The 2012 NCAA Division 1 Indoor Track and Field Championships take place in Idaho on Friday and Saturday of this week. NCAA indoors may not get quite the attention as NCAA outdoors, but recently it has been the launching pad for a few distance stars. Last year's NCAA indoor meet was fantastic, as Jordan Hasaybecame a legend. In 2009,Galen Rupp
became a star. Will someone join them in legendary status in 2012? Perhaps Lawi Lalang in the 3k and 5k or Miles Batty in theDMR, mile and 3k? Watch it and find out.
If you aren't in Idaho, ESPN3 will stream the meet live on March 9 from 7:30-11:45 p.m. ET and
March 10 from 8-11:15 p.m. ET. NCAA.com and broncosports.com will stream what ESPN3 is not covering on
Friday (Noon-7:30 p.m. ET) and Saturday (12:30-8 p.m. ET). A tape delay of the championship will air
on TV Sunday, March 18 at 7:30 p.m. ET on ESPNU.
Watching a meet without knowing what to expect is pretty boring. Don't worry. We are here to save you. Below, we break down the men's mid-d and distance events for you, as well as the team battle. We break things down in the order that they will occur.
Men's 5,000: 4 Sub-13:20 Guys Clash
This race is truly ridiculous. There are four guys in it who have run the Olympic A standard - sub-13:20 - indoors this year.
Three of those four were in this race last year. Last year, Korir defeated the seemingly unbeatable Sam Chelanga to get the crown in 13:26.01 and Sambu was third and Derrick 8th. One guy was missing from that race last year, the now seemingly unbeatable Lawi Lalang. In our minds, it's hard to come up with a scenario where he loses, as not only did he win the cross-country title and then ran 13:08 to prove he has the best endurance of the bunch, but he also seems
to have the best speed,
as shown by his 3:55.09 indoor mile from earlier this year. Remember, he's the brother of 800-meter Olympian Boaz Lalang. Contrast that with last year's favorite Chelanga, who many thought might be vulnerable in a kick.
The American hope Derrick comes into the race after having shown good speed by his standards, as he broke 4:00 for the first time last weekend. Remember, the American collegiate indoor record is 13:18.12. We certainly don't expect the pace to be that hot, but we sure hope people appreciate how good Derrick is.
All-Time Best US 5,000 Collegiate Times
1. 13:15.77 Bill McChesney 1981
2. 13:18.12i Galen Rupp 2009
3. 13:18.46 Brent Vaughn 2008
4. 13:19.22 Rudy Chapa 1979
5. 13:19.58i Chris Derrick 2012
LRC Quick Take: They run the race for a reason, but Lalang is the man to beat. In a fast race, he wins. In a moderately paced race, he wins. In a very tactical race can he win?
2012 Men's 5,000 - Accepted Entries
1 Lawi Lalang SO Arizona 13:08.28D
2 Stephen Sambu JR Arizona 13:13.74D
3 Leonard Korir SR Iona 13:19.54D
4 Chris Derrick JR Stanford 13:19.58D
5 Hassan Mead SR Minnesota 13:33.42D
6 Parker Stinson SO Oregon 13:39.22D
7 Diego Estrada JR Northern Arizona 13:39.54D
8 Jake Riley SR Stanford 13:39.58D
9 Cameron Levins SR Southern Utah 13:42.90D
10 Donn Cabral SR Princeton 13:45.92D
11 Shadrack Kipchirchir JR Oklahoma State 13:46.00D
12 Soufiane Bouchikhi JR Eastern Kentucky 13:46.06D
13 Andrew Poore SR Indiana 13:47.05D
14 Brendan Gregg SR Stanford 13:48.64D
15 Dustin Fay SO UCLA 13:49.96D
16 Girma Mecheso JR Oklahoma State 13:50.03D
2011 Results
1 Leonard Korir JR Iona 13:40.62 13:26.01M
2 Sam Chelanga SR Liberty 13:37.55 13:27.34M
3 Stephen Sambu JR Arizona 13:41.57 13:28.48M
4 Diego Estrada SO Northern Arizona 13:42.64 13:29.01F
5 Elliott Heath JR Stanford 13:37.77 13:34.54F
6 Kevin Schwab SO Oklahoma 13:47.59 13:36.14F
7 Maverick Darling SO Wisconsin 13:43.04 13:36.65F
8 Chris Derrick SO Stanford 13:49.05 13:36.87F
9
Andrew Poore JR Indiana 13:45.33 13:37.03F
10 Ben Hubers JR Indiana 13:44.93 13:40.73F
11 Mohammed Ahmed SO Wisconsin 13:43.96 13:41.74
12 George Alex JR Oklahoma 13:45.32 13:46.57
13 David Adams SR Nebraska 13:48.78 13:56.26
14 Luke Puskedra JR Oregon 13:46.70 14:02.26
15 Miles Unterreiner JR Stanford 13:48.13 14:33.69
-- Mohamud Ige SR Arizona 13:48.15 DNF
Men's DMR: Can BYU Repeat?
