2013 NCAA Men's Indoor Mile Preview

1. Chris O’Hare- Tulsa

This native of Scotland returns for his Senior season as the returning champion at this distance from indoor last year and is ready to repeat as champion. Unlike previous years, O’Hare was a standout for Tulsa in cross country in the fall when he won the Notre Dame Invite, the Midwest Regional, and placed 20^th individually at the National Championships in Louisville. With PR’s of 3:56 and 3:37 O’Hare is one of the nation’s best and seems to be particularly better indoors.  He placed 2^nd in 2011 and 1^st in 2012, but struggles a bit outdoors (most likely due to the length of the season and maybe not having the best base) placing 11^th and 12^th in 2011 and 2012 respectively. Despite all that, O’Hare is a beast indoors and is the favorite to win the 2013 indoor mile. The only thing that would keep O’Hare from repeating is a rumor of a possible redshirt so he can run all three seasons next year (XC/IND/OUT).

2. Andy Bayer- Indiana

The reigning 1500m outdoor champ from 2012 is an obvious pick as one of the top contenders for the national title indoors for the mile. Coming off an amazing summer where he won the 1500m and placed fourth at the U.S. Olympic Trials in the 1500m as the only collegiate in the race, Bayer is ready to win his first title indoors in his final season as a Hoosier. Bayer has some very nice PRs of 3:57.75 (mile) and 3:37.24 (1500 @ Oly Trials). He has some very nice range and will most likely be included in the 3k indoor preview because of his ability to go longer. This summer he also won the NACAC U-23 Championship in the 5,000 and has PRs of 7:48.35 and 13:33.25 for 3k and 5k respectively. With the ridiculous range Bayer possesses and the strength that he is sure to have, he is going to be very dangerous this indoor season in the mile. The only thing that could hinder Bayer is the injury that kept him from competing at the Cross Country National Championships this past fall. If his injury heals in time, Bayer has a legitimate shot to knock off O’Hare.

3. Rich Peters- Boston U.

Peters had his coming out party as a Freshman right from Bristol, England where he ran 3:58.26 at Boston U.’s home invite, his first Mile on American soil. Since then, Peters has been one of the top milers in the country and is the second top returner for indoor because of his second place finish behind O’Hare at the 2012 Indoor Track Championships. Peters has impressively run 4:00 flat and under 5 different times and has a very impressive PR of 3:57.83 that he ran once again at Boston U.’s home indoor invitational. A solid 6^th place in the 1500 outdoors is also a good sign of his versatility from indoor to outdoor.  Rich also had a nice 2012 cross country season winning two races, placing ninth at the Northeast Regional and 72^nd at Nationals. With this good base, Peters is a serious contender for the national championships in the mile this 2013 indoor season.

4. Michael Hammond-Virginia Tech

After redshirting the 2012 Indoor season, Hammond came back on the radar as one of the top milers in the country with a very good 4^th place finish at the 2012 Outdoor Championships in the 1500 only .6 behind the winner  Andy Bayer, Miles Batty, and Ryan Hill, all top-notch milers.  Hammond is not unfamiliar to success on the indoor side of things as in 2011 placed 7^th overall at indoor nats. He has the Virginia Tech school record in the mile with a PR of 3:58.41. This most recent cross country season Hammond helped Virginia Tech win the ACC team title and showed pretty good range with a nice 24:17 8K PR. Hammond has run sub 4 twice and has a 1500m PR of 3:39.22. Hammond seems to be coming around at the right time and for his senior season will surprise some people with his finish at indoor nationals.

5. Sam McEntee-Villanova

A native of Australia, McEntee comes in to the 2013 indoor season as the number three returner in the mile from indoor nationals last year. Sam followed his nice indoor up with a great outdoor season as well with a PR of 3:36.81 and a 9^th place finish in the final. McEntee may be one of the most consistent athletes in this top 10 since his beginning at Villanova in 2011. It seems like his name always appears when it comes to a national championship race, which makes him dangerous as a race savvy runner who seems to bring it whenever it counts. McEntee had an up and down 2012 cross country season seeing him finish in an impressive 2^nd place at the Mid Atlantic Regional and 4^th place at Paul Short, but he also was 17^th at the Big East Champs and at Nationals was 150^th. With the focus now on the indoor season, McEntee will look to place himself in the mix at the national championships for a shot at the title.  

