HEPS XC 2013 OFFICIAL THREAD

Men's team commentary:

Did the Dartmouth men fumble a chance at the team title? As it turned out their their 3-4-5 runners ran well enough to put the team into contention. If you score those places only it's Columbia 42, Princeton 43, and Dartmouth 45, and that's with Geohegan as Dartmouth's 3rd. For argument's sake let's move him into the top 10. That moves Gorman who had a spectacular race into 11th, and Dartmouth gets down to 43 in the 3-4-5 spots. Then the team title comes really comes down to who has the best top 2. Had we known before the race that those were the critical spots, then there is no question Dartmouth is part of the team title conversation.

Bleday and Geohegan were out in front with Korolev; they got dropped shortly after 5k and the chase back caught them at around 4 miles. From there they got blown out the back, finishing 9th and 13th. Had they held onto the 2-3 spots, Dartmouth would have beaten Columbia 48-54. At the 3 mile mark Dartmouth was actually winning the team race 44 to 47.

Princeton and Columbia's top guys were content to run in the peloton and play the odds for lowest probable team points. Both teams executed the races that gave them the best chance at the team title, and Columbia came out on top. What's notable is that Princeton beat them in the 4 and 5 spots 31 to 37, so Columbia's top 3 really delivered a knockout punch with the 2-4-5 finish. But in a big race like NCAAs those 4 and 5 runners could be much more significant. Can't wait for the rematch!

Profile wrote:

Among other things, having a runner Abbey D's focus and ability appears to have helped take the team to another level.

Okay, this is crazy, but you know what I was thinking? As someone observed above, the Big Green women had a much better chance of winning Heps in xc than in t&f.

...except that they seem to have recruited pretty effectively in the "technique" events (jumps/throws/hurdles) this year; and they have Janae Dunchack for one last year; and AD'A is likely to win whatever event(s) she enters; and obviously they have tremendous backup in the distances (their Heps 2-6 beat everyone else's 1-5).

...and this coming year has no world championship, no Pan Am games, no Olympic meet.

So it just occurred to me that *maybe* Abbey/Janae/et al. would be interested in maximizing their possible points, whether indoors or outdoors. (I think back to those two Cornell women who ran, and scored in, three distance races each last spring.)

Yeah, I know, Dartmouth finished like fifth, indoors and out, last year. But it would certainly appear that they've got the potential for a *lot* more points this time around, if they choose to go after them.

Just a thought. And I do realize that Abbey might want to think about her potential post-graduation income, and so on, and maybe that would keep her from going for max points.

OTOH, maybe she could go for a 5,000/10,000 double at NCAAs (and several "short" races at Heps)? Could anyone stop her?

Just put some highlights from the men's race up on youtube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsupYTRHX80&feature=youtu.be

Not to take away from what you're saying but if's, and's, or but's occur for every team. Just look at the winning team, Columbia. Didn't a lot of people have Sienko as their top finisher and a top 5 potential? He finished back around high-teens or 20ish if I'm not mistaken - imagine had he had the race sticking with the pack he normally runs with... then Columbia doesn't have a top 3 anymore, it is a top 4 in the top 6!

Not saying that was realistic, but c'mon, give Dartmouth their due as a very impressive team with a very good chance to make some waves at nats, but also recognize that both Princeton (Bendtsen and Udland) and Columbia are on a somewhat (ever so slightly) different level right now.

2014 Returners

Princeton 61

Yale 66

Columbia 76

Jake (Yale, '91) wrote:

Just put some highlights from the men's race up on youtube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsupYTRHX80&feature=youtu.be

Thanks for posting, Jake--finally got a look at this!

[I would have thanked you on YT itself, but apparently they don't want comments anymore...]

So--thoughts about Regionals?

My thoughts:

Princeton men take auto spots at Mid-Atlantic. Awad (Penn) earns individual bid. Princeton women might get edged out of the an auto team spot, but if they fail to get an at-large, Curham is definitely making the show.

Northeast - Columbia men win, Harvard edges out Dartmouth in team battle, Korolev wins individual and Leakos runs. Dartmouth women finish 2nd, Cornell earns at large berth, Harvard on the bubble, Waverly Neer (Columbia) gets individual bid.

