2019 Big Sky XC

Her sandbagging at that meet had its intended affect. It seemed to help alleviate the negative attention.

Kingrey wrote:

June Eastwood should be in the top 10. Trust me, she will end up qualifying for the NCAAs, I was there at the Inland Empire meet where she placed 7th and it looked so obvious that she was sandbagging the race, she looked like she was jogging the entire thing. I have video clips and she so stands out. She can easily win the conference if she chooses to and gives it an honest effort. She literally looks like a man with braids. So much bigger than the rest of the girls.

Montana State Men looking like they will be competitive like I suggested.....

https://www.tfrrs.org/results/xc/15292/Montana_State_Cross_Country_Classic

I'll give it to you - those results look better than expected. Utah St was missing 3 and Farnsworth, their big-name transfer, completely failed to launch. Anyone know why? But even with Utah St not putting on a good show, MSU's men did great work out there.

So the question must be asked....who is the 2nd best men's team in the conference? SUU? Weber? Or MSU?

Montana State didn't have a full squad in the race against Utah state either.

runner2121 wrote:

Montana State didn't have a full squad in the race against Utah state either.

Who are we missing? If so, that is a dangerous team.

With that being said, the race for 2nd on the men's side seems to be getting really tight:

-Montana St beats a weakened Utah St, who has received votes in the national poll, with the rumor of guys on the bench

-Southern Utah, ranked #30, places 2nd at Roy Griak to unranked Duke and Aidan Reed seems to be actually redshirting!

-Weber St was supposed to be phenomenal but Jordon Cross was only their #5 at BYU and their proximity to BYU at that meet loses a lot of luster as it turns out BYU just isn't as good as we all thought (per Dellinger results).

So....who is the favorite to be the non-NAU Big Sky Champion team??

Also, with some results in the books, here are my women's team predictions:

1. NAU

2. SUU

3. Weber

4. Montana

5. Montana State

6. Idaho State

7. Idaho

8. Portland St

9. Sacramento St

10. Eastern Washington

11. Northern Colorado

Idaho State women's team 6th? Um what results have you been looking at? Men's rankings: 1. NAU 2. Weber 3. SUU 4. Montana State 5. Idaho State 6. Northern Colorado 7. Portland State 8. Idaho 9. Eastern Washington 10.Sacramento State 11. Montana

This past weekend was a big one and should help clarify this picture quite a bit.

Some thoughts:

-Montana State's men may not be as much of a shooting star as declared on here. Props to Collin Buck - kid is the real deal

-Weber's men got a big injection of talent with the return of Christian Allen. The flip side being that Jordan Cross is nowhere to be seen. Incredible pack of guys like last year's team

-SUU's men may have just salvaged what could have been their first non-qualification to the NCAA championship in something like 7 years

-Northern Colorado might be starting to gain some steam and could live up to their potential next weekend. Still got beat handily by Idaho State down in Texas, however.

-Oh, and NAU is still good

-NAU's women are on fire. Good luck to any other team looking to win this year

-SUU's women had their first sign of weakness this weekend. Their #2 dropped from Nuttycombe which killed them

-Weber's women look like they may be faltering.

-Montana State looks weaker as well

-Montana's women looked weak on paper this weekend but they only ran 5 and their 5th blew up. Still should be decent if they travel 7

-June Eastwood might be warming up - this should be interesting

-Idaho State had a decent showing down in Texas if times are comparable to Pre Nats/Nuttycombe

Predictions:

MEN

1.NAU

2.SUU

3.Weber

4.Montana St

5. Idaho St

6. Idaho

7. Northern Colorado

big gap

8. Portland St

9. Sac St

10. Eastern Washington

11. Montana

WOMEN

1. NAU

2. SUU

3. Montana

4. Weber

5. Idaho St

6. Idaho

7. Montana St

8. Portland St

9. Sac St

10. EWU

11. Northern Colorado

TOMORROW

NAU leaving Abdi Nur, Luis Grijalva and Blaise Ferro at home for this one. Should mean their score goes from 17 or 18 up to somewhere between 22 to 25.

Who does that benefit most? SUU most likely?

How did everyone’s predictions hold up?

I see it being mostly solid.

What happened to Theo Quax? He was pretty far back. Just tempoing?

No, he looked to be racing, just didn’t seem to have a good outing at this conference meet.

What was up with the course? Was the men's race really only 8k?

Any other observations on the conference meet?

Course was a mess after snow storm. It was icey, snow covered and muddy. Not the greatest conditions for a fast race

Heard the men's course was close to 9k in the snow at altitude.

Also heard Northern Colorado put on the worst meet in history.

My observations:

NAU underperformed across the board

SUU underperformed across the board

Weber over performed

Montana St men overperformed

Idaho women overperformed

Idaho State underperformed

Northern Colorado men overperformed

The rest were as ~ expected

Shout out to Christian Allen of Weber State, top finisher out of the Big Sky at nationals in 14th place.

What makes this result even more remarkable is that I believe he came home from a mission in the summer of 2018. Didn't redshirt and still ran well last year right off a mission taking 8th place at the big sky championships in 2018.