NIRCA Nationals '09 discussion!

ouch.. why don't you go choke on that haterade?

1

Nick Limoni

Wisconsin Track Club

25:59

My current predictions for the men's team race:

1. Wisconsin, to 80% confidence

2. Illinois

3. Oregon

4. Michigan

5. Penn State

This is based on looking at spreads. Wisconsin, assuming they have all of their guys, have six people up front and great depth backing them up in case someone has a bad day. They are beatable if they make a major tactical mistake, but only just barely. Illinois has four up front, Oregon has three, and Michigan has two. All three have pretty good depth backing up their front runners. Penn State only has one real front runner but they have excellent depth to back him up and they should have no trouble handling UVA. Clemson's giant spread will hurt them even more at Nationals than it did at the southeast Regional.

Behind the top five I expect good performances from Minnesota, UVA, UConn, and Clemson in no particular order.

I heard the UW-Oshkosh meet was actually a speed-eating competition. Entrants had to eat 25 quarter pounders w/ cheese as quickly as they could, which explains the WTC guy's victory

How is the Eagle Crest course? Fast, slow? I'm assuming it largely depends on the weather because it's a golf course.

I've heard it's pretty quick, but agree that it would definitely depend on the weather. It's gonna be slow no matter what if it rains for 3 days prior...

Wisconsin FTW!

I've never heard of NIRCA before. Are the team members undergrads or are there grad students on these teams as well?

IrunXC wrote:

I've never heard of NIRCA before. Are the team members undergrads or are there grad students on these teams as well?

mostly undergrad but there are some grad students who race as well

Penn State is going to metaphorically run a train on every single one of these teams' girlfriends. I'll be back in a few weeks to say I told you so.

Good thing I'm single right now. It should be a good race this year. I have a feeling there will be a darkhorse in the top 6 this year.

IL's club showed up to Regionals big time but I think someone had an off day (granted I'm pretty sure Barker maybe higher at NIRCA Nats then at the Regional), but IL's top guys ran better on that hilly ass course than at Loyola earlier this year. If the WTC pack is above 60 sec, the IL club might be able to nip them.

Anyone in Michigan want to go the WOLFMOTHER concert in Pontiac on the 12th... it's better then running ever will be

Yeah most of the grad students that run used to be on varsity...hence Clemson's dominance. Former varsity runners should not be allowed to race!

I feel that the ex-varsity runners make the race much better. Boosting the competition now will only help NIRCA in the future. I would be very satisfied running a personal best by 30 seconds and getting 5th than winning and running about a minute slower.

It's all about competing and having fun. I'm so grateful that NIRCA has gave me something to train for day in and out. Pushes those who are #20 on a club or #1... goals are all the same. To run together and display the amount of love we have for the sport.

The ex-varsity runners are also often the leaders and organizers for their clubs. Excluding them would do a lot of harm to those clubs and to NIRCA.

I totally agree on this. It's the reason why I hope they don't split the race into a A and B race. I rather be able to run with the best of each team rather than get stuck in the B race and not make a difference at all.

Lolz, McDonald's does have some legit babes, but I hear Burger King has way better breakfast sandwiches...

Good God guys. This is not the Apt. 10 Discussion Forum...

look everyone, you can now submit ideas for the sportsmanship award:

http://clubrunning.org/forms/sportsmanship.php