Outdoor Track and Field on Flotrack 2013May 23, 2013 by Mitch Kastoff
Fast Milers and All-American Sprinters on the Outside in the East
Fast Milers and All-American Sprinters on the Outside in the East
It’s nice to be back to the old NCAA qualifying system. Some coaches hated the Sweet 16 and others, well, pretty much everyone hated it. But we here at Flotrack loved the unforgiving system because it provided that wild excitement (or disappointment for some DMR teams) that went until the eleventh hour.
Just in case you forgot how it works, here’s the new slash old format. The top forty-eight individuals in each event earn berths to the east and west preliminary rounds, respectively. The top twelve times or marks in each region then make it to the NCAA Championships in Eugene, OR on June 5 - 8th.
Twenty-four relays qualify in each region with twelve making nationals while the decathlon is just a descending list of the top twenty-four marks because apparently the NCAA isn’t totally sadistic.
That’s the nuts and bolts. Now let’s get down to the good stuff: Who will make it out of the east and west.
Barring disaster, some of the events look like locks. Then again, Murphy’s Law never applies to track and field. But if you look beyond those coveted dozen spots, there are some athletes who are currently on the outside looking in. They might be there on paper, but after this weekend, some of them will be booking their flight to Oregon.
Since twelve qualify from each region, we’ll list twelve events that don’t look as good on paper because if one thing is for certain, it’s that nothing is for certain. We've listed the athlete, his or her rank in the region, and their qualifying mark below.
- TrackBoundUSA asks, "Which Region is Stronger?"
West Regional Preview | East Regional Preview
Edit: When was the last time someone listened to a Jordan Pruitt song? Serious question.
East
Men
200m
#15 Anaso Jobodwana Jackson State 20.75
#17 Aaron Ernest LSU 20.78
Are two guys who made the NCAA Indoor 200m not going to make it outdoors? We say maybe and no way, in that order. Indoors, Jobodwana ran 20.53 and took 5th at nationals, but has been having a subpar outdoor season (comparatively, that is).
On the other hand, we’ll be stunned if Ernest doesn’t make it. The LSU sophomore took fifth at nationals in the 200m last year and placed sixth in the event indoors. He’s also ranked #1 in the 100 (10.04).
400m
#14 Akeem Williams Grambling 46.19
#16 Patrick Feeney Notre Dame 46.23
#27 Tavaris Tate Miss State 46.94
We put Williams on this list because he’s hot. He just ran his personal best (46.19) a few weeks ago at the SWAC Outdoor Championships, but still has some work to do to climb those last two spots.
Remember Patrick F(ast)eeney? He’s one half of the Notre Dame quarter-mile duo that qualified for NCAA Indoors (Chris Giesting is the other). Feeney ended up taking fourth at nationals, but also has to jump a few names if he wants to earn another all-American honor outdoors.
While we don’t think Tate will make it, we wish he would. Three years ago, Tate ran 44.86 and we thought that he could be a champion in years to come. While he won gold at the World Indoor Championships that year in 4x400, it’s been a long time since we’ve seen his brilliance.
1500m
#15 Jordan Williamsz Villanova 3:44.43
#16 Sam McEntee Villanova 3:44.53
Two Wildcats who have run 3:36? While they both ran on Villanova’s DMR and 4xMile at The Penn Relays, they’ve both had quiet individual seasons.
Two Fun Facts
- Williamsz split 3:58 twice at Penn Relays
- Both of them have run 3:36 at Swarthmore, which brings up the conversation of whether the track is either magically or just short. We just think that one race was something beyond this world (Kyle Merber ran 3:35.59), but it’s interesting to note that this year’s Swarthmore Last Chance Meet was hosted by Widener College.
Maybe it’s not the track.
Honorable Mention
800m
#29 Za’Von Watkins Penn State 1:49.50
#45 Brandon McBride Miss State 1:50.17
Watkins has run 1:48.92 this year, but the high school 800m superstar seems to still be adjusting to Penn State. He's fairly far down the list.
McBride is a multiple Canadian junior record holder at 400m and 800m (indoor and out), who ran 1:46.07 last summer. Oddly enough, he’s even further down in the east.
10k
#16 Zach Mayhew Indiana 29:28.36
While we mentioned the Big 10 Outdoor Championship 10k in our west regional preview, we haven’t even talked about the guy who won it. Since Big 10s last spring, Indiana’s Zach Mayhew has been on fire and we don’t expect him to end his season in Greensboro.
