DII Nationals at Spokane

Central Region Scores:

Adams: 28

Western: 61

Mines: 72

That would indicate to me that Mines should get the 3rd ranking. Adams looked dominant, Western and Mines did not have a good race that day. Also Ryan Haebe did not run (injured, sick?), even if he had Adams would have still won by a lot.

1. Adams 70-100 pts

2. Western 80-110

3. Mines 90-130

4. Grand Valley 90-130

5. Chico 110-160

Should be interesting. Western should hurt them bad with their 2-3 guys at nationals. The point score doesn't show everything...big gaps in there. But Western's normal #5 was over a minute back of Adam's #5.

Definitely don't count out Mines. Western and Adams are loaded...this reminds be very much of the year when they went 1-2-3 at nationals. Adams was so dominant they made both Western and Mines look susceptible.

Mines needs a low stick. Is Glidea that guy? We know Chico has a low scorer in Chavez and there #2 as well I believe.

And that GV pack is looking strong!

Who are the random kenyans this year?? With the d2blogspot down I've only followed the RMAC.

Glorius Rop and Laban Cialo will prob be up front, Laban is almost 29 years old

Chico had 2 very low sticks last year, but their 3-5 guys destroyed their trophy hopes.

Let's not forget Western's win at conference, they definitely have a good chance to win it all but could end up anywhere from 1st to 4th with their lack of depth (never thought I'd say that about a Western team).

How are Chico's 3-5 looking this year? I know they run some fast courses.

I disagree with you completely about Westerns depth - but I AM biased. I think this is the deepest team they have had in years. For the last few years Western has had their #5 right around 40 with their #6 and #7 pretty far back. I see those back three being the best 5,6,7 since 2007.

There 4 guy won the steeple last spring...

There 5 guy ran 14:41 last spring...

There 6 guy ran 25:10 at the OSU Jamboree

The #9 ran 14:52 last spring.

Every year Western seems to turn a 15:00 kid into an all-american.

IMO, there is no chance (baring injury/act of God/DQ..etc) that anyone breaks up Western and Adams being 1 & 2. It's just a matter or who gets what place.

Thanks to the guy who posted the Kenyans. Wonder if the Kenyans will run well this fall.

Wonder how the Anchorage crew will do after everything that has happened the past week.

I gotta say, being an RMAC fan is a little boring! It's always a clear win for Western or a clear win for Adam's, but this year it is looking so neck and neck it's exciting for once! At this point, I would say no team has it in the bag, and likely both teams have huge red (or green!) X's on their backs..

Is this just a very loaded year with very fast guys, or are the times just very similar and not that fast?

Can't tell.

Either way, I can't wait to see how this plays out. The 3-5 team spots at NCAA's are going to be just a dog fight as well! For the sake of stirring the pot though, I'll give the win to Western!

1. Western

2. Adams (Sh*t, it's gonna be so close)

3. Grand Valley

4. Mines

5. Chico

6. Alaska

First off, the regional meet at Denver was everything a XC event should be. Great crowds, good running and perfect fall weather. I got it from several credible sources that the Mines #1 guy made a huge mental error and thought the race was only 8K. If you watched the event, I could believe it. He was off the front by ~5 sec @ 5 miles and finished in 8th. One could only imagine how god-awful he felt when he realized there was another 2K to run. Also, the weather in Denver has bee perfect for training since the regional meet. They almost beat Western with their #1 guy having to drag-ass in the last 1.25 miles. #3 or if a perfect day, #2. Go diggers!!!

I find this EXTREMELY hard to believe. This is Mines we are talking about....Art Siemers and co.....didn't know it was a 10k???? Seems absurd.

Not calling you a liar....just seems too weird.

And remember, Western held out Haebe.

Hoping for an RMAC sweep though!

What's everyone think about the women's race? Is Grand Valley going to dominate again or will Western or Adams take it?

bigredmachiner wrote:

I find this EXTREMELY hard to believe. This is Mines we are talking about....Art Siemers and co.....didn't know it was a 10k???? Seems absurd.

Not calling you a liar....just seems too weird.

And remember, Western held out Haebe.

Hoping for an RMAC sweep though!

I heard after the race he didn't think it was an 8k, just thought he had one less loop to go. It was a mildly confusing course in lots of looping back and forth over the same area a lot. So he still had 3k to go when he realized what he did. Lesson learned?

Western with Haebe makes a big difference, but Mines also has McLain who has never ran great at altitude. Not saying they are equal, but Mines' pack is moving up. Another thing I noticed from the Central region. Mines had the first 7th man in ahead of Western's 6 and Adam's 7. No doubt those end guys might be replaced by guys who ran better in the open, but we'll all know for sure next Saturday.

