HEPS XC 2013 OFFICIAL THREAD

Wood Report puts the Big Red women at #23:

http://thewoodrunningreport.blogspot.com/2013/07/ncaa-xc-top-31-countdown-womens-23.html

wutdabloodyhell wrote:

So Cornell is given 26 spots to recruit TF guys. Compare that to Yale's 10 or so and Princeton's 15. My God, they should dominate the Ivy League.

Pretty sure some of those 26 did NOT use up a coach's "push" but got in on their own.

SomeCoach wrote:

Princeton is done ...... holy hell!

Hey, SomeCoach, thanks (NOT) for trying to provide the Princeton men with some bulletin board material--as if they needed it!

I think we all understand that many (most?) recruits don't contribute much as freshmen. But let's say that things go well for Cornell, and that most of their frosh pan out. Princeton still would be the team to beat at the Heps track meets, because the Tigers figure to score dozens and dozens of points in the distance races and return a ton of talent in most other events. And that doesn't even take into account their own recruiting class!

I may be the Big Red Fan, and I'd love it if Cornell picked up a t&f title or two this coming year; but anyone who says Princeton is "done" hasn't been paying attention for the last few years. The Tigers have to rate as at least co-favorites for the Heps track titles this year.

And the cross-country meet is theirs to lose. What a great veteran crew they'll put on the course this year.

XC RANKINGS BASED ON PB FloRating from 2011 or 2012

TOP 26 Returners with a PB over 190.0

1 SR HAR Maksim Korolev 212.4

2 SR PRI Chris Bendtsen 211.9

3 SR HAR James Leakos 208.7

4 SR PRI Alejandro Arroyo Yamin 208.3

5 SR COL Jake Sienko 208.0

6 SR PRI Tyler Udland 205.5

7 SR DAR Will Geoghegan 205.3

8 SR PRI Jonathan Vitez 201.6

9 JR COL Daniel Everett 199.6

10 JR YAL Matt Nussbaum 199.2

11 SR COR Max Groves 198.8

12 JR PRI Eddie Owens 198.6

13 JR PRI Matt McDonald 196.5

14 SR DAR John Bleday 196.4

15 JR DAR Dylan O'Sullivan 196.4

16 JR PRI Sam Pons 196.0

17 SR DAR Steve Mangan 195.9

18 SR HAR Kurt Ruegg 195.7

19 SR COL Nico Composto 195.3

20 SR COL Byron Jones 192.9

21 SO HAR Tom Purnell 192.3

22 SO PEN Thomas Awad 192.1

23 SO COL Ben Golestan 191.6

24 SO PEN Brendan Smith 190.7

25 JR COR John Schilkowsky 190.2

26 SO DAR Curtis King 190.1

Scoring

32 Princeton

76 Columbia

79 Dartmouth

The rest not enough athletes

Penn made their frosh announcement via twitter:

http://www.pennathletics.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=1700&ATCLID=208915560

Princeton women have also announced their incoming class:

http://www.goprincetontigers.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=10600&ATCLID=208941263

Also, Princeton has announced their XC schedule. Heps will be back at Princeton according to them.

http://www.goprincetontigers.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=46850&SPID=4261&DB_LANG=C&ATCLID=208556260&DB_OEM_ID=10600

C/M Runner wrote:

Penn made their frosh announcement via twitter:

http://www.pennathletics.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=1700&ATCLID=208915560

Princeton women have also announced their incoming class:

http://www.goprincetontigers.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=10600&ATCLID=208941263

Also, Princeton has announced their XC schedule. Heps will be back at Princeton according to them.

http://www.goprincetontigers.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=46850&SPID=4261&DB_LANG=C&ATCLID=208556260&DB_OEM_ID=10600

Great links, C/M! Steve Dolan et al. did a masterful job of covering all the bases at Penn. They bring back a ton of talent on the men's and women's sides--many of whom were rookies last year--so both squads really seem to be on the upswing. (Purely subjective, but I saw some of Penn's meets in the NYC area last year and was really impressed by the *competitiveness* shown by Penn's athletes, both the top and the lesser performers.) The Quaker women may be legitimate contenders for Heps titles, especially in track, as early as this coming year.

Speaking of contending: With his incoming group, Peter Farrell may have moved the Princeton women right back to the top. We all seem to focus on the men's recruits, but that class of new Tiger women is a stunner. Wow!!

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Speaking of "wow," I took another look at that incoming Cornell men's group. Other than the hammer/weight (obviously), not much coming in in the throws; but I guess when you've got returning all-Americans in SP/DT/JT, you can afford that. (Somewhat similar situation in the short sprints.)

But some of the other events made me shake my head. You've run 53.xx in the 400H, and you're the #4 frosh? 14.xx in the 110H, and you're #6? Also #6 in TJ, and you've jumped 46ft?

What really gets me, though, is that that group is *not* head and shoulders above the rest of the League's rookies. (And we still have to hear from the Princeton men.) The quality among the Heps teams, particularly in the non-distance events, has improved dramatically in just the last few years.

kibitzer wrote:

What really gets me, though, is that that group is *not* head and shoulders above the rest of the League's rookies. (And we still have to hear from the Princeton men.) The quality among the Heps teams, particularly in the non-distance events, has improved dramatically in just the last few years.

