Search this site

Written by Aimee Morganti, edits & additional commentary via Garrett Zatlin University of North Carolina’s Vera Sjöberg has inked an NIL deal with On. She joins On’s collegiate NIL roster which includes Alabama’s Doris Lemngole, New Mexico’s Marion Jepngetich, Stanford’s Juliette Whittaker and West Virginia’s Joy Naukot, among others.   Vera Sjöberg announced the signing on her Instagram page... “Excited to announce my NIL partnership with On!! So grateful for the opportunity to continue this journey as part of the On family. #DreamOn” Sjöberg’s first year as a Tar Heel added her third All-American accolade to her collegiate career after an incredible 8th place finish at the 2025 NCAA XC Championships in Missouri. In December, Sjöberg’s indoor track season opener broke the University of North Carolina’s 22 year-old school record that was held by Shalane Flanagan after she posted a 3000-meter time of 8:43.06. That mark currently sits at NCAA #10 all-time and was set on her former home track at Boston University. Vera Sjöberg's collegiate career began at Boston University where she made four NCAA Championship appearances. Notably, she was the runner-up finisher at the 2025 NCAA Outdoor Championships over 5000 meters in a time of 15:34.77. Her first All-American honor came at the 2025 NCAA Indoor Championships in the mile where she finished 8th place. Sjöberg's remaining NCAA appearances included an 11th place finish at 2025 NCAA Outdoor Championships over the 1500 meters and a 42nd place finish at the 2024 NCAA XC Championships. As a Terrier, Sjöberg was a 13-time Patriot League champion between the 1500 meters, the mile, the 3000 meters, the 5000 meters, the 4x800-meter relay and cross country. Sjöberg holds Boston University’s school records over 1500 meters, the mile, the 3k, the 5k and the outdoor 4x800-meter relay.   Vera Sjöberg won two national titles at the 2025 Swedish National Championships via personal bests of 4:05.09 (1500) and 15:25.80 (5k). Her performances qualified her for the 2025 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo where she represented Sweden. There, she finished 7th place in her 1500-meter heat.

Rankings crafted via Ellie Clark With the start of 2026 comes our commitment to (slowly) expanding our content offerings. That includes making an effort to cover more than just the distance events. As such, we're trying our hand at the sprints, both in terms of rankings and, throughout 2026, the occasional written analysis. Of course, our sprints coverage team is still very small, so it will take time for us to establish a base of consistency and more rigorous content. But for now, here are the top Division One men and top women who we have listed in our "fourth edition" at this point during the winter months.

Production via Wyatt Barnsley On this week’s episode of The Stride Report Podcast, Ben and Garrett break down an electric weekend of relay racing headlined by Sadie Engelhardt delivering a jaw-dropping comeback anchor leg to steal the DMR win for North Carolina! 🤯👀 The guys dive into Washington running 9:17.03 to take down Arkansas before chatting about Oregon’s bounce-back performance after a Friday night DQ. The guys also dive further into the growing debate over who should be favored for the men’s NCAA DMR title. 🏆🥇 On the women’s side, they analyze Billah Jepkirui anchoring Oklahoma State to a statement DMR victory and discuss which squads have the firepower to claim the national crown. 👑 The episode also highlights breakout middle distance performances from Avery Pearson and Maeve O’Neill, evaluates Sophia Gorriaran as a potential NCAA 800-meter champion, and recaps a pair of 1:45 performances from Rivaldo Marshall and Matthew Erickson. 🏃🏃‍♀️💨 (2:29) Washington Men Take DMR Win Over Arkansas With 9:17.03 Performance (8:45) Oregon Men Redeem Themselves In Boston After Friday Night DQ (11:44) Who is the Favorite to Win the Men’s DMR National Title? (22:05) Billah Jepkirui Anchors Oklahoma State to DMR Win Over Arkansas (24:30) Sadie Engelhardt Tracks Down Vera Sjoberg to Steal Win From UNC (30:08) Who is the Favorite to Win the Women’s DMR National Title? (36:48) Avery Pearson Breaks Out & Runs Converted 1:59.98 (800) Mark (40:22) Maeve O’Neill Continues Her Improvement, Runs 2:00.33 (800) (43:24) Can Sophia Gorriaran Win the 800m NCAA Title? (45:44) Rivaldo Marshall and Matthew Erickson Run 1:45 (800) You can listen to that episode (and others) on our PODCASTS  page! You can also find the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Soundcloud. If you like it, be sure to leave us a rating  and a review ! Note: If you're having issues loading the episode on the site via mobile, try refreshing  the episode page. We will look into this issue for future episodes.

