NCAA Indoors Day 1: Dylan Jacobs the Real Deal, OSU Gets Long-Awaited DMR Title
By LetsRun.com
March 10, 2023
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Tennessee’s Dylan Jacobs and the Oklahoma State distance medley relay were the big winners on the men’s side on day 1 of the 2023 NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships. Jacobs, the NCAA 10,000 champion for Notre Dame last year, claimed his second national title (and first since enrolling at Tennessee) by blitzing a 26.25 last lap en route to a brilliant 13:37.59 win at 4,959 feet of elevation in Albuquerque. In the DMR, OK State won its first title in program history as the first three legs set things up nicely for anchor Ryan Schoppe, who ran a perfect 1600 leg to power the Cowboys to victory.
In the distance prelims, Washington went 1-2 in both heats to send four men to Saturday’s mile final, led by NCAA 1500 champ Joe Waskom led all qualifiers. In the 800, true freshman Will Sumner of Georgia barely snuck in as the last guy into the final as Florida’s Sam Austin, the man Sumner pipped for the SEC title two weeks ago, led all qualifiers with his 1:47.65. Full recap, analysis, and interviews from day 1 in Albuquerque below.
Men’s 5000: Dylan Jacbos wins his second NCAA title
Masterclass.
Heading into the loaded men’s 5000 final tonight, it appeared wide open as no one received more than 35% of the votes in the LetsRun.com pre-race poll. After it was over, though, we are tentatively putting down Tennessee’s Dylan Jacobs (who was the co-#2 choice at 18%) down as the double 5000/3000 champ as he was brilliant tonight. Running near the lead throughout in the race where the NAU duo of Nico Young and Drew Bosley, the NCAA 3000 record holder, made sure it was fast, Jacobs took the lead from Bosley with 450 to go and never relinquished it.
He closed in 56.47 (26.25 last lap) and won in an NCAA altitude record of 13:37.59 as BYU’s Casey Clinger, the two-time NXN champ, was second in 13:38.12, and the NAU duo of Bosley and Young third and fourth in 13:38.62 and 13:40.55.
Results *Splits
1 Dylan JACOBS Tennessee [SR] 13:37.59 FR
2 Casey CLINGER BYU [SO] 13:38.12
3 Drew BOSLEY Northern Arizona [SO] 13:38.62
4 Nico YOUNG Northern Arizona [SO] 13:40.55
5 Parker WOLFE North Carolina [SO] 13:43.69
6 Patrick KIPROP Arkansas [SO] 13:45.16
7 Ky ROBINSON Stanford [SO] 13:47.11
8 Alex MAIER Oklahoma State [JR] 13:52.50
9 Charles HICKS Stanford [JR] 14:01.34
10 Joey NOKES BYU [SO] 14:01.43
11 Barry KEANE Butler [SR] 14:10.13
12 Acer IVERSON Harvard [JR] 14:18.88
13 Graham BLANKS Harvard [FR] 14:19.55
14 Carter SOLOMON Notre Dame [SO] 14:37.57
15 Devin HART Stanford [JR] 14:38.37
16 Isai RODRIGUEZ Oklahoma State [SR] 14:56.13
Quck Take: Jacobs was fantastic
Dylan Jacobs wins
The altitude NCAA record for 5000 before tonight was 13:46.67, which Edward Cheserek ran here in Albuquerque nine years ago as a true freshman, when he beat 13:00 man Lawi Lalang by 6+ seconds. If you believe the NCAA altitude conversions, which some think are a little generous, Jacobs’ run is worth a 13:15 5000.
That’s quite doable for someone like Jacobs, who only arrived in ABQ yesterday as he wanted to get to altitude as late as possible. Remember, he ran 13:11 in January but his coach Sean Carlson reminded us tonight that he ran that while blowing up – he went out trying to run 13:00 (this was in the same race where Woody Kincaid ran 12:51). If Jacobs had started out on 13:15 pace that night in Boston, he’d almost certainly have broken 13:10.
Jacobs’ last lap of 26.25 was truly exceptional and now gives him two NCAA titles after also winning the 10k in a kick last year. When you’re as strong as Jacobs is but you can still close in 26-low, you’re going to win a lot of races at the collegiate level.
Quick Take: Drew Bosley & Nico Young took their shot and were proud to have finished 3rd and 4th
Bosley and Young, the NAU duo who finished 2-3 at NCAA XC in November, aren’t known for being big kickers. They bossed the NCAA XC meet by pushing the pace (though were ultimately bested by Stanford’s Charles Hicks) and knew they didn’t want to let the pace lag tonight – especially considering they were two of the athletes most used to training/racing at altitude.
