........PSAC.......

Well Mains had a break out performance at the paul short race where he mopped the floor with Burleigh. Not to be looked over is edinboros squad seeming to run much better now then earlier this season. Shippensburg also had a bunch of "fast" finishers but the race was very fast where they walked away with a 23rd place finish I believe.

What about Nick Libbi? I thought he would be the lead man this year?

Libbi is hurt

Should be an interesting race at Slippery Rock today. Haven, Ship, Cal, and some other regional teams. results should be very telling for the future.

Due to a mysterious medical greyshirt phenomenon Nathan Zondlo has more eligibility. Should give Lock Haven a chance against powerhouse Shippensburg.

I heard Matt Gillette still had some eligibility left and is going to be ready in time for regionals too................

I heard some of the Lock Haven guys eat ice cream and stay up past their bedtimes on saturdays... no way they can stack up to Ship's disciplined disciples under the oh so righteous Spence hallelujah praise the lord go cheyney

This thread is boring. I hope that means everyone is focused on running and coursework. There have finally been some races worth noting and its given me enough information to update the rankings:

1) Lock Haven - nothing surprising here, they have been the favorite all season and ran like it at Paul Short. Right now they have 6 of the 15 fastest times in the conference on the season.

2) Ship - Burleigh was disappointing at Paul Short, the team is missing Libbi and England from last year. Yet, they put 7 under 25:55 at Paul Short and have a nice group around 25:30. Without Libbi and England there are not enough top 10 guys to challenge Lock Haven.

3) Edinboro - Martynkiewicz and Link are a tough 1-2, both should be top 10 and could be top 5 @ the PSAC meet. The drop off after that is steep, and this doesn't look like a deep team. The 1-2 punch won't be enough to overcome Ship's depth, and Haven is in a different league.

4) Rock - Parsons and Martin look like all PSAC guys. They were handled by Ship at the Mack Cooper meet, and the fast times @ Salisbury get taken with a grain of salt. That course is 15-20 seconds faster than Paul Short most years. Reynolds, Frank, and Thompson need to take a big step forward in the next month for this team to challenge for the 3 spot.

5) Cal - Dinzeo wins, Robinault is a contender for the 2nd individual ticket to nationals. Burkwit could be all PSAC and 2 of the 4-5-6 need to have good races. They ran to this formula at Paul Short, but didn't look good at Mack Cooper. I think they will pull this together for 5th.

6) IUP - Ofman is an all PSAC guy and the pack behind them is decent, IUP could put 6 in the top 40-50 @ the PSAC meet. The depth is better than the Cal 4-5 and that could push them up to 5th. If Hampel and Beaudette can move into the top 30, this team rises quickly past Cal and towards SRU.

7) East Stroud - This is a question of which ESU team shows up. The group from the UMASS-Dartmouth invite could challenge for the 5 spot, a 30 second 1-5 gap is a good showing. However, they failed to replicate that showing at Paul Short and could easily drop to 8th if the Paul Short race was their true form.

8) Kutztown - I know they beat ESU @ Paul Short, but they lost to them at positions 2,3,4 and 5. That's concerning. The Maine man is a contender for the 2nd nationals spot, but I don't know if there is enough behind him to jump the team out of the 8 spot. After the 8 spot there is a huge performance gap. It would be startling for anyone in the top 8 of the rankings to drop below the 8 spot.

9) West Chester - Mussleman will need to have a good day to stay in the top 35, their 2 man could be in the top 50 and they need to keep their 5th in the top 80. 2 guys in the top 5 and 5 in the top 80 would be a great showing for this team.

10) Bloom - Kyle Phillips will make a run at all PSAC, and the rest of the team will be somewhere between 60th and 90th. If the 3-4-5 are on Bloom could make a jump over West Chester and into the 9 spot. I know Mansfield beat Bloom @ Bloomsburg. I also know Walker from Bloomsburg isn't in the results from that race. Bloom needs 5 healthy guys to stay in the top 10.

11) Mansfield - This team is very similar to Bloom, its Jesse Jones aiming for all PSAC and then a gap to the rest of the team. The group of 3 running in the low 28 minute range needs to make a move forward for Mansfield to crack the top 10 @ PSACs.

12) Seton Hill - If Lafferty can stay in the top 50 and the 3-4-5-6 can keep it in the top 100, this team could make a move forward. The 5 guy just snuck under 29 minutes at Louisville. That isn't enough to challenge for a top 10 placing at the PSAC meet.

