D3 mideast Regionals...

rankings are out.. things are looking good.. MAC conference is gonna be really close too

yea he was back this past weekend at the desales invite

thoughts after this weekends results?

Allegheny is vulnerable

Allegheny and Dickinson look good up front but have questionable depth

Haverford has a tight pack, it all depends on how high up that pack ends up placing

Carnegie Mellon is step back from the other teams, but could sneak into the top three if anyone falters

How many teams do you think will get to nationals. Historically it is 4 but do you think 5 could go or is that just wishful thinking?

Ahhh, so much fun in this thread...

Men: Highly competitive, going to be a great race.

1. Allegheny

2. Haverford (if D-son's #2 can't run)

3. Dickinson (if they don't have their #2)

4. E-Town

5. Messiah (if they're lucky)

Individual Champ: Should be Leak from D-son. He has been racing a lot this season though, I hope he holds to form. However, Marker of Allegheny beat Leak at Paul Short (they virtually finished side-by-side).

Women: The weakest this region has been in a long time!

1. Hopkins!!!!

2. Dickinson

3. Gettysburg (strong 1-2)

4. Haverford

5. Grove City (Several strong freshman)

Individual: Caitlyn Dorgan of Delaware Valley or Laura Paulsen/Mira Patel from JHU. Of course Kerri Epstein from Gettysburg, Jenn Cronin of LVC, Ali Ostrum of Misericordia, Emily Lipman of Haverford, and Alycia Tranchitella of Gwynedd-Mercy will be near the front of the pack.

There is no way both etown and messiah beat carnegie mellon on the men's side. Besides, hopkins is probably better than both etown and messiah anyway.

Noting your individual performers, I'd definitely add in Megan V. from E-town. She's been right with Cronin and Dorgan in the races that she's run (save for her first race of the season). I heard that Cronin was sick during her last few meets which would make her performances impressive. Dorgan looked great at Paul Short. Just my observations on some of the MAC runners.

D3 Watcher wrote:

Women: The weakest this region has been in a long time!

1. Hopkins!!!!

2. Dickinson

3. Gettysburg (strong 1-2)

4. Haverford

5. Grove City (Several strong freshman)

Individual: Caitlyn Dorgan of Delaware Valley or Laura Paulsen/Mira Patel from JHU. Of course Kerri Epstein from Gettysburg, Jenn Cronin of LVC, Ali Ostrum of Misericordia, Emily Lipman of Haverford, and Alycia Tranchitella of Gwynedd-Mercy will be near the front of the pack.

D3 Watcher wrote:

Individual: Caitlyn Dorgan of Delaware Valley or Laura Paulsen/Mira Patel from JHU. Of course Kerri Epstein from Gettysburg, Jenn Cronin of LVC, Ali Ostrum of Misericordia, Emily Lipman of Haverford, and Alycia Tranchitella of Gwynedd-Mercy will be near the front of the pack.

Hess from Susquehanna was 10 seconds faster than Dorgan and Cronin at Paul Short, just in a different race, and she was 12 seconds behind Epstein at Gettysburg (which Rhodes of Messiah won), so she is a possibility.

Yeah, I overlooked Megan Vandenhengel from E-town. She will be a big contender.

CMU won't beat E-town, IMO. They should beat Messiah... another oversight on my behalf. I was still 75% asleep when I wrote that this morning.

Hess from Susquehanna was 10 seconds faster than Dorgan and Cronin at Paul Short, just in a different race, and she was 12 seconds behind Epstein at Gettysburg (which Rhodes of Messiah won), so she is a possibility.

Yeah, but are you just looking at results or did you watch the races? Dorgan and Cronin looked like they were cruising and really only started moving the last little bit of the race. Hess is a fantastic runner though, it will be interesting and we'll see in a few weeks.

D4 wrote:

Besides, hopkins is probably better than both etown and messiah anyway.

huh? etown just wiped the floor with hopkins 2 days ago.

D3 Watcher wrote:

Ahhh, so much fun in this thread...

Men: Highly competitive, going to be a great race.

1. Allegheny

2. Haverford (if D-son's #2 can't run)

3. Dickinson (if they don't have their #2)

4. E-Town

5. Messiah (if they're lucky)

Individual Champ: Should be Leak from D-son. He has been racing a lot this season though, I hope he holds to form. However, Marker of Allegheny beat Leak at Paul Short (they virtually finished side-by-side).

