What is going on at Drake. Slow times and lots of DNS’s.
Meet got moved up 2-3 hours last minute, so some teams travelling today couldn’t make it. High winds, lightning and potential tornado warnings all contributing to slow times, along with a lack of pacers for most of Thursdays races.
St Olaf has a chance, but I don't think it happens. No.
I have no clue on SP.
Same with multi. Fitzgerald should easily. I say yes. and yes to the hurdle & jumps.
You don’t think a group that ran 7:34 last year with a 1:56 lead off won’t run sub 7:30? They could use six or seven different guys to run sub 7:30. That is, if they are allowed to race at Drake. If Chunko wants to make his bosses happy, he will be prioritizing individual events at MIAC champs and try for a team good enough to finish second or third in the relay. We all know they cannot win at home, but he has already lost the head coach position due to a desire to want to more competitive. I can’t imagine what placing third or fourth at home will mean for him. Maybe the strength coach will personally oversee a training program for some physical fitness. He needs it just as much as the supervision of how he runs his program.
To quote the late Scott Weiland: "And I feel so much depends on the weather"
Lots of movement on the lists this week! Not all the Drake results have hit athletic.net and none are TFRR's, so apologies if I've missed anything.
A note - this may be the last report. It takes time and nobody ever seems to react to the report one way or another. If people want to engage in productive discussion I'll continue.
Men Sprints - While we saw some wind-aided times at the U of M, McConnell's 10.35 won't count for national qualifying. Racing in a different heat, the pride of the Gusties, Jade Anstine ran the 21st best time in the country with a 10.47. However, the sprinter(s) of the week award goes to the Bethel relay squads, running 40.75 and 3:11.90, both marks that rank in the top 10 in the country. Landen Liu appears in great form after a 10.39 prelim 100m. Interestingly, Bethel didn't include 14.52 hurdler Pryce on their 4 x 100. Their depth is impressive. Mid Distance - Cole Stencel braved the early starting time and the win to defeat several MIAC foes in the 1500 with an impressive 59 last lap. Distance- Tyler Goss ran 9:27 in the wind to secure a MIAC lead in the steeple. He ranks 43rd in the country due to a previous performance. Jumps - Kyle Flunker of Gustavus had a breakthrough meet to leap 2.05 in the high jump. He sits 13th in the country. Throws - Trent Beseth is back! He now sits 5th in shot put (yes, I know behind Cooper in first) and 13th in hammer after a strong meet Wednesday. He also ranks 8th in discus showing some impressive range.
Women Sprints - The Bethel 4 x 400 moved into national championship conversation, running 3:44.9. Three schools have run sub 3:45 this season, none have run sub 3:44. Yet. Mid Distance - St. Olaf's Wyatt bettered her spot on the national list with a 2:12. 37 at Simpson as the only D3 runner in the field. She is 30th in the country. Distance -Molly Liston of Gustavus wins the 5000m at Macalester by 47 seconds after her massive win in the 10K at La Crosse. She will have to push the pace at the MIAC meet if she wants to also qualify in the 5000m. Jumps - Ellie Hernes of Bethel shoots into the top 20 nationally in the triple jump with a 11.79 mark. The MIAC championship should be quite a battle with Loftness of Gustavus. Throws - Bethel's Nora Larsen now ranks 11th in the Shot Put after the weekend, but teammate Anna Speratos ranks 4th in the Hammer Throw, so we'll give the nod to her. Both are deserving of attention as is 30th ranked Cobber javelin ace Genevieve Gruba.
MIAC team picks -
It appears to again be Bethel's meet to lose on the men's side. St. John's is strong, but appears to be under competing with hope of training for better conditions. Olaf and Concordia will likely battle for third with Macalester also in the mix.
While the Olaf women appeared to be a strong competitor Indoor, they haven't matched that level of performance Outdoor and Bethel should win the title with Concordia making it close. Olaf will have to hold off Carleton and St. Ben's to remain in the top three.
I like the reports. You should have chat gpt write it though. Less time and less grammatical errors.
Looking forward to the St. Thomas “We wish we could still dominate D3” Invitational. Looks like it will take faster than 1:52 to make the fast heat. Hopefully they bump the guy who ran 2:02 at the U of M and is seeded 3rd.