Mayhew won his conference 10k just a hair quicker than what he ran at NCAA XC Nationals, where he placed 13th in 29:32.8. Last year, he ran 28:55.06. Plus, we like the guy.
Women
400m
#13 Shaunae Miller Georgia 53.04
If you were to tell me that the NCAA Indoor 400m champion was on the outside looking in, I’d laugh. So while we’re having a good chuckle, let us just say that it will be a huge upset if Miller doesn’t qualify for nationals. She’s only run one 400m all outdoor season, which was at SECs, where she placed third in 53.04.
It’s nowhere near her huge 50.88 run at nationals, so we’ll take the leap of faith and say she’s coming back from injury. Even if that’s not the case, she has enough talent to jump up one spot in the east.
1500m
#14 Shannon Osika Michigan 4:19.00
#18 Emily Lipari Villanova 4:20.08
#27 Jillian King Boston College 4:21.51
I don’t need to profess my favorability towards Michigan. When I was in college, my roommate would play Hail to the Victors whenever he got a chance, even though we didn’t go there (Fun Fact: So did President Gerald Ford).
Osika is just on the cusp, but it’s familiar territory for her. When she qualified for NCAA Indoors, she was the final entrant with a 4:37.19 mile.
This spring, she’s once more on the edge of making it to the big dance. Just running through some of her 1500m marks, she finished fourth in the Big 10 1500m in 4:23.00 (behind two other Wolverines), ran 4:22.x twice at The Penn Relays (once on the winning 4x1500m relay and then en route in the OD Mile), and 4:20.62 at KU Relays.
It’s basically going to be a coin flip for her to make it.
Another female who I have absolutely no bias toward is Villanova’s Emily Lipari. She may have been outclassed by Amanda Eccleston and Michigan’s DMR team indoors, but she was nearly unstoppable at The Penn Relays.
Lipari anchored two winning relay teams and even threw down in the 4x800, where she PR’d by six seconds to run 2:02.25 and outkicked Oregon’s Laura Roesler to win a giant wheel.
Her seasonal best of 4:20.08 comes from way back in March at the Raleigh Relays, but her tactical win at the Big East 1500m and her late season reputation makes her a solid bet.
Our wildcard pick in the women’s 1500m is Boston College’s Jillian King. The senior may have had a disappointing showing at NCAA Indoors where she ran 4:45.40, but like Osika, she has the talent to make it to Eugene.
While she’s run 4:19.74 for 1500m (last year) and 4:34.19 for the mile (this indoor season), we labeled her as the wildcard because she’s run as many 1500s this season as she’s run 4x400s (three). Speed kills, baby.
5000m
#16 Agata Strausa Florida 16:09.41
#19 Samantha Nadel Georgetown 16:14.97
While we’re talking milers, let’s talk about two who are testing the waters in the 5000m.
First, we have the rising Agata Strausa. The semi-surprising third place finisher at the NCAA Indoor Mile (4:36.91) recently tried the 5000m at the SEC Championships, where she ran 16:09.41 in her debut. That's not bad for someone who may have been there to score points at conferences.
While we’re pretty sure she’ll be concentrating on the 1500m, we don’t want to omit her from our preview in case she decided to run both.
There’s another Long Island miler who just had a big breakthrough in the 5k. While I watched Samantha Nadel dismantle everyone in the tri-state area in the mile on an almost daily basis, the Georgetown freshman has been experimenting with longer distance this winter and spring.
Nadel represented Team USA at World Cross, where she took 44th in 20:30, but it’s been the last week that’s been important for her in terms of continuing her season. In her first two 5ks this spring, Nadel ran 16:43.50 and 16:43.83, respectively.
Then at the Virginia Challenge, she popped 16:14.97 and jumped up in the east rankings to nineteenth. She still needs to do work to make it to the top twelve, but she also has a huge upside. Also, she has the Long Island factor going for her.
Honorable Mention
3kST
#14 Shelby Greany Providence 10:16.07
For the last two years, Greany has made the trip to NCAA Nationals in the steeple. While she’s race savvy, her last few steeples haven’t been too promising. That being said, we think she’ll work that Providence magic this weekend.
