Cancel the NCAA Regionals: Here are your 2025 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field men’s champions
By Robert Johnson(The article below is the men’s picks. If you want just the women’s picks go here: Cancel the NCAA Regionals: Here are your 2025 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field women’s champions)
The regional meets that will select the competitors for the 2025 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, which will take place in Eugene, Oregon, June 11-14, start today in Jacksonville, FL for the NCAA East First Round and Bryant-Colllege Station for the NCAA West First Round.
The beauty of the regional system is its simplicity. Perform and you make it to NCAAs. Or don’t perform and miss out. There is no politics of a selection committee that you so often get in other sports. Regionals is an amazingly fair way to select the NCAA field.
But everything is a changing in the NCAA with NIL. When the schools are paying millions to football and basketball players, will there be any money left for track and field? And since I once l had a Power 5 assistant athletic director offer to pay me to write an editorial asking for the abolishment of NCAA regionals so they could save money, I’ve decided to write an article and go a step further. Here are the mid-d and distance athletes that I think will be your NCAA champions in a few weeks time.
Men’s 800 – Koitatoi Kidali – Freshman – Oregon – 1:47.62 sb
Kidali and Oregon coach Jerry Schumacher in December. Photo via @oregontf
It’s not typical to pick a freshman ranked just #57 on the NCAA descending order list as the eventual NCAA champion, but Kidali isn’t your typical NCAA freshman. He’s 22, has a 1:42.66 personal best, and he’s rumored to have received a six-figure NIL deal to entice him to join Oregon.
I must admit, the whole idea for writing this article was to highlight this guy, and I considered picking him weeks ago when TFN released their first NCAA predictions and didn’t even have him scoring. Is he a lock to win it all? No. He’s only broken 1:45 once in his life—at the Kenyan Olympic trials last year when he finished 3rd to make the Kenyan Olympic team. But Oregon coach Jerry Schumacher told me at NCAA indoors that he thought the Ducks had a real shot at going 1-2, and his teammate Matthew Erickson ended up winning.
Considering Kidali attempted the difficult 1500/800 double at Big 10s (9th in 1500, DQ’d in 800 after finishing 0.01 off the win), I assume his fitness is improving.
If Kidali doesn’t win, many will say the smart pick is Texas A&M senior Sam Whitmarsh. Whitmarsh, who has a 1:44.36 PB from last year when he finished 2nd, is performing well, earning a convincing win at SECs over Mississippi State’s Abdullahi Hassan and Arkansas’ Rivaldo Marshall (2024 NCAA indoor champ for Iowa), two of the three NCAA athletes with multiple 1:45s outdoors this season.
The third athlete with multiple 1:45s this season is Georgetown sophomore Tinoda Matsatsa. Still just 20 years old, he has the most upside of any American in the field, and a few weeks ago on our Track Talk podcast, I said he’s more likely to become Olympic gold medalist than anyone in the field.
The 13 Sub-1:46 Runners This Year
1. Christian Jackson JR-3 Virginia Tech 1:44.83
2. Tinoda Matsatsa SO-2 Georgetown 1:45.04
3. Brian Kweyei SO-2 Clemson 1:45.09
4. Handal Roban JR-3 Penn State 1:45.16
5. Sam Whitmarsh SR-4 Texas A&M 1:45.35
6. Abdullahi Hassan SR-4 Miss State 1:45.39
7. Aidan McCarthy JR-3 Cal Poly 1:45.53
8. Rivaldo Marshall SR-4 Arkansas 1:45.59
9. Abel Teffra SR-4 Georgetown 1:45.67
10. Lloyd Frilot SR-4 TCU 1:45.79
11. Tyrice Taylor JR-3 Arkansas 1:45.81
12. Nicholas Plant JR-3 Virginia Tech 1:45.99
12. Kimar Farquharson SR-4 Texas A&M 1:45.99
Who wins the 800m?
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Men’s 1500 – Nathan Green – Senior – Washington – 3:35.52 sb
Nathan Green Wins DMR for Washington at Penn (Phil Bond photo)
The NCAA 1500 is shaping up to be an all-timer this year. Eight athletes have broken 3:35 outdoors in 2025, and Green (3:35.52 SB) isn’t one of them. While he lost to Australian Olympian Adam Spencer of Wisconsin at Big 10s, Green deserves to be the favorite. He has the second-best PB in the field behind Spencer at 3:32.20, which placed him 5th at the Olympic Trials last year.
Plus Green won this event as a sophomore in 2023. If you are winning the NCAA 1500 crown as a second-year sophomore, you are a special, special talent. The last two to do so before Green were pretty good: Yared Nuguse (2019) and Cole Hocker (2021).
The 10 Fastest Collegians of 2025
1. Liam Murphy SR-4 Villanova 3:33.02
2. Ethan Strand JR-3 North Carolina 3:33.22
3. Marco Langon JR-3 Villanova 3:33.38
4. Gary Martin JR-3 Virginia 3:33.71
5. Abel Teffra SR-4 Georgetown 3:33.84
6. Parker Wolfe SR-4 North Carolina 3:34.24
7. Fouad Messaoudi SR-4 Oklahoma State 3:34.34
8. Adam Spencer SR-4 Wisconsin 3:34.57
9. James Dunne SR-4 Georgetown 3:35.17
10. Nathan Green JR-3 Washington 3:35.52
Who wins the 1500?
