Short notes:
Walsh - giving the C squad the experience of riding the bus to a meet.
Cedarville - need Ramen healthy to remain in GMAC contention. Good to see Leist back for a fast workout. We will see how he and Kelly stack up to Walsh and Fisher at All-Ohio
Hillsdale - the chargers are notorious for their weak openers, XC and track. Obviously ran the JV squad, unlikely any of this weeks racers will make the regional squad.
But mainly, we need to discus Findlay. The oilers are way overhyped this year. The most notable problem being their 4-5. Everybody but fisher, dehaven, and foster ran this Friday, and their fastest guy went 5:18 pace for 6k. Granted, the course is not fast, but unless something changes they will have a difficult time fending off Northwood and Tiffin.
But what’s more, Fisher is the only one of their top 3 to prove themselves in XC. Foster 13 @ GMAC and 42 @ regional, dehaven lacks notable 8k/10k times. Not to mention Fisher will have his hands full up front with the likes of veteran Zane Aldrich and hotshot freshman Hayden McDermott of Wesleyan.
All of these factors will land the Oilers no better then 5th at GMACs and 13th at regionals. And that is assuming none of their top 3 have an off day
Next week we get Malone and Northwood dueling it out on the timberwolves home course. Time to see if coach Hatchet has any tricks up his sleeve, or if his program has arrived at the end of the long red line.