THE WARM-UP LAP: Millrose Games, Iowa State, New Mexico & SPIRE Previews

NEW ORLEANS – We’ve spent a lot of internet real estate previewing this weekend’s action at Arkansas and Washington, but those aren’t the only two collegiate meets on the schedule this weekend.

Some of the country’s top collegians will take on the world’s best pros at the Millrose Games on Saturday; distance running will take center stage at Iowa State; sprints and jumps will be featured at New Mexico; and there’s a bit of everything at the SPIRE DI Invitational.

Get the low-down on those meets below.

As always be sure to check out the USTFCCCA This Weekend’s Meets page for a detailed list of all the meets going on around the country.

Collegians at the Millrose Games

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This is the smartest kid in your fourth grade class taking the SAT. This is Michael Phelps racing a dolphin in an open-water mile. This is Skip Bayless teaching kindergarten. This is Zadie Smith trying to write a novel in French.

This is Edward Cheserek of Oregon racing the Wanamaker Mile–someone who totally controls his little corner of the world stepping outside of it to almost certainly get his butt kicked.

With Lawi Lalang’s graduation from Arizona, Cheserek is bulletproof in the collegiate ranks. As fun as it is to watch his flailing domination, it’s also not that fun to watch a runner you know can’t lose. (Meaningless preliminary races excepted)

On Saturday night in Harlem, you know that not only can Cheserek lose: he’s almost certainly going to lose. The field contains multiple men who have broken 3:30 for 1500, and the men lining up could fill a dishwasher with the small plates they’ve won at the Olympics and world championships.

I couldn’t find odds online for the Wanamaker Mile, but British track statistician Jon Mulkeen was kind enough to draw odds up for our pleasure:

Nick Willis 5-2
Matt Centrowitz 5-1
Lawi Lalang 6-1
Will Leer 8-1
Bernard Lagat 20-1
Edward Cheserek 40-1
Pat Casey 60-1
Chris O’Hare 100-1
Leo Manzano 100-1
Evan Jager 250-1
Kyle Merber 500-1
John Gregorek 500-1
Mark Wieczorek 500-1

He’s going to lose. The only question is: how fast is he going to run in losing? The indoor college record has been broken in each of the last three Wanamaker Miles (all three in losing efforts): the perfectly named Miles Batty ran 3:54.54 in 2012, Chris O’Hare ran 3:52.98 in 2013, and Lalang ran 3:52.88 last year. (The latter two are in this year’s field)

The rabbit is supposed drag the field through three-quarters in 2:52. If Cheserek can stay in the same zip code of the guys running that pace, the college record is toast.

Per USTFCCCA archives, the fastest indoor time by a college sophomore is Lalang’s 3:55.09 from 2012. And Mac Fleet has the Oregon school record at 3:57.70. Cheserek has never raced an indoor mile in college, but his 3:36 1500 PB and knack for showing up in big races make both of those standards exceedingly likely to fall.

Another Oregon athlete going for school and national records is Eric Jenkins in the 3000. His now two-year-old PB of 7:46 is only ("only") seven and a half seconds shy of Alistair Cragg‘s 7:38.59 college record. The rabbits are pulling the field through at 7:45 pace, which doesn’t portend well for a college record. Galen Rupp‘s 7:44.69 Oregon school record is probably in more danger.

Kate Avery of Iona threw down one of the fastest 3ks in college history at this meet a year ago, running 8:56 behind Abbey D’Agostino‘s 8:51. A year later as the dominant cross country champion, Avery is much more consistent, much more of a known quantity, and just straight-up much better. Anything short of Jenny Barringer‘s 8:42.03 CR is on the table. She’s only raced once indoors this year–a 4:42 mile last week.

Like Avery, Emily Sisson‘s lone race in 2015 has been a mid-4:40s mile, though she ran a blistering 15:21 5k to end 2014. Sisson ran 4:45 at Rhode Island last weekend. Though she told us last month that her primary aim is the outdoor 10k, Sisson and Avery are probably the two best long distance runners in the NCAA right now. Whoever finishes first on Saturday evening can mount the high horse for now.

It’s been announced that the field is being taken through 1600 meters at 8:50 pace, but it’s hard to imagine the race going that slow with Betsy Saina and Sally Kipyego in the field. The two Kenyan Big 12 alums have gone through 3k in under 8:50 in a 5k, and run in the 8:30s for 3k.

The best middle distance runner in the NCAA ranks until proven otherwise is defending outdoor 1500 champ Shelby Houlihan of Arizona State, and she’s facing an absolutely brutal mile field. Her outdoor mile PR is 4:33; she could shave three seconds from that and still finish ninth or tenth in the field.

