2024 D3 Indoor Track and Field Nationals Recap

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A wave is not a movement of water but of energy. When you see a wave in the open ocean, what you are seeing is energy transferring through a large body of water. With enough energy and ability to surpass obstacles, wave energy can travel across an entire ocean. When it finally reaches the shoreline, the ocean floor prompts the wave to increase in height, thus increasing its energy. The taller the wave, the more kinetic energy it releases when it crashes.

The 2024 NCAA D3 Indoor National Championships, appropriately hosted in Virginia Beach, brought together the nation’s best waves. Just as literal wave energy voyaged to the east coast shores for a brief moment of breaking splendor, so did D3’s best athletes flock to Virginia Beach on their own athletic journeys, seeking to exert months of accumulated energy into crashes of fleeting glory. After their crash, they retreated back from whence they came. Time to start anew.

Was this whole energy journey all for one moment in the spotlight? I can’t speak to the existentialism of ocean waves, but for the athletes who came together in Virginia Beach this past weekend, their performances did more than make waves; they completely altered the shoreline of the D3 landscape. One national record. Five No. 2 all-time performances. 36 top-ten all-time additions. D3 doesn’t look like it used to anymore, which wouldn’t be the case without the athletes at this past weekend’s national meet setting the bar for the division as a whole. Here are some of the shining moments from the D3 national championship meet in Virginia Beach this past weekend.

A National Record Broken

The women’s indoor 800-meter record was the only national record to fall this weekend, but don’t let its lack of company fool you–this was a tall record to take down (and yes, I have an incredible amount of bias in saying this as the previous unofficial, oversized-track record-holder). The official record was held by Messiah’s Esther Seeland, whose D3 career was star-studded with accolades.

A five-time national champion, Seeland broke the NCAA indoor meet record in this event in 2022 when she soloed a 2:05.75 in Winston-Salem. Never afraid to go after a hot time on her own, Seeland also soloed the outdoor championship record in 2021, posting a blazing fast 2:02.52 to narrowly miss the Olympic Trials standard that year. Though a bittersweet time to run, put this performance into perspective for a moment: Seeland soloed a time at the D3 national meet that was just off of the time that the national governing body determined was competitive enough to compete in our country’s Olympic Trials. Her performance put her amidst some of the best American athletes in the country: D2, D1, and professional athletes included.

In my case, I’m not one to want to talk about my past achievements–I’m much more comfortable talking up those who came after my time in D3–but for the sake of comparison, my accolades are an important piece of the story. The year I ran an oversized-track time of 2:05.28, I, too, soloed a championship record at the NCAA meet when I won the 2018 indoor title in 2:06.53. I still hold the D3 outdoor record of 2:00.62 from the spring prior to that season, a time that propelled me into a career in professional running.

See, every once in a while, there’s an athlete at the national meet who is a full broadcast screen away from the competition. The D3 women’s 800 has seen four such athletes in just the past ten years: Christy Cazzola, myself, Seeland, and now Kelley.

Again, I hold strong bias on this stance, but I find this statistic truly remarkable. I spent the latter part of my D3 career chasing down the times of the legendary Oshkosh duo of Liz Woodworth and Cazzola, athletes who sat atop the D3 record books and led their fields by multiple seconds. I couldn’t help but wonder if I felt how they must have felt when running at the national meet. I couldn’t help but see a small part of myself in Kelley watching her take down the national record this past weekend.

The point that I’m working toward with all this buildup is that Kelley just whooped myself, Seeland, and many more D3 studs that came before her. Her new national record time of 2:04.13 is over a second faster than what Seeland, Cazzola, or I ever ran indoors. She raced like a pro, hitting even 30-31 second splits: 61 for the first 400, 63 for the second 400–the perfect two-second positive split for the 800. She was bold and determined. It was truly a treat to watch. With this trajectory, I cannot wait to see what Kelley can do outdoors.

A New Era of D3 Sprints

Two names: Sam Blaskowski and Kenadee Wayt. Both stole the show in the sprints last weekend, capturing a pair of titles each. Wayt went one step further and also garnered a runner-up finish, bringing her All-American count up to 18.