But they also didn’t want to lead the entire race at a consistent tempo, allowing others to turn their brains off and blindly follow their lead. Instead, they settled on something in the middle: a quick pace with periodic surges to throw people off their games.
“I wanted to try to mess with people’s minds as much as I could,” Bosley said. “The unknown is what scares people the most. I was just trying to be a little different, see how people would react.”
You can debate how successful that strategy was, but Bosley was pleased with their execution. Jacobs had to run 13:37 – a very quick time at altitude – to win tonight, and they shook off most of the pack by the end of the race.
“1k to go, there’s 5 or 6 guys [left], I’d say that’s good execution,” said Bosley.
You’ve also got to remember that this was a very strong field. Hicks, the NCAA XC champion, was only 9th today. Young, Ky Robinson, and Alex Maier, all NCAA runners-up in the past, finished 4th, 7th, and 8th. Taking 3-4 against such a field is still some very good running.
“These guys wearing orange jerseys, blue jerseys, red, whatever…pretty freakin’ good,” Bosley said.
NCAA XC champ Charles Hicks was only 9th today
In addition to tonight’s race, we asked him about his new NIL deal with Nike.
Some new blood will be added to the 3000
In nine of the last 10 years, the winner of the men’s 3,000 has either been the winner of the 5,000 (seven times) or the winner of the mile (twice). So obviously Jacobs is the favorite for the 3000 after tonight’s win. That being said, two members of Oklahoma State’s DMR team told us tonight they plan on contending for the 3000 win: Ryan Schoppe, who has a 3:54 mile PB and Fouad Messaoudi, who beat Schoppe for the Big 12 mile title.
Men’s Distance Medley: OK State rocks it & lives up to their collegiate record
Oklahoma State has won three NCAA cross country titles since 2009 and was a tiebreaker away from a fourth on their home course in Stillwater in November. But one title OK State had never won on the men’s or women’s side was the distance medley relay, despite putting some strong teams together in the past. In 2023, though, everything came together: the Cowboys are the national champions after a dream season that included an NCAA record and a dominant NCAA victory in 9:28.77.
Things could scarcely have gone better on Friday night for OSU. Opening leg Fouad Messaoudi gave the Cowboys a lead of nearly two seconds after a 1200 split of 2:53.76 after gapping the rest of the field over the final 200 of his leg. 400 leg Charlie Bartholomew (46.67, 4th-fastest split on his leg) and 800 leg Juan Diego Castro (1:47.85, 4th-fastest split on his leg) maintained the lead, handing anchor Ryan Schoppe a lead of 1.95 seconds over Wisconsin.
That sort of lead can be tricky – not small enough that you can just relax and play sit and kick, but not long enough that you can cruise home over the final 1600. No, that sort of lead requires a fast yet sensible pace, where the anchor keeps the pressure on without going too crazy. And that is exactly what Schoppe delivered, ripping off 30-second splits en route to a 4:00.50 anchor leg in which OK State was never seriously challenged.
On paper, it all seems so simple. But few teams execute each leg so precisely. Schoppe ran smart and controlled, a terrific anchor leg, but wouldn’t have been in position to win without OK State’s first three legs all doing their jobs.
Behind Schoppe, a wild battle for 2nd was unfolding between Washington, Wisconsin, Tennessee, and Ole Miss. Washington, running Kieran Lumb on anchor (a 3:52 miler who scratched from the individual mile), was in 2nd at the bell, but in the end it was Ole Miss who went from 10th to 2nd on the final leg (and 5th to 2nd in the final straight) thanks to a spectacular 3:57.50 anchor from Anthony Camerieri, the fastest of the night.
Results *Splits
1 OKLAHOMA STATE Oklahoma State 9:28.77 FR
2 OLE MISS Ole Miss 9:31.63
3 WISCONSIN Wisconsin 9:31.77
4 WASHINGTON Washington 9:31.97
5 INDIANA Indiana 9:33.32
6 NORTH CAROLINA North Carolina 9:33.68
7 ARKANSAS Arkansas 9:34.82
8 BYU BYU 9:39.45
9 MICHIGAN Michigan 9:41.65
10 TEXAS Texas 9:52.29
11 VILLANOVA Villanova 9:55.89
TENNESSEE Tennessee DQ R: 7.5-3a
Quick Take: OSU gets it done
The Cowboys have had a number of top distance runners pass through their program over the past two decades but had never put together a team that had won the NCAA DMR. But the 2023 team got it done, and in fine style. OSU coach Dave Smith told us that before his team set the collegiate record in February, he was going to send them last minute instructions over text (Smith was in Australia, coaching Team USA at World XC) but thought he might be over-coaching and decided to trust his team. It worked then, and it worked again at NCAAs as Smith said he didn’t spend much time talking to his team ahead of the final.
