Official 2014 DIII Cross Country Thread

I don't think anyone here is really underestimating Wintheiser at all. He has gotten 3rd the last two years and I feel most of the posters would agree that he is a lock for top 5 again this year. National favorite? I don't know if you can make the judgment. He has narrowly beaten Horton and has beaten Thorson both times.

However, he has yet to race the other studs such as Cotton, Padgett (who is potentially injured?), Kelleher/Sebhat, etc. I would say on Wintheiser's best day, he can win nationals, and at his worst he is 5th. That is not exactly underrated in any regard..

Yeahhhh wrote:

I don't think anyone here is really underestimating Wintheiser at all. He has gotten 3rd the last two years and I feel most of the posters would agree that he is a lock for top 5 again this year. National favorite? I don't know if you can make the judgment. He has narrowly beaten Horton and has beaten Thorson both times.

However, he has yet to race the other studs such as Cotton, Padgett (who is potentially injured?), Kelleher/Sebhat, etc. I would say on Wintheiser's best day, he can win nationals, and at his worst he is 5th. That is not exactly underrated in any regard..

It's worth noting that the only two guys who have beaten Wintheiser this year are Elisha Kipruto and Frankline Tonui, two really good juco runners. Tonui was top-10 at Arkansas's Chili Pepper Invite and Kipruto was top-20-- they both would have scored for Arkansas. Neither beat Wintheiser by much at LaCrosse.

Do you personally know Grant?

No.

http://www.runnersworld.com/college-runner-profiles/5-minutes-with-grant-wintheiser

RT: You’ve had success on the track, though not as much as in cross country. Are you looking ahead to track yet?

GW: Yeah, I’ve been hurt during track seasons. Indoor last year I was on the bike a lot and I wasn’t able to get in the mileage I needed to run as well as I could outdoors. Freshman year I had some injuries, too. But I’m feeling good coming off cross. I’m definitely taking some time down because the last couple years have shown me that if I don’t, it comes back to bite me. But I’m excited for the track seasons coming up.

RT: Are you looking at focusing on the 5K outdoors or possibly moving up to the 10K?

GW: Yeah, mostly the 5K, but if I get the training in that I want, ideally I’ll move up to the 10K because I feel the longer stuff helps me more. But we’ll see if I get the training in to run the kind of 10K that I want.

RT: And next fall you’ll have five of your top seven back, so things should be looking good for another strong season.

GW: Yeah, our goal is definitely to win it again. But no matter how good you are, it always takes everything falling into the right place. I feel we’ll have the talent to do it again, but we beat North Central when they were expected to win, so even when you’re heavily favored everything’s got to fall into place for that to happen. But it’s definitely the goal.

So yeah, he was talking about 2014 in that interview and he didn't end up trying the 10,000. So maybe next spring, but I think he can do something special in the 5,000.

And I do think a lot of recent posts have underestimated how fast he is. Cross country is a tricky thing. He's won most of his races, but it's impossible to compare times, until you actually put people in a race together. I haven't seen the races, so I don't know if he runs part of the race with teammates to help pace them before picking it up in the end. I assume he did run hard when he had Kipruto and Tonui to chase, and it was a good result, just 4-6 seconds behind them.

Mark my words, If NCC doesn't put 4 in the top 15 I will attempt to eat my own spikes. Teams all around the country have strong front runners but the biggest difference is that their 5-6-7 are better than almost any teams 3rd

Shake on it?

Watch it. I hear he's pretty slippery

Whatever happened to those McGowan twins?

Started strong but have only gotten slower. Might not even make it out of the region.

The course the mcgowan twins ran at Dartmouth was a new course and, from what I've heard, very short. They have been consistent throughout the year, but do not seem to have figured out the 8k yet. They will probably be more of a factor next year.

Who's the damn dark horse? UWL? They are drinking this weekend so maybe it'll pay off. Or maybe Eau Claire. Thorson has the year or whatever at U of M with the frat parties. I bet he has a high tolerance. Or maybeeee Central College.

It's more of a comp of who can handle their liquor and out drink the other schools. The worse the school, the higher the tolerance. So WIAC goes backwards with UWRF on top followed by Superior. Cam Tigberg probably outdrinks each school under the table single handedly.

Discuss

Good point. As a whole though, the WIAC easily has the best tolerance in D3. I don't think any others would even come close.

The CCIW might have been able to contest to that if Wheaton drank anything besides Holy Water and NCC stopped drinking Smirnoff Ice. Augie always gets up when they are called and you better believe Carthage can binge with the best of them. We can't really count North Park or Millikin because they don't count towards anything? Am I right?....I'm right

What about the southern schools? Up nort' we drink because we can, and to celebrate our victories. But down there the weather is livable and they don't celebrate no victories. I agree though, CCIW vs WIAC, someone get this. 3 reps from each school. Beer mile, case race, Edward Fortyhands, etc etc.

Are alums eligible? If yes LAX would win this no problem with two Kerskas and Zach Wilhelmy.

don't forget about the MIAC. Paul Escher can drink with anyone in the nation

mg328 wrote:

Are alums eligible? If yes LAX would win this no problem with two Kerskas and Zach Wilhelmy.

idk man, UW-River Falls has Brandon Moen as an alumni. Drinks beers and runs treadmills.

What about UW-Sloshkosh guys? Alums Brett Denure, Sean Kutz and the rap legend Nate S. would drink 99.9% of the country under the table.