DIII Mid-East

Maxwell wrote:

Haverford is a perennial powerhouse, and the obvious favorite to win, but after that I think it's less clear.

obvious favorite? if I recall correctly--they were not the top mideast team at nationals last year, and barely squeezed out the regional win. proportional changes in rosters, as well.

P.S. - there's already a thread on this topic.

allegheny only graduated 1 of their travel team, dozzi, mouer still has a year of xc left and word is he's gonna use it. they have at least one quality frosh coming in that i know of...i don't know about cmu...has any other schools picked up new talent?

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obvious favorite? if I recall correctly--they were not the top mideast team at nationals last year, and barely squeezed out the regional win. proportional changes in rosters, as well.

P.S. - there's already a thread on this topic.[/quote]

Yeah, and there were 35096947690438709879845 threads about Webb's 3:30 1500, so f***ing what? The other mid-east thread is probably buried on page 45 by now anyway...

This is what I wrote awhile ago in the old thread:

Haverford should be loaded. Waiting in the wings they have a bunch of a guys who struggled a bit as freshman, but should be good this year. Vaslow graduated, but Letts is back as well as Burmeister(injured end of outdoor I guess), Lanham(struggled in track?), Burgmann, Jablin and more. Dickinson could be very good, though they did lose their #1 and #2, but their 3-7 was very solid last year and are all returning. Swarthmore has potential, too, but they'll need to get a 5'th man. Hopkins has an outside shot with a bunch of sub 9 3K type underclassmen and 2 good seniors. Muhlenberg who just made nationals last year lost a ton, so in terms of Centennial teams Haverford should be in, and Dickinson could make it with Swarthmore and Hopkins possibilities as well. Allegheny and Carnegie Mellon both lost a couple guys, but should be favorites to make it to Nats. E-Town and Salisbury lost a lot of the top 7, but could make a run at it.

-I think Ramsey-North has eligibility so that would make Haverford even stronger. I mostly know Centennial teams.

cmu ftw!

The top three will remain the same with places 4-10 up in the air. Haverford has a shot to win in all in Minnesota with Letts leading the way, especially if the sophs break through. Carnegie Mellon had a hot track season last year, especially Harvey and are always there in the end. Allegheny will be there too and Place will be tough to beat. We already know this, so we don't need to elaborate any further.

As for 4-10, let's run them down (in no particular order):

Muhlenberg: everyone wants to get upset about them making NCAAs last year. You know what, they made it and compiled a great selection committee resume that did the trick. I would suggest you all figure out what the selection committee looks at in determining at-large teams. As for the 2007 team, no seniors in the top 7, but three strong juniors who were on the NCAA team last season. 4 and 5 can help too. No vets, but plenty of experience and motivation.

Dickinson: Matt Liebal is gone, but they're deep. Karwowski ran 15:05 at 5K to end the season and he'll lead the charge. Gentile is good, Sparling is good, Morgan is a proven leader, and their 5th guy can be by committee. They have experience and have proven themselves ready to take the next step.

Johns Hopkins: They have a good #1 in Pat Brandon who's time has come to qualify as an individual for NCAAs. During track last year they had some young guys step up and contribute in mid-distance and distance races. They have put some dedication towards the running program and are making steps towards making their way to the upper echelon of the region.

E-town: Powerhouses never have off seasons. The question mark with this team will be how big will their young distance runners, who struggled at times during track last season, can step up and fill the gap Patrick Donovan left behind.

Swarthmore: Last xc season didn't end so well for them. Chaplin wasn't 100 percent and the team didn't perform very well. That being said, leadership I think is the key with this team. Chaplin was a leader on that team and when he was on so was the rest of the team. Get a leader or two in there and they can step up and perform.

The remaining contenders for top ten spots include Messiah (Eanes is good folks and will be a strong leader for them.), Susquehanna (Paul Thistle is a big time up and comer who has unlimited potential to take charge), and McDaniel (Sean Allen will lead that group after running 3:55 in the 1500 last year. He will be leading a group that has refocused and have found the fire and motivation to do well after ending strong last track season)

I wish the best of luck to everyone!

Get real. None of these teams have a shot to make Nationals. Come back when you have something relevant to bring to the discussion.

Dear "At large selection committee,"

Use some common sense. The Mideast will get 4 men's teams. Likely there will not be major changes from last years committee decision for each region's representation. Also, the mideast region last year had 3 teams in the top 12 at nats and overall went 3-10-12-29. If the mideast would only get 3 teams, what other region would get the lost spot? Based upon last year's results, they're as good upfront as any other region.

For the sake of comparison, New England also had four teams that went 7-15-17-31.

Seems like teams that got 4 teams had some similarities.

Now, comparing to the midwest that got 5 teams last year, you'll see that the midwest went 9-11-13-25-26. The midwest might be deeper, but upfront, if anything, the mideast was equal, if not better.

So "at large selection committee" common sense would tell you that unless the mideast is really down this year, which is not the case, they'll likely get 4 teams. And, as such, one of the teams that you opted to be negative about will get in.

I'm not predicting many significant changes in the number of teams each region gets compared to last year. I think the committee did a good job last year in their decisions.

I also think that the Mule Alum preview is reasonable and worthy of good conversation. Although, I would argue that due to graduation losses that Muhlenberg will have its work cut out for itself to repeat their outstanding season last year. It's not impossible though since several of the other teams also had key graduation losses.

Regionals should be a good show-down. Already there's the Allegheny - Haverford rivalry building. And where does Carnegie Mellon fit into that battle? Could they be an outside contender for the team title. And, there will be excitement for 4th place with Muhlenberg, Dickinson, Etown, Hopkins, and Swarthmore doing battle. And, let's not forget that some teams are only 1 or 2 freshmen away from being in that mix.

Ah, if it was only November today!

That's what they said about Muhlenberg last year and look what happened...and let's keep in mind that IF the conditions are less than ideal like they were last year at Regionals and Nationals, ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN! For example, just based on Allegheny's history at Nationals in 2002 and 2004, NO ONE WOULD HAVE PICKED THEM IN THE TOP 3!!! Also, no one would have expected Lacrosse to drop all the way down to 11th either.

Teams 4-10 (Muhlenberg, Dickinson, Hopkins, E-town, Swat, etc.) have to put up a strong resume for the selection committee in order to make it, but I've seen crazier things happen. One team may show up better than ever. Another might bite the dust at Lehigh on November 10. So whatever do, prepare to expect the unexpected. All you have to do is look back at the NCAA championship in Wilmington, OH last year to realize that.

Check out the new "Unofficial" NCAA Division III Cross Country/Track web-site at www.d3running.com. It even has its own message boards so that these types of discussions are easier to find and more opinions can be voiced.

How about Dickinson beating a couple ranked teams this weekend at NYU? Looks like they have a solid pack. Has anyone else opened up? Haverford seems to be in hiding like usual.

jeremy yu wrote:

How about Dickinson beating a couple ranked teams this weekend at NYU? Looks like they have a solid pack. Has anyone else opened up? Haverford seems to be in hiding like usual.

It was definitely a good performance for Dickinson, and I think through the first mile or so they had 3 in the top 5. Interesting pace strategy, but they seemed to hold on well enough. Paul Short will be the race that makes everything clearer. Most of the best regional teams were there(including Haverford I believe).

Mideast Region

Preseason

1. Haverford

2. Allegheny

3. Carnegie Mellon

4. Dickinson

5. Johns Hopkins

6. Salisbury

7. Elizabethtown

8. Swarthmore

9. Muhlenberg

10. Messiah