Midwest Does it Best
Meet Recaps and the Unattached Dilemma
When it comes to availability of indoor meets, no one can beat the Midwest (except maybe Boston, but they’re special). This past weekend saw over a dozen teams in action, with the majority of them coming from the Midwest! I guess there is something to say about Midwest Toughness. We’re very glad to see the Midwest teams taking advantage of the meets available to them to throw down some early impressive performances. Last week, we had just about 1,000 results across men and women. This week, we’re up to 1,500! With this volume of results flooding in, we are bound to miss a few, so if we did miss your team’s meet let us know! We want to share the most accurate information and we can’t do that without you!
Distance Drama
It would appear that the distance runners have decided to wake up from their winter slumber, because times are getting fast and the lists are starting to fill up.
Kicking things off in the 800m, we saw 13 men dip under 2:051 and 3 women dip under 2:33. When I first joined NIRCA, one of the mid-distance guys on my team said you could have 30 guys between 1:58 and 2:00 in the 800m. While we might not be at those numbers yet, there is a very close spread between the top 10 spots in the Men’s and Women’s 800m. Joining the sub-2 club this week are a number of athletes. Oliver Marker set a new club record for Northeastern with his performance of 1:57.40 in Boston (yes, that Boston meet) to come out as the top club runner in the 800m this weekend. He is joined by Max Kollmeyer, of the very talented GVSU squad, running 1:58.24, Colin Nelson of Indiana in 1:58.80, and James Harrison of Michigan in 1:59.47. On the Women’s side, we saw several clubs battle out in my favorite event: the 4x800m. At the Trojan Invite, Notre Dame, Purdue, and Indiana duked it out with the Fighting Irish coming out on top with an early season leading time of 10:56.41. In the open 800s, the 2:30 neighborhood is getting awfully crowded. Joining the pack this week are a pair of Boilermakers and a trio of Wolverines. Caitlin O’Keefe (2:30.51) and Renae Kopser (2:37.18) took top club honors at the Trojan Invite. Meanwhile at the SVSU Jet’s Pizza Invitational (arguably one of the best meet names), Sofia Oertel (2:36.25) and Kelsey Francis (2:31.26) should have gotten top club honors had it not been for their teammate Mackenna Burkholder and her staggering time of 2:17.26! This is a 2 second improvement on her time she ran to take 3rd at Track Nationals last year! I know it’s early, but Burkholder has to be the title favorite this year.
Moving up to the Mile, we saw 18 Men run 4:40 or faster, and 10 Women run 5:46 or faster. By far, the most impressive performance of the weekend came from none other than Ashley Heidenrich of Michigan. She dropped a mind boggling time of 4:53.60 for the full mile! The streets are saying that it converts to a 4:33 1500m, which is a full TEN seconds faster than the winning time at Track Nats last year. Heidenrich is in a league of her own in these distance races. Adding to the impressive list of Mile performances this weekend, we have Charlotte Batra of Michigan State with her time of 5:08.12, Morgan Sandlund of Indiana running 5:18.32, and Brenna Wendell with her 5:21.11 clocking. On the Men’s side, that 4:20 neighborhood is becoming a popular one. Coming out on top we have Gavin Steele of Michigan running 4:20.62 for a new NIRCA #2time this season. Following Steele, there’s a trio of men who had 4:25 clockings. Daniel Berg also of Michigan (4:25.02), Carter McIlroy from GVSU (4:25.26), and lastly Indiana’s Adler Larson with his 4:25.98. These are all new names in terms of scoring at Nationals compared to last year, and with most of the top runners returning we’re expecting some nail biting finishes.
