Fast may no longer be fast enough

Results from this past weekend have national qualifying lists heating up. Even hitting historic average qualifying times is not enough to prevent athletes on the qualifying bubble from getting burned. 

After somewhat of a slow build, D3 track and field reached a pivotal weekend that saw 13 sub-14:20 men’s 5ks, 11 sub-3:50 men’s 1500s, six sub-30 men’s 10ks, seven 4:35 or faster women’s 1500s, and Stu’s jaw on the ground after a quaint dinner with his college coach.

This past weekend, talent was divided across the nation from the west coast Mt. SAC Relays and Bryan Clay Invitational to the east coast Bucknell Bison Classic, Larry Ellis Invitational, and Silfen Invitational. All of these meets saw impressive, nation-leading performances. 

One of the challenges with the rise of D3 has been finding competition and conditions suitable for athletes to drop fast times. Head coaches have had to split their teams up into several meets and rely on their assistants to step up and chaperone. 

Out in California, athletes split into two historic meets—The Bryan Clay Invitational at Azusa Pacific and the Mt. SAC Relays in Walnut, CA. Knowing fields would be loaded, many athletes entered both meets, allowing them to enter whichever had them seeded in the faster invitational heats. 

John Carroll, Pomona-Pitzer, and Williams Dominate Men’s Distance

One such athlete is John Carroll University’s Alex Phillip, who left fans guessing where he would race. He could have run in heat four of the Bryan Clay 5k—which also saw Williams standout Aidan Ryan entered in heat 2—or the second invitational section of the Mt. SAC 10k. 

Phillip, who is chasing national records in both events, opted to run the 10k this weekend. He ran a D3 No. 3 all-time mark of 28:48.88, which is less than half a second behind North Central’s Dan Mayer’s time of 28:48.4 and 10 seconds behind Ian LaMere’s national record of 28:38. Phillip told the D3GD staff that he will make his outdoor debut in the 5k in a star-studded field at the historic Penn Relays with plans of breaking the 5k record.

Phillip comes off a strong year thus far, having already garnered three national titles—one in cross country and two indoors in the 5k and 3k. His indoor 5k time of 13:58 has him ranked No. 3 all-time in D3 history. He is one of three men to dip under the 14-minute mark indoors, including LaMere and Mayer. 

Phillip is not the only man from John Carroll carving his way into the history books. This weekend his teammate, Jamie Dailey, ran a 29:28 in the 10k, which is No. 16 all-time in D3 history. Earlier on, Ian Pierson ran a 9:07 in the steeple, while Cormac Peppard-Kramer ran a 9:05 at Bucknell, placing them at No. 3 and No. 5 on the current national qualifying list and showcasing the impressive range of the podium-finishing cross country team out of northeast Ohio.

JCU did not stand alone in showcasing their distance team’s depth this weekend, as cross country national champions Pomona-Pitzer had a productive weekend at Bryan Clay. Colin Kirkpatrick ran a nation-leading 8:53 in the steeplechase, which is No. 19 all time. Bennett Booth-Genthe matched Ryan’s 3:45 performance in the men’s 1500m, trailing the indoor mile national champion by two-tenths of a second. 

Pomona-Pitzer currently has 11 names listed in the top 20 of distance events and several more just outside of the top 20 from performances this season. This breakdown includes one sub-1:50 800m runner, three sub-3:50 1500m runners, three sub-9:10 steeplers, one sub-30 10k runner, and seven sub-14:40 5k runners. 

In the latest episode of The Double Program Goals with Pomona-Pitzer, featuring members of the Pomona-Pitzer team, Booth-Genthe talked about his team’s intentionality in dominating the D3 distance scene. “I’m pretty confident we’ll get 20 guys under 15 in the 5k this year,” he said. “That’s a big team goal of ours.”

Williams College’s team might not have the quantity Pomona-Pitzer does, but they do have the quality. In the Bryan Clay 5k this weekend, Aidan Ryan ran a 14:01, which is No. 12 all-time. As the indoor mile and 3k national record holder, it is likely the Williams senior had eyes on Dhruvil Patel’s record time of 13:51. 

Ryan has an incredible range. He finished fourth at cross country nationals and he opened this outdoor season with a 3:45 1500m two weeks ago, which is No. 16 all-time. These two feats show he has the fitness to be dangerous in the 5k. His current time of 14:01, though 10 seconds off the national record, leads the nation by seven seconds. 

Second in the nation in the 5k is Ryan’s teammate Grahm Tuohy-Gaydos, the freshman standout who ran 14:00 during the indoor season. Tuohy-Gaydos ran a 14:08 at Bucknell to place fourth amid some tough competition, including Garrett Gough of Army West Point, who won in 13:59. This fast section of the men’s 5k saw six D3 men under the 14:20 barrier.