13) Gannon - a pack of guys between 28 and 29 is probably enough to make them the best of the rest. I don't think they can move up into the top 12, they just don't have a top 50 guy and their pack can't make up enough points this far back in the race.

14) Mercyhurst - They will have a shot at taking down Gannon if Amroski and Brennen can provide a cushion up front. Amroski in the top 50-60 would move Mercyhurst up the ladder just a bit.

15) UPJ - These guys will probably have the last few non-Cheyney scoring positions. Through 3, they can compete with Gannon and Mercyhurst, but the 4-5 will be off the back early and total close to 210 team points, that will be tough to overcome.

16) Cheyney - If they show up, they will be last.

Individuals: Dinzeo will win, then there will be a whole lot of LHU guys, Ship guys and Edinboro guys. Somewhere in there will be Maine, Robinault, and Parsons. Those are the 3 to watch for the 2nd nationals spot. Right now I have to bet on Parsons, taking advantage of the home course to punch a ticket to Louisville.

Several weeks to go, but that's how I see it right now.

Women tomorrow.

The women's race this year will see high point totals. No one is going under 50, the winner might score 100. It's a very even field and more than most years the championship will be decided at 3-4-5. Teams 4-12 are all too close to call, but I made an educated guess.

1) Ship - Obviously, this is a debatable ranking. They put 6 under 23 at Paul Short, and added Reis @ Mack Cooper. They have 7 girls who could be top 30 at the PSAC meet. They have a low stick in Norton and a pack of 6+ runners after that.

2) Edinboro - They have been number 1 in the region all year and the Jones, Ahrens, Hosl combo is the best 1-2-3 punch in the conference. After that its a gap to Maffett and Sullivan and they haven't shown anything after 5 all year. Unless they are hiding someone, they don't have any depth. If Maffett and Sullivan are in with the Ship 3-6, they can win based on the gap they will create at 1-2-3.

3) Bloomsburg - Lehman and Dodds are both low sticks, and there is enough at 3-4-5 to challenge the top 2 teams on a great day. Right now they look like they will give up too many points at 4-5 to move to the top of the conference. The good news for Bloom is, it looks like there is a little gap back to the rest of the conference.

4) Slippery Rock - Powis has yet to round into the form I expected, leaving Picot as the lone front runner. I didn't see Dombi in the Mack Cooper results after she ran well at Salisbury. If SRU is healthy and runs as well on the flat course at Mansfield as they did in Salisbury; I see them as the 4th best team in the conference.

5) Seton Hill - They go 3 deep with potential all PSAC girls and need to pull something together at 4-5 to move up. Since joining the PSAC this team has done enough for me to believe they are one of the top 5 women's programs in the conference.

6) Lock Haven - Wirth, Capper, and Arnold were significantly better at Mack Cooper than they were at Paul Short. The team produced a 50 second 1-5 spread @ Cooper after a 71 second 1-5 spread at Paul Short. This team could easily jump up to 4th, which would be a tremendous improvement for the program.

7) IUP - This group ran well at Louisville, and followed it up with a B team last weekend. The are lead by Magliane and will have a pack of 4-5 girls probably hoping to be in the top 40, but realistically looking at 50-60. I don't think they've shown their ceiling yet this year.

8) Mansfield - This team is a long way from last years championship, but hasn't fallen out of the top 10. I think Foster and Parks are a solid 1-2, with Foster an all PSAC athlete. After that they have a respectable 3-6 that will sway the race for them. Mansfield proved last year they know when and how to have a good day and I think that keeps them in the top 10 this year.

9) West Chester - Eisman is a contender for a nationals trip. The issue here is the minute gap from 1-2 and the minute gape from 2-3. That's just too much to overcome at the PSAC meet. 2 minutes from 1-3 is fine if the #1 is Neely Spence or Brenae Edwards. I just don't see the 4-5 on this team staying in the top 60.

10) Cal - Friend is probably the favorite for the individual win right now. then they have big gaps to the rest of the group. The issue here is the 5. The 3-4 are probably top 60 girls, but the 5 will need to have a good day to be top 80 and that will hurt.

11) ESU - Decker ran great at Paul Short, 21:51. The gap is 80 seconds to the number 2 runner. The 2-5 gap is an additional 80 seconds. Maybe Paul Short was a bad day, but I didn't see a significantly better result on the season. If ESU can get Conover some company, they can move into the top 10 @ PSACs.

12) Kutztown - Manela looks like an all-PSAC runner in the 1 spot, and the 2 should be in the top 40 and thinking higher. the 3-4-5-6 just seems too far back to move into the top 10. That group needs to be with Fergus and not letting her move away in the 3 spot.