Up to the 3000m, there were 15 Men under 9:19 and 6 Women under 11:38 last weekend. When it comes to the distance races, it should be no surprise to see Michigan at the forefront. But despite their impressive showing of 6 guys under 9 last weekend, Ethan Turner from UNC dropped the best performance of the weekend running 8:33.21. Turner’s time barely beat out NIRCA XC Champion Jorden Sowash with his 8:33.25 time at the Jet’s Pizza Invitational. Joining Turner and Sowash under 9 last weekend are James Harrison (Michigan - 8:41.40), Andrew Quaal (Michigan - 8:41.55), Matt DeMeulenaere (Michigan - 8:49.61), Zach Duval (Michigan - 8:54.27), Connor Wasick (Michigan State - 8:55.09), and Tomas Peralta (Michigan - 8:55.88). Running just over the 9 minute barrier, we have reigning 5000m Champion, Zami Moscoso from Purdue (9:00.97) and someone who is making us regret we didn’t notice him earlier, Colin Corcoran of Indiana (9:01.21). Corcoran has put up several solid results so far this season that we were unaware of until recently. He could be a name to watch out for as the season progresses. The 3000m on the Women’s side had been fairly quiet for the early meets in the season, but leave it to the women of the midwest to get things going! We’ve already mentioned her before plenty of times, including in this article, but no matter how many races she runs, we are still blown away by how talented she is. We are of course talking about Ashley Heidenrich. Doubling back from her impressive mile (4:53.60), Heidenrich dropped a devastating 9:40.17! That is a time that could rival several D1 performances. Continuing her strong weekend for Sparty, we also have Charlotte Batra running a very impressive 10:33.96 to win her heat by 4 seconds! Heidenrich and Batra now hold the 1-2 positions on the 3000m list for this season. There are 4 new runners entering the Top 10 for the list as well. Brenna Wendell from Michigan (10:57.11) joins her teammate to cement Michigan’s distance dominance. At the Trojan Invite, Audrey Christo of Notre Dame beat out Cara Karmolinski of Purdue 11:04.97 to 11:09.97. Then sliding into the #10 spot, we have Haley Trolio from Ohio State thanks to her 11:22.05 performance.
I thought it seemed reasonable to suggest there would be few 5000m performances during the indoor season, because running 25 laps on an indoor track sounds atrocious. Apparently some of you actually enjoy that type of thing. Well kudos to you! There were 4 women and 20 men who ran the 5000m last weekend. On the women’s side, all the performances came from the Trojan Invite (aka the state of Indiana battle). We saw Cara Karmolinski from Purdue take down Gracie Wetli of Notre Dame 19:07.55 to 19:23.15. On the men’s side, we had a few meets where the 5000m caught our attention. First off, we had not one but TWO sub-15 performances. Ben Clason from, you guessed it, Michigan and Kallin Carolus Khan from Iowa ran a pair of 14:56s (14:56.64 to 14:56.61). These are both very promising early season results that set both of these athletes up nicely for the rest of the season. After how fast XC Nationals was this past season, we wouldn’t be shocked if plenty more sub-15 performances are on their way.
We know we discussed last week that it takes a well balanced team to win Track Nationals, but so far, Michigan is doing everything they can to prove us wrong! They hold 15 of the Top 10 spots in the 800m, Mile, 3000m, and 5000m on the Men’s side and 12 on the Women’s side.
Sprint Showdown
** If there’s anyone out there who can tell me what a respectable 60m time, I would greatly appreciate you, because I have no concept of what is good or not in the 60m. **
The sprints were more on the quiet side last week as the teams who competed are distance heavy, but we still have several great sprint performances to cover! Starting off, welcome back Cameron Conforti! The Indiana ace opened his season in superb fashion with his finals time of 7.03. His teammate Eyiram Nutor stays consistent with a 7.18 showing, just off his 7.15 best from December. Speaking of 7.15, that was the mark from Buckeye Ethan Smith at the Jim Wuske Invitational where he led a whole slew of Buckeye sprinters in the 60m. On the Women’s side, Nnenna Brown from Michigan has been running fairly consistently, dropping a 8.28 to lead club runners last weekend. Other notable performances include Arianna Stallworth from Michigan State with her time of 8.32, Makalya Cizek from Minnesota running 8.38, and Purdue’s Rylee Huet in 8.39. In the hurdles (Yes! We have those too!), Jacob Mertes from GVSU dropped an impressive 9.01 performance in the 60mH. Even more impressive is Heather Wiehe from Minnesota and her 9.55 clocking over the hurdles! Also with impressive performances over the hurdles were Kaitlyn Ward of Michigan State (10.33) and Kaya Yanagisawa from Ohio State (10.92).
Asking for a friend: 200m runners, is it weird for indoor when your event is now 1 full lap instead of half a lap? Anywho, 7 men were under 24.27 and 6 women ran under 28.60 last weekend. There was some serious speed on the track in the Women’s 200m last weekend. I know it is still early, but having 11 sub-28 second performances already is crazy. Taking the club win we have Arianna Stallworth from Michigan State with her 27.56 performance, which is just ahead of Rylee Huet of Purdue and her 27.59. Adding to the list of sub-28 performances this week, we have another Spartan Stella Kotowski and her time of 27.80. On the Men’s side, only one new runner joined the Top 10 list, thanks to Cameron Daniels and his 23.25 time. But Jacob Ferry of GVSU is continuing to impress with another 23 low performance, this time running 23.10, taking the club win this weekend. Joining these two under 24 seconds this weekend are Ethan Smith of Ohio State (23.86) and Braedon Pederson of Minnesota (23.93).
