As the indoor season reaches its halfway mark, the surging tide of Division 3 talent continues to rewrite the history books. This weekend’s spotlight was on distance, but talented athletes across all events made their mark on their respective all-time lists.

More National Records Fall

The night before her race, cross country national champion Kassie Parker of Loras made it known on The Double that she was going after the women’s 5k record. Later that Friday, at the Iowa State Classic, Parker ran 15:58.58 in the 5k to break the previous record of 16:05.36 held by Parley Hannan of Ithaca. 

“I could definitely feel the fatigue set in with one mile to go,” Parker said. “I didn’t think I was on pace to break 16 so I told myself ‘you gotta do this, you’re gonna survive’ and cranked the pace with three laps to go with all I had. Realizing I broke 16 after barely not coming close to the 16 minute barrier seemed so unreal, but it’s also just the beginning…”

No woman in D3 history has ever dipped under the 16-minute barrier indoors, making this performance not only record-breaking but bar-raising. 

In D2, only one woman has ever broken 16 minutes indoors. By setting a new standard of excellence in present-day women’s distance running, Parker sends a message to all of D3 that this division can be just as competitive as others and carves her name in the history books as one of the fastest D3 women’s distance runners to ever take the starting line. 

Wartburg’s Missy Buttry is the only D3 athlete to ever dip under 16 minutes in the outdoor 5k and currently holds the outdoor national record in this event at 15:37.48. Parker, who nearly missed Buttry’s indoor 3k best time of 9:13.02, has shown that if anyone can take down the records of the legendary Buttry, it’s going to be her. 

Two men’s distance records fell this weekend: the DMR and 3k. The most electric performance went down at BU’s David Hemery Valentine Invitational where John Carroll set the D3 national record for the DMR with a time of 9:41.56, finishing second to West Point and shattering Middlebury’s previous record of 9:46.95 by almost five and a half seconds. 

“All the guys showed up,” said JCU coach Kyle Basista. “Ian got us started in the 1200 leg. Garrett and Caleb had the races of their lives. Alex Phillip did Alex Philiip. A day I’ll never forget.” 

Adding to the excitement in the same race was Williams’s DMR squad, who ran 9:42.29, also smashing Middlebury’s previous record. Halfway across the country, the team from Loras also dipped under the previous record with a time of 9:45.33 at the GVSU Big Meet. With three record-breaking DMR teams on the loose, we might expect to see the record fall again at the national meet.

Coming off of a monster anchor leg in the DMR, Aidan Ryan ran a 3k at BU in a new national record of 7:54.48, just one month after setting his previous personal best of 7:55.29. Ryan’s previous best was run on a 300-meter track at the UW Preview, but national records only count on 200-meter tracks, which is why Ryan’s previous PB was only a D3 “All-Time Best.” With his 7:54.48, Ryan officially set the D3 national record.

Women’s Distance Highlights

Exactly one week after Loras’ Parker ran 9:13.10 and narrowly missed Buttry’s 3k national record*, Ella Baran of Johns Hopkins made a run at the record herself and ran 9:13.32 at BU’s Valentine Invite. She ended the weekend as third all-time on the D3 all-conditions list. As the night progressed, three of Baran’s teammates joined the top-15 list for the season: Alex Ross, Sara Stephenson, and Lina Spjut, who ran 9:43.95, 9:44.52, and 9:48.25, respectively, making them one of the deepest distance squads in the country (but we already knew that from the fall season). Sydney Fridel capped off the evening to make it five Bluejays to break 9:55 at BU.

*USTFCCCA provided clarification on the record

The Bluejays further confirmed this dominance when they jumped to the top of the indoor qualifier table and to the No. 19 all-time performance on the D3 all-conditions list when they ran 11:43.93 in the DMR at BU.

To add to the distance depth this weekend, Ari Marks of Wellesely and Trine’s Evie Miller etched their names in the record books with their performances in the 3k. Miller ran the No. 11 fastest all-time mark with her time of 9:32.61, while Marks secured No. 17 on the record list in 9:36.8. At the 2019 indoor championships, Allegheny’s Emily Forner won the women’s 3k in 9:39.56, the only performance at the event under 9:40. Now, with six athletes under 9:40 already this season, we could certainly see the 3k record fall, again, at the national meet.

