THE WARM-UP LAP: Breaking Down the Headliners From The Armory, Penn State, and More

The biggest college track & field action is happening at the Arkansas Razorback Team Invitational this weekend (read our preview here), but top-shelf collegiate competition isn’t exclusive to Fayetteville.

Below, we run through the headlining match-ups/athletes at several of the other prominent meets this weekend.

Armory Track Invite

10:30 AM-7:30 PM Friday; 9:30 AM-6:30 PM Saturday; on NBC Sports Network 4:30-6:30 on Saturday/live on USATF.tv all other times; schedule & results

From a collegiate perspective, the most interesting entry is Wisconsin’s Sarah Disanza in the mile and 3k. If she can approach the quality her 15:20 performance from December, we have a new contender for national titles. Reading the tea leaves a little bit, it’s unlikely that she’s in that form right now. She’s entered in the mile and 3k, which are 80 minutes apart, and if she were in absolute peak form, she’d probably be entered in the professional two mile. (Abbey D’Agostino, one of the entrants in the pro 2M, has never run as fast indoors as Disanza did in Boston).

Disanza will face off with Elvin Kibet, who makes her return to action for the first time since outdoor NCAAs.

Three mid-distance collegians who are facing off with America’s best pros: Natoya Goule, Tom Awad, and Chartt Miller. Clemson’s Goule races Mary Cain, 2014 The Bowerman Trophy winner Laura Roesler, and Ajee Wilson in a ludicrously stacked 800, while Penn’s Awad and Iona’s Miller are in a mile field that includesformer Bowerman Trophy winners Galen Rupp and Cam Levins, as well as former collegiate mile record holder Chris O’Hare.

This is Goule’s first 800 in a college uniform since winning 2013 outdoor NCAAs, and her 800 debut for Clemson. She did run cross country this fall and has run several 400s for the Tigers. Awad has fared well in pro races before, winning the Penn Relays mile in 3:58 last April.

Jalen Miller ran 6.56 for the collegiate and world leader three weeks ago. The Ole Miss sophomore will face off with Clemson’s Tevin Hester in New York and try to get that top spot back; Trayvon Bromell and John Teeters are currently sitting on the throne with a 6.54 SB.

Speaking of Mississippi, they have three of the top six milers in the nation right now. Robert Domanic, Craig Engels, and Daniel Bulmer all ran between 4:00.62 and 4:01.49 at Vanderbilt last weekend. Two more Rebels ran under 4:06 in the same meet. Some permutation of those five will go against Princeton and the pros as teams from the United States, Kenya, Ireland, and NJ*NY attempt to break the world record.

That NCAA and world record–9:25.97–is currently held by a Texas team then coached by Jason Vigilante, who now coaches at Princeton. With the pros likely to smash that record, Ole Miss and Vig’s Tigers will hope to get the college record in their wake.

Also on Saturday, watch out as Michael Lihrman of Wisconsin attempts to go for the collegiate record in the weight throw. He’s already the top man in NCAA Division I history, and he has Kibwe Johnson of Ashland in his sights. The scary part? He says his DI record throw didn’t even feel that good. That competition starts at 1pm ET.

Also notable: The Bowerman Watch List contenders pole vaulter Shawn Barber of Akron and mid-distance star Brandon McBride of Mississippi State will be in action. Barber will once again challenge the collegiate record while taking on rival Sam Kendricks, the former Ole Miss NCAA champ. Barber has gone 5.87m this season, while Kendricks has gone 5.86m.

McBride will run at 500 meters. He has yet to debut at his signature 800 meters event.

Penn State National

That record might be a moving target. The day before the pros bludgeon the WR in Harlem, a few Mid-Atlantic powerhouses will try to break it in State College. Penn State, Villanova, and Georgetown are all entered in a loaded men’s DMR at the Penn State National meet. Also, if you live in Central Pennsylvania, the first 250 fans on Friday and Saturday will get a free cowbell. (7:10 PM Friday; live on Flotrack Pro; live results)

Adams State-Western State-Colorado Mesa Shootout

If you’re in that clique who thinks that dual meets are, if not the cure to all that ills college track, at least a round of penicillin–then there’s nothing more healing than two extremely successful and bitter rivals going at it in a dual meet. For the second straight year, Adams and Western are having an indoor dual meet. Five athletes qualified for nationals from last year’s edition. (7:30 PM Friday; Twitter is probably your best bet)

D-Payne Alert

First of all, we need a nickname for the most dominant collegiate athlete of 2015 that mirrors a certain Auto-Tune bon vivant. Second, Payne is competing at Houston’s Howie Ryan Invitational tomorrow. Until she stops improving her personal best/collegiate record by literally twelve centimeters a week, every time she competes is a must-follow. (4:00 PM Friday; live results)

We checked in with her on our QA2 Max podcast yesterday. How high does she think she can go? Hint: Much higher than she’s already gone.

Washington Invite + Boston University Terrier

Nothing jumps out from a collegiate perspective on these heat sheets. But it is a tried and true fact of life in collegiate track and field that any time there’s a large all-day meet at these two facilities, someone in some event–probably on the track–will post an eye-poppingly ridiculous mark.

Terrier: 2:00-10:00 PM Friday/10:45 AM-7:00 PM Saturday; live results
Washington: 1:00-8:35 PM Friday/9:45 AM-5:20 PM Saturday; live results; live on Flotrack Pro