The men’s 5k was the premiere event of the weekend, producing 16 of the current top 20 qualifying marks and 13 sub-14:20 performances, a mark that once could guarantee All-American status.

These efforts were led by Ryan at Bryan Clay, Touhy-Gaydos at Bucknell, UW-Whitewater’s Christian Patzka at UW-Platteville, and Wilmington’s Simon Heys at the Tiffin Track Carnival. 

Now, the last time into the national meet is 14:23.65, six seconds faster than the average 20th time from the past five years (excluding 2020 and including 2021, which only operated at partial team capacity). A sub 14:20 qualifying mark is a standard the nation has never seen.

Several events are seeing qualifying marks partway through the season that exceed or match average historical final qualifying times since 2016. Granted, part of this average was taken from the pre-super shoe era, as Nike released their plated spikes in 2019. However, times this year in many track events are still trending faster than they have ever been. 

Depth in the Short Sprints

The short sprints are creeping toward faster times as men’s and women’s 100m and the men’s 200m all have current qualifying times at or near the average qualifying time from the past five years. Part of this rising standard is due to the sheer depth of athletes running times that previously only a few athletes would hit in a season. 

Four meets around the country saw sub-10.5 men’s 100m dashes this weekend, led by SUNY Delhi’s Naquille Harris’s 10.39 at Bucknell. Harris’s time is the current national lead. At Platteville, LaCrosse’s Sam Blaskowski ran 10.44, while Bridgewater’s Matthew Lighten and EMU’s Alijah Johnson ran 10.47 and 10.48 at the Gerry Gravel Invitational and the Dennis Craddock Coaches Classic, respectively. 

Johnson had a big weekend in the short sprints. He ran a 21.09 in the 200m, which ranks him second in the nation behind Centre’s JP Vaught’s national lead of 21.08. At Larry Ellis, Ramapo’s Cheick Traore ran a 21.31, which ranks him fifth in the nation in the 200m. 

Vaught opted for the long sprints this weekend, hopping in a quick 400m at the Berry Field Day Invitational. He ran a 47.35 but was beat by fellow D3 runner and 4x All-American DJ Anderson of Benedictine who ran a 46.75. This time is No. 18 all-time and is the first sub-47 performance of the season. 

On the women’s side, Connecticut College’s Malissa Lindsey and Nebraska Wesleyan’s Bella Hogue dropped times of 11.79 and 11.80, respectively, in the women’s 100m dash to jump to the top of the national leaderboards. Harris’s wind-legal 11.79 puts her No. 13 all-time in D3 history. 

Distance Events Raise the Standard

Many distance events have midseason qualifying times that are significantly faster than the historical five-year average, indicating a big shift in expectation that matches trends at the elite level. Qualifying times to make it to SPIRE this year could be the fastest they’ve ever been.

During the indoor season, we saw elevated national qualifying marks in many events as well. For example, the men’s mile saw a few sub 4:10 performers left outside of the qualifying list. 

This narrative continues outdoors, as the current qualifying list for the men’s 1500m has 13 sub-3:50 marks on it already. Of these, 11 times were posted this weekend. Boothe-Genthe led the way out west at Bryan Clay, while Trinity’s Travis Martin locked in a time at Larry Ellis, and Hopkins’s Arthur Beyer and Geneseo’s Ezra Ruggles dipped under at Bucknell. Lynchburg’s Sam Llaneza and EMU’s Isaac Alderfer opted to take the conversion with their 4:06 mile efforts at the Dennis Craddock Coaches Classic in Virginia. At the current rate, 2022 could be the first year in D3 history to require a mark under 3:50 to qualify for the national meet in this event. 

Similarly, in the men’s 10k, six men dipped under 30 minutes this weekend, led by Phillip and Dailey, as well as Whittier’s Benjamin White at Mt. SAC. George Fox’s Peter Weiss was the lone sub-30 D3 man at Bryan Clay, running a time of 29:40. 

Weiss’s name hardly gets mentioned at the national level, given that the cross country championship in the fall was his first-ever national meet. He ran an outdoor 5k opening time of 14:26, which was nearly a 20-second PR but doesn’t make the current qualifying list. This is why his 29:40 is so impressive—not only does it place him 5th on the current men’s 10k qualifying list, but it is also a five-minute PR, making Peter Weiss a name for the entire nation to remember. 

A 10k runner with a similarly impressive rise to the top is Geneseo’s Kathleen McCarey. McCarey started her collegiate career with a time of 19:39 in the 5k, a time she has now bettered by over three minutes coming off of her indoor 5k PR of 16:36. She was 14th at cross country nationals, third at indoor nationals in the 5k, and now sits second on the descending order list in the women’s 10k with a 34:26.95, which is No. 16 all-time in D3 history. She is joined on this list by Saint Benedict’s Fiona Smith, who ran the No. 18 time last weekend, and CMS’s Meredith Bloss, who now sits No. 19 after her performance of 34:35 from Mt. SAC this weekend. 

