Elon, Davidson, App, and UNCG will all be at Winthrop this weekend. Should be interesting to see if Eye Opener was a fluke for Elon and if Davidson and UNCG can compete this fall. Any predictions for the weekend?
finishing spots will be as follows amongst the conference teams:
1. App
2. Davidson
3. Elon
4. Greensboro
Davidson has a good low stick in Divinnie, and expect the rest of their team to step it up enough to beat elon, who just has a half-decent three pack.
Expect to see improvement from App's guys as they always race kind of "off" their first race.
and Greensboro just doesn't seem to be able to put it together in cross when they've got a few decent guys. maybe Savoia would run faster if there were barriers throughout the whole course.
relying on freshman will sink furman i think, cos even if the socon is not the biggest conference, its still means something to many people, and that is pressure that i think will weigh down on the freshman guys at furman.
UTC has kenyan, but in all honesty, this may be there worst team in over ten years. looking at the 5k race results, only one guy under 16:00, berry either hurt or redshirting, moore either hurt or redshirting or for some reason these two guys were not raced!
but in all honesty appy can run backwards and win. I guess the course was muddy and there guys are still doing good miles.... they will win...mitchell will rock the house.
greensboro i think will get second and the furman boys third.
UTC--7th or 8th
ELON--4th.
UTC always manages to keep the rest of the conference in suspense every season by holding some dudes out early. I agree that this looks like their most down year in awhile. Word on the street is that Louisville will be at Winthrop, so that could actually be a pretty solid meet with App coming too. I don't think App could run backwards, but they are the prohibitive favorites. It will be tougher this year for them than the past 2, though. I found it interesting that Curcio notes Samford, Davidson, Furman, and UNCG as challengers in their season preview article but leaves out UTC. Elon is not a fluke. It remains to be seen if they can improve as the season progresses. They have like 9 or 10 races on their schedule this season--crazy. I can't wait to see how things shake out at Winthrop.
Any women's team predictions?
Furman looks pretty good to challenge, but UTC is always a stronghold in the women's race. Davidson will be right up there as long as sanker can stay healthy, and App state looks even stronger than last year.
My predictions:
1. UTC
2. Furman
3. App
4. Davidson
I truly believe that there is a huge misconception that App is so much more dominant over the entire conference. SoCon overall is more balanced this year for both the men and women. Elon and Davidson are dark horses, but they certainly have some talent up front to compete. Furman always seems to make a charge come conference and I expect their few upperclassmen to be ready. Freshmen should not be an issue as we have seen countless times how much of an impact freshmen can make. Berry, Harden, Houser, and Desta. Winthrop will be interesting this weekend.
yeah but do you remember conference last year? 8 in the top 11. until something REAL is seen (not Elon's 26:20 pack), App is the overwhelming favorite. Not to mention they brought in a whole shit load of freshmen, any of which could make an impact (they got a 4:13 guy outta maryland to boot).
This weekend will show you what's up.
Those women's predictions are whack. UTC and Davidson are definitely the favorites over App and Furman. Sure, Turchin and Burns are gone, but Davidson brought in a total freshwoman stud (Gay) and their #5 from last year (Ruggieri) was a lacrosse player who never practiced with the team. Now, she's running #1 on the team until Sanker returns, which could be this weekend. UTC looked good in their home 2 mile, but we need to see a 5K before we evaluate them past that. App and Furman were way back last year at conference compared to the top 2, so the burden of proof is on them to demonstrate improvement, and I haven't seen it yet. Granted, App has Gaffney back, which is huge, but they'll need more than that.
Those women's predictions are whack. UTC and Davidson are definitely the favorites over App and Furman. Sure, Turchin and Burns are gone, but Davidson brought in a total freshwoman stud (Gay) and their #5 from last year (Ruggieri) was a lacrosse player who never practiced with the team. Now, she's running #1 on the team until Sanker returns, which could be this weekend. UTC looked good in their home 2 mile, but we need to see a 5K before we evaluate them past that. App and Furman were way back last year at conference compared to the top 2, so the burden of proof is on them to demonstrate improvement, and I haven't seen it yet. Granted, App has Gaffney back, which is huge, but they'll need more than that.