10k
#19 Elaina Balouris W&M 34:20.40
Another 10k’er who placed 13th at NCAA XC Nationals (the other being IU’s Zach Mayhew). Balouris ran 34:20.40 at Mt. SAC, but she ran 33:56.26 last season and we simply don’t like to count out strong cross runners in the 10k.
Just in case you forgot how it works, here’s the new slash old format. The top forty-eight individuals in each event earn berths to the east and west preliminary rounds, respectively. The top twelve times or marks in each region then make it to the NCAA Championships in Eugene, OR on June 5 - 8th.
Twenty-four relays qualify in each region with twelve making nationals while the decathlon is just a descending list of the top twenty-four marks because apparently the NCAA isn’t totally sadistic.
That’s the nuts and bolts. Now let’s get down to the good stuff: Who will make it out of the east and west.
Barring disaster, some of the events look like locks. Then again, Murphy’s Law never applies to track and field. But if you look beyond those coveted dozen spots, there are some athletes who are currently on the outside looking in. They might be there on paper, but after this weekend, some of them will be booking their flight to Oregon.
Since twelve qualify from each region, we’ll list twelve events that don’t look as good on paper because if one thing is for certain, it’s that nothing is for certain. We've listed the athlete, his or her rank in the region, and their qualifying mark below.
- TrackBoundUSA asks, "Which Region is Stronger?"
West Regional Preview | East Regional Preview
Edit: When was the last time someone listened to a Jordan Pruitt song? Serious question.
East
Men
200m
#15 Anaso Jobodwana Jackson State 20.75
#17 Aaron Ernest LSU 20.78
Are two guys who made the NCAA Indoor 200m not going to make it outdoors? We say maybe and no way, in that order. Indoors, Jobodwana ran 20.53 and took 5th at nationals, but has been having a subpar outdoor season (comparatively, that is).
On the other hand, we’ll be stunned if Ernest doesn’t make it. The LSU sophomore took fifth at nationals in the 200m last year and placed sixth in the event indoors. He’s also ranked #1 in the 100 (10.04).
400m
#14 Akeem Williams Grambling 46.19
#16 Patrick Feeney Notre Dame 46.23
#27 Tavaris Tate Miss State 46.94
We put Williams on this list because he’s hot. He just ran his personal best (46.19) a few weeks ago at the SWAC Outdoor Championships, but still has some work to do to climb those last two spots.
Remember Patrick F(ast)eeney? He’s one half of the Notre Dame quarter-mile duo that qualified for NCAA Indoors (Chris Giesting is the other). Feeney ended up taking fourth at nationals, but also has to jump a few names if he wants to earn another all-American honor outdoors.
While we don’t think Tate will make it, we wish he would. Three years ago, Tate ran 44.86 and we thought that he could be a champion in years to come. While he won gold at the World Indoor Championships that year in 4x400, it’s been a long time since we’ve seen his brilliance.
1500m
#15 Jordan Williamsz Villanova 3:44.43
#16 Sam McEntee Villanova 3:44.53
Two Wildcats who have run 3:36? While they both ran on Villanova’s DMR and 4xMile at The Penn Relays, they’ve both had quiet individual seasons.
Two Fun Facts
- Williamsz split 3:58 twice at Penn Relays
- Both of them have run 3:36 at Swarthmore, which brings up the conversation of whether the track is either magically or just short. We just think that one race was something beyond this world (Kyle Merber ran 3:35.59), but it’s interesting to note that this year’s Swarthmore Last Chance Meet was hosted by Widener College.
Maybe it’s not the track.
Honorable Mention
800m
#29 Za’Von Watkins Penn State 1:49.50
#45 Brandon McBride Miss State 1:50.17
Watkins has run 1:48.92 this year, but the high school 800m superstar seems to still be adjusting to Penn State. He's fairly far down the list.
McBride is a multiple Canadian junior record holder at 400m and 800m (indoor and out), who ran 1:46.07 last summer. Oddly enough, he’s even further down in the east.
10k
#16 Zach Mayhew Indiana 29:28.36
While we mentioned the Big 10 Outdoor Championship 10k in our west regional preview, we haven’t even talked about the guy who won it. Since Big 10s last spring, Indiana’s Zach Mayhew has been on fire and we don’t expect him to end his season in Greensboro.
Mayhew won his conference 10k just a hair quicker than what he ran at NCAA XC Nationals, where he placed 13th in 29:32.8. Last year, he ran 28:55.06. Plus, we like the guy.
