2017 DI NCAA Indoor ChampionshipsMar 8, 2017 by Dennis Young
NCAA 5K Preview: Cheserek Will Win, But Will Schweizer?
NCAA 5K Preview: Cheserek Will Win, But Will Schweizer?
The 5000s are the first two track finals of the NCAA Indoor Championships, at 9 and 9:20 PM Eastern on Friday. We break down both races here.
The 5000s are the first two track finals of the NCAA Indoor Championships, at 9 and 9:20 PM Eastern on Friday. We break down both races below.
Full startlist:
Schweizer hasn't lost a final to a collegiate athlete since Pre-Nationals in October, so she has to be the favorite. However, my personal theory is that Finn and Rohrer hung themselves out to dry by pushing hard on a very windy day in Terre Haute, Indiana. If they went a little later, I think they could have broken Schweizer with a hard last 800 meters or so. Instead, they pushed for most of the race and were vulnerable to Schweizer's lethal kick:
Finn, who has a full season of indoor and outdoor track eligibility remaining, is quietly on her way to becoming one of the best NCAA women's runners ever without an NCAA title. Her 15:23 indoor 5K PR makes her the No. 10 collegiate performer ever, and her 31:51 10K last spring at Payton Jordan would make her the No. 6 in-season performer of all time if she hadn't been redshirting. She's been second or third at nationals, regionals, or conferences eight times in her Michigan career. Unfortunately for her, with the emergence of Schweizer, finishing second or third is the likeliest outcome here.
There's also a wild card in the field: Penn State's Tessa Barrett. Barrett ran 15:28 at Big Ten indoors, making her the top seed in the field because Indiana's Katherine Receveur is focusing on the DMR. Receveur beat Barrett by a tenth of a second in that race, and they both finished four seconds ahead of Finn. Barrett dropped out of both the NCAA outdoor and cross country championships in 2016, but if she can stay on the track, she's a contender to win this race. (As reported when she was in high school, Barrett has migralepsy, a rare condition in which fluorescent lights can cause migraines and seizures. It's unclear how much her condition has affected her in college.)
Rohrer has had a quiet indoor season, losing to five different collegians in the 3Ks at Meyo and ACCs. But she's more of a 5K/cross country runner anyway, and she has won her only two 5Ks this indoor season. Her 15:38 at ACC indoors was a solo effort, as she won by 26 seconds. That's only a second slower than Schweizer's season (and personal) best, which was run in December.
Schweizer's speed is no joke, and that makes her the definitive favorite. In addition to having the best kick at cross country nationals, she also beat 2:02 800m runner Morgan Schuetz and 2015 NCAA 1500m champion Rhianwedd Price in the SEC mile two weeks ago.
The pick:
1. Schweizer
2. Finn
3. Barrett
Full startlist:
Enjoy this video of Gilbert outkicking Cheserek, something that is not going to happen on Friday night:
Scott has great speed and Gilbert has run four seconds faster than anyone not named Ches this year, so I'll pick them for second and third.
One question is how hard they'll make Cheserek work. The DMR is just 35 minutes after the 5K, and there is some chance that he runs both as part of an insane mile-3K-5K-DMR quadruple. He did the 5K/DMR double last year, anchoring in 3:52 just half an hour after winning the 5K in 13:47. But that was without a mile prelim in his legs and a mile/3K double on the docket for the next day.
Women's 5K (9 PM Eastern)
Full startlist:
1 446 Tessa Barrett SO Penn State 15:28.99The battle here is between Schweizer, Finn, and Rohrer, who were the top three finishers at the NCAA XC meet four months ago. With Tennessee's Chelsea Blaase scratching, Finn and Rohrer are also the top two returners from last year's indoor NCAA 5K.