Not sure about the wisdom of racing Kevin Turlington to merely pull the Tommies to PR’s. Power used to pay for pacers, but they aren’t allowed to use school funds for that anymore, so he’s on his own to break 14. And the Tommies typically only do one heat so he’ll be passing a lot of bubs.
And when will poor Cole see competition? Maybe they can get a Gopher to enter so he had fast competition. His chances to to qualify are dwindling.
If the Oles run 3 teams under 3:21 I’ll run the Great Grandma’s challenge in only a Dave Ricks Hawaiian shirt and duck boots.
Looks like all the Gophers are racing fast 1500/5K's at Hamline. On one hand that's great for any MIAC athletes that want to try to run behind them, but it must be hard for Big Ten athletes to get hyped to race at Hamline against dudes they lapped in high school.
I was under the impression most schools use some sort of slush fund for this. I know Hamline alumni paid to help get pacers for some races when they were fast.
Looks like all the Gophers are racing fast 1500/5K's at Hamline. On one hand that's great for any MIAC athletes that want to try to run behind them, but it must be hard for Big Ten athletes to get hyped to race at Hamline against dudes they lapped in high school.
Looks like Cole is wisely following the Gophers to Hamline. Brendo appears to have Brauer ready for a big time race as he’s entered as an exciting seed.
Most intriguing of all, the Tommies are all entered in the 800. Does this mean they’ll skip their own meet? Will it be another meet of the Oles pacing Irke?
Heat sheets are up on Fast Finish. St. Thomas has two heats of the 5K for both genders. Should be fine. Without pacers or faster athletes, it's unlikely that Turlington runs much faster than 14:15. Should be good competition with the top Tommies.
The Tommie 800 runners are double entered at Hamline and St. Thomas. Hard to tell where they'll run, but at least the Oles will take the first lap out hard if they race at home.
Glad they have two heats. Power was convinced Bocovich would have broken 14:00 if they didn’t have 70 Oompa Loompas (his words) to lap on the track. He and Phil also called the Gophers who ran the Bethel, Hamline, CSP circuit City Limits Gophers. Said they should have gone D3 and would have been able to travel more.
We are heading into the MIAC Championship with results from the MIAC Hep/Dec and many athletes racing to sharpen for the championship.
Men Sprints -We'll add St. John's Decathlete and MIAC champ, Bailey Evans here. His 10.77 would rank 5th in the MIAC if he hadn't already run 10.76. His score of 6592 ranks 17th in the country Mid Distance - Cole Stencel finally gets a competitive and runs a PR and MIAC leader. He ranks 19th in the country. Distance- Ole transfer Garrett Seppanen runs what appears to be a 55 second 55 to win the Joe Sweeney Twilight 5K. Jumps - Last year's Indoor Long Jump Champion Max Albertson seems to have regained his form, hitting a wind legal 7.20m jump at home. All three of his legal jumps were over 7m. He is tied for 27th in the country. Throws - Freshman Logan Day of Gustavus moved into second in MIAC standings with a 56.40m mark.
Women Sprints - We'll say with the Multi here, MIAC Champ, Claire Stein of St. Olaf ran the second best 100H and 7th best 200m in the MIAC to win the Heptathlon title with 4604 points. The freshman ranks 22nd in the country. Emily Rengo of Concordia deserves attention with her 12.09m 100 yesterday too. Mid Distance - Mya Slavin uncorked a huge PR to move into first in the MIAC and 15th in the country. She now leads the MIAC in the 800 and 1500 as only a sophomore. Distance - Carleton freshman Amelia Campbell appears to be taking to the steeple securing the MIAC lead by 7 seconds. She ranks 47th in the country. Jumps - Gustie Kayla Kajer won the Ole Open by 13cm and now ranks first in the conference and is tied for 22nd. We also saw two top 45 national pole vault marks from the Bennies and Oles this week. That event will be one to watch with three women on the national list. Throws - Basically anyone that threw at Mankato's Todd Pfingsten Open had marks to highlight. Ella Stritesky of St. Scholastica ranks 23rd in the country in the hammer and 2nd in the MIAC with a 51.74m heave. Ella Engan is also making noise in the event. Gustie Discus ace Olivia Duncan ranks 29th in the country after a nice 43.77 heave. Cobber Chloe Mueffelmann had a nice day at home yesterday with a 13.17 shot put and 38.08 discus to enter the conference conversation in both events.
