NAIA XC/TF 2024-25

They looked really good. Campbellsville beating Shawnee State.

IWU Twilight Reaction:

Men's Ranked teams:

#8 - Taylor, #4 - IWU, #25 - Rio Grande, #30 (RV) - IU East, #26 (RV) - Grace, #29 (RV) - Campbellsville, #20 - Shawnee State, #23 - Marion.

Taylor and IWU looked like they should. For those not paying attention last year they'll be big shocked from Rio and IU East. Unless people were held out, Shawnee and Marion are probably over ranked at this point and should bump out of the top 25. However, I will stress it is early and in previous years raters tend to rate cautiously with early September races.

Women's Ranked teams:

#4 - Taylor, #16 - Grace, #9 - IWU, #13 - Huntington, #27 (RV) - Marion. IU East (RV) finished 8th.

Taylor looks like they picked up right where they left off last year. After that it is hard to judge. I don't know how to view these early september women's 6k times yet. But from the outside looking in. Grace/IWU/Huntington/Marion need help with their 4/5 spots. Crossroads always gets a little extra love in the polls so they probably won't drop much if at all and again, its early September and there is a lot of time to right the ship before November.

Taylor looked great on both sides.

I expected a little more from the IWU men. Braden Sweet did not race and Wasnich and Neideck were slower than I’d expect. They did however have freshman Trenton Sweet (no relation) debut at 25:34 which is a big addition for them. It will be interesting to see how the progress throughout the season and whether they will be able to get Braden Sweet healthy.

Addy Dewey did not race for IWU. They lacked depth and will look like a much stronger team if they get her back. Grace and Huntington women also look strong.

If you’ve paid attention to Rio Grande in the last year, you shouldn’t be too surprised but they certainly made a statement that they are a much different team than last year.

IU East, Cambellsville, Shawnee State and Grace all lack depth and appear to be 25th-35th type teams right now. Not sure if any of the teams held people out though.

Aquinas and Goshen were not there this year. Will be interesting to see how these teams look in their openers next week.

Why wasn't michigan state at IWU?

I saw Campbellsville had a guy they sat. He’s definitely their #1. I talked to their team and they said he ran 8x1K on the course off 1:00 rest at 3:03 average. Seems like he would’ve been in contention to win the meet.

Shawnee State didn’t run one of the triplets at this race. He is a 25:30 guy so he will help with their depth. Apparently Rio has a Kenyan that they are trying to get eligible. At least they have one listed on their roster. So both teams could get an added boost!

From what I've heard Duncan Kogei is already eligible (heard this from other athletes, not coaches, so do not quote me on this), he just has a slight injury and should be back for their first meet.

PlayNAIA seems to be slow. Quite a few athletes are waiting on eligibility still that could impact some ranked teams in a big way.

Why would you sit your number one as a bubble team when being in position to get ranking points

They have 0 chance to win their conference

I'm pretty sure they're talking about Dominic Malel, who I believe is waiting for eligibility status. He should be ready for their next meet.

He's allegedly an 8:20 3k runner from Kenya and is only 19 years old, I have not been able to find any results from him so I can't confirm that.

If he's eligible and as good as advertised (and that 3k translates well to 8k) then he should be able to help Campbellsville a lot and get them out of the bubble spot.

I love Egypt valley

Is the Augustana Course legit? The number of people breaking 20 for the 4-miler doesn’t seem possible…

I once heard this about a permanent GPAC course. Depending on where the maintenance staff mows is how short that course is for the year. Meaning, If they cut a corner a little mowing it, then the course is short for the year.

I mean, anything is possible right? But there was a guy who ran 17:58 and while maybe he is actually in 13:43 5k shape right now, the most likely answer is that the course is short by a little bit. But even if it is 30 seconds short, what Doane did still makes them look very legit this year!

I thought Doane looked pretty disappointing to be honest.

19:24, 19:29, 19:30, 20:13, 20:17 x 2, 20:18, 20:19 ... If it is a legit distance and the same course as last year, that is a scary team assuming they continue to develop. Last year their top guy was only 20:29 at this meet and that team finished 15th at NAIA's.

Several assumptions in there but they'll see people at the Blazing Tiger so we'll find out how good they really are before Nationals.

They almost lost to Concordia who’s a very average team

Course was legit - I have seen a handful of 3.98 Strava maps, so basically spot on. But they had the best weather that the meet has probably seen. 50-55 degrees at race time, no breeze, hardpacked grass that had already been run on by the women and high schoolers.

I think a lot of NAIA teams could have done what Doane did, or better.

rio's back half of their top 7 is mostly freshman so they picked up some solid recruits, kasy science was their #3 and he's obviously stepped up but it was a reasonable progression to get into the 25:40s on a fast course. tyler jenkins is a known quantity and a returning XC all american so no surprise seeing him at the front. but where the hell did their #2 runner come from?! his jump from last cross to this one is crazy. made a large improvement during the spring, switching from 800/1500 to a more distance focus (31:3x 10k) but even then, his best 5k was 15:39. just looking week to week this season, he ran 15:36 for an XC 5k then 25:11 for 8k his next race. where does that come from?