NCAA Indoor mens distance race times
Year <3:57 mile <4:00 mile <7:50 3k <8:00 3k <13:40 5k <14:00 5k DMR 12th
2012 7 33 7 41 9 38 09:31.91
2013 4 30 3 32 7 33 09:31.23
2014 6 26 2 41 2 39 09:31.64
2015 2 32 7 50 4 42 09:31.85
2016 5 35 6 50 5 42 09:29.89
2017 5 30 5 36 3 39 09:31.15
2018 9 30 6 43 2 45 09:29.90
2019 2 33 5 51 10 43 09:29.35
2020 7 35 12 44 13 44 09:32.60
2021 10 38 5 31 9 43 09:36.25
2022 30 #50 is 3:58.0 38 #50 is 7:52.0 38 #50 is 13:45.95 09:24.56
10y Avg thru 2021 5.7 32.2 5.8 41.9 6.4 40.8 09:31.70
%Diff for 2022 526.3% ? 655.1% ? 593.7% ? 6sec faster
Conclusions:
Super Spikes were introduced in 2020 (road shoes available several years before), widely available in 2021/2022 indoor season.
2021 Was a limited season due to concurrent XC championship, only a few (Teare, Hocker, etc) had super spikes. Chart of times remained consistent with previous years.
For 2022, the number of sub 3:57 became nearly the same as previous average of sub 4:00 mile. Same is true for Sub 7:50 vs previous sub 8:00 3k and sub 13:40 vs previous sub 14:00 5k.
Shoes appear to be slightly less effective at 1 mile vs 3k/5k.
1 mile diff is ~3sec. 3k/5k diff is ~5sec per mile.
Controls / Constants:
Weather does not change indoors – no wind, consistent temperatures and humidity.
Tracks have not changed in this period. (ie. large number of tracks resurfaced and / or redesigned).
Coaching has not had a massive turnover.
High School race times did not dramatically improve the past few years, so the feeder system for NCAA is unchanged.
Notes:
There may be other factors not captured here, but if the 2022 represents a new baseline of race times going forward it is likely due to the shoes.
Those running in older style shoes may still benefit in races where others are running in new shoes via drafting in a faster race.