D3 South Region 2007

I will guarantee you left an individual national qualifier ENTIRELY off the list.

No I didn't.

Kudos to you, Ratty T!! Your predictions may be wrong, but you certainly have balls!

Finally we showed up at UAAs. I’ve spent my entire career until this past Saturday dealing with hugely disappointing cross country performances at the UAA championships. After it set in that we accomplished our goal of finishing 4th in the toughest conference in division III cross country, I called my girlfriend to relay the good news. At first I couldn’t understand why she seemed so indifferent. After all we had just beaten teams like Wash U and Chicago that have had our number for as long as I can remember. But to the innocent bystander 4th place in a conference of eight teams appears to be a huge failure.

As I’ve said in past blogs, division III cross country isn’t about the innocent bystander but rather its about those intimately involved. Only a very select group of people can understand how great of accomplishment going from 8th in the UAA to 4th in the UAA in one year really is. An even smaller percentage of people can really understand how great Paul Winterhalter’s performance this past Saturday was. Paul displayed a sense of maturity in the past week that very few people possess. The way he conducted himself in the face of adversity just confirms my belief that Paul will be a great captain of the best team in Emory history in two years.

While this weekend was great, I think we can be even better. As Carl said, while the results were almost unbelievable, the race was an A- and not an A. In my mind there are several ways this team can do even better. While Paul had an awesome race, he has done nothing in workouts or previous races to lead me to believe that he is far better than anyone in our top five. Paul’s performance should open the eyes of some guys in our top group. While Vik, Charlie and I had decent races I know the three of us can and will do better. I also expect a little more out of myself. I outkicked 2 guys in the last 100 meters this past weekend. If the UAA cross country race was 100 meters I would finish last every time. Which says to me I didn’t push enough earlier in the race. That won’t happen again.

Finally, the biggest reason that we’re gonna be even better than we have been is Tommy Fyffe. I still believe in this kid for this season. He has given me no indication other than a few poor races that he can’t hang with our top group. The kid was 4th in the region last year. I actually think he’s working out better now than he was at this point last year. I honestly believe Tommy can still be our top guy at regionals and nationals if some things go right for him. When the few factors that can make our team even better than we have been come together I know we’ll surpass all of my expectations. I’m pumped! The regional countdown is on.

I'm just not sure that Emory's team is handsome enough to beat Rhodes. Sure, they look better on paper, but in person Alex Mahoney's golden locks look unbeatable. My prediction is that the entire Emory pack is distracted by Mahoney's rugged, brawny handsomeness and falls apart around mile 3.

The UAA is not the best cross country conference in DIII. Considering results from the last decade at National meets I would put the WIAC, NESCAC, IIAC, MIAC, and OAC in front of them. Nice try. Now academically yes, but not athletically.

Right now the UAA has 6 teams in the top 39(how many teams received votes) in the rankings compared to 3 from the WIAC and 4 from the NESCAC.

Also, the NESCAC's top ranked team is ranked 13th, compared to 2nd from the UAA.

2 from the IIAC, with the top team being ranked 26th.

Only one team from the MIAC is ranked, and only 3 teams from the OAC are ranked.

I would say that puts the UAA as the best conference in DIII right now from the top (NYU ranked 2nd), to the bottom (University of Chicago)who finished only 49 points Emory which is ranked 32nd right now.

The NESCACs worst team (Colby) finished a whopping 180 points behind Trinity which is currently the 31st ranked team.

The WIACs worst team (U of W-River Falls) had their second man run over 27:00 minutes, where as University of Chicago's 5th man ran 26:52 on a slow, wet day. (Sigl ran 24:11 as opposed to NYU's Williams running 25:02, both being very elite runners). Finally, the OAC's worst team (Capital) is just terrible.

All of this mostly pertains to the conference meets. I find it hard to believe that you could still say that all these conferences are better then the UAA.

What about Apgar

he'll run so fast that he catches on fire by the second mile. DNF for agpar.

whos agpar

i scored perfect on the apgar test.

dude, did you even look at the usa south results?

1. Tyler (42)

2. Emory (82)

3. Rhodes (135)

4. UMW (147)

5. Centre (151)

6. W&L (165)

7. McMurry (172)

8. Bridgewater (189)

9. Lynchburg (204)

10. Trinity (237)

11. Sewanee (302)

None of these teams are good. UT-Tyler may perform decent, but that is it. All of these other teams essentially steal trips to national meets. I know this is brought up every year, but when someone tries to boast about their team and they are in the South region something needs to be said. When was the last time a runner or a team from the South region contended for a national title? Better yet, no team from the South region has garnered a top ten performance at Nats. Again, nice try Emory. We can do a top ten performance by conference if it will make you feel better. Since NYU has been tough the past two years and Carnegie Mellon has a good program, but you will lose that argument as well. Stick to the books.

Actually I did, but only to see how CNU and Nasiro Sigo did. The other teams just have no chance to do anything at the regional meet, so I don't track them. I think there's a freshman from Shenadoah who's good and maybe someone from Greensboro. Post their names and times if you want to give them some attention.

Phil Hagedorn (sp?) from Emory was 9th I think one year (2004?). Thats the best finish I can remember from the south region.

i don't think you'll find anybody on here claiming south region teams are vying for championships. ut tyler and emory will go to nationals, they will beat other teams, and possibly get into the top 25. they WILL beat teams at nationals so this whole "essentially stealing trips" talk is bs. come talk to me when south region teams get the last 2 spots at nationals, then you'd have an argument

i don't think you'll find anybody on here claiming south region teams are vying for championships. ut tyler and emory will go to nationals, they will beat other teams, and possibly get into the top 25. contrary to your belief, they WILL beat teams at nationals so this whole "essentially stealing trips" talk is bs. come talk to me when south region teams get the last 2 spots at nationals, then you'd have an argument

my bad on the double post

I ran for methodist last year. I have to say that on any given day Hussian can run with the best. I know he has taken some bad beats but the kids got alot of heart. I want to say that if he can keep it an honest race for 7k then he is one of the fastest closer's I've ever seen. I don't know to much about the south region because even tho I was all conference last year my coach did'nt allow me to run at regionals. Also don't under estimiate the CNU guys, I raced againest many of them in high school and I think that they could be right up thier on a good day to. Over all I can't wait to see the race this weekend.

Actually, here is the argument. It's not that the south teams can beat a team or two at nationals. It's that other teams aren't making it that can beat teams in the south. SCAC is usually a good example. Last year, depauw beat rhodes and centre, colorado college beat centre, but both rhodes and centre make it and neither depauw nor colorado college did.