Just like that, it's already time to wrap up the 2024 indoor track and field season and what better place to do it at than the TRACK at New Balance in Boston, Massachusetts.

Just a few days from now, dozens of varying storylines will play out on both the men's and the women's side. Champions will be crowned and dynasties will be impacted.

In the midst of chaos on deck, there are also a few 'underdog' scenarios that will come to fruition over the weekend. 

Roisin Willis Has A Tough Title Defense On Deck

A year ago, the former high school star from Wisconsin took down the collegiate field for a new facility, meet and personal record of 1:59.93 at the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships. 

As a sophomore, Roisin Willis hasn't quite returned to that same form, but in her lone half-mile race of 2024, she ran 2:01.99, the 10th-fastest time of the season.

Since walking onto campus in Palo Alto, Willis and pre-race favorite Michaela Rose of LSU have met four times, with Rose winning three of the four, but both beating the other out for a national title.

When the stakes are high, Willis has proved she is more than up to the challenge, but the defending outdoor champion and a field of high caliber 800m runners stand in her way between back-to-back titles. 

Men's Mile Field Is Anyone's Race

Both mile fields at this year's NCAAs don't have a clear favorite, but I feel there are more true contenders on the men's side than the women's, primarily because I don't think there is as a big of a gap between the first and No. 16 seed.

Just 3.73 seconds separate the entirety of the men's field heading into NCAA's, and  honestly, with how the event has gone in year's past, this could be won by any of the 16.

In 2019, the top time heading into NCAAs was a solid 3:54.83 and there were 31 different men under 4:00. The time it took to win a national title? 

4:07.69.

It's just one example, but one that's relevant enough to demonstrate that NCAA's are never about running fast, and instead are focused on tactics and place.

This year, the fastest time ran this season is 3:51.73. Exactly 100 men have ran sub-4.

Five years later, the NCAA is simply more talented and the number of elite middle-distance runners is three times what it was just five years prior.

Washington's Luke Houser may be coming to Boston as the top seed -- he ran 3:51.73 at the end of January -- but he hasn't raced since February 16. 

Behind him, South Carolina's Anass Essayi is just a fifth of a second back in 3:51.91 and the last time he competed on this stage, he was runner-up in the 1,500m in Austin. 

What about the guys coming down from altitude? BYU's Aidan Troutner and NAU's Colin Sahlman both ran historically fast miles above the clouds, with Sahlman even proving his conversion is legit by winning big at BU in 3:53.17. Troutner recently broke four indoors at the Olympic oval. 

Can't forget about Houser's Husky teammate Joe Waskom, who won 1,500m gold in 2022 and represented the U.S. in Budapest last summer. 

He ran 3:53.64 in January, but his PB is sub-3:52. 

What I'm trying to say is that all 16 milers can potentially be the first to cross the line come 4:00 PM Saturday. 

Technically, Both Could Be An Underdog

It may not make too much sense, but in the second distance event of NCAAs, Florida's Parker Valby is technically an underdog. 

Valby is in the midst of one of the greatest collegiate streaks of all-time. Last June she won her first NCAA title, running away with the 5K title at the outdoor championships. 

Last fall, she went a perfect 4-0, winning Nuttycombe, SEC, South Region and NCAA titles in the 6K, leading Florida to its highest ever team finish.

Just two weeks after her second title, Valby became the first collegiate woman to ever break 15:00 indoors, running 14:56.11, the fastest time ever ran in-season.

A few weeks ago, she opened up her 2024 racing campaign with a 8:41.29 3K, which was the fifth-fastest effort of all-time, and she won her fourth SEC title along the way.

However, regardless of great she's been, she'll be facing Notre Dame's Olivia Markezich, who could also be considered an underdog depending on who you ask.

Markezich as had an incredible streak of her own, dating back to the NCAA championships last March.

Out in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Markezich finished runner-up in the 3K at NCAAs, before going on to win every 3,000m steeplechase of her outdoor season before winning her first title in 9:25.03.

During the fall, she had three top-ten finishes before winning the Great Lakes title and placed third at the big dance in November.

At the beginning of December, the same day Valby clocked the 5K collegiate record, Markezich ran the second-fastest 3K mark of all-time, crossing in 8:40.42. 

Her next race was just as historic, as she dropped down to the mile where she ran 4:27.76, currently the No. 8 time in NCAA history regardless of track size.

Just for fun, she also won the 3K at her conference meet, picking up her third individual ACC title. 

Both women are running at the highest level of their careers and both will have races leading up to their clash in the 3K, with Valby entered in the 5K and Markezich in the mile.

I can't tell you who I think is going to win, but whoever does is going to have to take it away from the other.

You can find entries for the 2024 NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships here, and the schedule here.