In the short time that the women’s steeplechase has been an event at the NCAA Championships, the top marks have fallen significantly every year, and 2015 will be no exception as we’ve got a potential collegiate record on our hands. Leah O’Connor, Courtney Frerichs, and Colleen Quigley are a trio that have the ability to put Jenny Simpson’s collegiate record from 2009 in serious jeopardy. The time to beat is 9:25.54, which Simpson ran at the NCAA Outdoor Championships, and this triple threat has the tools to make it go down. 

 

O’Connor has stayed relatively quiet on the big stage this season, opting to run fast times solo at smaller meets. But the 2014 NCAA Steeple Champion is just getting her feet wet in the steeplechase in 2015 after posting personal bests in the 1500m (4:11), 800m (2:06), and 5K (16:03). Her first steeplechase of the season was at the Virginia Challenge April 17 where she won by a landslide in a then-season’s best of 9:41. She followed the performance with conference wins in the 1500m, steeplechase, and 5K at the Big 10 Championships. More recently, O’Connor blazed her way to a personal best in the steeple at the NCAA East Preliminaries, fearlessly taking the race from the gun in a winning time of 9:35 for the fastest seed time entered at the NCAA Outdoor Championships. 

 

Frerichs has also been on fire this season, and it all began with an aggressive Payton Jordan victory against a stacked field of professionals. The UMKC All American ran behind the leaders for the majority of the race until 800m to go, when she made a hard move to the front and never looked back, crushing her previous personal best by nine seconds with a winning time of 9:32 and beating fellow Missouri native Quigley in the process. Prior to Payton Jordan, it was well known that Frerichs had the potential to finish top five at NCAAs, but her performance on the Stanford track officially solidified her as a dangerous threat for an NCAA title. 

 

Quigley will be the a key component to the NCAA Championship run after finishing just three seconds behind O’Connor at the NCAA East Preliminaries two weeks ago. The last time she competed at the NCAA Outdoor Championships was in 2013 when she finished second in a then-personal best of 9:38. In her senior season as a Florida State Seminole, Quigley has been on a tear, taking the ACC title in the 1500m and running personal bests in the 800m (2:08), 1500m (4:11) and steeple (9:33) throughout the season. Although she finished second to Frerichs at Payton Jordan, Quigley still battled for a personal best in her first steeple in over a year. And her tough NCAA preliminary performance shows that she is ready for anything at Hayward Field. 

 

The triple threat of O’Connor, Frerichs, and Quigley have not only put together impressive seasons filled with personal bests in numerous events, but have shown that the women’s steeplechase is on an upswing and itching for improvement. It will take a tremendous effort on all three to see Simpson’s record go down, but these aggressive racers have shown time and time again that they always seize the great opportunities.