After some true-to-form preliminary rounds, the evening provided more than enough drama and controversy to last the weekend. Here’s a look back at some of the action.

 

Women’s Mile Heat One

Alison Maxwell of Middlebury, the top seed in the heat, led for most of the opening stages and took the field through in a pedestrian 2:43. The pack became very antsy, and with a quarter to go there was a lot of jostling. Tess Meehan of Johns Hopkins emerged from the scrum to take the lead, but she was kicked down in the final lap by Middlebury teammates Maxwell and Summer Spillane as well as the fast-closing Sanjuanita Martinez of Cornell College. Maxwell won with a time of 5:12.67, but because of the slow opening pace, all of the time qualifiers came from heat two. Both Meehan and third-seeded Cassia Hameline of St. Lawrence failed to advance.

 

Women’s Mile Heat Two

After watching the slow first heat, favorite Maryann Gong of MIT wasted no time getting to the front and setting a reasonable 5 flat pace. At first, however, the rest of the field showed no interest in coming along. Eventually Melissa Engstrom of St. Thomas brought the chase pack onto Gong’s heels, and though Engstrom would drop out of automatic qualifying position, her move got her through to the finals by virtue of a time qualifier. Hannah Chappel-Dick of Eastern Mennonite wound up winning the heat with a strong kick in 5:01.22, while Gong cruised in for third place. Sarah Guth of Middlebury joined her teammates from heat one as an automatic qualifier in second place in the heat.

 

Men’s Mile Heat One

Keen on not making the same mistake as the first women’s heat, Central teammates Jamie Vander Veer and Eli Horton took the lead from the gun, with Horton spending a lot of time in lane two. With a bit over a quarter to go, Ian McDonald of Washington and Lee took a lead that he would never relinquish, winning the heat in 4:14.03. Second seeded Roberto Lara of UW Oshkosh followed smoothly enough, and Will Cross of Elmhurst took the final automatic qualifying spot. Vander Veer benefitted from his fast early clip as he squeaked in as the final time qualifier, leaving teammate Horton surprisingly out of the finals.

 

Men’s Mile Heat Two

After an early lead by Colin Godwin of MIT, this race was visually dominated by orange blur Joel Walden of UW Platteville making two massive moves toward the front, once at around the halfway mark and again with a little over 400 to go. Walden may have burnt up his speed a bit early, though, as he was outkicked and had to settle for the first time qualifier. However, if he times his kick right tomorrow, he could be a major player in the finals. Paul Escher of St. Olaf won the heat looking comfortable in 4:14.25, while a pair of freshmen took the other two automatic qualifying spots: Godwin and top-seeded Isaac Garcia-Cassani from SUNY Geneseo.

 

Women’s 800 Heat One

Second-seeded Amanda White of RIT took the race out, but Amy Viti of Misericordia took over after the first lap. Her aggressive 62 second opening 400 paved the way for a dominant victory in 2:11.82. Kailyn Balzano of SUNY Cortland and Taylor Moore of Wartburg followed Viti and broke away from the rest of the field to comfortably qualify. Brittany Kozlowski of St. Norbert also snuck into the finals after a big personal best while White was surprisingly eliminated.

 

Women’s 800 Heat Two

Filled with four 800 meter All-Americans, this heat was destined to be exciting and it did not disappoint. While Trisha King of Trina led for most of the opening 400, covered in 64 seconds, defending outdoor champion Kylee Verhasselt of UW Oshkosh was stuck in the back. Verhasselt made a big move to the front at the halfway point, and she held off a strong challenge from King at the start of the bell lap. After hanging on to pole position, Verhasselt ceded the heat victory to fast-closing Cynthia Adams of Lebanon Valley. Anna Murdock of Franklin followed Verhasselt, and though she just missed an automatic qualifier, she made it comfortably based on time. Top seeded Rachel Shine of Oneonta kicked down King to steal the final time qualifier into the finals.