I read this message board every week and I always here about how App is not that good. But I would really like to see just one team to prove it. Every time someone puts App down they come right back and dominate. Last cross season has already been mentioned but what about indoor and outdoor? I think they went 1,3,4,5,7 in the 3k and 1,2,3,4,5 in the 5k indoor. Outdoor was even worse 10k 1-4 (not to mention they were laughing and high 5ing the whole way), Steeple- 1 and 3, 1500- 2,3,and 7, and 5k- 1,2,3,5 and 7. I may be one or two places off but the point should be clear. Each year everyone says the conference looks balanced, and at the end of the season App runs all over everyone. It would be nice to see a team surprise everyone and win conference this year (other than App of course). But App is returning I think 6 guys that run under 26min. Also, I am not an App runner or an App fan but I am calling it as I see it. I wish all of you the best of luck this season, including the boys from App and I look forward to seeing some fast times.
Dylan
I have to agree with the Dylan on this one. Everyone is looking at these first races and trying to predict what will happen in the beginning of November. Their has been a constant during the past decade, and that is that App. will always run well at conference. That does'nt mean they will always win, but they always run well. Curcio is not to worried that his runners are not breaking 26:00 minutes during the first race, because they will have quite a few in a few months.
I don't think anyone is putting down App. If you look at everyone's times from week 1 then the conference looks slightly more balanced. They've taken 3 weeks off from racing so I would expect them to be fresh for the Winthrop race. All of these predictions that App will run away or that there are a couple of teams that can beat them means nothing. Until Nov. 1, none of these races matter. App if very good and well coached, but they're is a higher number of quality runners compared to last year.
And whoever posted last years results for track was off on more than one or two. None of App's Freshmen will be on their conference squad unless something dramatic happens. They return too many quality upperclassmen.
What's the deal with chat only running two guys this weekend? Is Bill waiting to race everyone or has something gone horribly wrong with the program?
Sorry, I was indeed wrong on my track results. In the indoor 3k App actually went 1,3,4,6 and 8, and not 1,3,4,5 and 7. App also went 1,2,3,4 and 8 in the indoor 5k, and not 1,2,3,4 and 5 like I had stated. I was also off on my outdoor 5k results because they went 1,2,3,6,7 and 8, and I stated they went 1,2,3,5, and 7. I still think I did pretty well for just pulling numbers out of my head. I am sorry to all of you that ran in those races and scored. I was not putting any of you down I was just making a point that I still believe stands firm after these corrections. I think I can blame my WCU education for those errors.
Does anyone know the Winthrop results? I have been looking for them online and they are not up yet. That was the real reason I signed on. I heard from a friend Western’s top five or six went under 27 today and Hammond ran 25:20, but his little brother went 24:55. Sorry Stephen I had to put that, but great job anyway.
well chris berry actually ran unattached and got 4th 25:0x or something. but still, it does look like utc only ran 3 guys. im not sure what's up
The Winthrop results are here:
Something seems to be messed up in them though. I was at the race and saw the finish, and the way the App guys come in on the results is not how they finished at the race. I don't know many of their names, but I'm pretty sure those results are skewed. Either way though, they still had 8 guys sub 26 and one guy at 26:04. They looked really good today. Another pretty good day for Elon as well.
I was at the race also and the results are all messed up. According to a friend of mine who ran, they had several people who were randomly collecting the tags at the end of the race. Times and places are off except for the first 10 or so runners. Once the larger packs started to come in, it became too hectic I guess. App had a solid day, Elon still looks pretty good, UNCG has the talent, not sure if they can put it all together.
the results are pretty messed up indeed is the word on the street, and that app had a freshman run 25:36 at winthrop, which is on it's way to debunking what "oops" said. right now the conference competition is: App's top 9, Divinnie, and Morgan (assuming Berry is redshirting)...App beat elon by 100 points at winthrop and they didn't even have their best day, the rest of Davidson's team didn't really compete with them, and UNCG's top 2 guys were freshmen that didn't really impact the App team at all (Wyatt, Rutz, Savoia all sucked)....the conference is going to look more and more imbalanced as the season goes on, just watch and see
I actually think the Winthrop results confirm my point that App is the team to beat, especially if they have a 25:30 freshman that is added to the six guys they returned in that range from the previous year.