A few distance related notes as of Friday morning:
EAST
- I'm looking forward to seeing how Michigan Sophomore Trent McFarland fares in the East Semifinals. He has been battling the big dogs in the BIG 10 all Winter and Spring and has shown he has a great kick in addition to some well-rounded 800m-10k XC range. We'll see how he fares against top guys in Gary Martin, Ethan Strand, Abel Teffra, Liam Murphy, etc.
- Dylan Schubert has a genuine chance of breaking up the East African tirade in the Men's 10000m at Nationals. He had a solid close against the three Kenyans from Alabama and the Kenyan Bernard Cheruiyot Tulane. The West Region is 100% more stacked in this event but I believe that Schubert might produce some Nationals magic once again.
- Some of the guys who qualified for the East 800m Semifinal ran PRs, including True Freshman Camerin Williams from High Point, Sophomore Andrew Magnum from Indiana, and Senior Joseph Patterson from Louisiana. I'd expect the final heats to either be from the gun fast or fast but tactical enough to prevent those guys from making anything special happen.
WEST
- A lot of interesting names missed out on the 1500m West Semifinal, including some quick milers in Iowa State Junior Emmanuel Galindo, Colorado Junior Isaiah Givens, and Washington Junior Ronan McMahon-Staggs. Most of the favorites are still in, but there is a good chance we will see some possible surprises. If I had two dark horses to qualify, they'd be Bradley Senior Jack Crull and California Senior Garrett MacQuiddy (who is mainly just an unknown name)
- The 800m West First Round was about what was to be expected. The top dogs hit their times and places and most of them cruised in well enough. The semifinals are going to shape up to be interesting and highly likely to be unpredictable, especially depending on who ends up in the last heat.
- The West Regional 10k was practically a Pre-Nationals meet for all of those guys, especially considering the top five finishers were prominent in the Indoor 5000m. I'd expect the New Mexico duo to come back and run a solid double. Freshman Kenyan phenom Ishamel Kipkurui did win but I'm not sure if Habtom Samuel let that happen or not, I still haven't seen the race video.