My bet would be NAU but does Portland can a shot?
My bet would be NAU but does Portland can a shot?
No
Nopes
If they can bring in another 22 year old sophomore transfer, you bet they can.
NAU easily next year
Seriously? Next year will be a bigger battle than this year. BYU returns their entire squad (minus clinger) AND they reload with 3xfootlocker all American Conner Mantz and NXN champ Aidan Troutner.
Looks like we won't see Troutner in a BYU uniform for a couple years. Will be fun to see NXN champions Clinger and Troutner together at BYU in the distant future. You never know what kind of an affect a mission can have, for good or bad as far as running performance/commitment goes so definitely a wild card there. Will be interested to see how it all pans out.
"Troutner, who didn’t lose a race in his senior season, plans to serve an LDS mission before heading to BYU."
BYU returns the majority of a team that placed 3rd, while NAU returns the majority of a team that won by a fairly large margin, so you can see why it is a bit of a stretch to say it will be a bigger battle. Will it be closer? Sure, that's a possibility, but NAU is loaded again, had some studs redshirting or injured this year and hasn't lost a race in 2 full seasons.
So I think it’s pretty clear that the suggestion that it will be closer next year is under the assumption that BYU underperformed this year, which seems fair enough to me.
NAU ran so great at nationals that even BYUs conference performance would surely have lost... but they still had that performance and that’s more indicative of what they could do next year.
I’m terrified to see how strong BYU is next year. They’ll have 2 returning All Americans, 2 other seasoned guys, a lot left to prove, and a massive chip on their shoulder.
Way to change the subject to BYUs stellar mid season performances and away for their constant underperformance at the National meet. Let’s put this into prespective of the current college football playoff. Georgia won the SEC championship, but say Alabama wins the national title. Who’s better? Alabama. The Pilots just performed better when it truly mattered on Nov. 18th. But be my guest, start creating all the hype for BYU to fall short of.