MIAC Track Talk

Grant Nelson is opening his season this week. McConnell is running unattached which is interesting since he still has eligibility left.

The most missed headline today is what we will see out of the youngest coffee in LA come the trials. As we all know, genetic clones gain auto entry once one of the pair runs a qualifying time. Two is always better than one

As expected, a strong opener for Bethel. Grant locks in his National qualifier, while Hokanson heaves his best opening throw ever to rank 11th nationally.

Soren Kaster ranks 8th in the Heptathlon, but will need to improve 300 points to qualify for nationals. Given how good his pole vault can be and if he returns to near his hurdle/sprint times, he has a good chance.

Also worth noting a nice sprint double for Stefanowicz for Macalester and a surprisingly decent 4 x 400 from the Ole 800 runners.

If you are Mo do you come back for track or do you just go pro and try to get paid to run a Spring marathon somewhere like London?

Not sure London is gonna pay much for a 2:12. Better chance at Prague or another tier two marathon where they pay a little with a shot at prize money.

Checked Grandmas and they’re a little tight this year. I assume they’ve cut down their stipends and stiffened the criteria to be able to assist more people.

If I was a betting man, I’d say he races while he trains through indoor hopefully runs nats and follows up with a marathon. London, Boston… or Paris, Prague, Rotterdam, maybe Vienna? Or others European or otherwise (besides Boston and Grandmas its pretty bleak in the US).

He would have a good shot at first American at the LA marathon and Mo doesn't seem to mind the heat.

What I'm looking forward to -

The shot put battle between two of the best to ever do it in Cooper and Trent. Will any of the impressive sophomores from Bethel or St. Olaf emerge.

Will the Johnnies multis take the next step after graduating two national qualifiers? Will we see a Gustie emerge at the top or will some Dave Ricks magic prepare Soren for the national stage.

Can Landen Liu stay healthy? And if so, what will a Lui-Reis battle produce?

Nelson already had a great start to the season. Will he take the next step to be a national champ? Can Kubicek make the jump to a national qualifying berth?

What an exciting potential 800 race. We return - four 1:51 athletes and four 1:53 athletes. That's not mentioning a 1:52 freshman and the Ole sophomores who ran much faster relay splits than open times. And that doesn't include Indy!

With Goss and Calvin gone, what will the Mile look like? Can Gabe recapture his freshman magic in his last go around? Will Stencel make a big jump or is he primed for longer distances. And let's not forget Iggy ran 3:48 outdoors.

I don't think anyone will touch Mo or Turlington in the longer races, but I'm excited to see if Stencel, Kaluza, or a Gustie can break into the top three of those races. And what about Roy? Will he go all in on the 3K/5K? Or is moving back to the mile?

The Johnnie/Bethel 4 x 200 showdown will be amazing and the Cobbers are always in this conversation.

Will we see a new hurdle champ emerge? And will finally be a non-Bethel runner? While I'd love to see one of the Hamline or Mac guys take the crown, I'm guessing Pryce or a freshman will be atop the podium at Carleton.

The Johnnies set a school record in the DMR last year and narrowly missed qualifying for Nats. They lost the ageless wonder Tommy Allen, but seem to have some replacements ready. On paper, the Oles should be really good, but never seem to put it together. Could the Gusties surprise everyone? Will Dave try to get his seniors to Nationals? I'm not sure they have a single 400 runner on their roster, but a relay of Indy, Gabe, and Roy should be a national contender.

High Jump will look very different with seven seniors taking the top seven spots Indoors last year. Will the Johnnies find another jv ballsport athlete to try the event?

Long Jump is loaded! We return national qualifiers in Reis, Schreiner, Albertson, and I've heard rumors of Cobber/Johnnie freshmen better than the latter two! The Cobbers claim they already have a national level Triple Jumper and the Frommelt/Watson duel in Triple Jump will have national implications.

Will Austin Schloeder finally get his first national title?

What else are we excited about MICer's?

Someone is putting off studying for Finals in a very productive manner!

I'll add a couple of Indoor questions to the conversation.