“They just have this swagger and this stupid confidence that I think leaves them ready for big races like this…there was nothing I could do to change their enthusiasm,” Smith said.
The race could not have gone much better for OSU and Smith gave his athletes credit for executing brilliantly.
“[For Messaoudi], we said just stay in the pack for 800m and then run a hard last quarter and give us a lead,” Smith said. “He gave us a great lead…Schoppe, i told him, if you get in the lead, go 29.5’s. Don’t go any faster than that. Go 29.5’s and be methodical. He was at 29/30-points the entire way.”
The Cowboys proved that they could get it done in a time-trial environment and a championship race, with two different lineups. In a year where collegiate teams ran faster than ever before, they clearly stood above everybody else. Smith said the win didn’t make up for last fall’s NCAA XC meet, where OSU lost to NAU on a tiebreaker, but the feeling tonight was still very sweet.
Quick Take: Ole Miss’s Anthony Camerieri was fantastic on the anchor leg and will be someone to watch outdoors
As impressive as Oklahoma State was, Ole Miss’s Anthony Camerieri earned some headlines of his own by running the fastest anchor leg in the field – 3:57.50, at altitude – and going from 10th to 2nd to outkick some of the NCAA’s top milers.
If you’re not familiar with the name Anthony Camerieri, you’re not alone. He ran for four years at Miami (Ohio), and though he ran pbs of and 3:43/13:48, he never won a conference title and never made it to NCAAs. He moved to Ole Miss last summer as a grad student to run under coach Ryan Vanhoy, but Vanhoy left to take the job at Cal Poly just days after Camerieri arrived in Oxford.
But so far, Camerieri has been thriving under first-year Ole Miss coach Adam Smith. Initially, Smith thought Camerieri would be a 10k guy, and he ran well in cross country (55th at NCAAs). And while Camerieri’s season’s best of 3:56.90 was not good enough to get him to NCAAs in the mile, he has continued to impress in the DMR this season (he split 3:54 at SECs) and his success in that event now has him thinking he’s more of a 1500/5k type.
Quick Take: Washington finishes 4th after running #2 time in NCAA history during regular season
Washington ran 9:16.65 this season, the #2 time in NCAA history, and only finished 4th tonight (after crossing the finish line 5th but Tennessee was DQd for obstruction on the anchor leg) – a slight disappointment given that gaudy seed time (and the fact that UW was 2nd entering the home straight). But there have been a lot of fast times across the country this year, so to take 4th cannot be viewed as a major failure.
NCAA 1500 champ Joe Waskom, who looked sensational in winning his mile prelim earlier today, pleaded to run the anchor leg, asking UW assistant Chris Kwiatkowski to “put me on the anchor” after his run in the mile. But UW coach Andy Powell ultimately opted to run Kieran Lumb – who scratched from the mile to be fresh for this race – as the anchor, and while Lumb’s 3:59.72 anchor was 2nd-best in the field, it was only good for 4th tonight.
Afterwards, Waskom, who ran the 1200 leg, said he was just happy to be a part of the team and that he is ready to rip in the mile final.
“I trust my coach with whatever decision and Kieran was fresh, so we put him on anchor and he did an incredible job,” Waskom said. “Honestly, he probably did a better job than I could have…I’m ready [for the mile final now]. I’m tapered. I’m ready to fucking roll tomorrow.”
Quick Take: Craziest leg award goes to Wisconsin’s Abdullahi Hassan
Hassan, running the 800 leg, received the baton in 2nd and took off like a man possessed in an attempt to close the gap to leaders OK State. Hassan split 48.19 for his first 400 according to Wisconsin coach Mick Byrne, which means he came back in 59.26 for his second 400 to split 1:47.45 on the night (#3 among 800 legs). That’s not a bad split, all things considered, but with some smarter pacing, that split could easily have been 1:46 – which may have made a difference given 2nd through 4th were separated by just .34 of a second.
Men’s 800: Favorites advance
The top 3 seeds on time coming in, Yusuf Bizimana and Crayton Carrozza of Texas and Sam Austin of Florida, looked good. Carrozza and Austin went 1-2 in heat #1 (and were separated by .01 with Austin winning in 1:47.65). Heat 2 went out very slow (56.19) at 400m and Bizzima controlled it home from there to get the win (1:49.24) as freshman phenom Will Sumner went from last (7th) to third on the final lap to get the final qualifying spot.