 

Men’s 800 Heat One

Jalen Weaver of Olivet took the race out in 56 before top seeded Mitchell Black took control en route to a 1:52.91 victory. The race strung out a fair amount despite the reasonable pace, and there was not much jostling for position after Black’s move to the front. Weaver held on to the second and final automatic qualifier, while the entire rest of the six-man heat moved on due to a slow second heat. Of note, defending outdoor champion Andrew Carey did not look great in his fifth place finish, while Thomas Vandenburg of Carnegie Mellon qualified through to finals just one hour after doing the same in the 400.

 

Men’s 800 Heat Two

After Black’s victory in the previous heat, Tufts teammate Veer Bhalla took the second heat out in a dangerous 58 second first 400. As the pack grew antsy, Michael Harnish of Lebanon Valley surged to the front and held on for a 1:54.29 win. Freshman Jeremy Hernandez of Ramapo took the only other qualifying slot from this heat as the slow early pace came back to haunt most of the field.

 

Women’s 5k Final

What started as a race for the ages will end up being remembered for all the wrong reasons. Cross country champion Amy Regan took off from the gun, starting at nearly 5 minute pace for the first 600 meters. Only Frances Loeb of Johns Hopkins went with, as cross country runner-up Lucy Cheadle opted to lead the chase pack just like at cross country nationals. This time, however, Regan slowed down and allowed herself to be caught just before the mile, which was covered in 5:18. Regan continued to lead, and a pack of around seven, including three from Johns Hopkins, crossed halfway in an ambitious 8:20. As Regan stayed at 16:40 pace through two miles, the lead pack dwindled to the three favorites: Regan, Loeb, and Cheadle.

 

The trio hit 4k at 13:18, but at this point the announcer and officials were calling for only 800 meters left. It’s unclear how early the mistake occurred, but just like at the NAIA meet, the officials unfathomably lost track of the lap count for the leaders.

 

Loeb dropped off shortly after 4k, leaving just the duo from cross country—Regan and Cheadle—to go to battle once again. At 4500, Cheadle made her decisive move, assuming that only 300 meters remained. At 4600, the bell signifying the last lap rang, and 200 meters later, Cheadle crossed the line victorious. However, less than 16 minutes and only 4800 meters had elapsed since the start of the race. Regan, meanwhile, continued on, and was the first to finish 5000 meters.

 

As of now, the NCAA has announced that officials are reviewing the race and will announce a decision Saturday. Though it seemed like Cheadle would have won regardless, the fairest thing to do may be to award co-champions and divide the points. Sorting out the rest of the field will be even messier, and it will be interesting to see what the officials decide. Hopefully they find a way to rectify this embarrassment, though at this point a good solution for everyone involved seems unlikely.

 

Men’s 5k Final

After the debacle in the women’s 5k, the men wasted no time in settling down to a comfortable 14:35 pace with teammates Patrick Jenkins and Paul van Grinsven of UW Stout trading the lead.  A bunched-up group of podium hopefuls followed closely, especially as the pace began to lag in the second mile. After hitting 3k in 8:48, top seeded Matt Gianino of RIT moved way up into third while Ian LaMere of UW Platteville took over pacing duties. The lead group remained large, though, until Jenkins made a big move with around seven laps to go. The speedy Travis Morrison of North Central followed closely behind, as did Jake Campbell of St. Olaf, Gianino, LaMere, Geno Arthur of Oberlin, and Bijan Mazaheri of Williams. Jenkins continued to try to run the legs out of Morrison, and as they passed 4k at 11:40, they had opened up a gap that only Arthur was trying to bridge. With 800 to go, Morrison surged to the lead and never looked back, denying Jenkins his first title and winning his own in a time of 14:23.94. Jenkins would hold on for second, while Arthur’s patience would pay off in the form of a third place finish.

 

Women’s DMR Final

The University of Chicago was focused on upsetting top-seeded MIT, and Megan Verner-Crist wasted no time in giving the Maroons a solid early lead with a 3:38 opening leg. Middlebury’s Alison Maxwell completed a very successful double as she handed off in second, while the chase pack of MIT, Tufts, and Williams handed off together in third. MIT survived a dangerous handoff zone that saw Williams get bumped all the way to the back, but the Engineers were still further back than expected after the first leg. The University of Chicago maintained their lead on the 400 while Angela Tipp of St. Thomas moved up well to pass Middlebury and hand off in second.  The Maroons and Tommies would extend their lead over the rest of the field on the 800 leg after dropping Middlebury’s half-miler, and Brianna Hickey of the University of Chicago received the baton with a slight lead in 6:51.

