We laughed when we heard the number over the phone.

“Twenty-seven teams are entered in the DMR,” said assistant coach Tim Conelly.

Then he quickly rattled off the start list. We stopped laughing.

If collegiate procrastination needed an example outside of the classic “all-nighter,” it would be the Notre Dame Alex Wilson DMR.

Nearly every team has left it to the last weekend to ensure that they’ll be among the top twelve relays traveling to NCAA Nationals. It’s only fitting that they’ll all be at the same meet.

The Sweet 16 (or 12) bubble isn’t about to pop - it’s about to be turned upside and spun around until it can’t see straight. I haven’t seen something or someone this shook up since Jack Woltz woke up with his prized horse’s head in his bed.

As it stands right now, the twelfth and final time in the men’s DMR is Cal’s 9:41.18. After Friday, that won’t be what it takes to make it to Fayetteville.

We think that eleven of the top twelve relay squads that will travel to NCAAs will come from Alex Wilson. Yes, you read that correctly - eleven.

Team	NCAA Rank	ND Alex Wilson Heat	Seed Time
Indiana	#2	3	9:33.42
Stanford	#3	2	9:34.20
Oregon	#4	1	9:35.06
Arkansas	#5	2	9:35.50
Penn State	#6	1	9:39.50
Wisconsin	#7	3	9:40.18
UCLA	#8	3	9:40.18
Minnesota	#13	1	9:41.20
Nebraska	#14	1	9:41.67
Oklahoma	#16	2	9:42.37
Illinois	#18	2	9:42.63
Kansas	#24	3	9:44.87
Virginia Tech	#25	3	9:45.23
Montana State	#27	1	9:45.33 @
Virginia	#30	1	9:45.70
Duke	#32	2	9:46.77
Villanova	#35	3	9:47.59
Georgetown	#39	3	9:48.78
Princeton	#42	2	9:49.29
Eastern Michigan	#43	1	9:49.37 #
Brown		1
Air Force		2
Loyola		3
New Mexico		3
Houston		2
Washington State		2
Oklahoma State		1

Right now, no one is safe and that even includes Texas and their 9:31.82 NCAA-leading mark.

The Longhorns should make it through and while they won’t be saying their seven Hail Mary’s at night, it’s still going to be close.

Consider the following: How many teams that are going to be at Alex Wilson are capable of running below Texas' time? Say, 9:29?

In a simple breakdown, a team would need to run 2:55, 48, 1:48, and 3:57 to break the 9:30-barrier. Right now, on paper, four teams could do it - Penn State, Oklahoma State, Oklahoma, and Stanford.

Only four (that’s a statement and a half since only four did it last year and the year before)?! The reason it's not more is that this list only takes into account currents marks from this indoor season.

On any given day, teams like Oregon, Arkansas, Wisconsin, and Indiana could be among with those select few. Throw in Illinois, Georgetown, Minnesota, and maybe a few others and you have a race that might as well be labeled the national final.

Rather, three races.

Historically, the staff at Notre Dame usually splits up the DMR into equal heats. It’s generally just two separate races, but this year, they had to make a special accommodation for a third.

The usual train of thought when it comes to prelims is that the heat that runs last will have an advantage over the earlier ones. If the teams in the first two races run ‘X’ time, then the teams in the final heat know what time they have to hit to overtake them on the qualifier list.

However, how often do you think that’s going to happen, and then it never pans out? “Why are they going out slow? All they need to do is run faster than ‘Y’ person to make it to the semifinals.”

It’s a great mystery of track and field.

Even still, the three heats are pretty well-divided. We’d give the nod to the first heat (listed below), but then honestly can’t decide between the next two heats as there are a lot of sleeper teams that could pop a big one on Friday.

Below is a breakdown of the “A” and “B” squads in each heat. The label is less of a grade and more of a simple differentiation; think apples and oranges. "A" squads are the teams we think will move on while the "B" squads consists of teams that are on the cusp of making nationals.

Some teams are almost guaranteed to move on, while others are going to have to hustle and bustle at the Loftus Sports Center. It wouldn't be final qualifying weekend without some March Madness.

Tune in at 8:00pm ET to watch everything unfold.

Full Start List here

Note: All PRs are listed from TFRRS.com (edit: Related times are meant to reflect seasonal bests. Thanks for the correction!).
 