My Picks:

1. Adams(Too much up front depth for anyone to knock off at this point)

2. Mines(Back at sea level makes it a closer race for season long #s 3,4 Mclain, Drumond moving up to make the difference and hungry for improvement)

3. Western(Solid 3rd, but 5th man may be too far back)

4. Chico (Their 1-2 guys strong up front with a strong pack and having already ran a confusing course makes the difference)

5. Grand Valley(Great pack, but not very top heavy)

6. Alaska Anchorage(Chelimo for the win? Then a good pack)

It was true that Sean Gildea got confused with how much of the race was left and tried to win it at 7k, then had another 3k loop to go.

Theoretically if he won, that decreases Mines score by 7, giving them 65, and adds 2 to Westerns giving them 63.

And I realize Haebe did not run, but that suggests he may not be 100% at nationals

bigredmachiner wrote:

I find this EXTREMELY hard to believe. This is Mines we are talking about....Art Siemers and co.....didn't know it was a 10k???? Seems absurd.

Not calling you a liar....just seems too weird.

Not sure if it was a knowledge issue as much as it was an awareness issue. I could understand getting confused by the uber-spectator friendly, loopty-loop course they had at Wash Park in Denver.

Western's 5th man is their weakest in many many moons. Their 5th man last year was a sub 9 steepler.

According to the tentative weather forcast, every team that relies on the majority of their scoring positions coming from Kenyans should be bumped down a rank in the predictions.

Ropp is also in his upper 20's and I think will win the NCAAs he has shown great from all year and hasn't been pressed yet with Veiga red shirting.

Mines spokesperson wrote:

It was true that Sean Gildea got confused with how much of the race was left and tried to win it at 7k, then had another 3k loop to go.

Theoretically if he won, that decreases Mines score by 7, giving them 65, and adds 2 to Westerns giving them 63.

And I realize Haebe did not run, but that suggests he may not be 100% at nationals

First off I would like to start off by saying that Mines ran much better at Regionals than they did at Conference. After seeing their performance, I was surprised to see that they were still ranked 4th. They very much ran like the fourth ranked team at Regionals.

We could play what if all day about Gildea. He was 8th, which is one place behind what he was at Conference and there was one Augustana kid in front of him. With that being said I think that he placed just about right. If he would not have made a move even though he thought that there was not another loop. Even though he blew his wad a bit too early he was still over a minute off of the win, which is a massive amount to loose over the last 2-2.5k.

To all you posting about Mines who think that your big saviors are going to be Mack and Russell, I would think again. So fat this year, including sea level, they have not run well at all, especially Mack. Russell has fared better that Mack has, and I think that he will have a better race in Spokane.

To the other poster that thinks Mines can get 2nd on a perfect day, that would require either Western or Adams to have awful days, which, according to history, most likely will not happen. With each team healthy, it will be a battle for the title, just like it was at Conference.

Is the race going to be streamed live anywhere?

You guys hating on Westerns depth are insane!? Their 4th guy was Steeple Champion and 8th at conference, while the 5th guy ran 30:03 10k at SAC and was 10th at conference. 6 and 7 are young, but could be top 40 at NCAA's with good races...

Adam's top guys have been steadily coming back all year too. Sellers was killing it to start, and now is barely 5th at regionals.. all though in his defense, that was his worst race of the year so far, which is impressive. I'm still saying it's too close to call. Tabors killed it at regionals, but we'll see how it goes in Spokane.

Mines did look awesome at regionals, although not knowing the length of the run sounds like such a rookie mistake no competitive D2 runner would ever make it. I still think some other teams will work them out of third spot.

Haven't heard of the race being streamed anywhere, though i'd be pumped to find out.

I pretty much disagree with everything in your post.

1.If Adams win it's because of their 4 and 5 guys. Western (hypothetically) is much stronger 1-3.

2. If Mines runs to beat Western they will end up sixth. Just not in the same ball park. Western should put 3 before Gildea, and so far Western's regular 5 guy has been better than Mines 5..he had a bad race at regionals but at conference he was ahead of Mines 2nd...

3. Matter of opinion on this one I guess, but anytime your 5 guy is 10th at RMAC's....he's probably top 20 at nationals....hard to step up big two races in a row...I wouldn't count on Western's five to be off at nats like he was at regionals.

4. Sounds about right, albeit I don't think the course detail will matter much.

5. Emmorey and the other guy are close to Gildea imo.

6. Kenyan win in cold/snow...unlikely...good pack...maybe...

But hey, not trying to be a dick, it's cool to see other peoples opinions.

Let's keep it going! I as well don't know about any livestream...I'd say it's pretty unlikely. After all, it's baby nats.....