Brace Yourselves
NIRCA Nats is BACK!
On this, the tenth (TENTH!) edition of Reasonably Speedy, it felt like I ought to do something special. Lucky for me, I don’t have to — NIRCA’s way ahead of me.
That’s right: NIRCA track nationals are TOMORROW!
Set to be held at Olivet College — smack in the middle of Michigan! — NIRCA will be hosting its first championship track meet since 2019. Teams will be filtering in from across the lower 48 for a chance to line up with their fellow club athletes and run fast. Though I, sadly, cannot be in attendance this weekend (Olivet is a 13-hour drive from Williamsburg… and have you seen these gas prices1?), I’ll be keeping you updated as best I can from down here in VA.
During the indoor season, I talked a big game about how much I wanted to see club running’s fastest athletes go toe-to-toe. Finishing times, I said, only tell half the story. And I stand by that! Lucky for us, now’s our chance to watch just that — a proper race between some of club running’s heaviest hitters.
NIRCA released the heat sheets for this weekend on Tuesday, and even a cursory glance at the list ought to make it clear that we’re in for a hell of a track meet. After scanning through the heat sheets, revisiting the results we’ve already seen this year, and taking into account the conversations I’ve had with athletes from around the country, I’ve assembled a preview of sorts for the weekend to come. Huge thanks to Illinois’ Beau Barber for helping me wrangle all this data. He’s probably the only person I’ve ever met who knows more club running stats than I do!
SPRINTS
Women’s Races
Illinois may well have the deadliest duo of female sprinters in the league, and both of them will be in attendence this weekend. Ninawa Odicho and Ari Afolabi — who proved just how speedy they can be head-to-head at the Illinois Relays in February — appear on the start lists for several events each in Olivet. Odicho is currently listed for the 100m, 200m, and 400m races, as well as the 4x100m and 4x400m relays. Afolabi will be joining her teammate in the 100m and 200m (though, lucky for the competition, they’re in different heats) as well as the 4x100m relay. She’ll also be competing in the 100m hurdles, going up against Club Relays hurdling champ Claire Biegalski (who is also running te=he 400m hurdles) in the prelims.
Other names to watch include OSU’s Jessica Wrenn (signed up for the 100m, 200m, 4x100m, and 4x400m) and Wisconsin’s Sabina Dayal (who will be competing in both sprints and jumps this weekend).
Men’s Races
The number of men’s heats for each sprint is, frankly, obscene. It’s awesome. Clocking in at 10 heats for the 100m and 13 for the 200m, that’s almost 5 total minutes of racing! Names to watch include Adam Adil (100m, 200m, 4x100m, 4x400m), Club Relays high jump champ George Patil (running the 400m dash, hurdles, AND relay — not to mention returning to the high jump), and a whole cadre of speedy UConn boys (including Jaden Astle, Benjamin Yee, and Justin Carroll.
Patrick Ream of VA Tech is in the 100m, the 200m, and the 4x100m, and he’s run 22.87 this year! Wisconsin’s Jordan Ranum, author of a 51.12 400m earlier this season, will also be competing in the 200m, the 400m hurdles, and the 4x400m relay.
DISTANCE
Women’s Races
The Midwest has been a hotbed for high-performance distance racing this year, and a number of those athletes will be showing up for Nationals this weekend. Michigan’s Anna Nagelhout is currently listed for the 800m, the 1500m, and the 5000m (her teammate Thea Johnson does not appear to be racing, but fellow MRunner Sophia Grant is running the 1500m, 5000m, 4x100m, 4x400m). Indiana middle distance powerhouse Lauren Murphy is running the 800m and the 1500m, and Wisconsin’s Kayla Wartman is running the 1500m and the 5000m.
Other names to keep an eye out for this weekend include Indiana’s Claire Overfelt in the 5000m, Caroline Beard from Pitt listed for the 1500m/5000m double, and Purdue’s Brooke Labenburg in the 5000m.
Men’s Races
So, as I haven’t shut up about since I started this newsletter — the men’s 800m is going to be a race worth watching. Though Ryan Dailor of Northeastern (who I recently learned ran 1:54 back in February) won’t be in attendance, a whole lot of other fast folks will, including: Nathan Nohr, Rickey Shackelford, Luke Lammey, Aidan McCarthy, Patrick Fasick, Jeffery Hesselbein, and Max Worley — and that’s all just one heat!
Meanwhile, in the longer distances, the Pitt boys are going to be worth watching. Reigning NIRCA XC champ Nick Wolk will be racing the 1500m, 5000m, and 4x400m just a week after his 5000/10,000 double victory in brutal conditions last weekend. Pitt up-and-comer Jacob Montgomery is also signed up for the 1500m and the 5000m. Meanwhile, other 5000m heavy-hitters like Bo Shepherd, Zach Duval, Andrew Ye, Aidan Bustillo, and Aidan Rigby are all listed for the final heat of the 5000m.
Good luck to everybody racing this weekend, and send me your photos, results, speculations, musings, vlogs, or any other updates @reasonablyspeedymag on Instagram!
Last Weekend’s Highlight Reel
Owen Serrichio of Oregon Running Club ran 3:58.78 last weekend, the first sub-4 club 1500m of 20222.
NC State’s Clare Peters set a new club lead in the 5000m, running 16:49 for the first sub-17 club 5k run by a female club athlete in 2022.
Reid Biondo of UVA ran a 4:41 1500m and then KEPT GOING, running an extra 109 to make a full mile. Waiting at the line were his teammates, toting a stopwatch, and screaming with everything they had. When Reid crossed the finish line, somebody screamed “HE DID IT!” Reid collapsed at the finish line, crying by the time the mob of his teammates reached him. He’d just broken 5 for the first time.
Ideally, read this in a Seinfeldesque voice
Based on the lineup for Nationals, I’m calling it now — it won’t be the last.