I agree with that, and you don't need to look too much further than the Heps results from the last few years. I graduated in 2006 where I was able to score at Heps a few times, but man, upon seeing what it takes now to make the finals, I don't even know if I could make it... sure, the long distance records on the men's side haven't been broken yet because the Heps races are much more tactical as there are a few athletes who could break it if they really wanted to.

FYI - Dan Lowry (Brown alum) ran 3:59 in the mile this past weekend in Michigan.

C/M Runner wrote:

Penn made their frosh announcement via twitter:

http://www.pennathletics.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=1700&ATCLID=208915560

Princeton women have also announced their incoming class:

http://www.goprincetontigers.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=10600&ATCLID=208941263

Also, Princeton has announced their XC schedule. Heps will be back at Princeton according to them.

http://www.goprincetontigers.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=46850&SPID=4261&DB_LANG=C&ATCLID=208556260&DB_OEM_ID=10600

Princeton men have also announced their incoming class:

A surprisingly weak class for Princeton. Kind of shocking considering that everyone has them on their short list most likely. It has to be the easiest sell of all the Ivies. You would think Princeton and Harvard would get everyone looking at the Ivies.

highT wrote:

A surprisingly weak class for Princeton. Kind of shocking considering that everyone has them on their short list most likely. It has to be the easiest sell of all the Ivies. You would think Princeton and Harvard would get everyone looking at the Ivies.

Clearly you know nothing about the academic standards required for admission to Princeton!

From what I know -

Brown and Yale basically get no school support. They will get an individual or two, but will have trouble putting together a team.

Penn surprisingly does not get a lot of help from admissions and has extremely high academic requirements.

Princeton, Harvard, Dartmouth and Columbia all have fairly similar situations.

Cornell can get anyone and lots of anyones. That is where they clean house.

Tigerfan wrote:

Clearly you know nothing about the academic standards required for admission to Princeton!

Oh, stop. *I* know about them, and I know that they can be bent mightily for the right athlete.

In fact, I've known two people personally for whom that was true: genuinely nice kids both, astounding athletes, and (speaking relatively, not absolutely) as dumb as a sack of hammers.

highT wrote:

A surprisingly weak class for Princeton. Kind of shocking considering that everyone has them on their short list most likely. It has to be the easiest sell of all the Ivies. You would think Princeton and Harvard would get everyone looking at the Ivies.

That's not how it looks from here. Their numbers are not huge (though you can generally add a couple of quality walk-ons to that list), but they addressed their (few) problem areas and added a couple of guys who should break the no-help-from-frosh stereotype.

Combine that with all the guys they've got coming back, and I'd say the Princeton men have a decent shot at the Triple Crown.

Belated shout-out and thanks to fun. for this work--and it's a *lot* of work. Though the rest are incomplete, I think we can get a good idea of where the teams shape up:

Harvard has four (and two of the top three)

Penn has two

Yale one (a top-tenner)

Cornell one

Brown zero

I'd say that Penn/Yale/Cornell/Brown had better *hope* that freshmen contribute!

[I don't even know whether it's possible to do something similar for the women, but that would be really interesting. Anyway, thanks again, fun.!]

See, I told you track wasn't over yet--according to the Cornell folks,

"Bruno Hortelano-Roig has advanced to the semifinal at 200 meters after breaking his own school record and setting a Spanish national record at the World Championships in Moscow.

"Hortelano-Roig finished his heat with a time of 20.47 seconds; .19 seconds faster than the 'World's Fastest Man,' Usain Bolt. This time moves him into second on the all-time Ivy League performance list."

The semifinals should have been run already--just waiting for the results to come up...

GO BIG RED!

Bruno Hortelano-Roig ran 20.55 in his semi and did not advance--the last time qualifier was 20.33.

But Bruno did run .11 faster than Wallace Spearmon!

Yale's put up their recruiting class finally, and it looks like one of the strongest to tell you the truth.

http://www.yalebulldogs.com/sports/m-xc/2013-14/releases/20130823gl76yv

So the big red women place 13th at nationals last year and are now dropped all the way to 23rd? They should do much better than that....don't you guys think?

Cornell Big Red wrote:

So the [Big Red] women place 13th at nationals last year and are now dropped all the way to 23rd? They should do much better than that....don't you guys think?

Well, I can understand why they wouldn't be picked for anything like 13th: major graduation losses, and I think their season was considered a little fluky last year.

Yet only one of last year's seniors (Kellner) actually scored for them at the NCAA XC meet itself, so they didn't graduate *that* much from last year's team. (Their track squad was hurt a bit more by graduation, I'd say.) I'd guess that the rankers' concern might be for depth: with Kellner, Rosettie, Hartung, and Karys graduated from their lead group, you have to go a little deep to find their #5 returner.

Word drifting in from Cali is that Shearer, who was injured outdoors, is healthy and in shape. With Sorna and McMahon, who was first-team all-Ivy as a frosh IIRC, that gives Cornell a very strong 1-2-3. Kellner minor projects as #4, but between returners and recruits I'd say they'll have a very healthy competition for varsity spots--and, yes, probably merited a preseason spot in the top 20, if not top 15.

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As to the Yale men's announcement: there are some immediate-impact guys in that group, I'd say. Current Yale admin doesn't seem to give much support to athletics, so not a large recruiting group, but definitely real quality there. A 4:09/8:52 guy (both yards) is no joke!