It’s no secret that the U.S. is on a hot streak in sprinting events right now. Americans Christian Coleman and Noah Lyles traveled all the way to Glasgow, Scotland to rematch their battle from the US Indoor Championships and show the world why they deserved a gold and silver world medal, respectively. Therefore, it makes sense that this sprinting dominance might trickle down to D3, especially when the D3 record holder lined up next to Lyles at USAs weeks before the D3 national meet.

All eyes were on UWL’s Blaskowski in the men’s sprinting events last weekend. The favorite in the 60 and the underdog in the 200, the nation watched in anticipation of what he might do. He started the weekend with a big Q win in the 60-meter prelim, running 6.66, 0.02 seconds off of his national record in this event of 6.64. He came back two hours later to win heat one of the 200 in 21.37. Gallaudet’s Eric Gregory would end the day as the leader going into the next-day final with his 21.36 from heat five, making this a highly anticipated battle.

On finals day, Blaskowski won in 6.68, but his lead probably wasn’t as comfortable as he would have liked it to be. Oshkosh’s Davian Willems ran a big-time PR of 6.71 to narrowly take runner-up and become No. 7 all-time in D3 history. He led Oshkosh to a 2-5-6 punch in this event. Rose-Hulman sprints star Jailen Hobbs took third in 6.74.

Appearing somewhat off during the 60 compared to his usual form, many wondered what Blaskowski might be able to do in the 200 against Gregory, who looked extremely comfortable in the Friday prelim.

Two hours later, athletes climbed into their blocks for the 200-meter two-heat final. Heat one was won by Oshkosh’s Londyn Little, who ran a new personal best of 21.47. UWL’s Luke Schroeder dove across the line for second in 21.53, despite having shown up to the meet on crutches.

In heat two, Blaskowski and Gregory took to their blocks, ready to put on a show. As the gun went off, the two were neck-in-neck in the outside lanes. Gregory attacked the second turn and appeared to be coming up on Blaskowski, but Blaskowski’s lead could not be overaken. He screamed meters from the finish line, knowing he would take the win. Gregory dipped at the line simultaneously with Blaskowski, narrowly taking runner-up.

As the times populated on the board, Blaskowski celebrated and he and Gregory embraced. They just became the second and third men in D3 history to run under 21 seconds in the indoor 200: Blaskowski 20.93, Gregory 20.96. Blaskowski would leave Virginia Beach as a two-time national champion. Little took third with his 21.47 and Schroeder fourth.

Other notable performers in the men’s sprints were Geneseo’s Lance Jensen, who took the crown in the men’s 400, winning in a D3 No. 3 all-time mark of 46.95. Jensen ran an aggressive race, impressively getting to the break first from the innermost lane and holding off freshman runner-up Alexander Rhodes of Puget Sound down the homestretch. Rhodes leaned and even tumbled at the line, but missed the victory by 0.02 seconds, his time of 46.97 putting him No. 4 all-time. John Carroll’s Basheer Alramahi came in third, his 47.08 No. 8 all-time.

Mount Union’s Wayt finished the weekend with three more trophies to her name, but there was one athlete she could not take down. UWL’s Lauren Jarrett set the bar high in the women’s 60-meter dash on Friday, leading the prelim after blasting a 7.44 win to catapult her to No. 2 all-time behind UMass Boston standout and U.S. Olympian Wadeline Jonathas. Just behind her on the prelim leaderboard, Bowdoin’s Kianne Benjamin posted a new PB 7.49, making her the fifth woman in D3 history to dip under 7.50 and the No. 5 fastest woman in this event.

Just when we thought Jarrett had surprised us all she could in the prelim, she blasted out of her blocks in the final and commanded the straightaway, resembling Usain Bolt with how far ahead of the rest of the field she was. Her final time popped up on the board: 7.41, narrowly missing a national record. She beat Mount Union’s Wayt, who took runner-up, by 0.14 seconds, a massive margin in this 7-second race. Just a sophomore, Jarrett cemented her name as one of the fastest D3 women in history. She got emotional in a post race interview, citing how hard she’s been working for a moment like this one.

