Who's on top in D-II XC this year?

yea Davis should be a top 6 team, while chico will prob finish around 10 like last year.

in the east, boro is the obvious favorite, but look for spence to have his team full of no-names in the top ten at nationals

Anchorage AK will field a strong team this Fall! Their #3 guy from last year went 30:20's and 14:35 on the track. They have everyone back!

how old was that balding guy with gray hair last year on your team? over 50?

So is Spence's team going to beat edinboro at nationals next year, cause they will probably be barely, if even, in the top 10.

boro is always looking for a top 5 finish. barely top 10? watts usually has his guys ready for ncaa's with some rare exceptions. ship is loaded with experienced guys. look for them to be a very solid team but lacking the frontrunner that boro has in rowe.

Try and look at who Edinboro has coming back. They have some good runners coming back but can they really beat the other teams that have equally good top runner and better 2 - 3 men. That is why they had good teams in the past, Wu and Rowe, with that lanky guy 2 years ago. From what I hear they have not gotten anyone who is foreign or a top gun this next year. Could be completly wrong but doubt it. Davis, Maybe an great lakes team or two, with Harding, Truman, and of coarse, Western, Adams, Abiline. I am probably forgetting a couple but these teams all have a shot at battling out with teams with at least 3 strong front runners. Edinboro has 1 currently.

i know of no reason why both the men and the women of western st. should not repeat as champions this year.

the Grand Valley State women\'s team. They will upset the Western State women.

who is redshirting for western?

what makes you think grand valley can beat western women????

I am from that region and have followed GV for a couple of years now. I am under the impression that one of their big runners from last year is leaving, Lindsey Mills. If she was there, GV would be a definite contender. They have the outdoor 1500 champ, and a high placing 3k girl, and a couple other girls that made the list last year in addition to Mills who made the 3k/5k/10k list last year. Who are their new recruits or are you imaging that Baltis is going to develop the girls he already has a lot more. Let us know, do not be shy.

Why is it that there is always someone who believes that the womens race will be won by some team other than Adams or Western. Or that in the mens race, some other team is going to break into the top three. Last year, who ever does the rankings had the nerve to rank the Adams men 10th in the preseason poll. Wake up people, the DII races will be decided by the same teams it has for the last four years on the mens side and the last 10 years on the womens side.

No big recruits for gvsu (on the women's side at least), but Baltes will definitely develop the talent he already has. Their depth is outstanding. Not sure if the rumors about Mills are true, if they are that will put a crimp in gv's chances at Nats. Even w/out her, their top-5 of Long, Ewing, Seckinger, Antvelink, O'Dell will be tough.

a little off topic. I'm a D2 runner who for the first time should be going to nationals as an individual. I believe the race is in Ashland, Ohio this year, on november 23rd. Does anybody who's been to D2 nationals have any general advice for the race, or what kind of times usually get all-american? assuming its a relatively flat course.

thanks--

drew

There are some surprises brewing out west this year. Chico will top Davis this time, then probably Alaska and UCSD. Like InTheKnow said though, it won't affect the usual Western, ACU, Adams domination.

watch out for north florida women. they have the 5k champ and 3-4 solid transfers to go along with her. on the mens side itll only be the same old thing if you let it be. if one of the big three runs bad and another team goes after it, whose to say they wont beat them?

after abilene, hows the rest of the south central look ?

Kezes is transferring from Western State to Western Washington University. The guy is running well right now, 24:16 last week at the Seattle Torchlight 8k, on a tough course, off of no workouts. Nobody in the western region will beat him or even get close to him and he has a good shot at taking Nat's