NCAA 1,500m Previews - Wheating Hoping For Double, Women's Field A Tossup

By LetsRun.com
June 6, 2010

The men's 1,500 has a very different feel from last year when German Fernandez dominated as a true freshman, beating guys like eventual USA Worlds team member Dorian Ulrey and now double NCAA indoor champion Lee Emanuel of New Mexico and GBR.

Men's 1,500 Schedule:

4:45pm Thursday - Semifinal 10:30am Saturday - Final

This year it's an Oregon-dominated field with AJ Acosta, Matt Centrowitz and Andrew Wheating. The 1,500 and 800 finals are on different days meaning Wheating will have run 3 races before the 1,500 but at least he won't have to double on the same day. Remember, Wheating should be the huge favorite here, as he just ran 3:37 and appears to be firing on all cylinders. Wheating has run 3:37 twice this year and no other NCAA runner has done it once. Centrowitz returns to NCAAs after 2009 when he ran while injured and did not factor. Acosta is entered in the steeplechase and we're not sure how that will affect him.

We forecast this event to be West region-dominated, not simply Oregon-dominated. From the West are Wheating, Centro Jr. and Acosta plus the experienced Wisconsin duo of Jack Bolas and Craig Miller plus Emanuel and Cal's record holder Mark Matusak. The best proven talent from the East is Ohio State's Jeff See.

LRC Predictions:
1. Wheating
2. Emanuel
3. Centrowitz

West 1,500 Qualifiers 1 Andrew Wheating           SR Oregon               # 3:37.52Q 2 Matthew Centrowitz        SO Oregon                 3:46.09Q 3 Jack Bolas                SR Wisconsin            # 3:38.47Q 4 A.J. Acosta               JR Oregon                 3:46.27Q 5 Lee Emanuel               SR New Mexico           # 3:38.81Q 6 Craig Miller              SR Wisconsin              3:46.32Q 7 Mark Matusak              SR California           # 3:39.59Q 8 Abdi Hassan               SO Arizona                3:46.76Q 8 Dylan Ferris              SO Stanford               3:46.76Q 10 Ben Blankenship           JR Minnesota            # 3:39.77Q 11 Brandon Rooney            SR Iowa State           # 3:40.62q 12 Francis Kasagule          SR Lamar                # 3:40.89q

East 1,500 Qualifiers 1   Daniel Clark    SR  Notre Dame  3:43.08 Q                       1(1) 2   Jeff See    SR  Ohio State  3:43.14 Q                       1(2) 3   Riley Masters   SO  Maine   3:43.27 Q                       1(3) 4   Cory Nanni  JR  Duke    3:43.52 Q                       1(4) 5   Josh McAlary    FR  Michigan State  3:43.87 Q                       1(5) 6   Felix Kiboiywo  SR  Auburn  3:44.07 q                       1(6) 7   Carl MacKenzie  JR  Villanova   3:45.37 q                       1(7) 11  Kyle Merber SO  Columbia    3:50.99 Q                       2(1) 12  Julian Matthews SO  Providence  3:51.44 Q                       2(2) 13  David Forrester FR  Florida State   3:51.70 Q                       2(3) 14  Jason Bigelow   SR  Oakland 3:51.72 Q                       2(4) 15  Trevor Van Ackeren  SO  Princeton   3:51.91 Q                       2(5)

 

Women's 1,500 - Take Your Pick
The women's 1,500 is the most wide-open distance event. There's no big favorite and it seems like any one of 8 girls has a decent chance of winning. For example, each of the 12 East regional qualifiers ran between 4:17.6 and 4:19.8 at the qualifying meet. Villanova's Sheila Reid was the fastest, followed by FSU's Pilar McShine, while West Virginia's Keri Bland led a Mountaineer 1-2 in the 2nd heat.

Women's 1,500 Schedule:

5pm Thursday - Semifinal 10:18am Saturday - Final

From the West, Brenda Martinez is the top returner from the 2009 NCAAs, where she was 2nd for UC Riverside behind dominant Susan Kuijken of FSU. Last summer, Martinez went to Europe and ran 4:09, which is the best PR in the field. Now a senior, Martinez has been relatively untested this year running in the Big West conference and has a 4:18 season's best. Katie Follett of Washington has the best NCAA time of the year with a 4:10.

Jordan Hasay ran her season's best back in March when she clocked 4:14 at Stanford. She was 3rd in the PAC-10 1,500, so we don't see her being a big factor in this race though she may score points. After a very strong freshman year she seems to be a bit tired. Her cross-country and indoor seasons were remarkable. Perhaps the home crowd will lift her and teammates Zoe Buckman (PAC-10 champ, 4:12 PR) and Alex Kosinski (doubling in Friday's 5k) to some much needed Duck points.

LRC Predictions:
We're going to be amazed if we can call this one correctly
1. Brenda Martinez
2. Zoe Buckman
3. Sheila Reid

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NCAA Outdoor Championships At Hayward Field

The stage is set for an exciting NCAA Outdoor Championships weekend in Eugene, Oregon. We've worked together with our friends at TrackFocus.com to preview every event at the meet. In distance events, look for difficult double attempts from Andrew Wheating (800/1,500), Lisa Koll (10k/5k) and Sam Chelanga (10k/5k). In sprints, the men's 400 may be the fastest race in the world so far this year. In the team race, the Oregon men and women enter as slight underdogs to sprint powers Texas A&M and Florida, adding even more intrigue to the distance races. We'll see how much of a lift the Ducks get in front of home crowds at Hayward Field. The meet runs Wednesday-Saturday.

More:
*NCAA Schedule, Info
*LetsRun.com's Emory Mort will be in Eugene covering the event, so check back for daily updates.
*TV: CBS College will air the championship live on Friday from 8-10 p.m. (EASTERN) and CBS will air it live on Saturday from 1-3 p.m. (EASTERN). NCAA.com will stream the rest of the championship online.

 

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