 

Hickey slowly extended her lead over St. Thomas anchor Emily Gapinski while Maryann Gong of MIT and Erzsie Nagy of Middlebury rolled back into contention. With a bit over a lap to go, Gong had caught Gapinski, and, doing her best Christy Cazzola impression, she caught and passed Hickey entering the final bend. Shockingly, though, Gapinski was not out of it. After hanging on at the start of Gong’s powerful final lap, she unleashed a devastating move of her own and kicked to an 11:45.26 victory. Her 4:53 1600 is a 10+ second personal best, and it couldn’t have come at a better time. Gong finished in second with 1600 split down near 4:50 while Hickey hung on for third.

 

Men’s DMR Final

The drama began quickly in this race, as UW Whitewater’s leadoff runner seemed to have the baton inadvertently knocked from his hand from behind as a runner stumbled going around the first turn of the waterfall start. By the time he turned around and picked up the baton, the Warhakws were out of contention and would ultimately be disqualified. Despite the departure of a potential contender, Amherst still didn’t get off to the best start. The Lord Jeffs handed off in the middle of the pack while Garrett Kerska of UW La Crosse got the Eagles a decent lead in around 3:02. Most of the field remained in contention, though, and a strong 800 meter leg from Brent Harrison brought Amherst’s national-record team back toward the front.

 

Anchor Tom Linner  of UW La Crosse got the baton first at 5:46, but Greg Turissini  of Amherst was hot on his heels and wasted no time in taking over the lead. Aron Sebhat of North Central got the baton in third place, and he gave chase as Turissini took off at a suicidal pace. The sub 60 opening quarter was too much for Sebhat, though, and he would quickly back off. Turissini, though, kept the pedal to the metal, and after coming through 1000 meters right at 2:30, hehad opened up a nearly 50 meter lead on the field. WIAC rivals Josh Thorson of UW Eau Claire and Linner continued to give chase, along with the lapped Dawson Miller of UW Whitewater, man bun and all. With 400 to go, the blistering opening pace had begun to catch up to Turssini, and his lead quickly and shockingly evaporated. In the final lap Thorson unleashed a blistering kick to win convincingly in a total time of 9:54.82, just missing the meet record set last year by Central College. His split of around 4:05 was certainly the fastest in the field. Linner would also catch Turissini, who finished with a 4:12 split and hung on for third ahead of Sebhat.

 

Women’s Team Title Outlook

With a come from behind victory in the pentathlon by Allie Boudreau, Illinois Wesleyan is well on its way to winning the title, though a number of teams are still in contention. UW Oshkosh picked up 16 points in the weight throw and got a great first day from Kylee Verhasselt in the 800 and DMR to find themselves only a handful of points down based on seeds. MIT held serve well in the pole vault and DMR, but they need 20 points from a no-longer-invincible Maryann Gong if they want to have a shot at anything but fourth. Meanwhile, pre-meet favorite UW La Crosse did not make the most of their opportunities in the prelims today and will need a big day tomorrow if they want to catch rival UW Oshkosh or Illinois Wesleyan. Those four teams are currently head and shoulders above the rest and it would take a big slip-up for a different team to make the podium.

 

Predictions: Illinois Wesleyan (55), UW Oshkosh (53), UW La Crosse (43), MIT (40)

 

Men’s Team Title Outlook

On the strength of two impressive distance medley relays, UW Eau Claire and UW La Crosse have pulled away from the rest of the field. Despite Thurgood Dennis of UW Eau Claire being a bit off his game, the Blugolds are still in position to win the title. Mt Union seems to be stuck in no man’s land, as it looks difficult for them to catch the two WIAC powers but they are reasonably safe from any other competition. The fourth looks like it will belong to North Central. The Cardinals already have 26 points, and if Travis Morrison can reproduce his 5k magic in the 3k, they have an outside shot at third.