Considering everyone in this field ran between 9:29.00 and 9:31.71 to qualify, it needs to be known that everyone is pretty good. With that much depth, anything could happen. One bad leg could really hurt, as then you'd find yourself behind a ton of good teams and have to run a lot of extra ground. Running in lane 4 in a DMR on a 320-meter oversized track doesn't hurt too much as the straightaways are so long, but it hurts on a legitimate track like the ones used at NCAAs. Also, with
so many teams, someone is likely to go down or drop a stick.
Barring the unforeseen, there is one favorite - BYU. The Cougars are the #1 seeds but more importantly they are anchored by Miles Batty. Batty anchored the DMR to victory and won the mile last year and is favored to do so again for good reason - he is the collegiate record holder in the indoor mile. Assuming the field is evenly matched like it is here, the strength of the anchor usually determines the winner.
LRCQuick Take: BYU is definitely the favorite in our minds. If the first few legs go smoothly, they should win. Their other legs are full of talent as well, as1,200 man Rex Shields is very strong - he's a 7:53 3k guy (but only 4:03 in the mile). It's got to make BYU fans a little nervous to see a 29:40 10k guy on the 1st leg of a DMR. He is the key in our
minds. 400 man Shaquille
Walker is adequate at 47.96. 800 man Ryan Waite ran 1:46 two years ago outdoors and has run 1:48 this year. If BYU gets behind early they could be in trouble. If that happens Andy Bayer and Indiana may have the chance to step up to the winners column. Last year, Bayer split 3:53.29 to move Indiana from 9th to 2nd. This year, Bayer's task is more difficult as he'll run the mile prelim before he runs the DMR anchor on Friday night.
2012 Men's DMR - Accepted Entries
1 BYU 9:29.00D
1) Rex Shields JR 2) Shaquille Walker FR
3) Ryan Waite JR 4) Miles Batty SR
2 Indiana 9:29.12D
1) De'Sean Turner SR 2) Chris Vaughn SR
3) Daniel Stockberger SR 4) Andrew Bayer JR
3 Texas A&M 9:29.71D
1) James Bonn JR 2) Michael Preble SR
3) Joey Roberts SR 4) Henry Lelei JR
4 Notre Dame 9:29.72D
1) Johnathan Shawel SR 2) Christopher Giesting FR
3) Randall Babb SR 4) Jeremy Rae JR
5 Oklahoma 9:30.13D
1) Eric Harasyn SR 2) Ethan Baker FR
3) Frezer Legesse JR 4) Riley Masters SR
6 Wisconsin 9:30.86D
1) Austin Mudd FR 2) Aaron Thompson FR
3) Zach Mellon SO 4) Alexander Hatz SO
7 Stanford 9:31.24D
1) Michael Atchoo SO 2) Spencer Chase JR
3) Luke Lefebure FR 4) Chris Derrick JR
8 Arkansas 9:31.48D
1) Anthony Lieghio JR 2) Travis Southard SO
3) Leoman Momoh JR 4) Patrick Rono FR
9 Villanova 9:31.52D
1) Brian Tetreault SR 2) Bryan Murphy FR
3) Samuel Ellison SO 4) Sam McEntee SO
10 Washington 9:31.68D
1) Ryan Soberanis SR 2) Maurice McNeal SO
3) Bradley Whitley SO 4) Joey Bywater JR
11 Ohio State 9:31.71D
1) Chris Fallon JR 2) Korbin Smith SO
3) Dan White SR 4) Cory Leslie JR
2011 Results
1 BYU 9:29.13 9:29.28F
1) Brian Weirich SR 2) Chris Carter JR
3) Justin Hedin JR 4) Miles Batty JR
2 Indiana 9:30.78 9:29.65
1) Daniel Stockberger JR 2) Chris Vaughn JR
3) Joseph Holahan SO 4) Andrew Bayer SO
3 Minnesota 9:31.78 9:29.70
1) Nick Hutton SO 2) Harun Abda SO
3) Travis Burkstrand SO 4) Ben Blankenship JR
4 Notre Dame 9:31.99 9:30.16