Results *Splits
Heat 1
1 Sam AUSTIN Florida [SO] 1:47.65 Q
2 Crayton CARROZZA Texas [JR] 1:47.66 Q
3 Tarees RHODEN Clemson [JR] 1:47.84 Q
4 Baylor FRANKLIN Ole Miss [SR] 1:48.01
5 Handal ROBAN Penn State [FR] 1:48.15
6 John LESTER Stanford [SO] 1:50.03
7 Ethan BROUW New Mexico [SO] 1:53.90
DNF Ayman ZAHAFIMiami (Fla.) [SR]
Heat 2
1 Yusuf BIZIMANA Texas [SO] 1:49.24 Q
2 Navasky ANDERSON Miss State [SR] 1:49.67 Q
3 Will SUMNER Georgia [FR] 1:49.71 Q
4 Samuel RODMAN Princeton [SO] 1:49.94
5 Jason GOMEZ Iowa State [SR] 1:50.32
6 Mahamed SHARIF Connecticut [JR] 1:52.23
7 Cass ELLIOTT Washington [SR] 1:53.04
DNF Cebastian GENTIL Iowa State [SR] –
QT: If Sumner wants to be a factor in the final we don’t think he can be 7th at the bell
Sumner has cut it close so far at NCAAs. He was the last guy into the 800 field thanks to his 1:47.28 seed time, and now he’s the last guy into the final at 1:49.71. For a true freshman to make it this far (plus an SEC title to boot) is already incredibly impressive, so anything he does in Saturday’s final is gravy.
After the race, Sumner revealed that things have been quite different as a freshman at Georgia as he has bumped his mileage significantly and is lifting weights for the first time in his career. Granted, his mileage is only in the 15-18 mpw range, but considering he topped out at 10 mpw in high school, that is not an insignificant jump.
Men’s Mile Prelims: Joe Waskom leads 4 University of Washington runners into the final
Heat #1 went out very slow (2:17.15) and Anass Essayi, the NCAA leader coming in, got bumped around during the final 400m, but would get the final of 4 auto qualifying spots as UW’s Luke Houser and Nathan Green got the top 2 spots.
Heat #2 only had 7 runners with Isaiah Givens of Colorado a scratch, so the field knew that if they could run under 4:09.59, that 6 of the 7 runners would make the final. The odd man out ended up being Washington’s Aidan Ryan who would get last in 4:04.43 as his teammate, NCAA outdoor champ Joe Waskom, would get the heat win in 4:02.68 and be followed by teammate Brian Fay.
Afterwards, Waskom walked off the track and said “Put me on the anchor (of the DMR)”. Instead, coach Andy Powell had him run the 1200m leg and Washington got 4th. (None of the other Washington runners in the mile ran the DMR).
All in all, Washingtom put 4 of its 6 guys in the final, going 1-2 in heat #1 and heat #2.
Results *Splits
Heat 1
1, Luke HOUSER, Washington [JR], – , 4:09.31, Q
2, Nathan GREEN, Washington [FR], – , 4:09.41, Q
3, Isaac BASTEN, Drake [JR], – , 4:09.51, Q
4, Anass ESSAYI, South Carolina [SO], – , 4:09.59, Q
5, Ronan MCMAHON-STAGGS, UCLA [SO], – , 4:10.04
6, Matthew RIZZO, Georgetown [JR], – , 4:10.64
7, Aaron AHL, Washington [SR], – , 4:11.59
8, Adam SPENCER, Wisconsin [SO], – , 4:13.71
Heat 2
1 Joe WASKOM Washington [SO] 4:02.68 Q
2 Brian FAY Washington [SR] 4:02.92 Q
3 Conor MURPHY Virginia [SO] 4:03.01 Q
4 Nick FOSTER Michigan [SR] 4:03.23 Q
5 Elliott COOK Oregon [SO] 4:03.32
6 Thomas VANOPPEN Wake Forest [SR] 4:03.37
7 Aidan RYAN Washington [SR] 4:04.43
DNS 2 Isaiah GIVENS Colorado [FR]
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- Official 2023 NCAA Indoors Discussion Thread
- Touhy…turns out she’s really good Tuohy has won her first NCAA indoor crown in impressive fashion.
- Epic Collapse by UW Women They came into NCAAs the DMR record holders, but they finished DFL by 10 seconds.
- Why is NCAAs at altitude?
- Would Prime Kara Goucher WIN the NCAA Women’s 5000m Today?
- Dwight Stones drinking game
- Dylan Jacobs BOSSED the NAU and Stanford guys Can you say 13:37 at altitude which converts to a 13:11?
- Joe Waskom just walked off the track and said, “Put me on the anchor” Instead, he was put on the 1st leg and UW finished 5th as Oklahoma State dominated.
- NCAA Mile Heat 1 Issac Basten Closed in 1:51.75 final 800m!!!