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Men’s Steeplechase – James Corrigan – Junior – BYU – 8:22.20 sb
Louisville freshman and steeple specialist Geoffrey Kirwa enters NCAAs with an 8:13.89 season’s best — the second-fastest time in NCAA history. However, he was only 146th in cross country and didn’t score at ACCs indoors in the 3000 or 5000. His recent 4th-place finish in the ACC 10,000 doesn’t make him stand out as an all-time NCAA great.
So I’m not picking him.
Two other freshmen from Kenya have run 8:22 this year — Mathew Kosgei of New Mexico and Collins Kiprop Kipngok of Kentucky. But my pick is an American, James Corrigan of BYU, who has also run 8:22 this year. Last year, I consistently underestimated BYU athletes and time and again, everyone coached by Ed Eyestone ran exceptionally. Corrigan ran 8:13.87 to make the Olympic team last year and enters NCAAs after winning both the 5000 and steeple at Big 12s.
Photo courtesy James B Daves/NCAA
The 10 Fastest Collegians of 2025
1. Geoffrey Kirwa FR-1 Louisville 8:13.89
2. Mathew Kosgei FR-1 New Mexico 8:22.13
3. James Corrigan JR-3 BYU 8:22.20
4. Collins Kiprop Kipngok FR-1 Kentucky 8:22.67
5. Joash Ruto FR-1 Iowa State 8:25.42
6. Rob McManus JR-3 Montana State 8:26.83
7. Bismack Kipchirchir FR-1 Akron 8:27.51
8. Brett Gardner JR-3 NC State 8:29.65
9. Isaac Hedengren SO-2 BYU 8:30.01
10. Kristian Imroth JR-3 Eastern Kentucky 8:30.66
Who wins the steeple?
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Men’s 5000 – Parker Wolfe – Senior – North Carolina – 13:13.49 sb
Of all the men’s picks, this was the easiest for me. A no-brainer.
Wolfe won last year over a stacked field, and many of the best guys from that race (Nico Young, Graham Blanks, Ky Robinson) have since turned pro. A few weeks later, Wolfe finished 3rd at the US Olympic Trials. After some injury issues this year, he seems to be better than ever, making 13:13 at ACCs look easy. Wolfe also has a strong kick and a 3:34 1500 PB.
Wolfe took down the reigning NCAA indoor and outdoor 5k champs last year at NCAAs
Even if the New Mexico duo of Habtom Samuel (13:05.87) and Ishmael Kipkurui (13:09.24) team up to make the race honest, I don’t think they are fit enough to drop Wolfe. Wolfe’s biggest threat may come from fellow 3:34 man Fouad Messaoudi of Oklahoma State, who won the indoor 3000 in 2023. Messaoudi’s teammate Brian Musau was in great form indoors, closing in 25.82 (in a 13:11 race) to win the NCAA title, but he has only raced once this spring, back on April 25.
The 10 Fastest Collegians of 2025
1. Habtom Samuel SO-2 New Mexico 13:05.87
2. Ishmael Kipkurui FR-1 New Mexico 13:09.24
3. Valentin Soca JR-3 CBU 13:13.10
4. Parker Wolfe SR-4 North Carolina 13:13.49
5. Evans Kurui SO-2 Washington St. 13:16.01
6. Gary Martin JR-3 Virginia 13:16.82
7. Drew Bosley SR-4 Northern Arizona 13:17.06
8. Rocky Hansen SO-2 Wake Forest 13:22.06
9. Matt Strangio SR-4 Portland 13:24.14
10. Ben Shearer JR-3 Arkansas 13:24.74
Are you a fan of Wolfe? Get your Wolfe shirt in the LRC shop. Shop.letsrun.com
Who wins the 5000?
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Men’s 10,000 – Ishmael Kipkurui – Freshman – New Mexico
Like Oregon’s Kidali, Kipkurui isn’t your typical freshman. The 20-year-old arrived at New Mexico as a former world junior cross country champion (2023) and world championship finalist at 5000 (10th in 2023 for Kenya) with a 13:05 5000 PB. He’s now the world leader at 10,000 (26:50.21). If he doesn’t win, his teammate Habtom Samuel (26:51) of Eritrea is likely the winner. Samuel won last year despite falling with 900m to go.
BATHURST, AUSTRALIA – FEBRUARY 18: Ishmael Kipkurui of Team Kenya crosses the finish line to win the Men’s U20s race during the 2023 World Cross Country Championships at Mount Panorama on February 18, 2023 in Bathurst, Australia. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images for World Athletics )
The 10 Fastest Collegians of 2025
1. Ishmael Kipkurui FR-1 New Mexico 26:50.21
2. Habtom Samuel SO-2 New Mexico 26:51.06
3. Denis Kipngetich SO-2 Oklahoma State 27:20.10
4. Evans Kurui SO-2 Washington St. 27:37.32
5. Valentin Soca JR-3 CBU 27:37.65
6. Dylan Schubert SR-4 Furman 27:45.63
7. Ernest Cheruiyot SO-2 Texas Tech 27:45.65
8. Dismus Lokira FR-1 Alabama 27:47.20
9. Said Mechaal SR-4 Iowa State 27:48.08
10. Lex Young SO-2 Stanford 27:48.93
Who wins the 10k?
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Women’s Picks
My women’s picks can be found here: Cancel the NCAA Regionals: Here are your 2025 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field women’s champions
Talk about the regionals on the world-famous LetsRun.com fan forum / messageboard. Did you know you can filter so you have a college-only forum as well at https://www.letsrun.com/forum/college?