Firstly, why is the MIAC records page not using metric? Get with the times MIAC office.

Can Beseth defeat the MIAC record set by Mike Manders in 1983? The Hamline Hall of Fame site says it ranked 4th in the world at the time!

Will Reis push Landen for the 60m record. Will anyone take Landen's 200m record?

Do we think any of those jumpers can top Lichttenegger's MIAC & MIAC Championship record?

Will Schloeder get the PV record?

I see the Cobbers are doing the NDSU multi. When did so many teams start doing a December multi. I’m curious as to the reason for this.
And why did Bethel only compete certain athletes? How does their staff choose who gets to compete in December?

Trent and Kubicek opening up this weekend. If Noah can run anywhere near 49 low in that facility we should expect at sub 48 later in the year.

I predict a high 18's for Trent in both weight and shot put.

I didn't realize the Cobbers are competing at a Thursday-Friday meet. What a weird scenario to race on a Thursday. Live results on Heros timing. https://live.herostiming.com/meets/59699/events/individual/2180146

A nice opener for Carlson in sub 50. Hegland puts himself at the top of the list for the MIAC title with an excellent 1.91 PR to start his season. Their freshman triple jumper leaps 14.52 on a short approach and Cooper did Cooper things in shot put.

It should noted that Cooper's two best throws from yesterday are the top throws in the country right now by a considerable amount.

And I know people don't talk about the female athletes as much, but it should be noted that transfer Abigail Lovelace had a massive PR of 3146 to take the MIAC lead and rank 4th in the country. She'll need another 250 points or so to qualify, but with how good of Multis coaches the Cobbers are, I wouldn't rule that out.

800 this, 800 that why isn't anyone talking about the High Jump? Seven seniors took the top seven spots last year, meaning there's a good amount of points up for grabs.
Eli Hegland wasn't messing around last night, opening the season with a jump of 1.91m (6 ft, 3.25 in). Seeing that the highest returner's personal record is only 1.92m, I think that Hegland is for sure a front runner for the title as he sets the bar high for all other jumpers.

The Saint open their season this weekend. Looking at Athletic net, they have a 6 ft 2 in freshman jumper. I wouldn't count him out for the title and giving the Saints a good amount of points.

What I want to know is how the Johnnies will respond to Hegland's jump. The Johnnies have won the title the last two years; can they get the three peat? They come in with the highest jumper, O'Brien, who jumped a height of 1.93m last indoor season. Although he's ranked the highest, he doesn't seem to be consistent, not even jumping over 6 ft last outdoor season. Not sure what the Johnnies HJ coach is doing, as it looks like their jumper is also a cross country runner. First, getting a baseball player to jump and then a cross runner... their coach needs to do some better recruiting.

Could the Gusties take the title? The Gusties had a couple of good seniors last year that were consistent. The Gusties come in with the highest outdoor returner from last year. Can Flunker capitalize for the Gusties, or will Morris from Macalester improve and take the title home for the Scots?

I think the Cobbers, Gusties and Oles both signed a good freshman that could compete for the title. Looks like the Ole and Mac women have some nice jumps talent in their freshman class too.

Trent with two throws over 18m. Miac throws are 1-2 in the country! Looks like a good weight toss for him too. And a freshman hurdler just out himself into the MIAC champs conversation with an 8.58 debut.

It appears Hegland is the early favorite. In seeing what Scholastica’s Strohm did in his first meet I’m wondering we have another Taylor Rooney? I always thought he could be an even better decathlete than hurdler. And he was one of the best D3 hurdlers ever.

Rooney is an interesting comparison, but he was one of the best in the country in both. Hegland has a ways to go before we make that comparison. He also jumped 6-4 and ran 14.6 in high school. But, I'm very eager to see what Hegland can do. They have had some good long jumpers lately, but I don't recall impactful hurdlers or high jumpers in their time in the MIAC. It's exciting to see them come into the conversation.

Anyone see that Parent time trial video? Too bad he doesn't have eligibility left! Is he training for the trials? Does he still train with Grant?