Though some of the fastest performances in D3 history, these times do not come close to Kassie Parker’s 10k time. Parker opened her outdoor season on the first of the month by shattering the women’s 10k national record in a time of 33:03. With this time, Parker bested Keene State’s Mary Proulx’s previous national record of 33:21 by 18 seconds. 

Parker, who has already earned three national titles this year, leads the way as the first national record-setter of the season, but likely not the last. Indoors, nine national records fell–six in the distance events, one in the men’s multi, one in the women’s triple jump (a tie), and one in the men’s 300m dash. With names like Ella Baran, Alex Phillip, Keaton Wood, and Tucker Cargile all within or just outside the top 10 D3 all-time list in their respective events already, a storm of national records is sure to be brewing. 

One performance that fans are anxiously awaiting is Parker’s 5k record attempt. Indoors, Parker set the national record in this event with a time of 15:58, becoming the only woman in D3 history to dip under 16 minutes. Outdoors, only Missy Buttry has broken the 16-minute barrier with her impressive national record time of 15:37, a time Parker is certain to have her sights on. 

As athletes wait for the top spot on the descending order list to show Parker’s name, they are making this event into one of the most competitive women’s 5ks in D3 history. The current last time into the national meet is 17:05, while the average historical qualifying time over the past five years was 17:09, meaning it will likely take a big sub-17 effort to punch a ticket to SPIRE.

Five women accomplished this feat this past weekend, making sure they won’t be left at home when the final lists come out in May. At the UW-Platteville Invitational in Wisconsin, Wartburg had two women, Aubrie Fisher and Riley Mayer, dip under 17 minutes running 16:48 and 16:55, respectively. In addition, Oshkosh’s Ashton Keene ran 16:57. Out at Bryan Clay, CMS’s Emily Clarke ran 16:53 to finish behind teammate Meredith Bloss’s 16:51 on the qualifying list, and at Larry Ellis, Amherst’s Sophia Wolmer ran a 15-second PR of 16:50. 

Cross country and indoor 5k national runner-up Ari Marks of Wellesley is the current national leader in this event with her time of 16:26.08, which is the 12th fastest time in D3 history. Indoors, Marks ran the third-fastest 5k in D3 history. With competition like Parker, who Marks has shown she is not afraid to challenge, Marks could add her name to the list of athletes in D3 history to break 16 minutes in the women’s outdoor 5k. 

Trine’s Evie Miller is currently second behind Marks on the descending order list with her time of 16:26.99, No. 14 all-time. Miller has had a productive season thus far, having lined up for a new distance event each weekend and setting PRs in three events. Within the same calendar week, she set a national leading time of 10:23 in the steeplechase on Monday (4/11), and ran an impressive solo PR of 4:27.69 in the 1500m at DePauw, followed by a 2:11 800m to round out a strong Saturday double (4/16). These marks put her in the top 10 of the nation in four different events. 

Miller’s 1500m time was the fastest of the weekend and one of seven sub-4:35 performances in this event from this past weekend. These efforts came from all over the country, as Middlebury’s Cassie Kearney ran 4:31.86 out at the Silfen Invitational, Baldwin Wallace’s Hope Murphy ran 4:33.33 at the Tiffin Track Carnival, Williams’s Lucy Gagnon ran a nearly identical 4:33.64 at Bucknell, and St. Benedict’s Fiona Smith just dipped under running 4:34.26 at St. Thomas. All of these times fall in line behind indoor 800m champion Esther Seeland of Messiah, who is No. 2 at 4:27.30, and indoor mile champion and national record holder Ella Baran of Johns Hopkins, who currently leads the nation in this event. Baran set an early season leading time of 4:19 at the Raleigh Relays, the sixth-fastest time in D3 history.

Seeland also represented D3 talent at the Raleigh Relays, winning the women’s 800m in a time of 2:05.01. This past weekend at the Larry Ellis Invitational, she captured another win and ran a new season-best of 2:04.85, a time that has her now leading the nation by six seconds.

The caliber of performance so far this season is unprecedented. With several qualifying marks already faster than historical average qualifying times, it’s no wonder athletes are making cross-country trips to Mt. SAC to hop in a race that will pull them to a qualifying time. Perhaps that’s what makes efforts like Miller’s all the more impressive. She didn’t travel to California or Pennsylvania to run fast—she did it of her own volition in Greencastle, IN with limited fans in the stands (and Stu on the P.A.). 

Efforts like Miller’s keep the spirit of D3 alive. It’s fun to mix it up with the other divisions and pros once in a while, but it can be just as rewarding to show what can be accomplished without all of the glitz and the glamor. When you peel back the layers, all that is left is pure love for the sport, and this love is carrying the division to some of the best performances in history.