After the 60, Wayt reclaimed the spotlight in the 200 and 400-meter events. With just an hour of recovery, Wayt climbed into her blocks for heat one of the 400-meter finals. When the gun went off, she did not look back. She led the entire 400, crossing the finish line in 54.72, setting the bar high for heat two. 60-meter hurdle champion Natalia Sawyer and Johns Hopkins’s Lauren Phillips claimed first and second in heat two, but neither times were enough to beat Wayt. Sawyer ran 54.86 and Phillips 55.00, making them the No. 6 and No. 8 on the all-time list. Wayt’s time of 54.72 moved her up to No. 4 in D3 history.

With two races under her belt already and 50 minutes to recover, Wayt was far from done. She still had a 200-meter national title to defend. Climbing into her blocks for the third time in under 2 hours, Wayt was on a mission. She would have to beat Stevens’s Laura Mathews’s time of 24.22 from heat one, and beat it she did. Wayt powered toward the finish line and crossed in 24.10, capturing her second national title and third All-American honor for the day. She ended on a high note, too–her 24.10 the No. 2 fastest time in D3 history behind Olympian Jonathas.

Many current D3 runners do not know who Jonathas is, and if they do, it’s likely from her career after UMass Boston as a standout at South Carolina and eventual 400-meter Olympian. I remember watching her win UMass Boston a team title essentially on her own (she had one teammate score in the long jump). She scored 40 points from winning four events: the 60-meter dash, 200-meter dash, 400-meter dash, and long jump. She was unstoppable. The fact that Wayt and Jarrett both came within striking distance of two of her national records in the 60 and 200 truly says a lot about the current state of D3 women’s sprinting.

Distance Depth

Speaking of the current state of D3, phew are the distance events deep right now. Let me explain in 140 characters or less:

In 2019, Dhruvil Patel of @NCCMensXCTF became the 6th Man in D3 History to run under 14:10 Indoors.

In Friday's Final, 14:09.53 was 9th place.
— D3 Glory Days (@D3GloryDays) March 10, 2024

Stu actually made a mistake as 10th place was also under 14:10.

With 19 additions to the top 10 all-time list this year in men’s and women’s distance events, it’s almost becoming harder to get into the national meet than it is to race at the national meet in the distance events. The perfect example of this is UC Santa Cruz’s Eric Anderson. Anderson was 26th on the descending order list in the men’s mile with his converted time of 4:07.97 and got into the meet on scratches. He set a new PR of 4:08.20 in the prelim to advance to the final, and ran another PB of 4:05.57 in the final to take national runner-up. On the qualifying list, 4:05.57 would be seventh. This is not to undersell Anderson’s accomplishment–Anderson put himself in perfect position, made a big move to chase down leader and eventual winner Bennett Booth-Genthe, and closed his final 400 in 58.67 seconds. He deserved every bit of the runner-up finish he gritted his teeth to secure. It’s just that because of the depth in the distance events right now, Anderson was almost denied an opportunity to even compete at the national meet, a tough concept for many high-level D3 distance athletes around the country to grapple with right now.

In the men’s 3k, seven of the current top 10 all-time marks were set in the past two years. The same is true of the 5k. On the women’s side, six of the top ten marks in the 3k, five of the top ten marks in the 5k, and four of the top ten marks in the mile were all from the past two years. D3 distance is making a huge shift, and chances are, if you’re not on the top-25 all-time list, you’re not in the national meet.

Those who do make it know they represent some of the best athletes in D3 history and deliver appropriately. Pomona-Pitzer’s Booth-Genthe looked smooth as butter winning the mile national title. His 4:00.33 from the regular season is No. 4 all-time. WPI’s Grace Hadley commanded the women’s mile from the gun, clicking off comfortable 71-second quarters before closing in 33 seconds to run a D3 No. 2 all-time 4:42.36.

In the men’s 5k, No. 2 all-time Whitewater’s Christian Patzka ran away with the win early on, only to be challenged at the line by a fast-charging Ethan Gregg. The same scenario played out in the women’s 5k when Saint Benedict’s Fiona Smith settled a bit too comfortably into cruise control, only to be challenged in the final straightaway of the 25-lap race by NYU’s Grace Richardson. Richardson’s time of 16:26.75 puts her No. 7 in D3 history.

