Peanut butter and jelly, Mario and Luigi, March and MADNESS. These pairings just go together so nicely. March has finally arrived and (most) Spring Breaks have finished, which means we can finally talk about the madness that is Outdoor Track Season! We have been waiting for this moment ever since cross country season ended. We know of 8 meets from this past weekend, meaning we have quite a bit to talk about. With Outdoor underway, we have switched the Power Rankings over to be strictly outdoor events, with results from any overlapping events still in play. The most updated version can be found here: men, women. To be transparent, there will be some inflation of results since we do not have a full complement of 40 athletes in certain events, mainly the hurdles, steeplechase, and discus. As more meets happen, those lists will fill up and then we’ll get the most accurate rankings.
This weekend will be another action-packed one as even more teams are competing, including 3 club meets! Iowa State, JMU and Georgia are hosting meets on the 23rd. If any representative from either of those schools would be oh so kind to send us some live results, that would be much appreciated 😘. The Georgia home meet will be interesting since we expect a few Southeast teams that we don’t see often to make an appearance. Which begs the question we’ve been asking all year: Who will be at Nats??
As always, if we missed a meet or some results, let us know here.
Hokie Track Invitational
Welcome back to competition, Virginia Tech! You have been missed, or not, depending on which team you are on. The Hokies quickly ran up the scoreboard dropping ridiculous team scores of 464 and 387 for their men’s and women’s teams. The meet began with Anna Rigby annihilating the field in the 5000m dropping a new #2 time in 17:44.21. Next up we had the hurdles, which saw nothing but a bunch of Hokies. The only competitor in the 110mH was Josiah Malone who ran a 17.27 to set an early season #3 time. There were an impressive 6 women from Virginia Tech who contested the 100mH, with Seda Erol emerging victorious with a time of 19.35. In the flat straightaway race, Liam Haley took down a respectable field by running 11.34 for an early season #6 time. The women’s 100m was won in 13.59 by Kynedi Crawford who is ranked #10 so far.
The men’s and women’s 1500m played out in an exact opposite manner. On the women’s side, Evelyn Tipper dropped the field from the start to win by 9 seconds with a time of 5:04.21. She started her season in the same way last year, dominating the competition at this meet, before going on to place 4th at Track Nationals in the 1500m. She soloed this race 7 seconds faster than she did last year. One would expect her to continue to improve on her trajectory from last season this year. The men’s race, on the other hand, was tightly bunched the first 1200m. Kaden Ellis of Georgia and Chris Nunn of Virginia Tech were battling back and forth for most of the race, until Chris dropped the hammer on the last lap to close in a 61.3 for an early season time of 4:04.74, which ranks him 5th so far. Kaden faded to 3rd in 4:09.77 as Samik Bhinge, the winner of the FR/SO Race at Cross Country Nationals for Virginia Tech, showed off some wheels in the final stretch to run 4:08.72.
The 4x100m saw the runner-ups from Nationals last year run an unopposed 43.58, to easily secure the automark (automarks can be found here). Onto arguably the hardest event in track & field: the 400mH. Well when you’re 6’4”, clearing the 36” hurdles shouldn’t be too much of a hassle. Virginia Tech’s Konnor Rafferty made his official 400mH debut with an impressive time of 58.55. That time would have only gotten him 7th at Nationals last year, but with half of the scorers having graduated, that could open the door for him to do well at Nationals.
The men’s 800m and 200m saw some repeat winners from earlier in the day. Chirs Nunn added another victory to his collection as he negative split a 1:57.95 to take the win. Liam Haley also took down another field, this time running a very impressive 22.27, which puts him 2nd in the country behind only Tyler Klein.
As teams have slowly been learning over the last few years, having a well-balanced team definitely helps once it comes to Nationals. Well that means having good field events. Between men and women, Virginia Tech has 8 athletes that threw better than the 8th best performance at Nationals last year in the Discus. They were led by Zangar Smith (41.04m) and Leanne Villante (35.00m). In the jumps, Jessica Williams continues her consistent performances as she tied her season’s best in the Long Jump at 5.32m and in the High Jump at 1.52m. In the High Jump, she is joined by Morgan Waterman and Emma Filkoski who both cleared 1.47m. There are currently 12 women between 1.52m and 1.47m in the high jump right now. That will be a tight battle at Nationals.
Towson Spring Opener
Up in Towson, Penn State and Maryland were opening their season against some good NCAA competition. Anthony Boscolo, Sam Fields, Amanda Callaghan, and Henry Sheppard had the highlight performances for the Terrapins. Anthony dropped a 4:06.31 1500m to find himself #10 in the country. Sam ran a 15:39.66 5000m to be just off his season’s best from Capital Relays. Amanda had a crazy triple as she ran 1:04.71 in the 400m, 2:30.95 in the 800m, and cleared 1.40m in the High Jump. Talk about versatility. Henry launched the disc 36.62m for the 8th best throw in the country this year, as well as going 11.04m in the Shot Put.