Gotta think we dodged a couple of bullets on the mens side...

Princeton 60 for 2nd place in mid atlantic region, Georgetown 63 and Georgetown stays home.

Then in the northeast Iona, ranked 7th nationally, doesn't get one of the top 2 spots- Columbia edges them out 78-81 for 2nd. Problem is that Iona has only 3 regular season points (beating Stanford, Tulsa and Princeton at Prenats), so it takes them until the 28th pick to get an at-large bid, where they barely squeak by Arizona State in a common opponents tiebreaker. Then once Iona is in, Providence Dartmouth and Harvard grab the last 3 spots. But Iona was really jamming up the queue for a while and D and H almost ran out of runway.

when all is said and done though, Ivy is sending 4 teams to Terre Haute- well done!

Based on Kolas and Letsrun's projections:

Men team qualifiers:

Columbia

Princeton

Dartmouth

Harvard

Women team qualifiers:

Dartmouth

Princeton

Cornell

Individual qualifiers (my own determination based on released Kolas and Letsrun):

Thomas Awad (P)

Cleo Whiting (P)

Waverly Neer (Col)

Kevin Dooney (Y)

So far, I was able to see two Ivy graduates going to NCAAs: Sammy Silva (New Mexico-Harvard) and Abbey Levene (Colorado-Princeton), both out of the Mountain Region.

Nice work C/M!

Cornell guys ran better than at Heps and cracked the top ten at Regionals but were hit with *more* injuries (including a DNF in the race itself). They've just been snakebit. If it were all the same thing I'd have to wonder about what shoes they're wearing or maybe their training but the CU folks say it's all different kinds of stuff.

I hope the Cornell women have truly made it in to the NCAA meet. Word is that they ran a strong Regionals race but ran out of gas a bit in the last kilo. Kind of a last hurrah for their seniors. Their front four are all graduating and their junior class doesn't have much so unless they recruit insanely it could be a while before they get back to the Dance.

Penn surprised many at the Mid-Atlantic Regional race, including myself. While I did expect Awad to earn his individual bid, but seeing Brendan Smith break the top 30 individuals, and then the whole team making 4th place. I think Penn was ranked 9th in the region prior to this race. I'm glad those guys ran well. It looks like Dolan is doing something right. I'm curious on how next year will go for them - could they earn an at-large bid next year?

Congrats to all Ivy qualifiers!

The Harvard men were a big surprise to me (I don't/can't follow the selection formula), as a pretty well-beaten sixth yesterday, so props to them for making it in--great season, Crimson!

The Dartmouth women were only five deep yesterday, but of course five is all you need and they should represent the League well. I think the Big Green men will also surprise some folks.

I was surprised that the Princeton women got an at large bid, as they finished back in 5th at the regional behind some stiff competition. The girls looked a little disappointed after the race as I guess they were expecting to do better, but I hope the team selection eases that "hurt" a little.

Another nice surprise - frosh Cleo Whiting of Penn got an individual bid. She finished back in 23rd.

So how do we feel the various teams/individuals will fare this weekend?

C/M Runner wrote:

So how do we feel the various teams/individuals will fare this weekend?

Well, my beloved Big Red certainly has no pressure and, I suspect, will match or outperform their ranking going into the meet. They've had a bad run of illness/injury, and have gone with a different lineup in practically every meet; but the Regionals race was certainly their best team performance of the season, so they're going in the right direction.

The Dartmouth women just look good, and being in a virtual score-four (plus a point or two) scenario at Nationals should help them immensely. Meanwhile, I could see Columbia's men finishing in a very wide range of placings--I have to go with "wait and see" for them.

Congrats to Abbey (and Rachel)!

What happened to Waverly??! 219 and looks like she was at the rear from the start.

C/M Runner wrote:

Meanwhile, I could see Columbia's men finishing in a very wide range of placings--I have to go with "wait and see" for them.

woof wrote:

C/M Runner wrote:

Meanwhile, I could see Columbia's men finishing in a very wide range of placings--I have to go with "wait and see" for them.

I think you meant to quote BRF on that one.