At the last (and my favorite) sprint event, 3 women were under 66 seconds and 3 men ran sub-54. Leading the way on the Women’s side we have the ever consistent Anna Tieman (Indiana) running 62.37 which is a little off her NIRCA leading time of 60.71. Trailing her, and claiming a Top 10 mark, is Leah Salomone from Ohio State crossing the line in 64.30. The only guy who ran a Top 10 mark in the 400m was already on the list. Killian Marshall ran just off his 3rd ranked time, running 51.12.
Field Frenzy
The field events are one area that I am really looking forward to seeing grow throughout the season. Last week, 6 men jumped 5.66m or better and 3 women jumped 4.32m or better in the Long Jump. Two men jumped their way into the Top 10 last week as George Gamble (Indiana) moved up to #2 on the list with his 6.53m jump, while Michael Whitfield (Purdue) slides into the #5 spot with his jump of 6.35m. On the Women’s side, no one joined the Top 10 list, but Shivani Shrestha (Minnesota) just missed out as her 4.49m jump puts her 12th in the rankings. Currently the #10 jump stands at 4.64m.
Just a hop, skip, and jump to Triple Jump, 2 men had a 11.97m or better performance while 0 women had 9.24m or better attempts. Triple is probably one of smallest events in club due to how technical it is, but there is a healthy level of interest in the event which makes me happy. Micah Wong (Iowa) jumped a new #2 mark of 12.63m, while Josh Allen from the Buffalo Bills Notre Dame occupies the #5 spot with his jump of 12.36m. On the Women’s side, even though there were no performances above 9.24m, due to the number of competitors, Alyssa Lecky from Ohio State is now 9th with her performance of 9.24m.
On deck, 6 men cleared 1.68m and women cleared 2 1.40m in the High Jump. We don’t have full confirmation, but watch out for Minnesota in the High Jump. Charlie Brands, Cory White, and Emmitt Kietlinski are a dangerous trio jumping 1.80m, 1.85m, and 2.00m(!) respectively. We’re getting close to having to jump over 6ft just to make the Top 10 list. Thanks to the Minnesota trio as well as Josh Allen (Notre Dame not Buffalo), and Jack Buzzard (Ohio State) who both cleared 1.87m. Also of note, George Gamble cleared 1.82m to take the #6 spot on the rankings. On the Women’s side, a pair of Boilermakers claimed Top 10 spots as Oakleigh Goedde and Caroline Ebert jumped 1.45m and 1.40m, respectively.
For the people who enjoy throwing heavy things really far, the most notable performance from the week came from Janessa Shepard (Central Michigan) with her 10.36m throw. Most of the throws heavy teams, Penn State and UConn, have a break in their schedule. Big throws crew will get their time to shine in the near future, I’m sure of it.
The Unattached Athlete Dilemma
We’re not sure how big of a problem this is, but we feel like it is one worth addressing. Primarily in the indoor season and late outdoor season, several club athletes compete in meets unattached. This is a fairly common occurrence in the Southeast, where indoor meets are rare and very few of those meets actually allow club teams to enter. As a result, this causes several athletes to have their performances go unnoticed. Since we are wanting to provide the most accurate information possible to all club runners, I feel it is acceptable to include unattached athlete performances in the overall club results page. That being said, however, unless we are aware of the meet ahead of time, there is next to no way we will be able to find it. So with all that in mind, I propose if you want an unattached performance to count for the records, fill out this sheet with your name, club team, and the meet so we can add it to the list. If you are passionate enough to want your unattached results to count, I figure you’re passionate enough to meet me halfway and send me your results.
Closing Notes
If you made it this far, thank you! It means a lot that people spend a few minutes reading something about a sport we’re all passionate about. I think these articles will mostly be recaps due to my time constraints and my inability to see the future. If there is an interest in having a preview section as well, please help us out and send either your meet schedule or the heat sheets so we know what to be looking out for! That would help us out enormously. If your club is competing this weekend (which is probably several clubs, sorry), feel free to DM us, email us, write a strongly worded letter, whatever, to let us know! The coverage we provide is limited to the available information we have, so please help us out! The more information we have, the better coverage we can provide! Thanks!
Also! Feel free to send us any fun pictures from the meets and, with your permission, we will start adding some images to these articles! Just something nice to break up all the text.
For all time/mark comparisons, I am using the World Athletics Scoring Table and finding the mark equivalent to 640 points for fairness. Why did I chose 640? It seemed like a fair value.