As is the case with the men, the the 2011 NCAA Women's Indoor Track & Field Championships will be a wild and unpredictable affair, as in every mid-d or distance event, none of last year's champions in the 800, mile, 3,000 or 5,000 are back to defend their crowns from last year and you've got some wide-open races. Below we break down the 800, mile, 3,000 and 5,000 and the distance medley for you, as well as the overall team battle.
Women's 800: Can A Former Champion Win Again?
She won as a freshman.
Can she win again?
Last year's champion Phoebe Wright, who dominated indoors and outdoors in 2010, is gone and thus this race is wide open for the taking. As the table below indicates, five scorers are back from last year's indoor meet and one more from last year's outdoor meet in Christina Rodgers of Arizona (4th outdoors in 2:04.75).
However, one person stands out in terms of credentials even if her name doesn't ring a bell. BYU's Lacey Cramer, who won this meet as a freshman and was the runner-up as a sophomore, is running but under her new married name of Lacey Bleazard. She should be considered the favorite in our minds. Big Sky champion Lea Wallace, who was 8th in the final last year, comes in with the top seed of 2:03.07.
LRC's Take: Cramer Bleazard for the win. It's interesting to note that outdoor 800 scorers Kate Grace of Yale and Anne Kesselring of Oregon are in the mile.
2011 NCAA Participants - Women's 800 1 Lea Wallace SR Sacramento St 2:03.07
2 Rebecca Addison SO Michigan 2:03.79
3. Katie Palmer JR BYU 2:04.02
4 Christina Rodgers SR Arizona 2:04.04
5 Jillian Smith SO Michigan 2:04.20
6 Sofie Persson JR Mississippi 2:04.51
7 Charlene Lipsey SO LSU 2:04.55
8 Laura Roesler FR Oregon 2:04.93
9 Lacey Bleazard JR BYU 2:04.95
10 Chanelle Price JR Tennessee 2:05.10
11 Bethany Praska SR Iowa 2:05.36
12 Stephanie Brown SO Arkansas 2:05.46
13 Brittany Hall SR LSU 2:05.50
14 Heather Wilson JR Connecticut 2:05.68
15 Renisha Robinson SR Sacramento St 2:05.71
16 Purity Biwott SR Texas Tech 2:05.80
2010 NCAA Indoor Results - Women's 800
1
Phoebe Wright
SR
Tennessee
2:02.55
2
Lacey Cramer
SO
BYU
2:03.89
3
LaTavia Thomas
SR
LSU
2:03.90
4
Chanelle Price
SO
Tennessee
2:03.95
5
Molly Beckwith
SR
Indiana
2:04.46
6
Stephanie Brown
FR
Arkansas
2:05.11
7
Sofie Persson
SO
Mississippi
2:05.85
8
Lea Wallace
JR
Sacramento St.
2:13.97
Women's Mile: Will Hasay Arrive As An Individual Champ?
Does Florida Have A New Star in Cory McGee?
The top three from last year's meet are all gone, including indoor and outdoor champion Charlotte Browning of Florida. The top returner from both the indoor (third) and outdoor (fourth) meet, as well as the #1 seed based on this year's times, is Oregon sophomore Jordan Hasay. Is it time for the 19-year-old to arrive on the stage as an individual national champion? Hasay will be challenged by 1,000-meter collegiate record holder and #2 seed
Kate Van Buskirk of Duke. It's worth noting, though, that Van Buskirk wasn't the ACC champion - that honor went to Florida State's Amanda Winslow. The third seed is Hasay's teammate Anne Kesselring of Oregon, who might be a factor if things are slow (although women's miles aren't often tactical like the men's miles), as she was a scorer outdoors in the 800.
Don't discount the possibility that a Florida Gator could end up as the winner, as Gator freshman Cory McGee has been sensational as a freshman this year. Last year's high school Millrose champ, she won the SEC indoor meet by more than five seconds (click here to see a nice profile of McGee, who is the daughter of a former Gator football player). That's crazy, although it does need to be pointed out she's the only SEC runner in the
field.
Earlier in the year at UW, Hasay defeated six of the women in the mile field, including Kesselring, McGee and the sixth seed, Emma Coburn of Colorado.
It needs to be noted that the nation's #1 collegiate miler on time in 2011, Stony Brook's Lucy Van Dalen, has opted to run the 3,000 fresh.
LRC's Take:Hasay Arrives.
