Official 2014 DIII Cross Country Thread

I would put NCC in the contention for the championship if half of their top returning runners didn't blow up every other race.

Dickshinski - every national race

Morrison - middle of every season

Sebhat - who?

Root - acually kinda good

NCC needs to getta grip or Keith Sands might end up top 5 at conference

Also, isn't it getting a little late for you north central boys? Don't wanna miss class tomorrow you quarter system chums

DFL or not, I still made my rounds to the Oshkosh and Lacrosse women's hotel rooms later that night, giggity. They were saying DFL, but totally meant d!CK f***ing large

not.."The Real Keith Sands" wrote:

DFL or not, I still made my rounds to the Oshkosh and Lacrosse women's hotel rooms later that night, giggity. They were saying DFL, but totally meant d!CK f***ing large

If it's already descended this far in June, where will this thread be in November?

This post is an official plea begging for change- lest this thread spirals into an area of desolation and demise in which no one feels like posting and the utter idea of D3 cross country is ignored...

I have sat back and watched this thread in its infancy and have found everyone contributing to be severely lacking. A good division 3 cross country thread is made up of a combination of those few who actually know what they are talking about and attempt to make valid and relevant posts about predictions and talk about which teams will grace the podium. This small group of actually intelligent and caring people are often dwarfed by a group of trolls who with celebrated wit and pomp create post after post of laughable and sometimes almost believable stories that capture us and make us wonder hmmm, I wonder if Padgett is actually transferring, or hmm, I wonder if the La Crosse team actually has power walks as part of their training regime. There is always the group of homers that no one likes- the individuals who come on to say "hey, watch out for the boys from Wabash, they may even make nationals this year" or the ever present Atlantic-biased posters talking about each of their teams as if they would be relevant on the national stage. And finally, we have the D1 wannabees or those outsiders or old geezers who are jealous and feel threatened by us D3 folk that they feel the need to come talk crap and shower us with "D3 runners are babies" posts. Even they have a role in the ever-growing and always interesting D3 cross country thread...

However, what do I find when I sit down on my computer, pull up my Letsrun message board and click on the "Official 2014 DIII Cross Country Thread"? A bunch of bullsh*t so far, that's what. We have one poster sucking St. Olaf's dick while another is sucking North Centrals. The trolls are ABSOLUTE CRAP- some of the worst I have ever seen on this message board. Keith Sands? Really? I expect much better from everyone involved here. If we are going to make this thread a joke, lets at least make it a hilarious one on par with the ancient "D3 girls train hard/party hard" threads. Those were threads filled with so much yes that they should be required reading at every D3 college in the nation.

So I end with my final plea- let us all sit back and take a look in the mirror and truly ask ourselves if we are being the best we can be. Either a homer, a troll, or an actually intelligent poster- are we actually doing our job? Hopefully, we can turn this around and make this a thread actually worth reading.

Anyways, that's all on my end right now. I have to start thinking of clever ways to talk up how good my son and the Tufts team are going to be this year- right before they blow up at nationals again.

#gojumbos

Well I don't know know what we're supposed to do now. These threads either talk about Keith killing that 9:08 steeple or we talk about Padgett breaking bread. Personally, I think we should talk about both because North Central still has school till next Wednesday and I'm bored. But no matter what, it's all good because WE'RE ALL FRIENDS HERE

But in all honesty, I'm a Keith Sands fan so I guess I'm bias #CCIWtakeoverbros #BreakBreadorBreakBitches

First off, thanks for adding this thread to the message board. Second, nice job everyone who ran at the Division 3 2014 Outdoor National track championships at Ohio Wesleyan. Also, how is everyone's training going?

-ddfrancheesy #therealderekrubis

Augies,

Hate to preach, but please remember that whatever you say in a public forum reflects on the program. Even if promoting your teammate on the boards is supposed to be positive, it just ends up being troll bait. Don't forget what it means to wear the jersey, and when in doubt, ask WWOD (What Would Ols' Do?).

Mike Tisza, Class of 2012

New England Region:

1) Williams - (Placed 1st, return 3 of 5) Cotton and Mazaheri could go 1,2 in the region. Inde, Ford, and Townsend (if he can stay healthy for once) will make a solid top-5. Plus, they're deep and always bring in a solid freshmen class. Lastly, they have home-course advantage. They will be extremely hard to beat at regional.

2) Colby - (Placed 6th, return 5 of 5) Chelimo and Hale has great outdoor seasons. Chelimo is my dark horse to challenge Cotton for the regional crown. The only question regarding Colby is the status of Silas Eastman. Where has he been??

3) MIT - (Placed 3rd, return 4 of 5) They lose Wedge, which will certainly hurt them, but have some great second-year and senior runners in Deyo (7th last year) and Beyer, and Leung and Xie--who had an "off" race last year at USM.

ABOVE: Teams that will contend for top 10 at Nationals

BELOW: Teams that will contend for advancing to Nationals

4) Tufts - (Placed 4th, return 2 of 5) Tufts loses a lot--Shapero (12th last year), Wallis, and Norton. But their depth will carry them to a top five finish.

5) Amherst - (Placed 8th, return 4 of 5) This is a wildcard pick really. They return a solid, experienced core led by Crowley (18th last year). Really just think that Middlebury, Bowdoin, and Bates lose too much to be able to pull off a top 5 finish.

Bowdoin (Placed 7th), Bates (placed 5th), and Midd (Placed 2nd) all lose a lot, but are great programs and will contend for the 5th spot.

Others:

Keene State (9th last year) loses their top 3 runners, but will hopefully get much more out of Ryan Brady this season at regional.

Conn College (12th last year) Obviously they are taking a hit losing last season's individual champ, LeDuc. However, they return everyone else from what was a young conglomerate. If things go well, I could see them placing as high as fourth.