The women’s 3k showcased a rematch between XC champion and runner-up Smith and CMS’s Natalie Bitetti. As she did in the fall and in the 5k yesterday, Smith took a sizable lead early, but this time did not fall asleep in the middle. She won in a comfortable 9:25. Behind her, Bitetti took runner-up in 9:31, U Chicago’s Evelyn Battleson-Gunkel posted her second third place finish of the weekend, and WPI’s Grace Hadley took fourth in an impressive single-day double.

The men’s 3k replayed a similar strategy but this time, instead of Patzka taking the lead it was UWL’s Ethan Gregg, feeling the weight of a team title on his shoulders and determined to defend his 3k title from last year. Gregg showed us in the fall that he was the king of 8k, so it’s only appropriate he finished his weekend’s prescribed 8,000 meters according to this winning fashion. After crossing through the bell lap in eighth, Patzka dropped a 28-second closing lap to finish second. Carnegie Mellon’s Colin McLaughlin took third, and Whitewater’s Gunner Schlender came in at fourth after a valiant surge to second place with 600 meters to go.

With so many names circulating through the D3 history books, the possibility of significant breakthrough always looms overhead. Simpson’s Spencer Moon landed on both the 3k and 5k top-10 lists this season and became the seventh man in D3 history to break 14 minutes in the 5k. Grace Hadley had never qualified for an indoor national meet before this year and is now No. 2 in D3 history. With so much talent in D3 distance events right now, my best advice to you in the most polite way possible is this: stop complaining about how fast D3 is and start rising to match your competitors. How do you think everyone got so damn fast at the same time anyway?

Field Events Heat Up

Unlike the track events, the field events have seen very few additions to the history books in recent years, which is why 19 additions to the top-10 all-time in the field events (including multis) this year is a huge deal. Of the 19 performances, 8 of these took place at last weekend’s championships.

Perhaps the most exciting of these performances came from Whitewater’s Shelvin Garrett II, who won the men’s triple jump in a massive leap of 15.97 meters. Only one man in D3 history has jumped over 16 feet in this event in D3 history–North Central’s Jan Cado–and Garrett came dangerously close to becoming the second last weekend. His 15.97 puts him at No. 2 all-time. Garrett’s Whitewater teammates could be seen walking all over the Virginia Beach Sports Complex sporting Shelvin Garrett II shirts, prompting us to ask the question: where can we get one of those to wear outdoors? If Garrett’s trajectory continues, he could take down Cado’s outdoor triple jump national record of 16.58, or at the very least, topple the Whitewater school record of 16.13 meters, held by No. 2 all-time Marcus Smith.

The women’s field performer of the meet had to be Loras’s Grace Alley with her sweep of the high jump and pentathlon titles and fourth-place finish in triple jump. However, a close second contender is MIT’s Alexis Boykin, who swept the throwing events, capturing titles in both the women’s weight throw and the shot put. Only four women in D3 history have hit the 20-meter mark in the weight throw, and Boykin nearly became one of them when she threw a massive 19.98-meter bomb on her sixth throw to secure the national title. Though she missed 20 meters, she still landed in the top five in D3 history.

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She came back the following day to take the shot put crown, her toss of 14.79 meters ahead of runner-up Jane Fahy by a full 35 centimeters. Last spring, Boykin won the hammer throw, took second in the discus, and placed fourth in the shot put, propelling her into the spotlight in the throwing events. Now with a second and third national title under her belt, it will be exciting to see what Boykin can do in the outdoor ring.

The men’s throws saw some stiff competition this year despite Carthage’s Joseph White coming into the meet seeded significantly ahead of the rest of the field in both throwing events. White successfully defended his weight throw title with a heave of 21.64 in the final, but was challenged in the prelim by Stout’s Connor Walechka, who threw a massive PR of 21.09 on his third throw. Walechka becomes the fifth man in D3 history to hit the 21-meter mark in the weight throw, his 21.09 at No. 4 all-time.