13) Millersville - Cruz will be in the front group, there is one other top 50 girl, and their might not be anyone else who runs under 24:30. Cruz makes them better than anyone behind them, but I don't see how they finish higher than 13th.

14) Mercyhurst - 6 underclassmen in the top 8, 5 of those are freshmen. If they can develop and recruit this team could be on the rise in the coming years. Right now they aren't good enough to finish higher than 14th.

15) Gannon - This group hasn't been able to beat Mercyhurst in any of their matchups this year. It doesn't look like it will happen in 2014. Budjos will be hoping for a great day and all-PSAC honors to be the team bright spot, but she will need to be better than she has been so far this year.

16) Pitt Johnstonwn - They have a 1-2 that can finish in the top 80 of this race. After that there isn't much to see, but the 1-2 are enough to slot them ahead of Clarion.

17) Clarion - Based on current results, anyone in the top 100 would be having a good day.

18) Cheyney - see Cheyney men.

Individually it will be a tight race, right now I think Friend is the favorite. I see a pack of 7-8 trying to give chase and wouldn't be surprised to see any of them emerge in the 2 spot. The battle for the nationals spots is Friend, Cruz, Eisman, Picot, and Decker.

Great preview of the PSAC this year. The big question is can Dinzeo peak at the right time for an NCAA title? Obviously Neely Spence won a few during her time at Ship, but the PSAC hasn't had many to date.

I'm not sure if anyone is as strong as him aside from Biwott. So hopefully he takes all of the kickers out of the race by just running faster than them. If it's a strength race where he finds himself in a small group of 3 or 4 with 3k to go I think he can outlast the competition if he can avoid it coming down to a 400-800 kick.

I think Dinzeo will pull off a small upset and win the national championship. He's in great form so far this year and has proven he knows how to peak at the National Championship race. I don't think he can wait until the last 1k to win the race. He will have to take control at 8k and use his strength to win.

A few quick takes from the weekend. Bloomsburg with a small upset win over Ship @ ECACs. Ship without Norton won't win the PSAC meet. With Norton this meet swings to Ship's favor by the tiebreaker or 1 point (assuming 2nd or 3rd from Norton, reasonable based on how she matched up with Eisman and Decker @ Paul Short). The other note is the 5 from Bloomsburg at 23:38. The difference between 23:03 and 23:38 at PSACs will be 20 points, not 7. My new estimate is that no women's team will score under 70 points. Ship, Edinboro and Bloom could all win the title in 2 weeks.

The men's race is the opposite of the women's. It's possible that neither Lock Haven nor ship exceed 50 points. Edinboro's formula would be low scores at 1-2 and minimize damage at 4-5. I don't see how they can do that against Lock Haven or Ship. I think Boro is 3rd but still may score less points than the winning women's team.

anybody venturing to Mansfield for the meet next weekend? Any pre-meet shenanigans going down? Maybe a beer mile?

After that dominating performance at ECACs, it's hard to bet against Ship men for the team title. 1-10 in that race seperated by about 30 seconds.That tight pack will bode well in a wide open PSAC meet. Add Burleigh into that equation and that just might be the perfect storm for a PSAC and Regional title.

well Lock Haven Has two who will be right with burliegh possibly in front of him, and on top of that Lock Haven's top 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 has been superior to ship's 3 and at times even 2 runner all season and strictly basing off times from this weekend where Lock Haven and Ship ran on quite similar courses it looks like Lock Haven had 5 in front of ships 1 (who will be there 2 when burliegh runs).

The wind was a huge factor in the ECAC race which had an effect on the times. That course is wide open and there were 30 mph winds - not gusts. Also according to Rohl that course is 8000m and LHU is a tad short. Ship did look pretty damn good though.

They did run roughly 2-2.5 miles straight into a 25 mph wind with huge gusts. so you can take off maybe 20 seconds. should be a great battle. looking forward to watching!

I think we're set up for an epic clash of titans with Haven and Ship at PSACs and Regionals. Each course suits each team's strenghts. Haven seems to time trial better, which bodes well for Mansfield's course, and Ship seems to be a stronger, grinding-style pack of runners, which will suit at the Rock. And what about the largely quiet Edinboro squad?? You never know with them. If the Doug Watts magic was still there, I would definitely look for them to show up in the post-season. I'm not too sure right now though...

Yawn. I want to see the year of 2010 again. You pretty much had to be a sub 25 guy to go ALL PSAC. Puds. That's what the PSAC is this year.