The top Penn State sprinters came to play at Towson, as expected. The Nittany Lions saw 9 men run sub 12 in the 100m, led by Garrin Alexander in 11.36. The women, however, saw the outdoor debut of Kambi Chukwuma and it did not disappoint. She blasted to a 12.49/25.71 100m/200m double which clears everyone for the #1 time in the country for both events. Joining Kambi in the 200m is Payton Smith, who also pulled off an impressive double. Payton is now #3 in the 200m with a 26.69 and once again eclipsed the 60 second barrier in the 400m, running 59.59. The men’s 200m was just as impressive as Brennan Shaul ran the 4th fastest time in the country at 22.68 to lead 5 of his teammates under 24 seconds.
Penn State’s perpetual 1:55 man, Jameson Todd, lived up to his billing as he won the 800m in, you guessed it, 1:55.02. That is the 3rd or 4th time this season Jameson has run 1:55. Epitome of consistency right there. His teammate, Nathan Allen, also broke 2 to finish 2nd as he ran 1:57.61. Nathan also doubled back to run a 4:04.97 1500m which is the 6th fastest time in the country right now. Penn State didn’t have anyone in the 5000m, which makes me sad.
Like we were saying earlier, balance is good. Part of a well-balanced team includes hurdlers. Well Penn State has some pretty good hurdlers. Ryan Lindenberg ran 16.78 in the 110mH for the early season lead. That time would have gotten him 5th at Nationals last year. Then moving up to a full lap of hurdles, Jansen Hofford ran 1:01.79, which is an impressive season debut. On the women’s side, Danna Bender and Rachel Bonfini ran 18.49 and 19.04 in the 100mH to claim the top 2 spots so far. Danna also ran 1:12.61 in the 400mH for the 2nd fastest time in the country.
In the jumps, FieldU was uncharacteristically quiet. Well, except for Edward Grill. He soared over 2.00m in the High Jump to join Emmitt Kietlinski of Minnesota and La'Jean Berry of Monmouth for a shared leading jump. Edward also moved up to #9 in the Long Jump with his 6.45m jump. The jumps might have been a touch quiet, but the throws were as loud as ever. The Nittany Lion two headed beast of Colin McCormack and Mitchell Maher had themselves a day in their respective event. Colin had a monster throw in the Shot Put to extend his own NIRCA lead at 14.43m. He almost has a full meter lead over the 2nd mark, which belongs to his teammate Mitchell. Speaking of Mitchell, he slung the disc out to 46.36m to take an almost four meter lead over 2nd, which is also his teammate, James Richie. Penn State has an iron hold over the top throw spots. Their women don’t quite have the same dominance as their men, but they are also very good. Felicity Martin threw just off her season’s best of 11.12m as her best mark ended up at 11.04m. That mark still would be good enough for the 2nd best throw in the country this year. In Discus, Jillian Rihel and Sarah Munson went 31.55m and 31.33m for the 3rd and 4th best throws in the country this year, behind only the Virginia Tech duo.
Arguably the most impressive performance came in the 4x400m. They had 2 relay squads on the men’s side finish within half a second of each other as both teams ran 3:32. The time itself isn’t the most impressive, since it wouldn’t have scored at Nationals last year, what we do find impressive is the fact that Penn State has 8 guys who are that close in time to each other in the 400m.
Rapid Fire Results
Hayden Marshall (Georgia Tech) became the 6th man to run sub 15 in the 5000m as he ran 14:57.56 at the Yellow Jacket Invitational.
Also at the Yellow Jacket Invitational, Ava Coffey improved her #5 time down to 18:22.63.
Pitt had a trio tackle the 10,000m at the Bethany Invitational, with Nolan Pernia running the fastest time at 32:37.46
Stanford’s hurdlers are crazy. Robert Wood dropped a 15.84/56.88 110mH/400mH double to set new #1 and #2 times. AND Juliet Horenziak ran 1:09.89 in the 400mH for a new #1.
Stanford also has several good distance runners, IDK something about Stanford and good distance just makes sense. Nicole Ticea now holds the 4th fastest time in the country in the 5000m at 18:15.14.
For all the results from this past weekend, check out the ever-growing results sheets that can be found here: Men, Women.
