........PSAC.......

Hoovis 2

RE: possible rankings 11/24/2008 11:53AM - in reply to BOMBED

A couple of thoughts from Nationals...

On the women's side, I thought lil' Spence ran a really tough race. Jessica Pixler (SPU) is really tough and, as defending champ, ran the race that she should've run...go to the front and push the pace and don't let anybody hang around. Congrats to Pixler and her coach, fellow Seattle Club Running Company club member Erika Daligcon, who in her first year as head coach continued the longstanding tradition (established by running legend Doris Heritage) at Seattle Pacific with an individual champ and a 4th place team finish.

Neely (who I still can't believe is in college as I remember her barely walking when we were stretching at Heiges Field House my frosh/soph years at Ship) wouldn't just let her win and hung on for as long as she could. We all know Neely is talented (she's got good genes from both Steve & Kirstin), but the fact that Neely was able to hang on for 2nd is a testament to her mental toughness. I know that the rumors abound that Neely will be xfering to Baylor, but I really hope that's not the case as I'd love to see her lead this very talented young Ship team for years to come.

Also, I thought Mary Dell (2nd runner for Ship) ran a great race at Nats. Dell finished 25th at Nats after finishing 10th at Regionals. A very impressive run by the sophmore. That finish, along with the fact that all the Ship ladies did what they were supposed to do (ie, nobody bombed) were the key to their 6th place finish...an awesome team performance.

The Ship ladies team has a bright future ahead of them...but, will have to continue to add talent if they are going to beat Adams (who returns their #3, #4, and #5 runners who finished 19, 22, and 24 respectively). And, Grand Valley, who finished second will likely be the favorite for next year's title as GV returns 4 sophs & a junior, all of whom were top 50.

And, I would be remiss not to give a shout out to Jaime Wright who, in her last collegiate cross race, secured All American honors by finishing 20th at Cooper’s Lake. A great race and substantial improvement over her 84th place finish last year. Harp, who just missed AA honors can hopefully follow in Wright’s footsteps and do it next year, as a senior.

On the men's side, I thought the overall performances by Lock Haven & Boro were slightly worse than expected, but, not nearly as bad as many people on this board perceive. Both teams looked flat off of the starting line...a mile into the race the back of the pack was filled with Haven runners -- never a good sign. Haven just looked like a team that was tired...either from a long year which included a victory at regionals or perhaps were battling some illness, as they just didn't seem on top of their game. Russell usually has his guys ready to run, so not their best performance, but they seemed a bit flat this past weekend.

With that said, when you look at this team, none of us should've expected them to finish higher than say 12th. Haven didn't even make Nats last year and while they ran solid this year, they lack a front-runner and are not as strong as past years at the #4 and #5 slots. Some noted that Pom had an off day, but even if he would've run great, he would've finished near Hilton & Getz, would would've shaved off about 70 pts. but still placed them behind #16 Boro.

With regards to Boro, this is a very young team. No Josh Arthur, no Dave Nimeira. There is something to be said for Senior leadership, and this team didn't have it this year. There were only two returning runners from last year’s 14th place team (Hahn & McLaughlin). So, finishing in the top-10 should not have been expected. On a good day, I thought they’d finish 12th. Saturday wasn’t a good day, but it was a solid performance for a young team.

Hahn proved he'll be the favorite in the conference next year...and ran the race we all expected him to run last year. Nice to see him make up for last year’s performance. McLaughlin seems to have run basically the same race at Nats he ran last year…which is very solid. These two will be a strong anchor going into next year making Boro once again the far and away favorite for the region (I’m guessing Haven will take issue with that comment...but no offense intended).

From an individual perspective, it was great to see Weiss finish out his career with a solid 11th place finish and another All-American honor. Weiss was an incredible asset to the PSAC both on and off the XC course and will be missed. Best of luck to you Jeff.

Chris Clark ran a great, great race. Sitting in 8th/9th through much of the first half, he ran as strong as a second half of the race as anybody, except maybe for Crouch from Queens. Both Clark & Crouch looked really solid over the second half of the race, but Bauhs (Chico) and Braun (Adams) had opened up too much of a gap.

It was to tough to watch Regan. We all wanted him to just magically jump ahead 6 places or so to ensure he would get AA, but it wasn’t going to be that easy. He ran as tough a race as he could (dude looked like he was hurting a the mile mark)…a very gutsy performance. One that serves as a reminder just how tough it is to become all American. While not quite as stellar as his 12th place finish from a year ago in Joplin, I bet Regan would admit that this one was even more special, as he clearly had to fight every step of the way to become a repeat All American.

It was interesting to watch both races up-front, as I thought both the men’s and women’s races played out the same. The favorites (Pixler for women and Bauhs for men) went to the front and pushed the pace. The challengers (Spence for women and Braun for men) both ran incredibly tough races, doing everything in their power to not let the favorites get away from them. Those upfront races and the toughness shown by all four of those runners – coupled with the cold & snow – made this an epic cross country race. It is the epitome of why I love this sport.

Also, it was great being able to travel back from Seattle to the Rock and see so many familiar faces – Spence, Papa, Ed Fry (at his last cross meet), IUP Alum (Eric Shafer, the General, the infamous Johnny Karpacs, etc.), Jo Rupp (Millersville) and Carl Leonard (Boro) who both remind me how old I am, as well as the many others I saw & chatted with. Also, it was great to be able to sneak in a long run on the North Country trail at Morraine. I forgot how awesome it is to run to run on the snowy trails of western PA.

Another cross season in the books…and already, I can’t wait until next year.

Hoovis

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