The Other 95%

687 different athletes competed in individual events last weekend, but only 34 won an individual title. We want to highlight a small portion of the 95% of athletes that may not be classified as a 2023 national champion but had a fantastic national meet. This article highlights athletes who either significantly outperformed their seed place coming into the meet, younger athletes who performed well and are on the rise, or athletes who may have underperformed in previous national meets, but showed what they are made of this year. There are many names not included that could be selected for this article, so forgive us if we missed a deserving athlete. Here is the list of athletes in no particular order:

Lauren Jarrett - UW-La Crosse (100m / 200m / 4x100m)

Someone overlooked from this weekend might be La Crosse freshman Lauren Jarrett. Jarrett is a star in the making after finishing 2nd in both the 100m and 200m, running personal best times of 11.61 and 24.09. That 11.61 was under the old 100m record. This is all after finishing second and fourth at the WIAC Conference Outdoor Championships in those events and failing to even make the 200m final at the Indoor National Meet. Someone to certainly keep an eye on next year!

Braden Nicholson - North Central (5k)

Braden Nicholson went all in on the 5k despite having a qualifier in the 1500 and 10k. All three of his qualifiers were outside the top 10 with the 5k being the highest at 13. Having just run 3:46, a 5k PB of 14:06, and fresh legs, this was a winning recipe. Nicholson finished third and put an exclamation point on the NCC distance weekend.

Lily Beneke - St. Scholastica (Hammer)

At the 2022 Outdoor National Championships in the Hammer Throw, Beneke fouled her first and only three attempts to finish her first national meet with no mark. She rebounded this year finishing an impressive third in the event. She also peaked at the right time- when looking at her 12 throws combined between the final qualifier meet and the national championships, eight of them were over 55.1m, a distance she had never reached prior.

Sam Engebretson - MIT (Shot Put / Hammer / Discus)

MIT took home the men’s team title and a big reason for that was because of Engebretson’s busy weekend. One of the few athletes entered in three individual events, Engebretson came into the meet seeded 6th, 14th, and 15th in shot, hammer, and discus and ended up finishing third, ninth, and fourth. Big 11 points that made the difference in the team competition. Anytime you can get unexpected points (based on entries), adds to the momentum for the team.

Shinelle Felix - Alvernia (Long Jump / Triple Jump)

Felix had a great indoor season, finishing sixth at the national meet in the Triple Jump. Came in seeded 14th and 20th in LJ and TJ, and ended up third and 11th. Fouled first two jumps in TJ before setting personal best and school record. Third place finish is the highest placing in Alvernia track program history.

Simon Heys - Wilmington (10k / 5k)

Heys really broke out as a national runner when he finished fifth overall at the 2021 Cross Country Nationals Meet. He hasn’t had quite the same production on the track (12th and 13th finishers in the 10k the past two outdoor national championships) and came into this national meet seeded 15th, ready to prove he belonged back in the top eight. But Heys ran a great race, slowly moving up throughout, and ended up finishing fourth with a 26-second personal best.

Aoife Dunn - Wash U (1500m / 800m)

The 1500m/800m is a brutal double at the national meet. It is hard enough to make finals in both events, but takes another level to perform well in both events on Championship Saturday with less than an hour and a half between them. But that is what Dunne did, finishing fifth and fourth in the events including running a huge six second PR of 4:23 in the 1500. She carried the momentum from her runner-up performance in the 800m indoors. It’s also a nice rebound for her from her previous Outdoor meets. Shed finished 9th in the 800m in 2021 and was DQ’ed in the same event in 2022.

Jacob Patton - Westminster, PA (400mH)

Patton just barely qualified for the 400mH in the 2022 national meet and it showed with him placing 19th overall. This year, Patton put together an even better season and was seeded 15th coming into this past weekend. He set personal bests in both prelims and finals en route to a fantastic fifth-place finish and his first individual All-American medal.

Adam Loenser - UW-La Crosse (Steeplechase)

After finishing last in both the Steeple and 3k in his previous national meets ( 2022 Outdoors 2023 Indoors), Loenser may have had doubts heading into the meet. Despite the early career struggles, Loenser put those to bed by running a new Steeple PR of 8:50 in the prelims to qualify for finals. He capped off the breakthrough performance with a seventh-place finish to earn his first All-American award.

