Adam State STUNNED, US #2 places 7th in south central region, WTF happened ?!?!

No one has answered the question...how did this happen? Wasn't even close. Were they over-ranked?

in another thread someone said they may have worn just flats on a sloppy grass course and had bad traction. No idea if that's the entire explanation

UCCS, West Texas (loss to Pitt state is very bad), and CSU Pueblo have no good wins vs at large contenders. I assume this means very few chain wins as well. The South Central Region has done a poor job at seeking out of state competition and it’s going to hurt them.

The rule book is unclear… does regionals count for the net wins calculation? If so, Adams State and the teams ahead of them pick up wins via Adams beating Azusa Pacific and could open the door for at large selection.

My poor guess on how the at large bids play out.

West: 3

Midwest: 2

Central: 1 *

South: 1 (Alabama Huntsville went to the right meets)

South Central: 3 (WT and Pueblo get the last 2 bids)

*Washburn may also get in thanks to wins over Lewis. This would bump out Pueblo.

Washburn also beat Anderson, who finished 3rd at SE Region.

Beating teams only matters if it is a common opponent for you and one of the other teams under consideration. Read the manual posted earlier. And common opponents only matters if you don't have a winning/losing record against other teams under consideration. Honestly the process needs a computer program to figure out with all the secondary wins/losses and distinct chains and what not.

Most people don't understand that it is an objective computer program, not a subjective committee. Who you DON'T lose to is as important as who you beat. Second degree wins are key and so are second degree losses against you.

On the men:

UCCS, Michigan Tech, PSU, Ill-Springfield, AL-Huntsville, Washburn, West Texas AM, Lewis, Central MO, East Central OK (Central MO beating East Central by 1 point at regionals changed a lot for the teams after them).

CSUP is behind East Central at #11

Simon Fraser, Cal Poly and Biola are behind Adams at #12 because they beat Azusa who beat all of them at regionals. None of those schools competed outside of the west, only Western Washington and they were an auto team with Azusa.

I saw this and I'm skeptical that such an experienced program would make such a dumb mistake.

If regionals counts for net wins, then I think Central Missouri and East Central would both get in from the central region before Pueblo. Pueblo lost to East Central at Chile Pepper which is not good for them. I’m not convinced UCCS even gets in and might be a big blocker for the South Central region as would both West Texas and Pueblo.

I think the best head to head wins that UCCS has beating Wisconsin-Parkside, Wayne State, and Cedarville at Lucian Rosa. Highest finisher out of those was Cedarville at 8th in the Midwest. West Texas beat Northwood in Louisville which is good if the south central region makes it past UCCS. I don’t think the loss to Pitt State is a big deal because that’s the only meet where Pitt State ran an A-team all season. Pitt State only lost to Grand Valley and Lee in Louisville. Can’t say much for Pueblo and head to head wins.

Midwest gets a couple (Michigan Tech and Illinois Springfield) in straight away from wins over Huntsville. Then Huntsville gets in for beating Lewis. Washburn goes in before Lewis for head to head win, but Pitt State also beat Washburn at regionals. Lewis beat Saint Leo in Huntsville who would be in contention for an at-large after Huntsville gets in.

Not aware of and big head to head wins for Simon Fraser in the west. They placed 9th at prenats and weren’t ahead of any teams in contention for at-large bids. Their best hope is if somehow Adams over Azusa during the season makes a difference somehow and the South Central gets down to Colorado Mesa. Mesa was the best out of region victory that Simon Fraser had.

Other 4th place teams like Catawba and Davis&Elkins have wins over Roberts Wesleyan, but I don’t know if that even matters.

This year is an absolute mess trying to figure all this out

Can confirm this is true. Wore NB spikes that don't allow you to change out the actual metal spike so were forced to run with small track sized spikes on an icy, frozen course (Denver got a tonne of snow). Agree that it's a rookie mistake. Wasn't at the course but from my arm chair seems like a poor excuse for how bad they did considering the sheer talent on the team

What I posted in the other thread:

I was there.

It seemed like Adams men were trying to tempo at first/ go easy, and assumed the course would slow everyone down and they could pick people off in the later half. Dillon Powell of Mines of course did not do that and ran sub 30 (at 5200ft of altitude) on an accurate length course, stringing out the race and leaving Adams in the dust.
The women saw that and then went harder, but did seem to struggle with their shoes. But I thought most of them were wearing spikes, just new balance spikes that were a bit more slick on the bottom. (The new balance super shoe spikes I think)

Also I would say that about 75% of the course was plowed (normal grass at that point). But the men had to do 4 laps of a 2k loop so that could have worn on them more.

You do not know how this system works at all. Adams just blocked the entire West Region with their win over Azusa. No one gets out of the west until Adams does since through second tier Adams and the rest of the south central 4-6 have wins over west #4.

At-large advancers in approximate order

1. Pitt State

2. Michigan Tech

3. Illinois Springfield

4. Alabama Huntsville

5. Lewis

6. Washburn

7. UCCS

8. West Texas A&M

This is where the computer must take over. South Central teams advance due to West Texas win over Northwood. What is tough is that Pueblo lost to East Central. But, Central Missouri lost to “everyone” during the season. Northwood and rest of Midwest have no wins. West is blocked by fact that Pueblo beat Adams and Adams beat Azusa who beat rest of the west. The last 2 bids will either belong to the Central or the South Central. Pueblo loss to East Central not as bad as Central Mo losses to S&T, SBU, Emporia, Hays, and Missouri Western. For this reason I think Pueblo and Adams get in on a committee decision. The season resume and human component of the selection committee will come into play. Adams also beat all RMAC at RMAC. So have UCCS and WT wins. Let the haters start to hate.

For Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion purposes, the women:

1. Western

2. Pueblo

3. West Texas A&M

4. Colorado Christian

5. Dallas Baptist

6. Nebraska Kearney

7. Winona State

8. Minnesota Duluth

9. Northwest Missouri

10. Saginaw Valley

Rogers State blocks out the Midwest after Saginaw and opened door for the Central Region.

D1 would probably be less. D1 has the money to send kids to multiple races each week. But at a minimum they would be the same. The same number of kids can race each race. Meaning, if the team sizes are the same the % of kids that don’t race is the same.

For those saying that DII is trash, Dillon Powell (the champion) ran sub 30 on the course, which was accurate length, covered in snow, and at 5200ft altitude. He has 13:33/28:22 5k and 10k PRs. Last spring Mines had 5 sub 14 5kers and several more close to 14 flat.

Someone from Adams has a 28:12! 10k pr and finished out of the top 25 in the region. Someone else from adams has broken 8:30 in the steeple. So definitely a big deal that Adams didn’t make it, as they would leave behind some really good individuals as well.

Adams team is stacked. On top of who you mentioned, they also ran two 4:01/2 milers, a 13:4X English kid and a 13:58 guy finished 111 for them yesterday. the result is kind of mind blowing considering their track times

I was thinking Central Missouri only ran their A-team at the Stampede, but they actually did have 5 of their top 7 at both Gans Creek and SBU meets. That hurts

I know Mines is very good, but these schools good academically. I’ve never heard of some of these schools- not many DII schools in the mid- Atlantic.

Are these schools good academically?

Regardless, a disaster of epic proportions for Adams, but I heard a couple of guys were sick and stayed home. Not sure if this correct, but if so, maybe a horrible day becomes just a bad day and moving on is not in question. That said, Mines seems unstoppable. They’re so dominant. Damn impressive. And I heard they rested a top guy.

After checking times and comparing regions, what was up with the Central region? 18 people sub 30 is Kinda suspect