5. Hugo Arlabosse (Franklin Pierce) Mile 1. Dustin Nading (Western Oregon) 2. Elias Gedyon (Adams State) 3. Brett Meyer (Fort Hays State) 4. Felix Wammetsberger (Queens (N.C)) 5. Benoit Campion (American International) 3000 1. Sydney Gidabuday (Adams State) 2. Zach Panning (Grand Valley State) 3. Enael Woldemichael (Grand Valley State) 4. Grant Colligan (Colorado Mines) 5. Marcelo Laguera (CSU-Pueblo) 5000 1. Sydney Gidabuday (Adams State) 2. Zach Panning (Grand Valley State) 3. Enael Woldemichael (Grand Valley State) 4. Marcelo Laguera (CSU-Pueblo) 5. Josh Hoskinson (Colorado Mines)