There’s a pack of other collegians in these races: John Gregorek of Oregon in the mile; Will Geoghegan, Parker Stinson, and Jake Leingang of Oregon plus Penn’s Tom Awad, Syracuse’s Martin Hehir, and NC State’s Jacob Thompson and Graham Crawford in the 3k; Iona’s Rosie Clark in the mile; and perhaps most spicily, Drew Windle of Ashland in the 1000.

Windle ran 1:46.52 for 800 indoors last winter. Could Dick Peters’s 2:18.55 college record from a year ago go down? It’s certainly realistic for a mid-1:46 guy. Were Windle to break the CR, it would be the second college record held by Division II Ashland (Kibwe Johnson’s weight throw record is currently under siege by Wisconsin’s Michael Lihrman).

Iowa State Classic

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Women’s 3000 meters

Headlining this race are three women who finished among the top eight finishers at this fall’s NCAA Cross Country Championships, but none are as intriguing as Wisconsin’s Sarah Disanza. The sophomore exploded onto the collegiate distance running scene with her surprising runner-up finish to NCAA Champion Kate Avery at NCAAs, and then sustained that explosion with a 15:20.57 run over 5000 meters at Boston U. to move to No. 3 on the all-time collegiate list. This will be her first collegiate race at 3000 meters.

She’ll be joined by fifth-place Rachel Johnson of Baylor, who herself ran a quick 15:40.45 over 5000 meters at Texas A&M right after XC season; and eighth-place Katy Moen of Iowa State. The Iowa State senior ran a PR 9:10.76 over this distance at Arkansas two weekends ago in her season debut.

Also look out for North Dakota State’s Erin Teschuk, who was a disappointing 116th at NCAAs but is currently the top-ranked collegiate miler on the TFRRS qualifying list (after conversion from flat track) at 4:34.78 (converted to 4:32).

Men’s 3000 and 5000 meters

Do you miss cross country? We know you do. You’ll love the men’s 3000- and 5000-meter races at Iowa State, then, because they’re loaded with familiar faces from the fall. Nearly a quarter of this fall’s All-Americans (nine of the top 40, to be specific) will race at one of these distances.

The highest finisher in this meet is third-place Futsum Zienasellassie of Northern Arizona, who will contest the 3000 meters. The Lumberjack has admitted he’s more into cross country, but we’re sure he’d love to have his big track breakthrough this year after two top-four NCAA XC finishes in a row.

He’ll square off with 10th-place Malachy Schrobilgen of Wisconsin, 13th-place Mason Ferlic of Michigan, and 36th-place Caleb Hoover of NAU. Also in the field are former XC All-Americans Caleb Rhynard of Michigan State and Kyle King of Virginia.

Eighth-place John Mascari is the headliner at 5000 meters. He’s only just broken 14 minutes in the event for his career, going 13:59.06 a year ago. He’s already tied his 3000 PR this year and set a new mile mark, so that 5k time could be primed to fall.

Pushing the pace with him will be 14th-place Marc Scott of Tulsa, 19th-place Matt McClintock of Purdue, and the Louisville duo of Edwin Kibichiy (23rd) and Ernest Kibet (32nd).

Men’s and Women’s 800 meters

No. 1 Edward Kemboi of Iowa State (last year’s indoor national runner-up) ran the fastest indoor 800 of 2014 on this track at this meet a year ago, and he’ll look to do it again this season. He’ll have the dynamic Florida duo of Andres Arroyo and Ryan Schnulle (last year’s outdoor runner-up) challenging him for the win.

The women’s race features No. 9 Kaela Edwards of Oklahoma State – last year’s third-place NCAAs finisher – and No. 15 Kelsey Margey of Villanova..

Men’s Mile

A pair of men who had breakout third-place performances in separate events at last year’s NCAA Division I Outdoor Championships will meet in the mile this weekend. Sam Penzenstadler of Loyola (Ill.) is the top returning man from last year’s 1500 meters final and just narrowly missed his first sub-4:00 mile of the season last week at Notre Dame’s Meyo Mile.

Keffri Neal of Kentucky is the other man, having finished third in the 800-meter final behind a pair of returners in champ Brandon McBride of Mississippi State (more on him in a bit) and Florida’s Schnulle.

Among those the pair will contend with are the Oklahoma State duo of Chad Noelle and Vegard Olstad. Olstad was the NCAA Division II champion two years ago outdoors at 1500 meters, while Noelle ran a sub-4 mile in this meet a year ago for a sixth-place finish.

Non-Distance Action

There’s more to Iowa State than just the distance events, though. In the field, the men’s weight throw record is always under constant threat whenever DI record holder Michael Lihrman of Wisconsin is competing. He’ll be in action here this weekend, so keep an eye on that.