White also faced tough competition in the shot put from outdoor national champion Yakob Ekoue of Eau Claire, who didn’t throw over 18 meters until his fourth throw. At this point, White was in the lead with his 18.40-meter toss from prelims. With some big tosses from teammates Adam Strouf and Gage Stankiewicz on throw five, Ekoue knew he had to follow suit. His last throw was a massive 18.70 meters. He put so much power into it that he nearly stumbled out of the ring, but managed to keep composure and exit out of the back half to take the win over White. This victory marked Ekoue’s first win indoors. His teammates Strouf and Stankiewicz would finish fourth and fifth, respectively, to earn big time points for the Blugolds.

Though only partially a field event, the pentathlon and heptathlon events saw some big-time performances last weekend, contributing to the recent rise of D3 track and field. In the men’s event, Eau Claire’s Mitch Stegeman and Williams’s Jackson Anderson pushed each other to new personal bests, their scores of 5434 and 5419 putting them at No. 5 and No. 8 in history, respectively. Anderson told D3GD in an interview that this would be “the greatest heptathlon in history,” and while both athletes could probably agree that there were things they wished would have gone better, it did mark the highest two athletes have ever scored in the same championships, making their accomplishments historical indeed.

The women’s pentathlon saw similar prestige: Alley’s score of 3843 is among the top 5 highest scores ever posted (including her national record from December), and runner-up Emory’s Nikki Boon and third place finisher Johns Hopkins’s Kadiri landed on the top-10 all-time list as well. Boon’s 3763 is No. 7 all-time, and Kadiri’s 3746 No. 10 all-time. Kadiri still holds the indoor triple jump national record from her 13.18-meter leap in 2023, and also added her name to the long jump history books over the weekend. Her runner-up 5.99-meter clearance is the seventh farthest jump in D3 history.

As we’ve seen in the track events, all it takes is a few athletes pushing each other to new boundaries–like Stegeman and Anderson, Seipel and Kadiri, White and Ekoue–for the entire event group to start rising to meet the competition. With so many athletes breaking into the top 10 all-time this past season, it’s only a matter of time before the field record books are completely rewritten, too.

Relay Madness

DMR national champion Lynchburg’s Jacob Hodnett perfectly encapsulated the spirit of the distance medley relay in an interview: “I don’t always get to run with them throughout the year, but coming over from the sprints to do this event is one of my favorite things,” he said.

The DMR is an event that brings together the strengths of four individuals and outputs success with whoever has the best balance of speed and stamina. As such, it’s no wonder that the Lynchburg hornets would be the ones to take the title in this event. Their range spans from finishing in the top ten in the nation in cross country as a team to having three guys who can run under 1:52 in the 800. They came into the meet with the fastest non-converted time, their 9:44.44 No. 5 all-time, and left national champions.

Each member kept their team in perfect positioning–leadoff Frank Csorba brought the Hornets through in second, and Hodnett and Llaneza maintained top-3 positioning in legs two and three, putting anchor Chasen Hunt in prime positioning to strike against leaders MIT and Emory. Hunt closed in 4:06.09 to bring the Hornets home to victory. They did all this without 800-meter specialist Tor Hotung-Davidsen, who took runner-up in the indoor 800 last year and is out with injury this year. Though a bittersweet moment for Hotung-Davidsen, he made sure he was in Virginia Beach witnessing his team make history.

In the women’s race, eventual winners WPI came in as the second seed behind U Chicago. Chicago took an early lead along with Wartburg, CMS, Wartburg, and MIT. The same teams were in the mix after the 400 leg until Emma Kelley got the baton for WashU. Kelley preceded to split a blazing 2:05 to bring WashU into a five-second lead. When the rest of the field handed off to their anchor legs, WPI was in eleventh.

Enter: Grace Hadley. In eight laps, Hadley managed to pick off ten teams, the final two of which she passed on the homestretch to bring WPI to victory. Her final split was 4:40.16, a time that would be the mile national record in the open event. While the DMR is certainly a team event, it pays to have a hammer on the end.

