It’s simple. 

Finish in the top-12 in your respective preliminary region to advance to the NCAA Championships in Eugene. In some events, it’s far more difficult than others. The depth of, say, the men’s 10,000m in the west region may make someone’s head explode (As we’ve been saying since after Stanford Invite, *Sucks to be a 10k runner in the west*). But as with most championship racing styles, tactics may outweigh seed times and the Jacksonville/Austin humidity will not be forgiving. Not to scare ya’ll, but racing at regionals is hard. These are four events that we believe may result in the most upsets/surprises and will be oh so exciting to watch this weekend.

EAST PRELIMS ENTRIES | WEST PRELIMS ENTRIES

West Women's 1500m

Shelby Houlihan is the defending NCAA 1500m Champion and looks quite flawless this outdoor season. However, she’s entered in the 1500/5K double, will she try her hardest to conserve energy for Saturday evening’s 5K? Outside the top-12, No. 14 Natalja Piliusina of Oklahoma State should not be overlooked. The 2013 NCAA Champion did not race in 2014, but is back and will carry her experience to Eugene. Armed with a 4:09 1500m PB, watching these two champions collide could be the race of the weekend.

01  Shelby Houlihan               SR Arizona State       4:11.06 
02  Sara Sutherland               SR Colorado            4:13.56 
03  Elise Cranny                  FR Stanford            4:14.05 
04  Raquel Lambdin                SR UC Davis            4:17.09 
05  Abby Regan                    SR Wash State          4:17.52 
06  Rebecca Mehra                 SO Stanford            4:17.67 
07  Sarah Feeny                   FR Utah                4:18.24 
08  Hannah Richardson             JR Kansas              4:18.43 
09  Ashley Windsor                JR Cal Poly            4:18.54 
10  Maddie Alm                    JR Colorado            4:18.84 
11  Ashley Maton                  JR Oregon              4:19.05 
12  Raquel Hefflin                SR UC Riverside        4:19.23

No. 20 Molly Hanson of Wisconsin was a finalist in Eugene last spring and holds a 4:15 personal best to her name. No. 25 Alli Cash of Oregon qualified to NCAAs last year, and her teammate No. 33 Nikki Hiltz was an indoor mile finalist for the Ducks.

East Men’s 800m

The 800m in the east region is like the SEC final. Brandon McBride, 2014’s indoor/outdoor National Champion vs. Ryan Schnulle, last year’s runner up, vs. Keffri Neal, last year’s third-place finisher. Oh plus LSU’s Julian Parker who took all of them down in that championship final. There are only three NON-SEC players in the top-12 descending order list, but it’s never really that easy making it to Eugene.

01  Brannon Kidder                JR Penn State          1:45.58 
02  Brandon McBride               JR Miss State          1:45.87 
03  Alex Amankwah                 SR Alabama             1:45.91 
04  Craig Engels                  SO Mississippi         1:46.13 
05  Julian Parker                 SR LSU                 1:46.17 
06  Andres Arroyo                 SO Florida             1:46.49 
07  Jacopo Lahbi                  SO Alabama             1:46.79 
08  Ryan Schnulle                 JR Florida             1:46.89 
09  Jesse Garn                    JR Binghamton          1:47.03 
10  Blair Henderson               SO LSU                 1:47.03 
11  Dylan Capwell                 SO Monmouth            1:47.24 
12  Keffri Neal                   SR Kentucky            1:47.38 

Outside of the top-12 seed times, there are five men who qualified for the 800m at NCAA indoors with slower outdoor qualifiers:
No. 16 Joseph White, Georgetown
No. 20 Clayton Murphy, Akron (Finished third)
No. 21 Tre’tez Kinnaird, Indiana (Finished eighth)
No. 41 Edose Ibadin, Hampton
No. 45 Paul Duffey, Northeastern

And not to mention guys who qualified for the 2014 outdoor championships:
No. 29 Otniel Teixeira, Florida State
No. 34 Henry Tufnell

East Women's 10K

The ladies in the east have two clear favorites in Tennessee’s Chelsea Blaase and Syracuse’s Margo Malone. Blaase’s minimal racing this track season, only cementing her 10K time at Stanford Invite and finishing third in the SEC Championship 5K, should be to her advantage. After finishing fourth in the NCAA indoor 5K and 10th in cross country, she’s a national contender staying under the radar, for now.

01  Chelsea Blaase                SO Tennessee          32:28.39 
02  Margo Malone                  JR Syracuse           32:29.89 
03  Joanna Thompson               SR NC State           33:07.27 
04  Caroline Kellner              JR Cornell            33:32.07 
05  Bethany Sachtleben            SR George Mason       33:32.53 
06  Molly Seidel                  JR Notre Dame         33:39.70 
07  Katie Gillespie               SR West Virginia      33:45.56 
08  Sinead Haughey                SR Furman             33:53.34 
09  Melanie Brender               SR Michigan State     33:53.49 
10  Amanda Behnke                 SO Indiana            33:59.60 
11  Alexis Wiersma                SO Michigan State     34:00.23 
12  Emily Stites                  JR William and Mary   34:03.43 

Outside the top-12, we’re looking at a lot of talent that could surprise the field:
No. 14 Megan Curham of Princeton finished 18th in NCAA cross country and 10th in the indoor 5K. She swept both the 5K/10K at the Ivy league Championships and is only focusing on the 10K in the region. No. 21 Mara Olson of Butler is having a great first season running the 10K. She’s qualified for the last three NCAA championships (indoor and outdoor) and won the Big East title in 34:27 for her 10K debut. No. 24 Laura Nagal of Providence was a valuable member of the Friars NCAA XC title in 2013, finishing 27th. She’s got an impressive resume (9:01 3K, 15:42 5K, 33:46 10K), she just hasn’t been on the scene, until recently.

West Men's 10K

We’ve said it one thousand times and we aren’t trying to scare you (Scott Fauble) but it sucks to be a 10K runner in the west. Here’s why:

01  Jason Witt                    SR BYU                27:54.25 
02  Marc Scott                    SO Tulsa              28:30.33 
03  Craig Lutz                    SR Texas              28:33.48 
04  Futsum Zienasellassie         JR No. Arizona        28:35.76 
05  Matt McElroy                  SR No. Arizona        28:36.53 
06  Nate Jewkes                   SR Southern Utah      28:43.18 
07  Kemoy Campbell                SR Arkansas           28:45.84 
08  Scott Fauble                  SR Portland           28:50.44 
09  Garrett Sweatt                SO Stanford           28:51.56 
10  Tim Rackers                   JR Tulsa              28:52.57 
11  Pierce Murphy                 JR Colorado           28:52.70 
12  Hayden Hawks                  JR Southern Utah      28:53.12 

Clearly, there are some NCAA Champions and All Americans outside of the top-12:
No. 15 Edward Cheserek, Oregon
No. 16 Eric Jenkins, Oregon
No. 25 Tyer Byrne, Northern Arizona
No. 29 Ryan Dohner, Texas
No. 30 Malachy Schrobilgen, Wisconsin
No. 38 Ammar Moussa, Colorado