In the men’s 60-meter hurdles, No. 2 Oladapo Akinmoladun of Nebraska will face off with upstart 2015 collegiate leader No. 7 Sebastian Barth of Northern Iowa. He’s one of three men who have run 7.72 this season.

New Mexico Don Kirby Elite

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Out west now to Albuquerque for the New Mexico Don Kirby Elite, the site of last year’s NCAA Indoor Championships. With the "Pre-Nationals" aspect of the meet removed this year, the fields aren’t quite as strong as a season ago – but there’s still some big match-ups with programs like Oregon, Southern California, Michigan, UCLA, Arizona, Arizona State and NC State in attendance to chase big performances in the sprints and jumps.

Women’s 60 meters

Not only will collegiate-leading Jasmine Todd of Oregon (No. 3 on the USTFCCCA list) be in action for the first time since finishing runner-up to Morolake Akinosun of Texas at Rod McCravy, she’ll be up against collegiate-leading 60-meter hurdler Cindy Ofili of Michigan in her prelim heat.

Also racing the 60 are No. 4 Ky Westbrook of Southern California and No. 7 Jenna Prandini of Oregon.

Women’s 60-meter hurdles

Speaking of Ofili, she’ll be putting her 2015 No. 1 rank on the line (No. 2 USTFCCCA) against a field that includes No. 4 Sasha Wallace of Oregon and No. 7 Dior Hall of Southern California. Only .04 separates Ofili’s best 8.10 from this past weekend from Hall’s 8.14 the same day.

Women’s Long Jump

Perhaps the event of the meet as defending outdoor DI long jump champ Prandini (No. 5 USTFCCCA) takes on defending indoor DII long jump champion and newly minted DII record-holder Shanice McPherson of New Mexico Highlands. Also in the field are No. 3 Jasmine Todd, No. 6 Kylie Price of UCLA (3rd at NCAA outdoors last year) and No. 8 Alexis Perry of NC State.

Men’s High Jump

Bryan McBride of Arizona State set a five-centimeter PR in Eugene this past summer to break through for his first NCAA title at 2.28m. He’s competed just once this indoor season and reached 2.15m before bowing out, putting him at No. 26 on the USTFCCCA list (though he does have a 2.23m from 2013 that would put him tied at No. 7). A challenge from No. 11 Django Lovett of host New Mexico on his home track could be the boost he’s looking for to get on track to challenge for a second-straight national title.

Men’s Long Jump

If there’s a way to jump nearly eight meters (about 26 feet) and fly under the radar, Arkansas State’s No. 4 Roelff Pienaar has found a way to do it. At 7.97m from two weekends ago, he’s agonizingly close to joining the 2015 eight-meter club with Jarvis Gotch of Louisiana Tech and defending outdoor champ Marquis Dendy of Florida. Pienaar was third at NCAA indoors as a frosh last year. He’ll hit the runway against No. 6 Jonathan Addison of NC State, who leapt an impressive 7.88m just last weekend. That’s already 14 centimeters better than his career PR entering the season.

SPIRE Division I Invitational

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Iowa State isn’t the only Midwest locale featuring some spicy track & field match-ups. Geneva, Ohio’s SPIRE Institute will host its annual Division I Invitational this weekend featuring some intriguing hurdles, distance and field events action. Here are some of the highlights.

This is the site of the Big Ten championships later this month, as well as the NAIA National Championships in early March.

Women’s 3000 meters

Just like Colorado is running most of its men from its national championship cross country team at Washington, so too are the champion Michigan State women at SPIRE. Leah O’Connor has already run a blazing mile this year (No. 3 on the qualifying list at 4:34.28) but now she’s turn her attention to 3000 meters. It’s a familiar distance for her as the reigning outdoor 3000-meter steeplechase NCAA champion. She’ll be joined by teammates Lindsay Clark, Sara Kroll and Julia Otwell.

Men’s 60-meter hurdles

This one features three top-10 talents, based on the USTFCCCA lists. Donavan Robertson of Ohio State is No. 3 on the list and a returning first-team All-American from a year ago. He’ll square off with two men tied at No. 10 in Donald Pollitt of Syracuse and William Barnes of Kent State.

Women’s High Jump

Four women have cleared 1.86m this year to tie for the NCAA Division I lead in the event. One of them is Cincinnati’s Erika Hurd. She’ll be up against a woman who cleared 1.85m and finished third at NCAAs indoors a year ago in Kent State’s Dior Delophont.

Men’s 800

This is an event to watch not for the depth of competition, but for who’s headlining it. This will be the first open 800 of the season for defending indoor/outdoor NCAA champion Brandon McBride of Mississippi State. He ran a 1:47 split as a leg of the Bulldogs’ 4×800 relay at the Armory two weekends ago.