I'd go with soderman in the steeple or taylor in the 1500. taylor has been running really well in the last few meets, I wouldn't be that surprised if he ran 3:41. soderman hasn't raced a steeple in a few weeks, but has probably been doing mad prep work so I think he's good for an 8:48. should be interesting.
GOAPPSGO!
I think your app ties have skewed your judgement. 3:41? You say that as if its easy. You think he's going to just snap off a 3:41 like that huh? I predict that neither of those guys run the completely arbitrary times you stated.
its so funny when someone with app ties clearly affects his judgement, yet so many people with blatant non-app ties frequently predict apps demise at conference and a lot seem to agree. I dunno about 3:41, but if you knew Alex at all you would understand why it wouldn't be that all that surprising
what about 2011 cross? who has the best recruits/returners?
just off the top of my head:
App- Soderman, Moen, Taylor, Raby, Nick Kelly for the top 5 with a bunch of guys that can fill in after that. I know they got Chris Garrett who ran pretty well this past spring, not sure who after that. They might have 1 or 2 transfers also.
Chatt- Berry, vazquez (kirwa finally gone)
uncg- thompson, koech, and the new guy
davidson- hopkins, schmitt, pagonis
western- josey weaver
samford- dunno
furman- gilmer?
wofford/citadel/cofc/elon- doesn't matter.
I'd say 1/1000 odds that App doesn't extend the streak to 7. I know that seems absurd, but with a bunch of their guys getting better as the year went on and their depth- its ridiculous to think anyone else can feasibly compete.
they might not get the individual crown because of the uncg kenyan duo, but don't expect them to be as far back as they were last year. I wouldn't be surprised if it was like the last time western hosted conference.
Katam is good.
Katam just ran a 29:30 at regionals.
UNCG could take the crown this year with Katam winning and both Koech and Thompson top 5 as well.
App will have to have a VERY solid top 5 to beat the top 3 UNCG is packing.
Sorry Davidson, looks like third for you.
I guess Alex doesn't really know himself at all. If he did, he probably would have known the secret that you see by knowing him and he would have run 3:41. Either that or somebody was once again being ridiculously biased and spouting off at the mouth without thinking. People probably wouldn't be as outspoken about the App guys on here if their boys didn't come on here and hype them with ridiculous and unrealistic predictions.
wow dude did you watch the race, he probably wouldn't have run 3:41 like that guy said- but it was a sit and kick and no one ran fast. you just sound like a duche now.
as for the statement that uncg could take it, last I checked it took 5 guys to win a meet
1. App
2. UNCG
3. Davidson
4. Chatt
5. Furman
6. Elon
7. Western
8...
Same as last year except switch Davidson and Chatt since Kirwa's gone.
Kenyans aren't gonna stop App's 5th man from being over 20 places ahead of any other teams 5th man.
Not Cross Country related but anybody have any idea of what Western Carolina's splits were last night in the 4x4?
I saw on facebook the splits posted. 46.73,46.52,46.58,46.10
2011
1 katam - just better than anybody else
2 hopkins - not bad himself
3 thompson - close to hopkins but just not as strong
4 berry - he wont finish much lower than this. maybe higher
5 koech - assuming he runs. where was he outdoor?
6 soderman - doesnt seem to be able to beat the other 5 in cross
7 weaver - still the only good guy at western
8 raby - seems just off the level of the top 6
9 moen - better on the track but still pretty good
10 pagonis - underrated
I'm not going to bash katam, because he ran a great 10k- but you're going to say he wins conference even though he hasn't run cross yet, but put soderman at 6 because he "doesn't seem able to beat the other 5 in cross" ??? there is some flawed logic there. soderman, raby, and moen all improved a lot AFTER cross, but they get no credit for that because it wasn't in cross? don't get me wrong, everyone in your top 10 is good, but this is clearly slanted.
Here goes....
Based on last season xc and this past track season
First Team
1. Berry - He's got the kick.
2. Katam - Unless he takes it super hard I think he can be beat.
3. Hopkins - Always so close, yet so far from winning...
4. Raby - 4th outdoor 10k, came back to win 5k
5. Soderman - Fell off at the end of last season but definitely has the talent to be up there.
6. Thompson - Had a very sub par track season for him.
7. Koech - Krazy Kenyans.
Second Team
8. Pagonis - Good but conference is getting way better.
9. Kelly - App looking to kick ass again.
10. Taylor - Another App. guy. 3:45 1500
11. Moen - App wraps up another title
12. Caldwell - Seems to always be lagging a tad behind the top guys.
13. Weaver - Seems to have been surpassed by a good amount of guys.
14. Cotter - Good xc season but not so much track season.
Teams
1. App
2. UNCG
3. Davidson
4. Chatt
5. Furman
You are right katam hasn't run cross country yet so my comment about soderman not being able to beat the above 5 in cross country is retracted. My viewpoint is not slanted though. I am connected to a socon school but not uncg. Katam ran 29:28 and 3:51. That's probably the best range of anybody in the conference from 1500 to 10k. This leads me to believe he will be good at cross country. It also leads me to believe he will beat berry. Is that not faster than berry's 1500 PB? Either way its okay for you to disagree with my predictions and since you are from app I'm sure you can't possibly imagine how I didn't pick your crew to perfect score the meet. I think my picks are fairly objective and justified.
Appy won't win.
I agree that Katam is damn good and should be the favorite going in, I'm just saying that I don't think he'll necessarily run away with the title- I'm not saying App will perfect score it, I'm just saying that with how the ASU kids looked last year (and knowing that Soderman was running hurt after paul short during) after cross, it's hard for me to see that there won't be one in the top 3 individually. and as for the team title- with the streak where it is and the guys looking as good as they have, they are the favorite until they lose, it's as simple as that
I never predicted that Katam would run away with it, only that he would win.
I wasn't trying to say you did, I was just making my opinion known, that regardless of how fast he ran there are a bunch of other guys that have run pretty fast too; the top 10 is gonna be a hell of a race