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?
Augsburg freshman opens at 1.90! He’s a 1.96 high school jumper. I’m not sure they even have the ability to jump at practice. Very excited to see how this athlete progresses.
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?
Augsburg freshman opens at 1.90! He’s a 1.96 high school jumper. I’m not sure they even have the ability to jump at practice. Very excited to see how this athlete progresses.
The 3K is most likely to be competitive. I think Gabe actually has a faster PR than Turlington and he'll likely be doing the easier Mile/3K double. His upside is much higher than Turlington's , but Turlington has shown steady improvement over several years. After the 2025 seasons we have seen from Stencel, I wouldn't be surprised to see him in the mix. If he runs the the DMR and goes fresh in the 3K, I don't think either of the Northfielders will beat him.
Considering he and Skemp held hands and talked during the 10K last year, I don't foresee anyone challenging him. The 5K will be a different story as the 1500 group will be much fresher. Too many of those athletes have better sprint speed than him.
The 3K is most likely to be competitive. I think Gabe actually has a faster PR than Turlington and he'll likely be doing the easier Mile/3K double. His upside is much higher than Turlington's , but Turlington has shown steady improvement over several years. After the 2025 seasons we have seen from Stencel, I wouldn't be surprised to see him in the mix. If he runs the the DMR and goes fresh in the 3K, I don't think either of the Northfielders will beat him.
Considering he and Skemp held hands and talked during the 10K last year, I don't foresee anyone challenging him. The 5K will be a different story as the 1500 group will be much fresher. Too many of those athletes have better sprint speed than him.
Gabe is much faster at 3K, mile, and 1500m. The 5000m is very much in Turlington's favor, but Gabe was sick and injured a lot of last season. A runner of his caliber should be able to run 14:15 or so, which isn't too much slower than Turlington. Should be an interesting senior year for the Northfield duo.
A better question is whether Stencel or Brauer are in a position to top Gabe in the mile. Or will we see Indy or Roy healthy enough to challenge their training partner? Will Ihrke move up in distance?
With so many good mile and 800 types, the 1000 could be elite in this conference!
Could be some good 600’s this weekend. Kubicek is seeded at 1:20 and Nemecek at 1:21 along with a freshman at 1:22. Kubicek is also racing the 300. Not be confused with the 1K:3K double from Gabe Nichols.
Anything else to look forward to? Trent doing Trent things? A field house record I assume. Kinda surprised St. Mary’s is going all the way to that meet when St. Thomas, Olaf, and MSU are hosting.
Hamline are also opening up today. Their two hurdlers who will likely be in the top three in the MIAC are oddly entered with no seeds. Looks like they have the biggest throws group in the MIAC. Schloeder is entered one meter ahead of the second best vaulter. That will be a boring day for him. Watson only long jumping.
As much as we talk about the Ole men, someone should note how scary good the Ole women could be. Not sure they have the distance firepower to negate Carleton points, but their young sprints/jumps/pent squad is all over the national list. That won't quiet the conversation about having one combined program with a head coach for each sport. If the women's coach can recruit like this and clearly knows how to develop athletes, given what we've seen from Jaeckle and Jore, she should be getting more attention.
Speaking of attention, my AOTW nominees are -
Sprints - Cramer Saint Mary's - first sub 7 mark of the year
Mid D - Kubicek with a slight lead in the 600m and double win.
Distance - Moore St. Olaf. I thought about giving Gabe the win, but he was clearly just working out. Moore ran a small PR in the K and appears to have led from the gun.
Jumps - Kyle Flunk of Gustavus enters the crowded HJ conversation to take the conference lead and PR in his opener.
Throws - Monreal St. Scholastica. No longer just a part of the Saints Throws factory, Monreal takes the school record from Beseth, which is no small feat and likely locks up a national qualifier!
Sprints - Zari Young Saint Mary's with a strong 7.90 opener.
Mid Distance - Lauren Tittel a Carleton firstyear runs a time that would have ranked second in the MIAC last year. Will she be the 800m darkhorse too with a 2:13 PR?
Distance - Lauren Walda from St. Olaf outsprints the Carleton pack to win the 3K.
Jumps - Ashelyn Jore - St. Olaf leaps 5.63 to rank top ten in the country
Throws - Another Throws U product - All-American Ella Strikesky of St. Scholastica now ranks 11th in the country.
Who are some mid tier (right now) runners that are still young and will be best to watch develop over the next few years into all-conference type guys?
The full Carleton roster. Hootie. Heimdal from Olaf, the Mac Twins and Connole. I've been impressed by the Scholastica improvement from XC to track so far. They could emerge down the road. McInturff hasn't done much individually, but he supposedly split 1:52 last year. I'm sure some Johnnies will make big jumps. I'm hoping Kaluza and St. Peter can move into the national conversation. Surely one of their 10:00
Who are some mid tier (right now) runners that are still young and will be best to watch develop over the next few years into all-conference type guys?
Non distance I’m hype about Timmy Ball and seeing Anstine back. I assume one of the young Scholastica throwers will break out. Their coach is amazeballs. Bethel will make a 52 second guy a 49 second guy this year. Some Johnny will run sub 11 that couldn’t run sub 11.6 in high school.
Probably some Gustie distance runner. The other distance schools guys are already good when they show up. Brendo has developed the hell out of the current senior class.
No joke. Coyer has insane headroom. He could legitimately start dropping mile times in the low-mid teens in the next couple years.
He ran 4:19 and 9:32 Indoors a senior. I hope we expect bigger things from him than low to mid teens after several years of college. Carleton and Macalester have so much talent in their freshman class. It’s really exciting, but probably not as noteworthy as Brendo or Maxwell taking 10:15/4:30 to sub 15 and sub 4 1500’s!