Looking to this week, I actually think the Cobber women are the team to beat with Bethel sure to push them. A week of rest for their multis will be significant in the field events. Rengo and Nygaard will be sure to chase plenty of points for them. The Oles should be battling for third. If Rogahn-Press is still out, this does help Olaf snatch more points, but they will need to be very strategic to counter Bethel.
On the men's side, it is breaking down to be a battle between the Johnnies and Bethel. Notably, the Gusties are leading the meet now with a surprising 13 points in the Decathlon in years. The Oles and Johnnies don't appear to have the firepower of years past in that event. Can the Oles pull out a win at home? Only if Turlington runs the 10/5/1500 and they steal points in the jumps. They will likely be battling the Gusties for 3rd.
At some point this week, I'll post matchups I'm excited to see.
Looks like the weather will favor distance events this weekend. That’s a nice change from last year.
My distance only predictions -
800 - Moore, Ihrke, Fells. Ihrke got out too hard this week, but I think he’s learned enough to sit and kick the Oles. He’ll definitely want to win at home. He’ll run 1:50.65
1500- Stencel run away with this in a sub 3:50. If he wants to qualify he’ll really hammer, but he has shown a preference to sit and kick. Gabe finishes second and I think Bullock of the Oles edges Brauer. Hootie could be a surprise here too.
5000 - This all depends on how hard Turlington wants to run after jogging the 10K. I say it’s closer than you think. I actually can’t remember the last time an Ole won or even scored well. I bet he runs 14:35 and Stencel/Gabe battle for second. Any slower and Cole outruns him. His kick is too lethal.
10,000 - Turlington runs one mile hard and then jogs the rest. Roy is the surprising runner up in his final weekend as a Carl follows by Travis Brown. I want to add Goss here, but if I’m him I focus solely on winning the steeple.
Steeple - The Cobbers always run massive steeple PR’s the MIAC champs. I’ll go out on a limb and say he runs 9:05. Torte is second around 9:20 with Deaver hot on his heals. This is a huge event for the Oles if they want to circumvent sprint points from Bethel/St. John’s.
4 x 800 - I think Olaf wins, but I doubt any of their top 800 guys run. It won’t matter. They 1:55 guys you’ve never heard of. St. John’s will place second and Bethel third.
Women -
800- I think Nygaard wins but pulls Slavin and Wyatt to something fast. Wyatt places second. Those two will be fresh and Slavin will have the 1500.
1500 - Slavic runs sub 4:30 and qualified for Nats. Kate Fox of Mac is second with Tittel third.
5000m - Vukovics will take our hard to set the pace, but Liston wins in 17:10. Preissier finished second and Aliya Larsen slips into third.
10,000 - Preissier needs a qualifying time, so she’ll go big here. She wins in 35:24, with Liston right behind her. Larson finishes 3rd.
Steeple - Amelia Campbell runs close to 11:00 and easily wins. I expect the Cobber, Kelyn Henry-Perich to show it in second with Mary Kenny of the Bennies in third.
4 x 800 - Oles without their top two. They appeared to be auditioning legs this weekend. I’ll say Carleton next, barely edging the Cobbers. Nygaard runs 2:09 on the anchor though.
Trent vs. Cooper - the battle we all wanted to see Indoor. Cooper is untouchable right now, but hopefully the distance runners realize they are seeing history and flock to the rings.
Men's 1500m - The coaches moved it to the first even to "help national qualifying." Last year was the first year it was sorta fast, but nobody qualified off those races. Cole needs to run fast to protect his spot at Nationals and the battle for second between Gabe, Nick, Hootie, and the Oles could be fun.
Women's 800m - Seniors Wyatt & Nygaard against the young upstarts from Carleton and Slavin.
Men's 100m - Liu vs. the ageless wonder McConnell with Anstine returning to form
The men's 800m should be chaos with 5 Indoor national qualifiers and St. Peter running fast.
Women's 10,000 - Preisser vs. Liston, with both wanting to run well enough to go to Nats.
Who emerges as the women's 400 ace without Roghan-Press?
Two freshmen women have run 14.77 and 14.83 in the 100m hurdles. What a battle that will be.
Women's high jump has 5 women between 1.60 and 1.65.
Women's hammer is absurdly good right now.
Will the Oles cook up some sort of home field advantage?
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