Last weekend we saw the first glimpses of some freshman around the country that made us remember who they were, or caused us to go to their schools athletic site to figure out who they were. This weekend was no different as we had some freshman whom already have garnered preseason acclaim show out well in races around the country and we saw some names pop up that caught our attention ahead of pre-nats. One of the largest races this past weekend was in South Bend for the Notre Dame Invite, Emily Lipari from Villanova was the first true freshman to cross the line in the race finishing in 31st place in 17:20 as the fifth wildcat to cross the line. Meredith Wagner of Ohio State and Sierra Vega of UCLA both ran 17:23 for the women’s course as the other freshman running that placed high.

This fall Flotrack tabbed Greg Metcalf’s recruiting class as the number one in the nation and so far those girls are living up to the rankings. Katie Flood didn’t travel to Notre Dame, instead stayed home and ran the 6,000 meter course at the Emerald City Open in Seattle a minute faster than ex husky Mo Huber who won the race last year. Flood’s teammate and # 2 Under Armour freshmen to watch Megan Goethals went to South Bend, but difficulties with her stomach and the large field led to a finish three and a half minutes back of the winner. However earlier this season she finished fourth at Sundodger invite in Seattle running the 6k course in 20:54 placing fourth. Keep an eye on both of these women at Pre-Nats and the Pac- 10 Championships later this month. The highest finish of any freshman woman for the weekend was that of Magnificat High School’s very own Maddie Chambers of Georgetown she ran amazing in 20:27 to finish sixth overall. Teammate Joanna Stevens was was 17th in the race. Also of note is preseason number one freshman Emily Sisson of Wisconsin who ran 20:34 at the adidas invitational in Madison to finsh 14th over all. You might of missed it, but the only freshman to win a race this weekend was Erin Menefee at the Desert Classic in Arizona who ran 17:56 for three miles to take the win and team title for Arizona.

But don’t forget about the fellas at Notre Dame the Top freshman finisher was a kid you might not be that familiar with, however north of the border the name Olivier Collin means 2nd place finisher in the 2009 Canada Games 800 who just ran a 1:46 800 in Europe this past summer. He also has a 3:57 1600 earlier this year at the Brutus Hamilton Invite. He ran 24:32 at Notre Dame which is a minute better than his time last year during an 8k in Canada. He was born in 1989 so age wise he is definitely not a freshman, and he comes from a CEGEP in Canada, which is a post-secondary higher education institution. Unfortunately, this makes him ineligible for FloFrosh, but definitely a runner to keep your eyes on as the season goes along. Oregon’s Parker Stinson finished 36th three spots behind Collin in 24:38 as the first true frosh.

At Paul Short, Chris Foley of Virginia was the top frosh placing 25th. 5 seconds back was Tyler Anyan of Georgetown. In Wisconsin at the adidas Invitational Jake Hurysz is proving he’s one to keep an eye on as he finished in 46th overall running 24:24. Wisconsin isn’t known for it’s Tar Heels or Gators, but the top four freshmen were from those schools. Matt Mizerack, and Mark Parrish took 59th and 62nd respectively for Florida while Pat Schellburg finish in 60th place for the Tar Heels

Who do you think is the top freshman right now? Vote below...