In an 8k Cross Country Race, Who Would Win - The WIAC Top 14 or the Badgers Top 14?

I'll take the first team. Duh!

How is it scored?

If 5 men score, the Badgers win easily. Malachy wins and McDonald and LeMere battle for second (I'd give the edge to McDonald but really don't know) and then Hardy, Sandvold, and Troy Smith all get in ahead of Thornton.

If 10 men score, the Badgers still win but it might be a little closer. They're so much stronger up front that they would need their 5-10 to get destroyed, which I don't think would happen. I think that even the Badgers 10 man would beat the 10th place finisher from WIAC, but I'm not familiar enough with the back end of the Badgers roster or the WIAC to know for sure. Even if I'm overestimating guys like Sandvold and Smith and underestimating guys like Thornton, I think the Badgers would still comfortably win.

This is also speaking just based off of a weak year for the Badgers and what seems like a strong year for the WIAC. I think most years it would be a complete blow out for the Badgers.

You must mean Thorson.

In a typically xc race (where 7 are scored but only top 5 count for team score) its a close race. LaMere takes the title, followed by Malachy. Then its Thorson and McDonald going for 3rd. The Badgers definitely have the depth in their top 5 that the WIAC doesn't quite have but I think Lau and Mugan were on par with Hardy this xc season and it would be a close match for 5th-7th. I can't confidently say WIAC would win, but it would be darn close. Id guess like 26-27 Badgers.

Badgers: 2nd, 4th, 5th, 8th, 9th, (11th), (12th)

WIAC: 1st, 3rd, 6th, 7th, 10th, (13th), (16th)

I don't think I get the school of thought behind Thorson beating McDonald or Hardy (or Sandvold, for that matter) and Lau and Mugan being on par with Hardy and ahead of Sandvold. McDonald is a 3:57 miler and low 7:50s 3k guy who ran well in cross, why do you think Thorson would have a shot at beating him? To the best of my knowledge they never ran on the same courses (though McDonald ran much faster for his best 8k overall) so track times are probably the best indicator, and McDonald blows Thorson away in terms of track PRs.

The same is true for Sandvold and Hardy, track times are really the only thing we have to go off of beyond mere speculation and Sandvold and Hardy are, across the board, faster than Lau and Mugan (and Thorson, for that matter). I see no evidence to suggest that Thorson would finish higher than 5th (behind LaMere, Schrobilgen, McDonald, and Hardy) and very possibly even lower than that.

I also don't think it's a given that LaMere would win. His 28:38 is certainly impressive, but I think it's debatable if it's better than 13:51 (Schrobilgen) or 7:52 and 3:57 (McDonald). I don't think it's unfair to think LaMere would win but it's far from a given, especially because I don't think he would be able to run away from the Wisconsin duo as he usually does to d3 competition.

I'll admit that the Badgers do have access to better opportunities to run fast as a big D1 program, but all of the evidence that I see suggests that the Badgers would run away with it.

Unusual question which makes me wonder: Is this even debatable due to the strength of the WIAC, the weakness of the Badgers or a combo thereof. Is there another D3 conference that is good enough to even ask if they stack up against their nearest D1 program?

UAA. WUSTL, Chicago, Emory... Don't forget MF CASE WESTERN RESERVE.

Perch wrote:

Unusual question which makes me wonder: Is this even debatable due to the strength of the WIAC, the weakness of the Badgers or a combo thereof. Is there another D3 conference that is good enough to even ask if they stack up against their nearest D1 program?

1- Malachy

2- LaMere (28:38)

3- McDonald (7:51, 14:02)

4- Hardy (4:04, 14:00)

5- Thorson (14:07, 8:11 [flat 200])

6- Sandvold (14:08, 8:02 [300m])

7- Mugan (24:09, 30:30)

8- Lau (24:18, 14:24)

9- Carpenter (24:11, 14:33, 9:03 steeple)

10- Troy Smith (14:34)

Badgers- 1, 3, 4, 6, 10.....24

WIAC- 2, 5, 7, 8, 9....31

Overall, the Badger front power takes over but the WIAC would bring in 6 before the Badger 5th.

Also, I have no clue why anyone thinks Troy Smith would finish in the top 5 of this race. Like are you trolling or what?

Malachy was injured this year. In no world is LaMere and his 14:03 speed doing any kind of damage to Malachy (a top 12 NCAA cross guy) in an 8K cross race. Maybe a 5% chance he could run away from him and a 95% chance Malachy would do what any smart racer would do - sit & relax, then out kick him.

How about this, you put the best 7 guys, WIAC and Badgers, on one team. Assuming everyone is healthy, where do they finish at 2015 D1 Nats?

14:03 speed... With a 14:06 last 5k of a 10k, I feel like he can go lower.