Official 2014 DIII Cross Country Thread

just like last year... you're cute though.

I'll shove 3 watermelons up my ass if St. Olaf wins it.

ghetigoo wrote:

Someone explain why Carleton and St Thomas got chosen for Nats at large over Oshkosh and Plateville.

At the Blugold Invite:

4. UW Stout

5. Carleton

8. UW Platteville

At Jim Drews:

6. St Thomas

7. UW Platteville

At the Oshkosh Invite:

10. UW Oshkosh

11. UW Stout

13. Carleton

At the Midwest Regional:

5. UW Stout

6. UW Platteville

7. UW Oshkosh

At the Central Regional:

4. Carleton

5. St Thomas

Basically, Oshkosh screwed themselves by finishing behind Platteville. The committee only discusses one team from each region at a time, and (for example) the 5th place team from the regional doesn't get in the discussion until the 4th place team is placed into the field.

So, we'll say that the top 3 Central teams and the top 4 Midwest teams have been placed into the field. In this case you'd have Stout and Carleton both on the table. Stout beat Carleton at both Blugold and the Oshkosh Invite, so they're in. Now it's Carleton v Platteville. Carleton beat Platteville at Blugold. They're in. Now it's St Thomas v Platteville. St Thomas beat Platteville at Jim Drews, so they get the nod. Also, the committee doesn't consider whether a team was missing a guy or not. If you ran at least four of your seven regionals runners at a meet and took a head to head loss, it's a loss. Platteville was missing people at Blugold and Drews, and they got hurt by this.

If Oshkosh had beaten Platteville yesterday, they would have been discussed at the same time as Carleton, and would have the edge based on their head to head win at the Oshkosh Invite. Because they finished behind Platteville, they're blocked from getting into the discussion.

Obviously this is a bit of an oversimplification as there are also teams from other regions on the table at the same time, but this is why Carleton and St Thomas are above Platteville and Oshkosh.

All the teams down to Chicago in the Midwest are good enough to compete at nats.

I'm telling you the st Olaf regional was bush league, this is not last year... I hope st. Olaf thinks it is, because they are going to get owned by about 4 schools and not see it coming... as for Oshkosh and platteville, you could alway look in to competing in NJCAA next year

Sucks to suck, bro wrote:

I'm telling you the st Olaf regional was bush league, this is not last year... I hope st. Olaf thinks it is, because they are going to get owned by about 4 schools and not see it coming... as for Oshkosh and platteville, you could alway look in to competing in NJCAA next year

+1

Who other than North Central is going to beat St. Olaf?

I was standing near the Amherst team after the race. They were celebrating getting an auto-bid, and one of the Williams runners shouted "Amherst sucks" as he walked past. Nothing super scandalous, but that coupled with their incessant excuses after the race showed that the Williams program needs an attitude adjustment.

I'll put it this way, Olaf would have been 4th, at best, in the Midwest region... Throw an east coast school in there, if not a few, and Olaf isn't even relevant... Sorry you can't get lucky two years in a row

Olaf's team average was 25:09 at regionals last year

It was 24:45 this year on a tougher course

They are pretty good

Apparently, that was a drunk Williams College alum. Classless? Sure. But indicative of the current program's attitude? No. For the current Amherst seniors, this was the first time beating Williams. Ever. For the Amherst program, it was its first "W" over Williams since 2007. I can understand Williams being salty, but I'd like to think there's some mutual respect for what is accomplished on the race course. Best of luck to both teams this weekend.

-An Amherst supporter

Sucks to suck, bro wrote:

I'll put it this way, Olaf would have been 4th, at best, in the Midwest region... Throw an east coast school in there, if not a few, and Olaf isn't even relevant... Sorry you can't get lucky two years in a row

These posts are unfounded and grossly inaccurate.

St. Olaf squad

Wintheiser - Undefeated in D3 all year, and not for lack of competition. Top 3

Campbell - Beaten every midwest runner he has ran against this year. top 10

Brown - 8th at NCAAs last year. top 10 is realistic this year

Escher / Meyer Solid 4-5 who have consistently competed at a high level and have a great shot for AA

To say the above team "isn't relevant" is ignorant and foolish.

Haha, I thought you were serious earlier. Glad to know now that you're just trolling.

central region swag wrote:

Olaf's team average was 25:09 at regionals last year

It was 24:45 this year on a tougher course

They are pretty good

+1

Hmm well I'm convinced... Guess we can ignore the entire season leading up to this point and assume that all these terrible teams just peaked at the right time, and it had nothing to do with the course/conditions... As a side note, I also believed the pre nats times where Ncc averaged 23:5x for there top 5

It is clear that St.Olaf is a team that runs their best at the end of the year,and at the end of the day that's what it all comes down to. No need to run your best and be peaked in September when you can put up good races in November when it matters.

jiggy wrote:

Obviously this is a bit of an oversimplification as there are also teams from other regions on the table at the same time, but this is why Carleton and St Thomas are above Platteville and Oshkosh.

Thanks a lot! Wasn't sure of the exact process and it makes sense. Gotta keep things standardized

Sucks to suck, bro wrote:

Hmm well I'm convinced... Guess we can ignore the entire season leading up to this point and assume that all these terrible teams just peaked at the right time, and it had nothing to do with the course/conditions... As a side note, I also believed the pre nats times where Ncc averaged 23:5x for there top 5

I'm not sure which is a worse giveaway that you're from NCC: your bad trolling for them, or your atrocious grammar which leaves unclear exactly what you're trying to say. Must be that NCC English department?

jiggy wrote:

....but this is why Carleton and St Thomas are above Platteville and Oshkosh.

Oh man. You actually dug out times and team places to back up your opinion! Such a rarity on these threads. I knew there was a reason I do training runs with you. Now if we could only get you to commentate for the live coverage instead of those hacks they bring in every year.