Evenlyn Battleson-Gunkel - Univ. of Chicago (1500m / 5k)

Battleson-Gunkel came into the national meet seeded 11th in the 5k and 21st in the 1500, but ended up finishing top 10 in both events, including sixth in the 1500 with a six-second PR of 4:23. This is coming off of a devastating fall in the mile final indoors. It was clear Battleson-Gunkel didn’t want the fall to happen again and she put herself in a great position in both races. Staying out of trouble and showcasing her true potential.

Ian Kelly - Luther (1500m)

Since 2021, Kelly had run twelve 1500m races and had never broken 3:55. That changed on May 12th at his conference meet where he ran 3:50.1. From there he dropped a 3:47.68 at the last chance meet to sneak into the national meet, seeded 20th. When you’re running on house money, anything can happen. Kelly put himself in a great position in prelims to qualify for finals. He took advantage of this opportunity and set a new personal best of 3:47.32 to finish eighth to earn an All-American medal.

Jacinto Jones II - Mary Washington (200m)

Jacinto Jones II - remember the name. Jones came into the national meet seeded 22nd in the 200m and ended up 10th- setting a new (wind-legal) personal best 21.40 in the process. He was the highest-placing freshman in any of the men sprinting events and is in a prime position to get back to the big stage next year and improve even more.

Noah Jorgenson - Central College (800m)

From eighth to eighth. On May 13th, Jorgenson finished 8th at his conference meet in the 800m and did not have a national qualifying time yet. The next week at the last chance meet, he lowered his personal best to 1:50.42 leaving him seeded 21st on the descending order list. Then in the prelims, Jorgenson broke the 1:50 barrier for the first time, made finals, and ended up finishing 8th in the country. A wild two week stretch for Jorgenson but shows what peaking at the right time can do.

Mary Kate McGranahan - Amherst (Steeplechase)

McGranahan locked up the final qualifying spot in the Steeplechase this year (by less than a half of a second) to earn her first-ever trip to the national meet. In a great prelim race, she ran a personal-best time of 10:31 to make finals and ended up finishing 11th overall. While on paper it shows her finishing 11th, what it doesn’t show was her attempt to put herself in an All-American position. She was in the top four for the majority of the race and only faded late to miss out on the top eight.

Jared Briant - Rhodes (Steeplechase)

Track can be cruel. In 2021, Briant finished 11th in the Steeplechase. In 2022, he finished 10th. And this past weekend, Briant finished…ninth, just 0.32 seconds off eight, and the sacred All-American status. On the bright side, Briant did run 8:55 in both prelims and finals to break the nine-minute barrier for the first time. I hope Briant is able to come back for one more season and is able to capture the elusive All-American award.

Aurielle Brunner - Chatham (Triple Jump / Long Jump / High Jump)

Brunner was one of the 19 athletes who competed in three individual events this weekend and the only one to do it without ever being to a national meet before. Even with this lack of experience, she finished fourth in the Triple Jump, fifth in the Long Jump (seeded 15th coming into the competition), and 19th in the High Jump. This stellar weekend of jumping earned her two All-American Awards- the first two in Chatham’s Track history!

James Settles - Colorado College (5k)

After waiting all day Thursday and Friday, Settles finally got to race Saturday afternoon in his first national meet on the track. Though seeded 17th coming into the day, he moved up throughout the race, made a decisive move in the last mile, and ended up 4th with a 14:12- just four seconds off his personal best. Settles improved all season and was 60th at cross country nationals. Get ready to be seeing his name this fall.

Lauren Rottier - St. Norbert (Hep)

In her previous four national meet appearances, Rottier had never finished higher than 15th. Then coming into this outdoor nationals, she was seeded 15th but finished sixth overall with 4,926 points and three event personal bests including 11.97m in the Shot Put- the farthest throw in the competition.

Sam Llaneza - Lynchburg (1500/800)

Llaneza had a decision to make during the indoor national meet. Do the mile/DMR double, go all in on the mile or go all in on the DMR? He put his individual event on hold to anchor his Lynchburg DMR to a fourth-place finish. Now at outdoors, Llaneza was one of three athletes to attempt the 15/8 double. Four races across three days is quite the weekend. In what is seemingly a patented last 100m kick, Llaneza kicked his way to a double All-American performance by finishing fourth in the 1500 and sixth in the 800. Not to mention, it took him running a PB in the 800 to make the final.

Julia Pena - York, PA (100mH / Pole Vault / Long Jump)

Three individual events, two All-American finishes, and one busy weekend for Pena. Though she came in seeded ninth and 12th in the 100mH and Pole Vault, she finished eighth in both events to become the first York woman to claim the title of All-American in program history.

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