This sentiment also rang true in the 4x4 relays, which saw Rochester women and Mount Union men take the gold. Rochester was anchored by Megan Bell, who closed the final 400 in 55.86, a nice complement to teammate Madeline O’Connell’s 55.80 lead-off (chances are, if your team has two women who can split 55 seconds, you have a high chance of being very competitive).

Emma Kelley anchored runners-up WashU in 54.45, the fastest split of the entire race as well as three tenths of a second faster than Wayt’s winning time in the 400. I can think of few things more exciting than a head-to-head battle between Kelley and Wayt in an open 400–who would you take?

Mount Union men did what Mount Union men do and dominated the 4x4 with Matt McBride as their anchor. McBride tied Basheer Alramahi for fastest split of the race with his 47.03 and was assisted by teammates Jared Storm, Jared Knoch, and Haden Gibson, who, together, ran the fourth fastest time in D3 history with their winning time of 3:11.52. They won over runners-up La Crosse by almost a full second. McBride did not make the open 400 final, which advanced on time instead of place, meaning he will likely be on a mission come spring to better his runner-up finish from 2023.

Rising Stars

With the landscape of D3 seemingly changing every year to become more competitive, it can be intimidating to jump in with the big dogs as a freshman. However, there were a few freshman rookies last weekend who handled their first national meet like veterans. Such success early on has us excited for what’s to come in these individuals’ careers and how they will help continue to carry D3 forward.

One of the most impressive performances came from Millikin’s Kyle Hensley, who won the national title in men’s pole vault. Hensley took down some big names in this event, including defending champion Bem Drummey and Catholic’s Christian Di Nicolantonio. Less than a year ago, Hensley took runner-up at his high school state meet. His PR was 5 meters. On Friday, he cleared 5.18 meters (17-0), surprising everyone including himself. Having quite literally set a high bar for himself in his first year of collegiate competition, the sky now becomes the limit for Hensley.

In the sprints, North Carolina Wesleyan freshman Kamiyah Wooten had a big weekend, leaving Virginia with two All-American trophies. Wooten placed fourth in th 60-meter dash against some top talent and third in the 200-meter dash. Many of the current D3 stars did not win their first national meets, so there is still plenty of room for the rookie to gain valuable championship experience on her way to stardom.

In the men’s sprints, Puget Sound’s Alexander Rhodes took an impressive runner-up finish in the men’s 400 with a sub-47 time of 46.97. A dual-sport athlete in soccer, Rhodes appears to be relatively new to track, however, he is an Oregon state champion and holds a high school PR of 47.65, so has experience running fast on the big stage. Competitors in the 400 should be afraid of how comfortable the rookie looked bumping elbows with the big dogs.

In the distance events, Ramapo’s Dale Leonard shined in the women’s mile, capturing a fourth place finish in 4:53.59. This accomplishment comes after a productive cross country season in which Leonard captured a conference and regional victory. If we didn’t know in the fall, we know now that Leonard has some major wheels in the middle distances. The future is bright ahead of her.

How to Win a Team Title

There are only two ways to win a team national title: fly out 27 of your team’s qualifying athletes on a private jet or bring one Grace Alley.

UW-La Crosse took the men’s team title this year with a deep squad who scored a combined 74 points, and Loras won on the women’s side with 51 points, over half of which were scored by multi athlete sensation Grace Alley.

La Crosse brought 27 athletes to the national meet, but it was their sprints and distance athletes who carried most of the team this past weekend. They scored 33 points in the sprints, 38 points in the distance events, 3 points in the field events, and saw four separate national titles:

Blaskowski (60m and 200m)
Cael Schoemann (800m)
Ethan Gregg (5k)

The win for La Crosse did not come without drama, either. Luke Schroeder was disqualified in the 60-meter hurdles and ran the 200 on an injured heel. Schoemann was disqualified in the 800 for swinging too wide on his final turn. Someone protested Gregg for celebrating his win in the 3k up the homestretch. The universe tried to stop the Eagles from winning, but they just could not be stopped. Schroeder took fourth overall in the 200m, Schoemann was reinstated as champion, and the protest against Gregg was denied. Furthermore, twins Aidan and Grant Matthai contributed valuable points in the long distance events. Jayden Zywicki took fifth in the mile. The 4x4 relay took runner-up. Nathan Andringa took seventh in the high jump, and Ben Youngworth scored a point in the shot put. La Crosse won the meet over runners-up Eau Claire by a whopping 22 points.

