Don't call them the Baby Nationals. At least 5 marks from D2 and D3 meet would have won at the 2016 NCAA D1 Meet!!!

That is pretty cool to see lower division competitors doing really well.

In general, I'd steer clear of comparing distance times though, since the races so often can be tactical.

However in this case, a 4:35 indoor mile for a dII is deserving of mention, IMO.

It's Emily OREN,and she won the 3000 and anchored the DMR win as well. With heats of the mile, that's four races. The mile was a 10-second PR! Talk about a breakthrough meet!

Indoor Nationals meet wrote:

That is pretty cool to see lower division competitors doing really well.

In general, I'd steer clear of comparing distance times though, since the races so often can be tactical.

However in this case, a 4:35 indoor mile for a dII is deserving of mention, IMO.

this is what makes track great, anybody put up a great performance regardless of level

side notes

Lawson jumped 7.95 not 6.95

some of these stats are misleading in a way; Edward's mile pr is 4:32 and Owen's is 4:35, lawson's indoor PR is 8.39 whereas Sedeekie's is 7.97

also don't sleep on the NAIA and NJCAA kids... they threw down some good performances at their NCs (flat tracks too)

Indoor Nationals meet wrote:

That is pretty cool to see lower division competitors doing really well.

In general, I'd steer clear of comparing distance times though, since the races so often can be tactical.

However in this case, a 4:35 indoor mile for a dII is deserving of mention, IMO.

You are correct, Sir!

Also impressive, HS senior Katie Rainsberger won New Balance Nationals with a 4:36.

There were even more impressive performances across the schedule. Nothing on the front page? Maybe high school is really the baby nationals.

How about that D1 mile. Some people got lucky.

Cool comparison, but double check for typos. This one seems to be the most glaring:

NCAA DII Men's 60m - long jump: Lincoln sophomore Sedeekie Edie won the long jump in 26'1.75" (7.97m) whereas the D1 winner, senior Jarrion Lawson of Arkansas, jumped 26'1"(6.95m). don't know official results but I'm assuming Lawson was 7.95m? you're off by a meter

I mean congrats man. He wasnt trying to take anything away from her. He was just saying that D1 runners do not like to run fast

OK then, they're the Caitlin Nationals.

A JC national 10K champion transferred to my school after his two years and at first we were really excited about a national champion coming on board. He told us to not get excited because it was JC. He was right.

Its not that impressive. Many talented D1 caliber athletes have to go d2 or juco or NAIA. So there are always studs at any level. I believe the pole vault is the strangest. He must have had great academic aid or something to choose the D3 or maybe just really liked the program.

But would all those athletes have even qualified for the D1 meet? That might change things.

Noah Lyles 20.63 wouldve gotten him 2nd at D1 Nats

And Sydney McLaughin would be 4th in the 400...she's in 11th grade! Parity amongst the DI/II/II/preps! Crazy

huh69 wrote:

Noah Lyles 20.63 wouldve gotten him 2nd at D1 Nats

7insoftcaulk wrote:

Its not that impressive. Many talented D1 caliber athletes have to go d2 or juco or NAIA. So there are always studs at any level. I believe the pole vault is the strangest. He must have had great academic aid or something to choose the D3 or maybe just really liked the program.

You see this with vault more so than any other event. I think it is because vaulters can be the most obsessive over their sport out of the entire track team. No other athletes spend that much time watching technique on youtube, obsessing over equipment, doing weird gymnastic things that would seem to have only oblique similarity to the event, etc.

As a result, they'll go to a school specifically for a coach with a reputation, more so than any other event group. You tend to have more of the top vault-only coaches down in D3 and NAIA schools (obviously not suggesting there are no great vault coaches in D1, there are definitely a half dozen DI vault coaches I would consider to be great). This is because of the pressures of coaching D1 are much different, so they generally won't hire a coach who only coaches the vault, most DI programs also want them to be a multis coach, or HJ coach, etc. This drives some of the best vault coaches into only club coaching or coaching at lower divisions where they are more likely to be left alone to do their thing. It would be like if you could be a distance coach only if you also coached the triple jump. A lot of distance coaches wouldn't be willing to do that.

In fact, there are probably as many great vault coaches at JUCOs as there are in DI, for this same reason.

Details matter wrote:

But would all those athletes have even qualified for the D1 meet? That might change things.

You don't think a 7.97 long jumper or 5.50 pole vaulter would qualify for the D1 meet?

this topic came up last year when the fastest 3k of DI DII and DIII came in the DIII race with an 8:11 or something like that. definitely pretty neat to see non DIII guys going for it. although the winning time for DIII this year was mid 8:20's but most of those guys doubled back after the 5k.

D2 was held on a 300 track.

Doesn't affect field events but still.

D2 is so much more competitive than years past.

Also because they went through 1k @ 3:00.

ck3237 wrote:

How about that D1 mile. Some people got lucky.

No, not really. It was a typical championship race - Kaela Edwards had already run a 4.28-4.29 mile indoors, and has a 2.02 800 to her name...Kaela Edwards is a stud. She is far better than the D2 girl. Watch out for Edwards this summer!