1) Johnathan Shawel JR 2) Patrick Feeney FR
3) Jack Howard SR 4) Jeremy Rae SO
5 Arizona 9:28.87 9:30.33
1) Abdi Hassan JR 2) Sean Delfani FR
3) James Eichberger SO 4) Lawi Lalang FR
6 New Mexico 9:31.95 9:31.50
1) Sam Evans SO 2) Richard York SO
3) Gabe Aragon FR 4) David Bishop SR
7 Villanova 9:33.50 9:34.39
1) Brian Tetreault SR 2) Carlton Bowers SO
3) Jason Apwah SR 4) Mathew Mildenhall SO
8 Stanford 9:29.22 9:35.02
1) Andrew Berberick SO 2) Amaechi Morton JR
3) Dylan Ferris JR 4) John Sullivan SR
9 Air Force 9:32.06 9:42.59
1) Tyler Stanley SR 2) Anthony Delgado SO
3) Nick White JR 4) Justin Tyner SR
10 Oregon 9:26.78 9:48.00
1) Mac Fleet SO 2) Mike Berry FR
3) Boru Guyota FR 4) Matthew Centrowitz JR
11 Arkansas 9:30.85 9:52.48
1) Bryan Cantero FR 2) Travis Southard SO
3) Chris Bilbrew SR 4) Duncan Phillips JR
-- Alabama 9:33.77 DNF
1) Joel Rop SR 2) Kirani James SO
3) Fred Samoei SR 4) Emmanuel Bor SR
Now the crazy thing about that race is 7 of the 8 finalists were underclassmen, so imagine how great this year's 800 should be. However, of those 7 potential returners, only one is entered in the 2012 NCAA indoors - Penn State's Casimir Loxsom - who was 4th last year.
The other six potential returnees are all not running for various reasons.
The winner, Robby Andrews, has left UVA; the runner-up Charles Jock of Irvine doesn't do indoors; third placer Elijah Greer of Oregon redshirted; fifth placer Edward Kemboi of Iowa State has run 1:46.06 this winter but appears to be ineligible or redshirting for some reason; Akron's Willie Brown, who was 7th, only ran 1:51.67 indoors this year; eighth placer Ryan Martin of UCSB doesn't do indoors either.
The 2010 World Junior Championships silver medallist Loxsom is by no means the favorite, however. His 2012 campaign has been a struggle, as he was only 7th at the UW Husky Classic and 6th at Big 10s.
The favorite on paper appears to be Minnesota's Harun Abda. Abda, who was 5th last year indoors, comes in with the #1 seed time at 800 (1:46.97) and he also tied the 8th-fastest indoor 600 in history this winter at 1:15.86. Abda's teammate David Pachuta is the #2 seed and the only other guy who has gone sub-1:47 so far this year, but Pachuta lost the Big 10 800 title to Iowa's Erik Sowinski.
The highest returner from last year's indoor meet is Texas A&M's Michael Preble, who comes in seeded 5th. Preble, who was third last year, is undefeated on the year, including a 600y victory at Big 12s. The #3 seed on the list is Preble's teammate is Joey Roberts, but Roberts was beaten at 800m at Big 10s by Missouri's Ricky West (7th seed). Prebel's 5th place last year was a total surprise. Now, how will he perform with some pressure?
Georgia senior Aaron Evans, who was third at the 2010 NCAA outdoor meet, is the SEC champion and shouldn't be discounted. He hasn't lost to a collegian all year at 800 and in fact only lost to Lopez Lomong by .01. Included in those victories was a dominant victory at SECs over #4 seed Sean Obinwa of Florida. Evans won by .55, which is a lot in the 800.
LRC Quick Take: The 800 is one of the most exciting events in track and field as it's so unpredictable. A very tough race to predict, but Abda, Evans and maybe Preble seem to be the ones to beat ... but Loxsom needs to be watched as well.