2011 NCAA Participants - Women's Mile 1 Jordan Hasay SO Oregon 4:34.75
2 Kate Van Buskirk SR Duke 4:35.83
3 Anne Kesselring SO Oregon 4:36.32
4 Cory McGee FR Florida 4:36.53
5 Caroline King JR Boston College 4:37.04
6 Emma Coburn JR Colorado 4:37.44
7 Zoe Buckman SR Oregon 4:37.84
8 Caitlin Lane JR Penn State 4:38.37
9 Keri Bland SR West Virginia 4:38.56
10 Amanda Winslow SO Florida State 4:38.69
11 Danielle Tauro SR Michigan 4:38.77
12 Natalja Piliusina FR Oklahoma State 4:39.39
13 Kate Grace SR Yale 4:39.52
14 Ashley Verplank SO North Carolina 4:39.76
15 McKenzie Melander JR Iowa 4:39.78
16 Katrina Drennen SR Montana 4:39.82
2010 NCAA Indoor Results - Women's Mile
1
Charlotte Browning
SR
Florida
4:35.66
2
Katie Follett
SR
Washington
4:36.39
3
Pilar McShine
SR
Florida State
4:37.20
4
Jordan Hasay
FR
Oregon
4:38.29
5
Mihaela Susa
JR
Oklahoma State
4:38.97
6
Anne Kesselring
FR
Oregon
4:40.39
7
Caroline Karunde
JR
Texas Tech
4:40.64
8
Keri Bland
JR
West Virginia
4:42.79
9
Dina Nosenko
SO
Wake Forest
4:43.73
10
Heidi Gregson
SO
Iona
4:55.76
Women's 3,000: Reid Or Van Dalen?
Will Reid be able to pull away from Van Dalen once again?
We fully expect this race to end up being a two-person battle between the top two seeds in Stony Brook's Lucy Van Dalen and Villanova's Shelia Reid. Van Dalen had the #1 seed time in the mile but opted to run the 3,000 instead and she'll be totally fresh, whereas Reid will be coming back after the DMR.
The edge in our minds still has to belong to Reid. The 2010 NCAA cross-country champion was third here last year. In the 1,500 outdoors, she was fourth, whereas Van Dalen was 8th. But Van Dalen is running great and comes into indoors after a fine cross-country season of her own (sixth at NCAAs).
Jordan Hasay is entered in this event, but she'll be tired after having run the DMR and mile. Tennessee's Jackie Areson was fourth in this event last year and is the number two returner and number three seed. Third is probably where she'll end up Saturday.
LRC's Take:1) Reid 2) Van Dalen 3) Areson
2011 NCAA Participants - Women's 3,000
1 Lucy Van Dalen JR Stony Brook 8:56.77
2 Sheila Reid SR Villanova 8:56.92
3 Jackie Areson SR Tennessee 9:01.91
4 Jordan Hasay SO Oregon 9:05.42
5 Katie Flood FR Washington 9:09.85
6 Bogdana Mimic SO Villanova 9:10.64
7 Megan Goethals FR Washington 9:11.56
8 Anna Nosenko SR Wake Forest 9:12.02
9 Tara Erdmann JR Loyola Marymount 9:12.25
10 Hannah Davidson SO Providence 9:12.53
11 Stephanie Marcy SR Stanford 9:13.00
12 Pasca Cheruiyot SR Florida State 9:13.51
13 Shelby Greany SO Providence 9:14.06
14 Jessica O'Connell JR West Virginia 9:14.12
15 Ashley Higginson SR Princeton 9:14.47
16 Liz Costello SR Tennessee 9:15.39
2010 NCAA Indoor Results - Women's 3,000
1
Angela Bizzarri
SR
Illinois
8:57.40
2
Lisa Koll
SR
Iowa State
8:57.52
3
Sheila Reid
JR
Villanova
9:01.13
4
Jackie Areson
SR
Tennessee
9:10.09
5
Nicole Blood
SR
Oregon
9:11.23
6
Nicole Schappert
SR
Villanova
9:12.51
7
Bridget Franek
SR
Penn State
9:12.62
8
Emily Infeld
SO
Georgetown
9:13.22
9
Marie Lawrence
SO
Washington
9:14.53
10
Beverly Ramos
SR
Kansas State
9:16.23
11
Jessica O'Connell
SO
West Virginia
9:18.78
12
Bogdana Mimic
FR
Villanova
9:18.87
13
Janet Jesang
SR
Western Kentucky
9:20.60
14
Betzy Jimenez
JR
Texas
9:21.18
15
Alex Becker
SR
Tulsa
9:21.78
16
Alison Smith
JR
Villanova
9:25.22
DNF
Jordan Hasay
FR
Oregon
Women's 5,000: Areson Looks Like The Class Of The Field
Tennessee senior Jackie Areson, who was third last year in the event, is the top returner and heavy favorite in our minds, as she's the only runner back from last year's top 12. She also is the #1 seed based on the 15:39 she's put up so far this year. Her teammate, Liz Costello, formerly of Princeton, is the #2 seed, but Areson crushed Costello at SECs in the 3,000, so we don't expect it to be much of a battle between those two here. The #2 returner from last year is Holly Van
Dalen of Stony Brook, who was 14th last year. Track and Field News is picking her to win, but we have no idea why. Maybe they are confusing her with her sister Lucy, as Holly was only 10th in the 3,000 in Boston earlier this year.
LRC's Take:1) Areson wins but it's hard to say after that.
