NCAA Indoor Entries Reaction: Jones' Ambitious Double, A Stacked Men's 3k
NCAA Indoor Entries Reaction: Jones' Ambitious Double, A Stacked Men's 3k
Five takeaways from the 2020 DI NCAA Indoor Championship entries.
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The entries are out for the 2020 DI NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships, and I have five thoughts on the fields:
Dani Jones will put her range to the ultimate test with 800m-mile double
Colorado superstar Dani Jones has thrown the NCAA a curveball by entering the 800m and mile distances, choosing an event (800m) that she has never competed in at a championship meet and a difficult double as the finals are separated by just 80 minutes on Saturday. With that, the reigning outdoor 5,000m champion will skip the 5,000m in Albuquerque despite running 15:17 on Feb. 14.
We are taking seven to the NCAA Indoor National Championships next weekend! #GoBuffs pic.twitter.com/3yBoRqCEbo
— Colorado Buffaloes Track & XC (@CUBuffsTrack) March 3, 2020
(It should also be noted that Colorado's DMR anchor in the tweet above is listed as "TBD." Might Jones run the 800m, mile and DMR?!)
Jones will be the heavy favorite in the mile (she has the top seed time by over five seconds), but the 800m will test her mid-distance wheels like never before. Her 2:03.58 seed time (converted from a 2:04 altitude) ranks just fifth in the country, and Jones will battle the second-fastest indoor 800m runner in NCAA history, Penn’s Nia Akins (2:00.71), on tired legs. If Akins goes that fast in Albuquerque, it seems unlikely that Jones can hang.
But if Jones somehow can pull off this improbable double, her collegiate resume would be one of the most impressive of all time. She already owns titles in cross country, the outdoor 5k and the indoor DMR and 3k, so adding these two next weekend would put the senior in the unofficial Range Hall of Fame.
Men’s 3k is jam-packed with stars
Just a year ago, only five NCAA athletes ran sub-7:50 in the 3k. Compare that to 2020, where five guys have run under 7:47 and 12 have broken the 7:50 barrier. This depth should make for a thrilling race in Albuquerque as three past NCAA champions--Geordie Beamish, Yared Nuguse and Edwin Kurgat--join fellow stars that include Luis Grijalva, Tyler Day, Joe Klecker and Cooper Teare in a 3k that could have huge team implications for NAU and Oregon.
Colorado’s Klecker is the top returner from last year, and his case was buoyed by beating cross country champion Kurgat at Millrose. His 4:01 mile in Boulder was mighty impressive as well (it converts to an NCAA-leading 3:55.13). The NAU trio of Grijalva, Beamish and Day are also compelling as the top three seeds. If the Lumberjacks are still in the team title hunt late on day two, expect them to be amped for this one.
Notre Dame’s Nuguse and Teare of Oregon are not to be forgotten either. Nuguse’s kick is legendary at this point, and there’s little doubt he can hang over 3,000m after he soloed a 7:46 in February. And Teare has been absolutely on fire so far this season with a DMR NCAA record and 3:55 mile flashing his improved speed. The Oregon junior was fourth in this event last year.
It’s difficult to pick a favorite out of such a crowded field, but I think Klecker wins this race. He was top three in the 5k and 3k last year, so he’s clearly not phased by a double. And some of the sea-level guys could struggle in Albuquerque (Kurgat, Nuguse, Teare), which would further work to his advantage.
USC’s stranglehold on the women’s team battle has slipped dramatically
With reigning 60m hurdles champion Chanel Brissett not qualifying in her event and outdoor 200m champion Angie Annelus not competing this indoor season, the USC women are no longer the overwhelming favorites they were at the beginning of the season.
The Trojans are still projected to win the meet right now as they have multiple All-Americans in the 60m, 400m and 60m hurdles (and an NCAA champion in each), but Texas A&M is only four points behind in the pre-meet calculations as the Aggies figure to tally big points in the field and multis. That’s a large contrast compared to the beginning of the year when it appeared that USC had a shot to sweep all the sprint and hurdle races at NCAAs.
LSU vs. NAU will make for an interesting, if not strange, men’s team race
The hype around the Northern Arizona men’s distance squad winning NCAA indoors has cooled a bit as LSU has risen in our rankings, but the Lumberjacks absolutely could pull this off if the Tigers’ 200m and jump contingents don’t perform well. LSU is projected to get 40 points out of the 200m, high jump and long jump alone, but that’s certainly not a guarantee after JuVaughn Harrison and Rayvon Grey were only fourth and sixth in the SEC long jump, respectively.
Now, NAU will have to make the 3k and 5k look like the Big Sky Championships in order to topple the SEC power. Yes, they have five entries in the 5,000m, but their 14 point projection in that event is only counting on three men scoring, and considering one of those men is a freshman, that’s generous in itself. And as I discussed above, the 3,000m is absolutely loaded, so points will be especially tough to come by for Luis Grijalva, Geordie Beamish and Tyler Day, all of whom are doubling.
Still, this battle for the top trophy figures to be one of the more interesting team races in years as basically a cross country team is taking on a sprint and field program. Track and field can be a weird sport, and I choose to embrace it.
Women’s 5,000m set up to be Kelati-Izzo duel
A once-crowded women’s 5,000m has become a lot less congested as reigning champion Alicia Monson is focusing on the 3k (she didn’t have a qualifier anyway), Dani Jones is running the 800-mile and Whittni Orton is doing the DMR-3k double. That leaves cross country champion Weini Kelati of New Mexico to battle Arkansas’ Katie Izzo in the 25-lapper, the same Katie Izzo who beat Kelati and ran an NCAA #2 all-time 15:13.09 back in December.
Kelati should benefit from having the championships in her backyard, but I have to wonder if Izzo walking her down in the last lap of that December 5k will be in Kelati’s mind next weekend. Like we saw in Boston, it should be a great race.