Rankings crafted via Miguel Zacarias, Eleni Lovgren & Garrett Zatlin Welcome back to The Stride Report's NAIA rankings! This season, we'll be offering top-25 rankings for the men and women in the NAIA distance running scene, specifically for events 800 meters and up. This week, we have our "Third Edition" of these rankings. This is a new update which reflects the performances and momentum of the NAIA's best distance talents in the nation throughout the current indoor track season. Have any interest in contributing to our NAIA team? Be sure to check out our OPEN ROLES page and apply!

The 27-year-old middle distance runner, the American record-holder in the mile and 2022 champion over 1500 meters, is betting on herself after signing with HOKA... Sinclaire Johnson, the American record-holder in the mile, signed with HOKA in January after nearly six years with Nike // Photo via Jason De Leon Written by Cory Mull The thing is, Sinclaire Johnson wasn’t unhappy with Nike. In fact, she wasn’t even planning  on moving on from her sponsor of about six years. But sometimes in this life, money talks. “There was a big financial difference in my Nike and HOKA contracts,” Johnson told The Stride Report recently. We can only begin to imagine the type of price point Johnson commanded from HOKA (track and field contracts are not public information), which pulled the American record-holder in the mile and the 2022 U.S.A. champion over 1500 meters away from Nike on January 22nd in a life-changing move. Johnson told TSR that Nike was intending to re-sign her, and that there were no contract reductions coming her way in that regard. Sinclaire Johnson representing HOKA after signing a new professional contract // Photo via Jason De Leon But Johnson, a one-time NCAA champion over 1500 meters with Oklahoma State before she turned pro in 2019, did tell us what HOKA placed in front of her was an offer that few in this sport ever receive. They first approached her agent in September. “When it comes down to it, there was a financial difference that I may not be offered ever again in my career,” she said. “That definitely made me think about the HOKA thing a bit more.” The move comes at a time in Johnson’s career where every decision she makes will be critical toward her next steps on the track. At the age of 27, now coached by her fiancé Craig Nowak in their long-term home of Portland, Oregon, she is heading toward the peak of her powers, running faster (and healthier) than she’s ever been. We caught up with Johnson during a short two-month stint of warm weather training in Phoenix, Arizona after her first two competitions at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix and the Millrose Games. Sinclaire Johnson (right) competing in the mile at the Millrose Games // Photo via Michael O'Neil “Being not in a formal group has allowed us that flexibility,” said Johnson, a Florida native near Orlando. She turns 28 in April. The newest HOKA signee was the U.S.A. runner-up in the women’s 1500 meters last year and eventually reached the World Championship finals in Tokyo. That was her third Team USA appearance since 2022. Johnson nearly equaled her career-best 3:56.73 at the distance at the Prefontaine Classic (3:56.93) and set an outdoor road mile American record in Hawaii this past December with a mark of 4:21.66. However, most importantly, she’s remained healthy after years of bone injuries which have kept her off the track at times. All that said, Johnson does not believe that she has hit her ceiling yet. “I feel like I have more to accomplish,” she said. And clearly, HOKA thinks so, too. Why Sinclaire Johnson Made the Move to HOKA This decision is an incredibly big one, because it moves Johnson away from the professional training stimulus of Nike Union Athletics under Coach Pete Julian, where she has been since her split from the Bowerman Track Club, to a singularly-focused model. Her training, her way. In essence, it’s a bet on herself, and on HOKA, which is known more so for its consumer retail products than its high-performance middle distance or sprint spikes. But perhaps that’s an area where massive change is coming. Johnson said she’s already been involved in talks with HOKA’s footwear team. “We are making tweaks to their current model that I am hoping – just to get a couple different versions of their current model is the first step there,” she said. “In terms of building a spike out, we haven’t gotten to that point just yet.” Sinclaire Johnson