2011 NCAA Participants - Women's 5,000
1 Jackie Areson SR Tennessee 15:39.81
2 Liz Costello SR Tennessee 15:48.50
3 Betsy Saina SO Iowa State 15:50.74
4 Aliphine Tuliamuk SO Wichita State 15:53.74
5 Natalie Gray JR New Mexico 15:54.29
6 Holly Van Dalen JR Stony Brook 15:56.82
7 Mia Behm JR Texas 15:58.34
8 Risper Kimaiyo JR UTEP 15:59.56
9 Tonya Nero SR Wichita State 16:01.69
10 Ruth Senior JR New Mexico 16:02.38
11 Ari Fisher JR Toledo 16:04.56
12 Holly Knight JR Auburn 16:04.86
13 Pasca Cheruiyot SR Florida State 16:05.36
14 Corey Conner JR Maine 16:06.18
15 Katie Matthews JR Boston U. 16:06.38
16 Anna Nosenko SR Wake Forest 16:09.64
2011 NCAA Participants - Women's 5,000
1
Lisa Koll
SR
Iowa State
15:39.65
2
Marie Louise Asselin
JR
West Virginia
15:50.53
3
Jackie Areson
SR
Tennessee
15:53.12
4
Bridget Franek
SR
Penn State
15:58.02
5
Alex Becker
SR
Tulsa
15:58.53
6
Megan Duwell
SR
Minnesota
15:59.23
7
Kimberly Ruck
SO
Clemson
16:01.24
8
Felicity Milton
JR
Oklahoma State
16:01.90
9
Amanda Goetschius
JR
Charlotte
16:06.92
10
Beverly Ramos
SR
Kansas State
16:08.60
11
Clara Grandt
SR
West Virginia
16:14.09
12
Janet Jesang
SR
Western Kentucky
16:17.56
13
Rebecca Lowe
SO
Florida
16:19.32
14
Holly Van Dalen
SO
Stony Brook
16:39.37
15
Mattie Bridgmon
SR
Oregon
16:51.48
DNF
Deborah Maier
SO
California
DNF
Nicole Blood
SR
Oregon
Women's DMR: Oregon Has The Horses
Three-time defending champion Tennessee is in the field, but we don't think they will contend. A new champion is going to be crowned and the question is who will it be?
Villanova ran 10:56.12 last week to qualify as the #1 seed and they'll be anchored by NCAA cross-country champion Sheila Reid. She'll likely be challenged by Oregon's Jorday Hasay, who had the fastest split last year on the anchor at 4:32.55. Virginia is the #2 seed and their anchor will be Stephanie Garcia. But in our minds, this race really is likely to come down to Oregon and Villanova. Virginia lost to 'Nova by 3.21 seconds last week in qualifying, so it's unlikely they'll make
up that type of ground.
With Oregon, it's not easy to know who will run what leg, as they are totally loaded. For the 1,200, 800 and 1,600, they have four total studs to choose from, as they have three of the top seven seeds in the mile in #1 Jordan Hasay (4:34.75), #3 Anne Kesselring (4:36.32) and #7 Zoe Buckman (4:37.84), and then there is freshman Laura Roesler, who is the #8 seed in the 800 at 2:04.93. Plus, one needs to remember that Kesselring
has good 800 speed, as she was 6th in the 800 outdoors last year.
Villanova is nowhere near as strong on paper. In terms of the 1,200 leg, they are likely to rely on Emily Lipari, who has run 4:46 in the mile this year (Oregon will be running a 4:37 runner at worst). For the 800, Ariann Neutts ran 2:08 last year but has just a 2:10 to her credit this year (and Oregon will likely be running Kesselring or Roesler, both of whom have run 2:04 this year).
On paper, this is a blowout, as Oregon has four people seeded in the top 8 of the 800 or mile, whereas Villanova has none seeeded in the top 25 in either event (Reid is their top seed in one of those events and she's the 28th-best miler this year). In looking at how good Oregon is, one starts to ask if they can challenge Tennesee's world record of 10:50.98 that they set at the 2009 NCAA meet with splits of 3:23.18, 53.51, 2:03.19 and 4:31.11.
That was the third DMR crown for famed Tennessee coach J.J. Clark (coach and husband of American record holder Jearl Miles Clark,coach and brother of Olympian Hazel Clark) and his first world record.
The folks at Track and Field Newsare predicting an Oregon win, but their 57-point total for the Ducks includes 11 from Alex Kosinski, who isn't even running (she's out with a stress fracture). But even without those points, they may still win the team battle, as in addition to their distance studs, they also have a nearly guaranteed win in
the penthatlon thanks to Brianne Theisen, and then they have three others seeded in the top five in three other events (60, pole vault and long jump). Wins in the DMR and pentathlon give them an easy 20. If in the 60, pole vault and long jump, they can just average 5th per person, that's 12 more points. That makes 32 so far. With the mile, 800 and 3k, they should easily get past 40, which might be enough to win.
Track & Field News Projected Team Score TEAM
SCORES 1. Oregon 57
2. Arkansas 40
3. Texas 38
4. Texas A&M 36
5. LSU 33