6. Jordy Williamsz-Villanova

Another Villanova athlete from Australia is Jordy Williamsz who is probably the best miler in the country that no one has heard of. Not having run any track seasons in the NCAA yet, is the only downfall for this young freshman who has some very impressive PRs from High School.  WIlliamsz was the Australian junior champion at 800m, 1500m, 3000m and the runner up in cross country, with PRS of 1:47.34, 3:36.74, and 8:13.71, respectively. Those are some pretty amazing PRs for a kid in high school. With those times alone, last year he would have found himself in the finals for most likely 800m and 1500m outdoors.  Track fans should be prepared to see that very thing happen this year in his first season as a Wildcat under the tutelage of the great Marcus O’Sullivan.

7. Patrick Casey-Oklahoma

The Montana State transfer is like many others coming into his redshirt senior year as a 3-time All-American, after breaking every record in middle-distance events you can think of in the state of Montana and at Montana State University. His transfer to Oklahoma was timely as Casey put out his best cross country season of his career in 2012 as Casey was Oklahoma’s number one runner throughout the majority of the season and was their number two at Nats with a 67^th place finish individually. Casey also had a nice 2012 Outdoor season qualifying for Nats in the 1500m and placing 18^th overall.  The good news for Casey is that he has run some of his best races indoors and looks to do the same this year to improve upon his already impressive 3:59.76 and 1:47.08 indoor PRs. 

8. Peter Callahan-Princeton

If the progress seen from Callahan continues, he is a real challenger to those in front of him in the mile. In 2010 Callahan ran 4:12.6, in 2011 4:01.03, and 2012 3:58.76. Obviously, his times will not improve by those ridiculous measures, but he looks to be on track to possibly go 3:57 or maybe even 3:56. Callahan has not competed outdoors for the past couple of seasons and so the only real results we have from him have come from the indoor seasons the past couple of years.  Peter is the fifth returner in the mile indoors and is just race savvy enough to possibly place himself among the leaders in a good position to close well and maybe surprise some people. If this is so,  we could see a top 3 finish out of Callahan this indoor season.

9. Rob Finnerty- Wisconsin

Finnerty enters his senior season as a Badger and is most likely not on a lot of people’s minds as one of the top milers in the country.  This is especially true considering his not-so-impressive indoor career up to this point. Finnerty’s indoor PR in the mile came as a freshman and is only 4:05.80. The deciding factor in putting Finnerty in this top 10 to begin with is his ability to run well in big meets. Finnerty had an outstanding outdoor in 2012, winning the West Regional in 3:42.93 and placing 5^th overall at outdoor nats in the 1500m. Although Finnerty was 5^th at the Big 10 Champs in the 1500m, he was behind the likes of Bayer, Leslie, Creese, and Stockberger, who are all quality milers.  The most notable improvement that pushed him into this top 10 was his amazing improvements in cross country. Before this season Finnerty had run in, count them, two meets in his college career. He ended up placing 49^th overall at the national meet and he seems primed to improve in the mile indoors and surprise a lot of people in the final.

10. Kemoy Campbell-Arkansas

Kemoy Campbell burst onto the NCAA scene after transferring from South Plains College (after tearing up the NJCAA scene in the 800, 1500, 3K and in Cross Country) by having several top finishes in some of the best cross country meets of the season (i.e. Wisco Invite, SEC, NCAA). Campbell finished in an impressive 17^th place finish at XC Nats and is looking to carry his momentum in to the indoor season. Now it is not publicly known as of yet exactly what Campbell will focus on for indoors, but if he were to focus on the mile, it would seem fair to put him as one of the top 10 milers in the country with the nice base he has from cross country. Campbell has good PRs of 1:50.32, 3:42, and 8:20. With those in mind Campbell must be considered a threat in any race he decides to run indoors, especially the mile.

Others not mentioned but that were considered: Robby Creese (Penn State, poor indoor final, didn't qualify outdoors for 1500m and fair to poor xc season placed him outside the top 10, if  he runs well will be moved on to the list), Raul Botezan (Oklahoma State), Kirubel Erassa (Oklahoma State), and Alex Hatz (Wisconsin)