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Heat 1

"A" Squads

Penn State

Name	Leg	Related SB
Brannon Kidder	1200m	1:48.17 / 3:59.48
Brandon Green-Bennett	400m	46.82
Za'Von Watkins	800m	1:49.03
Robby Creese	1600m	3:57.11

Oklahoma State

Name	Leg	Related SB
Raul Botezan	1200m	1:50.87 / 3:57.79
Isaiah Anderson	400m	Related (NT)
Kirubel Erassa	800m	2:28.00 / 3:58.24
Thomas Farrell	1600m	3:58.20

Oregon

Name	Leg	Related SB
Brett Johnson	1200m	1:54.27 / 3:58.62
Arthur Delaney	400m	47.63
Boru Guyota	800m	1:47.42
Mac Fleet	1600m	4:01.04

"B" Squads

Minnesota

Name	Leg	Related SB
Travis Burkstrand	1200m	1:49.18
Cameron Boy	400m	21.24 (200m)
Harun Abda	800m	1:15.80 / 1:48.44
Nick Hutton	1600m	4:00.15

Virginia

Name	Leg	Related SB
Brandon Burton	1200m	1:19.85 / 1:55.94
Payton Hazzard	400m	47.17
Anthony Kostelac	800m	1:48.86
Taylor Gilland	1600m	4:04.70

Nebraska

Name	Leg	Related SB
Connor Gibson	1200m	1:53.65 / 4:07.27
Cody Rush	400m	48.25
Tommy Brinn	800m	1:49.11
Trevor Vidlak	1600m	4:05.55

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Heat 2

"A" Squads

Oklahoma

Name	Leg	Related SB
Frezer Legesse	1200m	1:50.01 / 2:22.76 / 3:58.95
Jamel Wood	400m	46.35
Malcolm Wankel	800m	1:51.51
Patrick Casey	1600m	3:56.28

Arkansas

Name	Leg	Related SB
Patrick Rono	1200m	1:47.66 / 4:01.79
Travis Southard	400m	1:48.56 / 4:14.87
Anthony Lieghio	800m	46.77
Kemoy Campell	1600m	4:00.98

Stanford

Name	Leg	Related SB
Tyler Stutzman	1200m	1:50.59 / 3:58.85
Spencer Chase	400m	48.34
Luke Lefebure	800m	1:51.34
Michael Atchoo	1600m	3:57.14

"B" Squads

Princeton

Name	Leg	Related SB
Michael Williams	1200m	1:49.53 / 2:26.52
Austin Hollimon	400m	47.95
Russell Dinkins	800m	1:52.25
Peter Callahan	1600m	4:11.23 (He's back!)

Washington State

Name	Leg	Related SB
Todd Wakefield (Unofficial Kick of the Week)	1200m	1:53.02 / 4:05.13
Jacob Sealby	400m	47.23
Jesse Jorgensen	800m	1:50.98
Drew Jordan (Unofficial Kick of the Week)	1600m	4:04.64

Illinois

Name	Leg	Related SB
Kyle Engnell	1200m	1:55.20 / 4:05.98
Stephon Pamilton	400m	46.07
Ryan Lynn	800m	1:49.29
Graham Morris	1600m	4:00.17

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Heat 3

"A" Squads

Wisconsin

Name	Leg	Related SB
Austin Mudd	1200m	1:48.24 / 3:59.33
Tyler Woloszyk	400m	47.78
Zach Mellon	800m	1:50.92
Alex Hatz	1600m	4:00.65

Villanova

Name	Leg	Related SB
Robert Denault	1200m	2:24.61 / 4:00.04
Alexander Reber	400m	1:04.17 (500m)
Christopher Fitzsimons	800m	1:49.86
Sam McEntee	1600m	3:36.81 (1500m)

Indiana

Name	Leg	Related SB
Rorey Hunter	1200m	1:50.68 / 2:26.68
Nathan Pierre-Louis	400m	49.10
Lance Roller	800m	1:50.00
Andrew Bayer	1600m	4:00.20

"B" Squads

New Mexico

Name	Leg	Related SB
Sam Evans	1200m	1:51.68 / 4:02.49
Charles Lewis	400m	48.19
Edwin Herring	800m	1:50.59
Luke Caldwell	1600m	4:08.89

Georgetown

Name	Leg	Related SB
Ahmed Bile	1200m	1:51.71 / 2:26.46
Mike Andre	400m	48.67
Billy Ledder	800m	1:49.85
Andrew Springer	1600m	4:01.65

UCLA

Name	Leg	Related SB
Nick Hartle	1200m	1:51.30
Pete Lauderdale	400m	47.96
Ferdinand Edman	800m	4:05.77
Danniel Herrera	1600m	4:05.03