representing HOKA after signing a new professional contract // Photo via Jason De Leon Johnson said she wouldn’t have signed with the retailer (a performance apparel brand owned by Decker Brands), which experienced a strong fiscal year in 2025 with $2.23 billion in sales (a 23.6% increase year-over-year), if not for its vision for the future. She had just about two weeks to test out its products before she made a final decision on her move to HOKA. In some ways, as she’s said in past interviews, there was an inherent risk in changing from performance products that have worked for her previously. HOKA’s track record sponsoring professional athletes largely centers around its long distance group in Flagstaff (NAZ Elite). It has not yet built a strong sprints corps and is only starting to develop a stronger presence in the middle-distances -- HOKA pro Krissy Gear, however, won a national title in the 3000-meter steeplechase in 2023 and has made one U.S.A. team. But after a moment of reflection, Johnson backtracked on that thought. “I think sometimes when you do change your situation, you don’t really know how you will respond to that,” she said. “The risk in the initial part of that is, will I like their footwear ?” Finding Her Groove (So Far) After more than a month in HOKA products, Johnson feels more confident in her position. “The footwear, the innovation, it’s come up on all levels across companies. As I ran more in their shoes and got more comfortable and figured out which ones I liked, that eased the concern.” What matters most, she says, is the ability to tailor her training to her needs. Nowak, who met Johnson at Oklahoma State in the late 2010s and ran 3:39 (1500) in 2017, is her primary coach and even her training partner at times. “I got to a point in my career in 2024 where I wanted–and this is in the nicest way possible–nothing to do with the team,” Johnson said of her tenure at Union Athletics, which moved to Boulder, Colorado in 2025. Sinclaire Johnson competing over 3000 meters at the ASICS Sound Running Invite // Photo via Kenton Fields However, Johnson stayed back in Portland. “I think I just got really burned by fitting into what everyone else was kind of doing, at the wrong time." “I felt like there was the individuality aspect that I needed, because it created a lot of injuries for myself when the training wasn’t tailored towards me. I lost a lot of that in the training group, so I really wanted to get as far away from that as possible.” What’s next for Johnson remains to be seen, but she says she’s not close to her apex -- and recent evidence suggests that she may be right. Recent records and fast times aside, there’s much to be desired. She's coming off of a career-best over 3000 meters (indoors) at the JDL Sound Running Invite in a time of 8:35.48. She vows to continue putting herself in high-stress races, “handling pressure, handling the crowd,” she said, “and handling the expectation of major meets.” What’s Next For Sinclaire Johnson The Ultimate Championships, a new meet on the World Athletics calendar, arrives in 2026. A total of $10 million of prize money is confirmed  for the meet. Johnson, the sixth-fastest woman in United States history at 1500 meters, did confirm that she has an incentive built into her new contract if she qualifies and earns a top performance. Sinclaire Johnson being introduced for the women's Wanamaker Mile at the Millrose Games // Photo via Michael O'Neil “Global medals,” she said “I hope to do that in Beijing in 2027 and definitely be on the Olympic team and vie for a medal in 2028. There are always opportunities, whether it’s indoor or outdoor championships, to get that elusive medal. As a track and field athlete, I feel like that’s a stamp of accomplishment." “To be able to perform and beat out the rest of the field and earn a top three spot at a major championship, it’s an incredibly hard thing to do,” she said. “That’s something I don’t have under my belt and I would love to vie for that.”

Spend a day in the life with NCAA Division II Cross Country National Champion Kidus Begashaw at Adams State University in Alamosa! 🐻 From classes to workouts, Kidus takes us behind the scenes of what it really looks like to train and live like a national champion. Follow along as he walks through a full day — balancing academics, intense training sessions, recovery, meals, and downtime — while introducing us to his teammates and coaches who help power one of the top distance programs in the country! 🤩