Men 800 Meter Run -
Accepted Entries
1 Harun Abda JR Minnesota 1:46.97D
2 David Pachuta SR Minnesota 1:46.98D
3 Joey Roberts SR Texas A&M 1:47.14D
4 Sean Obinwa SO Florida 1:47.22D
5 Michael Preble SR Texas A&M 1:47.52D
6 Erik Sowinski SR Iowa 1:47.62D
7 Ricky West JR Missouri 1:47.81D
8 Mason McHenry SR Arizona State 1:47.86D
9 Aaron Evans SR Georgia 1:47.88D
10 Casimir Loxsom JR Penn State 1:47.93D
11 Travis Burkstrand JR Minnesota 1:48.16D
12 Declan Murray JR Loyola (Ill.) 1:48.46D
13 Patrick Schoenball FR Baylor 1:48.47D
14 Kyle Thompson FR Texas 1:48.53D
15 Ryan Waite JR BYU 1:48.56D
Heat 1 Of 2 Prelims
1 398 Ryan Waite JR BYU 1:48.56
2 496 Travis Burkstrand JR Minnesota 1:48.16
3 463 Erik Sowinski SR Iowa 1:47.62
4 568 Casimir Loxsom JR Penn State 1:47.93
5 603 Kyle Thompson FR Texas 1:48.53
6 514 Ricky West JR Missouri 1:47.81
7 501 David Pachuta SR Minnesota 1:46.98
8 615 Joey Roberts SR Texas A&M 1:47.14
Heat 2 Of 2 Prelims
1 361 Mason McHenry SR Arizona State 1:47.86
2 494 Harun Abda JR Minnesota 1:46.97
3 386 Patrick Schoenball FR Baylor 1:48.47
4 613 Michael Preble SR Texas A&M 1:47.52
5 425 Sean Obinwa SO Florida 1:47.22
6 471 Declan Murray JR Loyola (Ill.) 1:48.46
7 437 Aaron Evans SR Georgia 1:47.88
Men's Mile: Miles Batty Looks To Repeat, Part II
Defending champ Miles Batty of BYU is back and has to be the favorite, as he's not only the defending champ but also now the collegiate record holder thanks to his 3:54.54 run at Millrose, where he defeated
many of the other top seeds, including #3 seed Erik van Ingen of Binghamton, who was 5th last year, and #4 seed Chris O'Hare of Tulsa, who finished 2nd last year to Batty.
Batty is the overwhelming favorite in our minds in this field, particularly since the 2nd and 3rd fastest collegians on the year are both in the 3k and 5k in Lawi Lalang and Diego Estrada.
Now some of you may be saying, "But Batty is trying to run 4 races at NCAAs. In addition to the mile prelim and final, he's also in the 3,000 and DMR." That's true. On the first day, he'll have the mile prelim and DMR final and the second day the mile final and 3,000 final. Last year, Batty won the mile after running the DMR final the night before, so we still expect him to win again
on Sunday. That part of his schedule is the same as last year. We bet Batty doesn't start the 3,000 unless he's feeling REALLY good or if BYU is somehow in it for the team title.
LRCQuick Take: Batty beat van Ingen by 1.83 at Millrose. He's on paper a lot better than everyone. Look for him to repeat. If you are looking for an upset, BU's Rich Peters isn't a bad bet, as he is the lone top seed who didn't run Millrose. We saw him win a competitive Valentine's invite coming on late - it's clear he likes to compete.
2012 Men's Mile - Accepted Entries
1 Miles Batty SR BYU 3:54.54D
2 David McCarthy SR Providence 3:55.75D
3 Erik van Ingen SR Binghamton 3:56.37D
4 Chris O'Hare JR Tulsa 3:56.63D
5 Cory Leslie JR Ohio State 3:56.85D
6 Rich Peters SO Boston U. 3:57.83D
7 Sam McEntee SO Villanova 3:57.86D
8 Andrew Bayer JR Indiana 3:58.23D
9 Nick Happe SO Arizona State 3:58.73D
10 Peter Callahan JR Princeton 3:58.76D
11 Kirubel Erassa SO Oklahoma State 3:58.84D
12 Raul Botezan JR Oklahoma State 3:58.94D
13 Robby Creese FR Penn State 3:58.94D
14 Eric Harasyn SR Oklahoma 3:58.99D
15 Matt Maldonado JR Long Beach St. 3:59.08D
2011 Results
1 Miles Batty JR BYU 4:00.87 3:59.49
2 Chris O'Hare SO Tulsa 4:00.87 3:59.62
3 Ryan Foster SR Penn State 4:01.10 4:00.17
4 Dumisane Hlaselo JR Florida 4:01.21 4:00.97
5 Erik van Ingen SR Binghamton 4:01.39 4:01.25
6 Jeff Thode SO Iowa 4:01.15 4:01.73
7 Michael Hammond JR Virginia Tech 4:01.11 4:01.80
8 James Cameron SO Washington 4:01.33 4:01.88
9 Riley Masters JR Maine 4:01.36 4:02.04
10 Duncan Phillips JR Arkansas 4:01.28 4:06.37
Men's 3,000: Will A Fresh Guy Be Able To Make Some Noise?
Hopefully, you read our 5,000 preview. If you read that and watch the 5,000 on Friday night, you'll have a good idea what to expect on Saturday as most of the major players are the same ... except there are two big-time additions. The fastest US collegiate runner ever at the indoor 3,000, Ryan Hill (we don't want to call him the US collegiate record holder since he did it on an oversized track), is running this race fresh. 7:43.08 is very, very good and this race isn't an afterthought
for Hill as it could
be for some of the others who will have already raced the 5,000 the night before.