The battle for team trophies turned out to be a race of the WIAC schools. Eau Claire took a narrow second place over Oshkosh (52-51), and Whitewater came in fourth, proving that the WIAC is, in fact, the most competitive conference in the country right now.

Eau Claire was led by their throws squad in the men’s shot put. Yakob Ekoue took down favorite Joseph White with a massive final toss of 18.70, and teammates Adam Strouf and Gage Stankiewicz came in fourth and fifth, respectively, to score a whopping 19 points for the Blugolds. Add in Mitch Stegeman’s national title in the heptathlon (and a seventh place finish from Max Foland), a runner-up finish from 800-meter runner Sam Verkerke, a third place finish from high jumper Wes Keller, and more, and it’s no wonder Eau Claire racked up as many points as they did.

The Oshkosh Titans put up an impressive fight, led by their sprints and jumps squads. Joshua Rivers won big points when he claimed the national title in the long jump. He was joined by Londyn Little, who took fourth plus a third place finish in the 200m. The trio of Davian Willems, Joey Kean, and Danny Vinson posted big points in the 60, taking second, fifth, and sixth, respectively, and Kyle Wisniewski and Caleb Cornelius shared a third place finish in the high jump.

Whitewater solidified a fourth-place finish with two national titles–one in the 5k for Christian Patzka and one in the triple jump by Shelvin Garrett II–a DMR, and strong distance doubles from Patzka and teammate Gunner Schlender.

Loras women made it back to the top of the podium after their 2022 team title. Of their 51 points, multi-specialist Grace Alley scored 25.75 points (0.75 from being a quarter of the sixth place 4x4 relay). Alley’s accomplishments over the weekend included a pair of national titles in the pentathlon and the high jump, a fourth-place finish in the triple jump, and a sixth place finish in the 4x4 relay. In total, Alley competed in ten events this weekend, including her five multi events and the 4x4 preliminary round.

Her 25.75 points would have put her seventh overall in the team standings, which, though extremely impressive, would not have won Loras the title. The title came from the combination of Alley, Emma Seipel’s long jump national victory, Sara Hoskins’s runner-up finish in the high jump, Caitlin Cox’s fourth place finish in the weight throw, and the remaining 4x4 squad of Alyssa Pfadenhauer, Kelly Kohlhof, and Harmony Creasy. Loras’s title trophy was truly a team effort. Not a single point didn’t matter because WashU took runner-up by a mere two points.

The squad from WashU was led by Emma Kelley, who won the 800 and anchored the runner-up 4x4 relay, Ally Sarussi, who took fourth in the 800, Ebun Opata, who took third in the triple jump, and Yasmin Ruff, who took runner-up in the pole vault. This year marks WashU’s second consecutive runner-up finish on the women’s side.

Johns Hopkins came in at third, thanks largely to some big points posted by jumping sensation Victoria Kadiri. Kadiri claimed six points in the pentathlon, 8 in the long jump, and 10 in the triple jump from her triple jump national crown. Accompanied by a seventh place DMR, Lauren Phillips’s third place finish in the 400, and Sara Bartlett’s eighth place finish in the triple jump, Kadiri and the JHU Blue Jays posted 33 points for third place.

Just one point behind, Rochester claimed the last team trophy, led by Madeline O’Connell, who won the pole vault, took fourth in the 400, and led off the national champion 4x4 relay team. All the additional points Rochester scored were contributed by the members of the winning 4x4 relay team–anchor Megan Bell took seventh in the 800, and Ashley Heffernan took fifth in the pentathlon.

In almost every case in the team battle on both sides, having a big-time stud helped, but big performances from teammates were what truly sealed the deal for a trophy.

With over a week already having gone by since the 2024 Indoor Championships, athletes have had time to relish in their victories, mourn over their misfortunes, and begin to turn the page to what comes next. As we all come down from the emotion of the weekend, we must remember that we can’t get too comfortable… outdoor season is knocking on the door.