In addition to Parker’s national 5k record, St. Benedict’s Fiona Smith ran 16:35.24 at the SDSU Indoor Classic, the 13th fastest time in D3 history. Additionally, Kathleen McCarey of SUNY-Geneseo ran 16:36.88 to jump to No. 15 all-time. Carleton’s Clara Mayfield also dipped under the 17-minute barrier running 16:50.08 at Iowa State. Mayfield brings the total to 10 women under the 17 minute barrier indoors. To put this statistic into perspective, before this indoor season, the highest total of women in a season to break 17 minutes in the 5k was seven. As the season continues, more 5k times will roll in, meaning the 5k at nationals could be a roller coaster.

In mid-distance events, two-time national champion and current 800-meter record holder, Esther Seeland of Messiah, ran 2:05.39—lowering her previous personal best and breaking her No. 2 all-time performance of 2:05.90. Seeland sits atop the indoor qualifier list as the only woman to break 2:10 this season. 

However, the women’s 800 is starting to heat up behind Seeland as this weekend produced six of the top ten times this season. Emma Kelley of WashU is now joined by her teammates Ally Sarussi and Aiofe Dunne, who ran times of 2:13.24 and 2:13.67, respectively, at the Midwest ELITE Invitational. In addition to Seeland’s 800, the BU Valentine Invite saw Bates’ Elise Lambert, Middlebury’s Cassidy Kearney, and TCNJ’s Allison Uhl move into the top 10, running 2:11.39, 2:12.22, and 2:12.28, respectively. 

Men’s Distance Highlights

Our D3GD statisticians could only access national qualifying data back to 2010, but according to TFRRS, 2011, 2012, and 2016 all boasted the most number of Division 3 Men to run under 4:10 in the mile: 10. Well folks, let me tell you that as of this weekend a whopping total of 15 men have broken 4:10 this season.

Lecky’s 4:05.97 rose to No. 16 on the D3 all-time list, while Anderson’s 4:06.59 jumps to No. 23. For what may be the first time in D3 history, a 4:10 mile may not qualify for nationals. This means that the men’s mile at the national championships is going to consist of fast times, fireworks, and the deepest D3 mile field in history. 

It was an absolute blistering weekend for the Men’s 5k. This weekend boasted eleven of the top 15 performances in the Men’s 5k. Not only that, seven men ran under 14:20. The weekend was headlined by Williams freshman Graham Touhy-Gaydos, who ran 14:00.81 at BU to settle right behind Alex Phillip for the second fastest time indoors this season. 

Touhy-Gaydos was 19th this fall at the NCAA cross country championships, a performance he followed up with a solid 14:22 early-December opening mark in the 5k. Since then, he’s run 4:17 in the mile and 8:17 in the 3k, placing him 9th on the current 3k qualifying list. While both are respectable times, neither are nearly as impressive as his 14:00 effort this weekend, which makes him the 5th fastest 5k runner in D3 history among the likes of NCC’s Dan Mayer and Dhru Patel and UW-Platteville’s Ian LaMere.

Touhy-Gaydos was joined by seven other athletes who made the all-time list this weekend, making this one of the fastest weekends in the 5k in D3 history. 

The squads from UW-Whitewater and RPI further showed their depth over this distance as Whitewater’s Gunner Schlendner jumped to ninth on the qualifying list with his time of 14:26.80, and RPI had a whopping seven men all under 15 minutes. Similar to the Women’s 5k, the Men’s 5k is heating up as the indoor season progresses, making these events at the national championships ones you will not want to miss. 

The men’s 800 also saw a good amount of movement this weekend. MIT’s Ryan Wilson dropped a 1:50.16 at BU and became ninth on the all-time D3 all-conditions list. Additionally, WPI’s Benjamin Steeves, Lynchburg’s Tor Hottung-Davidsen, Central College’s Noah Jorgenson, and Emory’s Spencer Watry all rose into the top-10 for the season thus far. 

