2023 NCAA Indoor Entries: Katelyn Tuohy Runs 3K/5K, Washington Will Have 6 Men in Mile

By Jonathan Gault
28 February 2023

The 2023 NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships begin 10 days from now in Albuquerque, NM, and coaches had to submit their entries for the meet by 2:00 PM ET on Tuesday. Although the official list of qualifiers has not yet been published, the list of declared and scratched athletes is is published, meaning we can project who will compete at this year’s meet (the top 16 athletes in each event qualify for the NCAAs).

You can find the full list of declarations here. A few quick tidbits from the declarations:

Katelyn Tuohy will not make it to the triple mile/3k/5k – she is entered in the 3000 and 5000 meters

North Carolina State Katelyn Tuohy, the biggest star in collegiate distance running, is the NCAA leader in the women’s mile (4:24.26), 3,000 (8:35.20) and 5,000 (15:15.92) this season, setting collegiate records in the first two meets . She had her pick of the events at the NCAA, and no NCAA athlete has ever won the mile, 3,000 and 5,000 at the same NCAA (Oregon’s Edward Cheserek came close on the men’s side in 2017 when he won the 3000 and 5000 and was second in the mile). That will remain the case after 2023, as Tuohy has chosen to run the same two events she ran at the NCAA Indoors last year: the 3,000 and 5,000. Tuohy finished second in each of those races in Birmingham in 2022 and will try to go one better in Albuquerque. The last woman to win both events at the same NCAA meet was Missouri’s Karissa Schweizer in 2018. An NCAA indoor title is the only item missing from Tuohy’s collegiate resume, as she has already won NCAA crowns in cross country and outdoor track.

Tuohy could also make NC State’s distance medley relay (seeded #2 in the country), but that seems unlikely. Even with Tuohy splitting 4:23 on the anchor leg, the Wolfpack only finished 3rd in the DMR at last week’s ACC Championships. And with the women’s 5,000 starting at 5:05 p.m. on Friday at the NCAAs and the DMR starting just 40 minutes later, there would be very little time for Tuohy to recover between the two races.

Washington wants six men per mile

The University of Washington men have had a season for the ages in the mile, with seven men running under 3:57 this year, including five under 3:53. Made Oregon coach Andy Powell enter all seven in the mile at the NCAA? No. Washington clocked the fourth-fastest miler in the NCAA this year, Kieran Lumb (3:52.62), presumably to keep him healthy for the DMR (Lumb is also listed in the 3000 as the #9 seed at 7:43.27). But the other six Huskies all run the mile: Joe Waskom, Brian Fay, Nathan Green, Luke Houser, Aidan Ryanand Aaron Ahl (Fay is also listed in the 3000, which takes place after the mile is finished). How many UW runners make it to the finals and how many points they can score will be one of the stories of the meet.

The Huskies are seeded 2-3-4-5-7-16 in the mile.

SEC champion Will Sumner is doing it like the last guy in the 800s

One of the most impressive performances from the conference weekend was true freshman Will Sumner of Georgia takes down a stacked field to win the SEC 800m title. Sumner’s season best of 1:47.28 ranked him 18th in the nation, meaning he needed two athletes ahead of him to scratch — and that’s exactly what he got. That means Sumner, who was the third-fastest American high school 800 runner in history (1:46.53), will compete in his first NCAA championships.

Parker Valby is registered in 3,000

Valby, the runner-up in the NCAA outdoor 5,000 and cross country in 2022, did not run at SECs last weekend for Florida, but she is entered in the 3,000 at NCAAs, where she is the No. 3 seed at 8:49.71. Freshman at Oklahoma State Natalie Cookwho was 7th at the NCAA cross country championships but hasn’t finished a race since Dec. 3 and sat out the Big 12s, has also declared in the 5,000.

Defending 800 champion Lindsey Butler will run the mile; Britton Wilson holds on in the 400

Virginia Tech Lindsey Butler won the 800 at last year’s NCAA indoor meet, but her season’s best of 2:03.13 (converted) ranked her just 16th in the NCAA this year. She runs the mile instead, where her 4:31.41 sb ranked No. 5. Arkansas’ Britton WilsonThe NCAA 400 hurdles champion last year outdoors, has gone for the 800 this indoor season, finishing second at SECs, but she ultimately opted to scrap the 800 and run the 400 at NCAAs.

Oregon star Micah Williams doesn’t run 60

Williams, who was 4th at the U.S. in the 100 last year, was No. 2 in the 60 this year after running 6.49 at the high on Jan. 26. But he hasn’t run since and is a bummer for the NCAA (he doesn’t run the 200 either).

What times did it take to qualify in the distance?

Here’s what it took to qualify for the NCAAs in each of the distance events – the season bests of the 16th declared athlete in the individual events and the 12th declared team in the distance medley relay.

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