Upcoming Meets
It seems like the entire state of Indiana is converging at Indiana Wesleyan University this weekend for the IWU Polar Bear Invitational. This meet will feature the likes of Indiana, Illinois, Notre Dame, and Purdue. While this is the outdoor opener for all of these teams, there are some noticeable absences for several of the teams. For starters, Tyler Klein isn’t listed on the entry list for Illinois, nor is Melissa Aninagyei-Bonsu. Hopefully they make an appearance next week as we are getting awfully close to Nationals… For Purdue, they are without some of their top 5000m runners in Colin Chambers and Zami Moscoso. But let’s actually focus on who is there rather than who isn’t. Ari Afolabi looks to show Illinois is still the top sprint team as she is entered in the 100m, 200m, and 100mH. The Indiana sprint duo of Cameron Conforti and Eyiram Nutor look to continue their success from indoor as they are both entered in the 100m and 200m. Eyiram also entered in the 400mH with a respectable seed time of 1:02, so that will be interesting to see how he does. Also, Tanner May. I see you, you thought you could be slick. The Michigan standout sprinter is entered in both the 100m and 200m, but appears to be the only Michigan athlete at this meet. The women’s 800m could be very interesting as Caitlin O’Keefe of Purdue is entered with a time of 2:23. With 14 women the year having times between 2:28 and 2:30, you need to be a step above the pack if you want to race well at Nats or you’ll be bogged down by the traffic. A lot of women have run sub 2:30, only 3 have run sub 2:28. Purdue’s distance ace, Cara Karmolinski, is attempting the 5k/10k this weekend. She currently is entered with the best seed time in the 10000m at 40:00, and has a strong mark in the 5000m with her 19:07.55. She will be joined by her teammate Paige Egan in attempting the 5k/10k double. Good luck ladies. You two are braver than I am. The Notre Dame women look to continue their momentum from the cross country season as they have several women seeded well in the 1500m and 5000m. Isabella Pawloski and Audrey Christo at 5:00 and 5:05 in the 1500m. Then Gracie Wetli and Karson Girvin at 19:10 and 19:30 in the 5000m. Speaking of Notre Dame, Pieter Heesters….. What are you doing? He is entered in the 1500m with a seed time of 3:55, the 5000m with a seed time of 14:57, AND the 3000mSC with a seed time of 9:10! That would be an absurd triple if he pulls it off. He is also confirmed to be in the steeple at Nationals. Illinois’s Christina Jordan looks to continue her High Jump dominance as she enters with a 1.60m best. Indiana’s George Gamble has the potential to take the outright lead in the Long Jump after he has been tied with Abayomi Awoyomi of Wisconsin at 6.74m since Club Relays.
Another team making their outdoor debut is Ohio State. They’ll be competing at the Amy Adams Memorial Invitational this weekend, and they have several marks that quickly catch our attention. First off, Silas Kayucha is entered in the 100m with a 10.60 and the 200m with a 21.80. He is joined by O’Brein Carr with seed times of 10.90 and 22.40. Ummmm, that’s pretty quick! Add in Ethan Smith at 11.00 and Nayati Smith at 11.30, Ohio State looks poised to repeat as 4x100m champions. I think the award for strangest double goes to Aidan McCarthy who is entered in the 400m with a seed time of 51 and the 5000m with a seed time of 14:55.00. I’ve doubted him before, but this is a new level of weirdness, even for him. Also of note, Aidan is joined by Andrew Ye and Khaled Hamil in the 5000m with seed times of 14:55.00. Is Ohio State going to be the first team this year to have multiple men under 15 minutes in the 5000m?? Ohio State’s top hurdlers return as Kaya Yanagisawa and Sean McGahan look to improve on their Nationals performances from last year. A noteworthy absence from the Ohio State entries is the Bronze Medalist in the 3000mSC from Nationals, Joshua Baker.
Penn State and Virginia Tech are also back in action this weekend as they travel to West Chester and Lynchburg, respectively, for some competitive racing. We do not have the heat sheets or entries for these meets at the time of writing.
We also have 3 club hosted meets this weekend as mentioned at the beginning of the article! JMU and Georgia are hosting their annual outdoor meets, while Iowa State is hosting an indoor meet in the very nice Iowa State Indoor Track Facility. We do not know much about the meet at the current time, but hopefully will update this article with more information if it becomes available to us. (Please please please please look at your email whoever is in charge).
If there are any meets we missed (like usual), please let us know! We are just about TWO weeks from Nationals so we want to include everything we can to provide the most accurate information to everyone. Hopefully we’ll see a lot of you in Richmond in a couple of weeks!
You might have noticed we actually had pictures to include this week! Yay! Thank you Virginia Tech for sending in a few pictures. If you have any pictures from meets you want to see included in these articles, feel free to send them in!