Women
400m
#13 Shaunae Miller Georgia 53.04
If you were to tell me that the NCAA Indoor 400m champion was on the outside looking in, I’d laugh. So while we’re having a good chuckle, let us just say that it will be a huge upset if Miller doesn’t qualify for nationals. She’s only run one 400m all outdoor season, which was at SECs, where she placed third in 53.04.
It’s nowhere near her huge 50.88 run at nationals, so we’ll take the leap of faith and say she’s coming back from injury. Even if that’s not the case, she has enough talent to jump up one spot in the east.
1500m
#14 Shannon Osika Michigan 4:19.00
#18 Emily Lipari Villanova 4:20.08
#27 Jillian King Boston College 4:21.51
I don’t need to profess my favorability towards Michigan. When I was in college, my roommate would play Hail to the Victors whenever he got a chance, even though we didn’t go there (Fun Fact: So did President Gerald Ford).
Osika is just on the cusp, but it’s familiar territory for her. When she qualified for NCAA Indoors, she was the final entrant with a 4:37.19 mile.
This spring, she’s once more on the edge of making it to the big dance. Just running through some of her 1500m marks, she finished fourth in the Big 10 1500m in 4:23.00 (behind two other Wolverines), ran 4:22.x twice at The Penn Relays (once on the winning 4x1500m relay and then en route in the OD Mile), and 4:20.62 at KU Relays.
It’s basically going to be a coin flip for her to make it.
Another female who I have absolutely no bias toward is Villanova’s Emily Lipari. She may have been outclassed by Amanda Eccleston and Michigan’s DMR team indoors, but she was nearly unstoppable at The Penn Relays.
Lipari anchored two winning relay teams and even threw down in the 4x800, where she PR’d by six seconds to run 2:02.25 and outkicked Oregon’s Laura Roesler to win a giant wheel.
Her seasonal best of 4:20.08 comes from way back in March at the Raleigh Relays, but her tactical win at the Big East 1500m and her late season reputation makes her a solid bet.
Our wildcard pick in the women’s 1500m is Boston College’s Jillian King. The senior may have had a disappointing showing at NCAA Indoors where she ran 4:45.40, but like Osika, she has the talent to make it to Eugene.
While she’s run 4:19.74 for 1500m (last year) and 4:34.19 for the mile (this indoor season), we labeled her as the wildcard because she’s run as many 1500s this season as she’s run 4x400s (three). Speed kills, baby.
5000m
#16 Agata Strausa Florida 16:09.41
#19 Samantha Nadel Georgetown 16:14.97
While we’re talking milers, let’s talk about two who are testing the waters in the 5000m.
First, we have the rising Agata Strausa. The semi-surprising third place finisher at the NCAA Indoor Mile (4:36.91) recently tried the 5000m at the SEC Championships, where she ran 16:09.41 in her debut. That's not bad for someone who may have been there to score points at conferences.
While we’re pretty sure she’ll be concentrating on the 1500m, we don’t want to omit her from our preview in case she decided to run both.
There’s another Long Island miler who just had a big breakthrough in the 5k. While I watched Samantha Nadel dismantle everyone in the tri-state area in the mile on an almost daily basis, the Georgetown freshman has been experimenting with longer distance this winter and spring.
Nadel represented Team USA at World Cross, where she took 44th in 20:30, but it’s been the last week that’s been important for her in terms of continuing her season. In her first two 5ks this spring, Nadel ran 16:43.50 and 16:43.83, respectively.
Then at the Virginia Challenge, she popped 16:14.97 and jumped up in the east rankings to nineteenth. She still needs to do work to make it to the top twelve, but she also has a huge upside. Also, she has the Long Island factor going for her.
Honorable Mention
3kST
#14 Shelby Greany Providence 10:16.07
For the last two years, Greany has made the trip to NCAA Nationals in the steeple. While she’s race savvy, her last few steeples haven’t been too promising. That being said, we think she’ll work that Providence magic this weekend.
10k
#19 Elaina Balouris W&M 34:20.40
Another 10k’er who placed 13th at NCAA XC Nationals (the other being IU’s Zach Mayhew). Balouris ran 34:20.40 at Mt. SAC, but she ran 33:56.26 last season and we simply don’t like to count out strong cross runners in the 10k.