Additionally, the defending champion Elliott Heath of Stanford is in this race fresh as well. Heath unleashed a great kick last year to get the win. Could that speed be good enough to beat someone like Lalang here? It just might. The one thing about championship 3,000s is that with no rabbits, very few people are good enough to just run away from the others, so there often are upsets, as the person with the superior speed often wins. Lalang has 3:55 mile speed. In our minds, he should
be patient and when
he goes, go hard. If he has to work really hard in the 5,000 the night before, we think it's a mistake if he tries to front-run this thing.
BYU's mile stud Miles Batty might toe the line if he's trying to become a legend if BYU is in the hunt for the team title.
LRCQuick Take: No reason to do an extensive preview of this race because by the time it comes around, you should know what to expect from most of the major players except for Hill and Heath, as most will have either already run the mile, 5,000 or DMR. Collegiate running is so good this year that two of the more exciting runners like Cam Levins (not mentioned at all) and Andy Bayer, have barely been mentioned in this preview. They both are incredible athletes who love to race and they deserve watching throughout the weekend. The sport however usually remembers its champions. Can Bayer or Levins step it up this weekend to the next level? Levins has an almost impossible task in the 3000 and 5000. Bayer's best bet for a win may be the DMR, and doing 3 events (mile, DMR, and 3000m) makes winning any one of them that much harder. Winning the 3000m is almost certainly out of the question (we only see him running it if Indiana is in the battle for the team title).
2012 Men's 3000 - Accepted Entries
1 Ryan Hill JR N.C. State 7:43.08D
2 Lawi Lalang SO Arizona 7:44.48D
3 Diego Estrada JR Northern Arizona 7:44.63D
4 Cameron Levins SR Southern Utah 7:48.25D
5 Ross Millington JR New Mexico 7:49.11D
6 Miles Batty SR BYU 7:49.58D
7 Paul Chelimo SO UNC-Greensboro 7:49.87D
8 Elliott Heath SR Stanford 7:50.14D
9 Chris Derrick JR Stanford 7:50.18D
10 Andrew Bayer JR Indiana 7:50.23D
11 Trevor Dunbar SO Oregon 7:51.55D
12 Stephen Sambu JR Arizona 7:51.59D
13 Mitch Goose SR Iona 7:51.75D
14 Leonard Korir SR Iona 7:51.83D
15 Ben Hubers SR Indiana 7:52.02D
16 Thomas Farrell JR Oklahoma State 7:52.38D
17 George Alex SR Oklahoma 7:52.92D
2011 Results
1 Elliott Heath JR Stanford 7:52.27 8:03.71
2 Ben Blankenship JR Minnesota 7:52.52 8:04.65
3 Andrew Bayer SO Indiana 7:48.35 8:04.70
4 Matthew Centrowitz JR Oregon 7:50.59 8:04.88
5 Justin Tyner SR Air Force 7:53.91 8:05.57
6 Leonard Korir JR Iona 7:51.40 8:05.76
7 Andrew Poore JR Indiana 7:53.81 8:06.00
8 David McCarthy JR Providence 7:53.33 8:06.01
9 Ryan Hill SO NC State 7:50.78 8:06.17
10 Reed Connor SO Wisconsin 7:53.88 8:07.07
11 Ross Millington SO New Mexico 7:54.08 8:08.40
12 Ben Hubers JR Indiana 7:54.37 8:08.50
13 Lawi Lalang FR Arizona 7:54.32 8:08.97
14 Diego Estrada SO Northern Arizona 7:52.18 8:10.23
15 Sam Chelanga SR Liberty 7:50.92 8:11.15
16 Thomas Farrell SO Oklahoma State 7:54.42 8:14.16
17 Riley Masters JR Maine 7:53.11 8:19.95
18 Colton Tully-Doyle SR Washington 7:53.13 8:24.26
-- German Fernandez JR Oklahoma State 7:53.82 DNF
Men's Team Battle: It's Hard To See Florida Losing
Arkansas won the SEC meet over Florida, but the two-time defending champs Florida Gators are a pretty big favorite here. The Gators have four people seeded second and two more seeded third, so on a good day, they should easily get over 40 points and possibly over 50. It's hard to see anyone else getting that high unless someone like Arizona goes crazy with Lawi Lalang and Stephen Sambu going 1-2 in a couple of distance events. Arkansas is seeded #1 in three events,
but their nation-leading 4 x 400 team was only third at SECs. At SECs however, the Hogs didn't run their two NCAA individual 400 qualifiers on that team, as the meet was already wrapped up.