If Chelimo continues to improve over the summer and learns how to even-split a race, he could be a threat at the National level as well. I think Silas Eastman is a skier. He will be up there with Chilemo. Can't believe I'm saying this but if things go well for Colby they could be around 6th.

Dark-horses aside, Cotton and Mazaheri are definitely the top two coming out of New England.

I don't know about that other stuff, but Lacrosse definitely does Powerwalk Fridays #walkhard

Ok city

SOU

St Francis

Root has eligibility in cross, I think they're only losing Crain, Klein and Hird

burntout wrote:

That can be a double edged sword, though, as situations like this can cause teammates to run eachother into the ground

Indeed, see this recent footage of Brown and Wintheiser training together.

As much as it pains me to make a non-satire filled post about Johnny Hopkins....

They could be extremely strong; certainly the favorite in the Mideast Region.

However, their likely 1-2 (Schaf and Carey) are both incredibly inconsistent in cross. Carey was 10th at the centennial conference meet in 2012, and finished behind Dickinson's 6th runner at the regional meet two weeks later, ostensibly earning himself a boot from the nationals squad from Bobby V. Schaf is either a 14:44/all regional performer, or a complete bomb (8th place at Mideast last year, 159th at nattys). If these two can run true to their form, however, and the rest of their returning squad runs up to par, they are certainly a top 5 team.

None of this is likely to happen, however, due to the graduation of Weston "The King of Tinder" Butler. Without his polarizing force in the locker room every day, and his constant boosting of Carey's ego, I don't think the boys in blue will be able to tie their spikes properly, never mind contend for a podium position at nationals.

Ready for the dime to make it resurgence?

Looks like the Centennial Conference has come out to play on the boards already, but with the end of the Weston Butler era, how will its runners amuse themselves and troll the DIII boards of letsrun?

The conference did send 3 teams to Nattys in 2013, but repeating that feat this year will be quite the challenge.

Haverford is not as loaded as they have been in years past, losing Stadler and Avi "Tiger" Bregman (who were 2nd and 5th respectively at regionals last year) will have a serious impact. Marquardt came on strong late in the season and had a very solid outdoor season, and will be the top returner for the Goats. Joel Christian rebounded well outdoors after a disappointing XC season, Fujimori and Gorman will also be looking to build on successful track campaigns and carry that momentum into cross. Mike Brier had a solid freshman track season after, and Tom Donnelly knows what he's doing, so he could be an X-factor when it comes to the Goats punching their ticket to Nattys come November. I'm throwing Nick Gandolfo-Lucia in there just because that is an awesome name.

Hopkins, as Mr. Omar's Comin' mentioned, lost 2 of their top three in Robinson and Saliani, but will be regaining the services of one Mr. Andrew J. Carey after he missed last season due to a calf injury. More of a middle-distance runner than a true XC guy, Carey has had his share of ups and downs on the XC course, although if he does what he needs to do for cross he could have a huge impact JHU's postseason performance. Stefan Arnold had a very solid freshman year and raced very well at the regional meet, despite a lackluster performance to end the season at the Greater Baltimore Last Chance Shootout, he and Carey could be the deciding factors when it comes to how well the J's place late in the season. Stecklair and Ceruzzi will likely be the other member's of their top 5, and could be right around Arnold, as Stecklair finished just behind him at regionals. The other two spots for them seem pretty wide open.

The second place team in the region was Dickinson College. Dickinson lost a large number of seniors from last year's squad (4 of 7), including Ryan Steinbock, who placed 14th at Nationals in 2013. Last year's Dickinson team was a very deep squad that overcame numerous injuries late in the season to secure an auto bid to Nationals. This year's iteration is very talented, but may not be quite as deep. That being said, Regionals will be held at Dickinson's Big Spring course for the second time in three years, a factor that will be in the Red Devil's favor. Dickinson has a trio of seniors that will be tough to stop when they are at full strength. The Devils also have a solid junior class that will be eager to step up and take on a bigger role by helping to fill out the top five, along with a surprise guest from the jungle who is eager to get back in the XC game.

This year Swarthmore may play the Katy Perry (get it, dark horse? I'm really funny guys). Swat had a very solid showing at the 2013 Mideast Regional meet and several of their runners had breakout seasons this outdoor. Sid Kakkar, Spencer Friske and Mike McConnville will be trying to help Swat build on their success at Regionals last year, but they don't have their depth isn't there quite yet.

Carnegie Mellon has a shot as well, although they lost several seniors from last year's squad. Widener, could be a threat depending on how their 1500m guys run this XC season after putting up some quick times on the track in 2014. Allegheny is another team to watch out for, the Gators lose Regional Champion Bobby Over, but still have Logan Steiner, who had a very strong outdoor season, some of their young guys will have to step up, but they are a team to keep an eye on as the season rolls along.

Feel free to add more teams to this, I got lazy at the end.

Long live Spirit Bear!

There is always going to be speculation in June. "These guys are going to make a leap in their training," people will say. "This team returns a lot of strong runners," others might add. "Just look at how good their 5K depth was this past outdoor season!" a few might toss in.

But we're forgetting the point here. We need to focus on the national contenders. We need to debate who is going to be the national champion runner in November. And for that we must look to clearly established runners over the past few years -- I'm talking about the returning All-Americans, the heavy hitters, the BIG names.

And so we sit here, twiddling our thumbs, sipping coffee, and pondering who is going to cross the line in first. But nobody has mentioned the obvious. Nobody has dared whisper to the 300 pound gorilla in the room. We need to face the facts:

Drew Padgett can't even eat bread, let alone win a national championship.

/thread #glutentakeoverbro