Finally, in the Men’s 3k, in addition to Ryan’s D3 national record, cross country national champion and current leader in the 5k Alex Phillip of John Carroll and Geneseo’s Nick Andrews ran 8:07.92 and 8:08.53 at BU to move to second and third on the D3 indoor qualifying list, respectively, and the fifth and sixth fastest times in D3 history.* Andrews was 39th at cross country nationals and went into this race with an 8:20 PB.

*Editor’s note: based off USTFCCCA historically recorded marks

In the midwest, Wartburg’s Christopher Collet won the midwest ELITE Invite 3k in 8:16.46, while WashU’s Jacob Ridderhoff set a school record of 8:17.46 in the same race. As the national championship gets closer, the 3k field looks more and more competitive. Many athletes may choose to double in the mile & 3k or the 3k & 5k, meaning we could certainly see a fast championship race chock-full of prime D3 talent. 

Shuffling in the Field and Sprints

Headlining the men’s sprints was Oliver Thomas from WPI. Thomas Oliver ran 7.82 in the 60mH, which is tied at No. 2 all-time. He has taken 0.26 seconds off his previous best this season and looks to improve upon his 4th place national finish in the 60mH from 2019.

Later in the day, Rowan’s 4x400 meter relay squad leapfrogged Loras’s men’s 4x4 squad to reclaim the No. 1 position in D3 with a quick time of 3:12.80, No. 6 all-time. Loras’s men’s 4x4 currently sits second in D3 at 3:17.56. Finally, Bowdoin's Ajay Olson and Ramapo's Cheikna Traore ran 21.31 and 21.32, respectively, in the 200 at BU to rise to No. 4 and No. 6 all-time. Olson finished 4th and Traore finished 5th at BU to upset several D1 sprinters. 

The Loras women dropped a blistering 3:48.97 in the 4x400m relay at the Midwest ELITE invitational. They jumped to the eighth fastest on the D3 all-time list and currently lead D3 by three seconds. The Rochester & WashU women’s 4x400m relay squads also had a great weekend as both teams ran 3:51.83 (second in D3) and 3:54.13 (third in D3). 

Washington & Lee’s Katelyn Gamble broke up the Nebraska Wesleyan University duo of Maddie Moran and Isabella Hogue in the women’s 60 meters. Gamble ran 7.63 to tie Hogue for second place. Wesleyan’s Grace Devanny had a huge weekend as she dipped under 25 running 24.80 in the 200 and under 56 running 55.80 in the 400. These marks currently place Devanny at twenty-first on the D3 all-time list in both events. Finally, Rochester’s Susan Bansbach ran an eighteenth all-time time mark in the women’s 400 meters, splitting 55.70. Bansbach is currently ranked second in D3 for the 400 meters, right behind Loras’s Alyssa Pfadenhauer.

On the men’s side of the field events, Mount Union’s Kyel Wolff leads the men’s pole vault list with his recent mark of 5.13 meters. In the triple jump, UW-Oshkosh’s Jonathan Wilburn jumped to the top of the indoor qualifying list, becoming the first man to jump farther than 15 meters this season with a huge mark of 15.09 meters. In the shot put, Wis-Stout’s Kevin Ruechel threw 17.94 meters to become nineteenth on the D3 all-time list, but his PR of 18.31 meters indicates that he could extend his lead in the next few weeks. Additionally, Carnegie Mellon’s Bram Miller jumped to second on the qualifying list with a 17.22-meter mark. Finally, in the men’s weight throw, Widener’s Alex Christeller and Carthage’s Joseph White became the first two men to throw farther than 19-meters this season. Christeller threw 19.54 meters, while White threw 19.43 meters.

On the women’s side of the field events, UW-Oshkosh’s Riley Kindt had a big PR of 15 cm in the long jump to rise to the second spot on the indoor list, only one centimeter behind U of Chicago’s Isabel Maletich. Finally, in the weight throw, on her final throw, RIC’s Chelsea Yang threw 18.64-meters at BU to place third amongst D1 talent.

There you have it! This weekend was certainly a fast one. The best part? We’ve only hit the halfway point for the indoor season. The records that have fallen and this weekend’s times bode well for speedy times in the very near future. I just did a Google search for firework shows in Winston-Salem, North Carolina on March 11th and 12th, but the only result that came up was a link for the 2022 D3 Indoor Track National Championships. I’m glad Google and I are on the same page.