Women’s 3000 Meter Steeplechase

Cutting down the field to fourteen never causes much drama, and as expected eight of the top nine seeds advanced. Michaela Freeby of Willamette, the fourth place finisher last year, was the only notable casualty. She was in automatic qualifying contention before a 105 second final lap left her well behind the field.

Though heat winners and top two seeds Sophie Goobic of Heidelburg and Amy Cymerman of St. Lawrence should feel good about their chances on Saturday, look out for Sammi Bruett of Wartburg and Hannah Cole of Williams. Bruett, the runner-up last year, moved smoothly through the field before closing well to secure an automatic qualifying position with minimal effort, while freshman Cole raced like a savvy veteran in the afternoon sun. She got out toward the back of the quick-starting field before ultimately moving up to fourth.

 

Men’s 3000 Meter Steeplechase

Despite a trio of falls, the chalk carried the day as all twelve top seeds advanced into the fourteen-man final. Ryan Root of North Central fell over a hurdle within the first half-mile and took Paul Lewis of Albion down with him. Root would never seriously contend, but Lewis moved quickly to catch the pack. After hanging tough for a while, he eventually paid for that burst of speed and faded to ninth in the heat.

Ben Wallis of Tufts fell early in the second heat, and though he immediately rejoined the pack, it took its toll on the fifth overall seed, as he was the final qualifier into the final. The biggest surprise of the day was seventeenth seed Adam Togami of Wabash, who finished third in his competitive heat. However, his exuberance cost him once already—he fell in the final lap while closing the gap on defending champ Michael LeDuc—and he will regret closing so recklessly when he returns to the track Saturday.

 

Women’s 4x100 Meter Relay

The best runner in the field was clearly Meg Heafy of UW-La Crosse, who crushed the other anchor legs en route to a 46.01 division-leading time. Though unlikely to challenge Heafy in the relay, 100 meter rival Mallory Burnham of St. Thomas propelled her squad into the finals. It will be interesting to see which of the two 100 meter stars has the fastest qualifying time tomorrow night in the prelims.

 

Men’s 4x100 Meter Relay

Top seeded Baldwin Wallace failed to advance, as did the foursome from team title favorite UW-La Crosse. Taking advantage of their slip-ups were Bruce Gray, who led his Greenville team to the division’s fastest time this year, and team title contender Mount Union, who qualified for finals in spite of their eleventh seed.

 

Women’s 1500 Meter Run

The magnificent Christy Cazzola of UW-Oshkosh dominated her heat, as expected, but perennial challenger Tricia Serres of Luther looked vulnerable in the second heat and had to settle for a time qualifier into the final. Fourth seeded Emily Cousens of NYU was the biggest casualty of the preliminary round, as she struggled mightily in the final lap. Indoor finalists Katie McMenamin of Swarthmore and Sarah Burnell of Grinnell flashed their dangerous speed in their respective heats and I would be willing to bet that one of them will bring home top three honors on Saturday.

 

Men’s 1500 Meter Run

All eyes were on freshman phenom McKena Ramos of UW-Oshkosh, but it was fellow freshman David Chelimo of Colby who stole the spotlight in the first heat. Chelimo opened up a four second lead heading into the final lap, but was unable to hold off the chase pack and faded to seventh in the final stretch. However, his aggressiveness paid off when the second heat went out slowly and all four time qualifiers came from heat one.

With a lap to go in the second heat, it was clear that only four runners would advance, but the entire field was in contention. Once again, it was St. Olaf who came to play during championship season. The XC champion Oles finished 1-2-3 in the mad dash to the line, and top banana Grant Wintheiser looked amused as he let teammate Paul Escher take the heat victory.

 

Women’s 400 Meter Hurdles

Wheaton’s Ashante Little broke her own division record with a 58.51 heat victory, but fellow top seeds Jana Hieber of Tufts and Tashina McAllister of Wartburg won their respective heats as well. Prepare for a blistering final as these three sub-60 women face-off for the first time this season.