2 321 Erin Finn JR Michigan 15:32.45
3 349 Karissa Schweizer JR Missouri 15:37.40
4 381 Anna Rohrer SO Notre Dame 15:38.11
5 177 Allie Buchalski JR Furman 15:46.86
6 152 Jordann McDermitt JR E Michigan 15:50.16
7 430 Maggie Schmaedick JR Oregon 15:52.28
8 205 Judy Pendergast FR Harvard 15:52.64
9 588 Grayson Murphy JR Utah 15:53.24
10 456 Lauren LaRocco SO Portland 15:54.26
11 566 Anne-Marie Blaney SR UCF 15:55.69
12 459 Brianna Ilarda JR Providence 15:55.91
13 366 Erika Kemp JR NC State 15:56.52
14 358 Alice Wright JR New Mexico 15:56.94
15 105 Olivia Pratt SR Butler 15:57.41
16 647 Makena Morley FR Colorado 15:58.07
Schweizer hasn't lost a final to a collegiate athlete since Pre-Nationals in October, so she has to be the favorite. However, my personal theory is that Finn and Rohrer hung themselves out to dry by pushing hard on a very windy day in Terre Haute, Indiana. If they went a little later, I think they could have broken Schweizer with a hard last 800 meters or so. Instead, they pushed for most of the race and were vulnerable to Schweizer's lethal kick:
Finn, who has a full season of indoor and outdoor track eligibility remaining, is quietly on her way to becoming one of the best NCAA women's runners ever without an NCAA title. Her 15:23 indoor 5K PR makes her the No. 10 collegiate performer ever, and her 31:51 10K last spring at Payton Jordan would make her the No. 6 in-season performer of all time if she hadn't been redshirting. She's been second or third at nationals, regionals, or conferences eight times in her Michigan career. Unfortunately for her, with the emergence of Schweizer, finishing second or third is the likeliest outcome here.
There's also a wild card in the field: Penn State's Tessa Barrett. Barrett ran 15:28 at Big Ten indoors, making her the top seed in the field because Indiana's Katherine Receveur is focusing on the DMR. Receveur beat Barrett by a tenth of a second in that race, and they both finished four seconds ahead of Finn. Barrett dropped out of both the NCAA outdoor and cross country championships in 2016, but if she can stay on the track, she's a contender to win this race. (As reported when she was in high school, Barrett has migralepsy, a rare condition in which fluorescent lights can cause migraines and seizures. It's unclear how much her condition has affected her in college.)
Rohrer has had a quiet indoor season, losing to five different collegians in the 3Ks at Meyo and ACCs. But she's more of a 5K/cross country runner anyway, and she has won her only two 5Ks this indoor season. Her 15:38 at ACC indoors was a solo effort, as she won by 26 seconds. That's only a second slower than Schweizer's season (and personal) best, which was run in December.
Schweizer's speed is no joke, and that makes her the definitive favorite. In addition to having the best kick at cross country nationals, she also beat 2:02 800m runner Morgan Schuetz and 2015 NCAA 1500m champion Rhianwedd Price in the SEC mile two weeks ago.
The pick:
1. Schweizer
2. Finn
3. Barrett
Men's 5K (9:20 PM Eastern)
Full startlist:
1 436 Edward Cheserek SR Oregon 13:32.59 2 631 Colby Gilbert JR Washington 13:34.85 3 565 Marc Scott SR Tulsa 13:38.87 4 106 Erik Peterson SR Butler 13:40.90 5 137 John Dressel SO Colorado 13:42.57 6 122 Amon Terer SR Campbell 13:42.78 7 414 MJ Erb SR Ole Miss 13:43.55 8 373 Matthew Baxter JR No Arizona 13:44.27 9 145 Jerrell Mock SR Colo State 13:44.65 10 614 Zach Herriott SR Virginia 13:45.37 11 183 Jonathan Green JR Georgetown 13:45.73 12 143 Grant Fischer JR Colo State 13:46.58 13 477 Alex Short SR San Francisco 13:47.57 14 32 Alfred Chelanga JR Alabama 13:48.12 15 116 Rory Linkletter SO BYU 13:49.00 16 374 Tyler Day SO No Arizona 13:49.53Edward Cheserek, a 3:52 indoor miler and 13:18 outdoor 5K guy, is going to win this race. (Though he did lose at his last NCAA championship, in cross country.) Marc Scott has a nice kick but has never finished in the top four at an NCAA meet. Colby Gilbert tried to take it to Cheserek in the race where they ran 13:32 and 13:34, but Cheserek handled him easily.
Enjoy this video of Gilbert outkicking Cheserek, something that is not going to happen on Friday night:
Nobody expected Colby would be the one dropping the hammer today! Check out his winning sprint in the 5k: https://t.co/JBDD1MVLWV
— UW Track (@UWTrack) April 9, 2016
Scott has great speed and Gilbert has run four seconds faster than anyone not named Ches this year, so I'll pick them for second and third.
One question is how hard they'll make Cheserek work. The DMR is just 35 minutes after the 5K, and there is some chance that he runs both as part of an insane mile-3K-5K-DMR quadruple. He did the 5K/DMR double last year, anchoring in 3:52 just half an hour after winning the 5K in 13:47. But that was without a mile prelim in his legs and a mile/3K double on the docket for the next day.
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