The Official D3 XC Thread 2012

I was told that they are removing the cap of 5 teams. I am not sure if this was happening this year or next. It would make things very interesting.

fwqt3wte wrote:Seriously? So the whole last mile of the course the men had to weave through the women's pack? This must have been mass chaos.

The men's race turns off from the main loop for the finish (~300-400m to go) when the women still have a mile to go (continuing on the main loop). So the leading men would be only passing the slowest women (people hitting 24-25 mins or more for 3 miles) before heading for the finish. Which, while annoying, is different than having to pass the entire women's field. The finish for the women merges with the same straightaway as the men from the left with about 150m to go and the women finishing tended to stay on the left side of the course (from what I saw). The finishing straightaway is wide enough where there was no problem there.

It was certainly a sight to behold, though. Especially considering you had the leading women finish (23:mid on the clock, 21:mid for their race) and then a minute later the leading men finish.

Seems like a year that shows why they need to. Clam Evans predictions only add up to 30- leaving an extra 2 teams out there. Great Lakes, Central, South, and West all seem incredibly undeserving. Wonder who will grab the other bids.

Huh, I thought it was only 30

Yeah the bottom 4 regions don't deserve any more spots. Let's just do 30 this year

Something interesting to note about Oshkosh...

Calvin beat North Central without two potential top ten runners in Matt VanderRoest (took 6th at Notre Dame) and Nick Kramer. Kerr, Kramer, and VanderRoest could all potentially be top 10 guys at nationals this year.

John Crain ran for NCC but didn't do so hot. He took 39th with a 25:55.

Kramer has only run one race this year, I believe. It was Calvin's first race in September. I am curious if he will be racing come Nationals.

Perez, NCC's top guy from last year has run one race this year. He ran in early October. Will be curious to see if he is racing this year.

If one team gets their top guy back but the other team does not it will definitely shift the team race in a major way.

I've heard many rumors that Kramer is injured and done for the year. Perez ran at Oshkosh and did not look good at all. It doesn't look like he will even be a factor come Natties

I wouldn't speak so soon. Some guys are just bad in the mud.

Guys like Kramer, Perez, Crain, and Vander Roest all can be major players if they get healthy. No matter how Crain or Perez looked at Oshkosh (mud could very well have been a factor) or the fact that Kramer and Vander Roest both didn't race, we're talking about top end people. Kramer's a national champion and has a 8:50/14:07 credit. He could sit out all season and still probably be top 20 at nationals. Perez was 5th last year so that has to count for something. And Crain and Vander Roest are both sub 14:30 guys. Could be very interesting matchup depending whose on that line come nationals

Is the 5 team cap for regions done for this year? If so Midwest is gon take all the wildcards

According to this

http://www.ustfccca.org/division-iii/division-iii-proposals

the cap has been removed. Unless I'm reading it wrong

Clam Evans wrote:

According to this

http://www.ustfccca.org/division-iii/division-iii-proposals

the cap has been removed. Unless I'm reading it wrong

i haven't heard anything about this. I'm guessing the "date of action" of june 2012 would be too late to implement for the 2012 season, so perhaps it's a change for 2013?

caps? wrote:i haven't heard anything about this. I'm guessing the "date of action" of june 2012 would be too late to implement for the 2012 season, so perhaps it's a change for 2013?

"Remove the cap of 5 (five) teams per region for the 2012 NCAA Cross Country Championships."

This year. Supposedly at least.

Implemented sounds like it should be in for this season. Weird, really haven't heard anything.

Clam Evans wrote:

According to this

http://www.ustfccca.org/division-iii/division-iii-proposals

the cap has been removed. Unless I'm reading it wrong

Definitely seems to be in place for this year.

Seems as though we're moving to a system similar to the new track one: 2 from each region then the next 16 teams from the final national poll. From the last poll, regions seem to be getting:

Midwest - 9

New England - 6

Mideast - 5

Atlantic - 4

Great Lakes - 2

West - 2

Central - 2

South - 2

Anyone know for a fact that the cap is gone?

I think getting rid of the 5 team cap makes a lot of sense, but personally I would also like to get rid of the 2 team minimum per region, maybe make it 1 team. Also, if they go based on the national rankings I think their system needs an overhaul. If you ran nationals tomorrow those rankings would be way off. That said, after the conference and regional meets I guess the rankings become much more accurate.

How is this something we're just finding out in the middle of October? I hope the NCAA promoted this to coaches, because it has a pretty substantial effect on how you plan out a season.

Yeah it really makes a difference as to how you peak at nationals???????

If you're a bubble team you still have to run your best race of the year at regionals???