 

Men’s 400 Meter Hurdles

The top six seeds all made finals, and a great matchup is brewing between heat winners Luke Campbell of Salisbury, David Voland of Augustana, and Tyler Metille of Mount Union. Campbell was the fastest on the day, followed closely by Voland, but expect that order to reverse on Saturday.

 

Women’s 200 Meter Dash

Twentieth seed Abigail Davis of Central College was the surprise winner of the first heat, while second seed Annie Lynch of podium-contending Williams snuck into the final by one hundredth of a second. The next two heats went to form in a big way. Wartburg’s Libbey Schubert is now the ninth-fastest all-time performer in division history, thanks to her 23.91 wind-legal performance.

 

Men’s 200 Meter Dash

The first DIII athlete to break 21 seconds this year—into a headwind, no less—is Chancise Watkins of La Verne. The senior impressively dominated the fastest heat of the day, while pre-meet favorite Bruce Gray had to settle for second after pushing his team to the top qualifying time in the 4x100 meter relay. On the opposite end of the spectrum, eighteenth seeded Benjamin Biedleman of Baldwin Wallace made up for his team’s disappointing finish in the relay by punching his ticket to the finals.

 

Women’s 10,000 Meter Run

As expected, this turned into a two woman race within the first half-mile. Defending champion Nicole Michmerhuizen of Calvin began with her patented fast early pace, and she and heavy favorite Lenore Moreno of La Verne had opened up a 40 second gap halfway through the race. Moreno would pull away comfortably in the last two miles, and she will be ready to go again on Saturday in the 5k. Elmhurst’s Alyssa Poremba controlled the race for third the entire way while Dickinson’s Sara Patterson used a strong second half to claim fourth place against this relatively novice field.

The battle for the eighth and final All-American spot came down to the wire, as NESCAC champ Adrian Walsh of Hamilton got mowed down in the final lap by NESCAC runner-up Shayna Barbash of Williams and Rachel Malone of Brockport State.

 

Men’s 10,000 Meter Run

The men’s race went out a staggering eight second slower through the mile than the leading duo in the women’s race, and the pace remained relatively pedestrian through halfway. Colin Cotton of Williams started the long drive to the finish around 6k in, though he would ultimately fade to ninth. With two miles to go, heavy favorite John Crain of North Central took the lead. His 4:29 1600 split quickly made it a two horse race between him and the speedy Chris Stadler of Haverford.

Stadler took the lead in the final mile and slowed down the pace to prepare for one final kick, but it was no contest as Crain put six seconds on him in the final 400. Though Crain was excellent as always, fellow Cardinals Troy Kelleher and Roger Klein were even more impressive in my mind, using devastating kicks of their own to bring home third and fifth place finishes, respectively. Third-seeded Ian LaMere of UW-Platteville was the biggest disappointment on the day. He was unable to replicate his success indoors and faded to a fourteenth place finish in the final mile.

Women’s 4x400 Meter Relay

The UW-La Crosse Eagles and Wartburg Knights each predictably won their heats, but they will be happiest about the fact that fellow team title contender UW-Oshkosh failed to advance their relay to the finals. Indoors, that relay was the only thing that kept the Titans ahead of UW-La Crosse, so their absence could be costly on Saturday.

The most impressive performance of the day came from Wheaton (Mass.), who was stuck in dead last—by a lot—heading into their third leg. Meredith Scannell brought them back toward the pack and even passed a pair of teams with her 54.49 split, but it was Ashante Little’s unbelievable 53.78 anchor leg that propelled them into the finals.

 

Men’s 4x400 Meter Relay

The top two squads indoors—Mount Union and Augustana—showed why they are once again the favorites with two impressive heat victories. Monomouth (Ill.) was the biggest surprise of the day, and they will be the strongest contender to break up the top two on Saturday. Anchor James Wilson failed to qualify for the 200 finals earlier in the day, but he made up for that disappointment with a stellar 46.55 anchor leg. The only major casualty was top seeded UW-Eau Claire, though with anchor Thurgood Dennis out due to injury, their failure to advance was unsurprising.