He hadn't faced the whitewater guys yet. Wouldn't be terribly suprising that a frosh, tried to go with them, couldn't and then lost to some guys he normally beats.
He hadn't faced the whitewater guys yet. Wouldn't be terribly suprising that a frosh, tried to go with them, couldn't and then lost to some guys he normally beats.
It’s also possible he just didn’t really care about winning regions? He beat the two lacrosse guys ahead of him in Lacrosse and beat Olaf guys like 3 times. Maybe his peak was poorly timed or regions in a meaningless step and he did exactly what he needed to do to qualify for nationals and stay fresh.
maybe it was a bad race, maybe it was planned, maybe a bit of both. Still curious how he does at nationals. I’d bet quite a bit he makes all-American and wouldn’t bet against him being top 5ish or even winning if everything came together right
He hadn't faced the whitewater guys yet. Wouldn't be terribly suprising that a frosh, tried to go with them, couldn't and then lost to some guys he normally beats.
The North Region in NCAA Division 3 is one of the strongest, if not the strongest in the nation for cross country. 33 teams on the women’s side and 28 teams ...
Yeah I see what you're saying. He was in a group of 9, then two Lacrosse and two Whitewater guys pulled away, so then he was in 5th. After that two Olaf guys picked him off. Kinda interesting he puts his arm up as if he won, placing 7th, seems odd to do after winning every race but one this season. Was he coasting like the D1 guys do?
Haverford, a regional champion from the Metro, placed 2nd to last by a large margin only to beat WPI who themselves were beaten handily and did not belong in the field. Every 5 who got in from Mideast (Amherst), North (St. Olaf), and Midwest (Loras) beat Haverford. They may have been missing 1-2 of their runners, but this disproves your point entirely. If you want to let in the likes of SUNY Brockport or Swarthmore over Calvin or Washington (Mo.) then you are penalizing teams based on geographic region and nothing more than that. The best teams from Regionals deserve to go to nationals, and if the team deserves to go then they will run a good enough race to make it. It is not a perfect system but it's the best we got.
That was an incredible underperformance by Haverford. They beat JHU (who finished 24th at nationals) at their conference meet last year, so while they would still have been bottom 12 in all likelihood and the Metro is trash on the whole, they were nowhere near as bad as WPI (at least on paper going into the meet)
last year was their weakest team in a very long time, and they also had illness on race day. so no wonder they had a poor result. this year they are better.
My prediction as an infromed Brandeis University Cross Country Athlete:
Christopher Collet will not be able to wave his arms in victory 200 meters before the finish due to a decisive kick from Alex Phillip.
Wartburg as per usual will choke and get 12th-7th by sending their entire team to be glorified pacers for the first 5,000 meters only to fall into the void.
MIT is overinflated in terms of prowess. Top 3-4, but unlikely to win. Good pick for podium.
Braden Nicholson from North Central will be in the Top 5, I find it hard to say Top 3, but on a good day, he in the conversation to be runner up or 3rd.
And now for my most controversial: Pomona-Pitzer will not win the National Championship. I think they are an incredibly deep team, whose B team could easily be Top 5 in the nation if the coach wanted to run them. As me writing this, in California it is 63 and sunny with no wind. The conditions in East Lansing will be something they have never encountered. There are plenty of Eastern and Midwestern teams who have been exposed to this weather for 2-3 weeks already and have adjusted. I also considering that Pomona relatively little competition in comparison to Midwestern and Eastern teams, they will have to run extremely smart to win. Some teams are going to take it out to them.
I see something special from another team, one which has been peaking their abilities and is ready to go for the National Championship, North Central. They too have a super deep team when comparing them to Pomona-Pitzer, however, it is another aspect which makes them the favorite for me. They run incredibly smart. They are a work-up come from behind fight like hell type of team when on the course. Unlike other teams in the Midwestern region, in particular Wartburg who tends to run from the front and slowly drop off as time goes on. As a student of Brandeis University, I have not witnessed Pomona-Pitzer run, so I can't make claims about their team's chemistry, but considering that they will be in a foreign enviroment where the temperture will hover around 18 degrees when the gun goes off, and the fact that the competition will be taking it out to them from the start, I easily see a situation where the Midwestern and Eastern teams aclimated to the enviroment and who are just as fast will panic Pomona-Pitzer into running off their strategy or running too fast from the start.
Time will tell!
I've actually heard that Wartburg's men will be taking the race out in 4:30 this year looking to break the field early
That is sneaky, most of the other runners will be starting @ 11:00
Alex Philip will not win the DIII XC Championship race. When he Writes a C on his wrist it will be smudged off by the snow. He will not know what to do and will crawl up into a ball and cry.
Looking like four inches of snow through Saturday and the course already has snow on it. Has the NCAA shared a plan of how they’ll handle this or should we expect ankle deep snow the whole race? Will we be allowed on the course to practice?
Same question. What size spikes does someone wear with snow on the course? 3/8? I've run in some cold weather but not snow like that.
Looking like four inches of snow through Saturday and the course already has snow on it. Has the NCAA shared a plan of how they’ll handle this or should we expect ankle deep snow the whole race? Will we be allowed on the course to practice?
Same question. What size spikes does someone wear with snow on the course? 3/8? I've run in some cold weather but not snow like that.
1/2" or 5/8" depends on course, frozen, muddy or both.
Alex Philip will not win the DIII XC Championship race. When he Writes a C on his wrist it will be smudged off by the snow. He will not know what to do and will crawl up into a ball and cry.
This is correct. I am winning the DIII XC title this year.
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