Women: The weakest this region has been in a long time!

1. Hopkins!!!!

2. Dickinson

3. Gettysburg (strong 1-2)

4. Haverford

5. Grove City (Several strong freshman)

Individual: Caitlyn Dorgan of Delaware Valley or Laura Paulsen/Mira Patel from JHU. Of course Kerri Epstein from Gettysburg, Jenn Cronin of LVC, Ali Ostrum of Misericordia, Emily Lipman of Haverford, and Alycia Tranchitella of Gwynedd-Mercy will be near the front of the pack.

did you look at the Oberlin results before posting this? you are stoned if you think Messiah will be in the top 5. for the men, it will be...

1. Allegheny

2. Haverford

3. Dickinson (whether or not they have their #2)

4. CMU

5. E-Town

The region is loaded and will get 5 teams.

women?

1. Hopkins

2. Dickinson

After that, it probably does not matter. However, MAYBE they'll get a 3rd team in this region and there seems to be 6-8 teams who have a reason to believe they can be 3rd. I would look at which coaches have a history of peaking their teams well and sending kids to nationals. Based on that, you have to like Haverford for 3rd. Grove city does not peak well and neither does Gbg. CMU could be 3rd among the women.

It's nice of you to give credit to all those other fine athletes, but Paulsen is by far the best female runner in the region. What does she have ...about 5 AA awards by now? None of those others are in her league. Has anyone in the region been within 20 seconds of her other than VAndenhegl and her own teammates?

Yeah, but are you just looking at results or did you watch the races? Dorgan and Cronin looked like they were cruising and really only started moving the last little bit of the race. Hess is a fantastic runner though, it will be interesting and we'll see in a few weeks.[/quote]

I meant a possibility for a spot, not for the win. I think Paulsen will win it. I wouldn't be willing to put money on it, but my picks for individual qualifiers are:

Caitlyn Dorgan of Delaware Valley

Kerri Epstein from Gettysburg

Jenn Cronin of LVC

Emily Lipman of Haverford

Erin Rhodes of Messiah

Emily Wobb of Carnegie Mellon

Megan Vandenhengel of Elizabethtown

Alycia Tranchitella of Gwynedd-Mercy

Honorable Mention to:

Ali Ostrum of Misericordia

Casey Hess of Susquehanna

Dark Horse:

Anne Patron of Frostburg

Teams will be JH, Dickinson, and Haverford. I think we'll get three in if it's those three. If someone else gets third in the Mideast, and Rhodes gets second in the South/SE region, then South might get three instead of the Mideast, since Christopher Newport beat Gettysburg and Messiah at Gettysburg. I'm guessing though that South will continue to get two and Mideast will get three.

nbvn wrote:

It's nice of you to give credit to all those other fine athletes, but Paulsen is by far the best female runner in the region. What does she have ...about 5 AA awards by now? None of those others are in her league. Has anyone in the region been within 20 seconds of her other than VAndenhegl and her own teammates?

Paulsen hasn't even been the top runner on her team all year. I am sure she will be a force to reckon with though, as she always is. Like you said, she has like 5 AA awards... but when is she actually going to make that big break through? I think Patel made the break through on that team.

Nova Watcher wrote:

Paulsen hasn't even been the top runner on her team all year. I am sure she will be a force to reckon with though, as she always is. Like you said, she has like 5 AA awards... but when is she actually going to make that big break through? I think Patel made the break through on that team.

A 5-time All-American has to "break through?" She had 1 "bad" race at Paul Short...6 days after a huge one Williams. When is Patel going to "break through" and get 5 plaques? She lost to three others from the region on Saturday (one was a teammate).

In making these predictions, it would be smarter to look at last weekends results, as we are two weeks closer to sorting out the week form the chaff. Paulsen was awesome last weekend, and I bet deep down she wishes she would have at least challenged the Oberlin girl early instead of just letting her run away with it. She had way too much left over the last mile. I was at the race- Paulsen was running in a pack with Patel and about 10 others and she blew their doors off over the final mile.

Some of you guys are basing way too much of this thread on Paul Short, which is now ancient history. First of all, it was on 10/2- so you can be sure some people rested for that meet, and some did not. Some of the people on the above list of "contenders" will be victims of bad coaching and will not run that fast again all season.

I agree with you that it is Paulsen's race to lose and I don't see anyone touching her if she is on. I find it funny that you list bad coaching as the only factor that will have people running slower at the end of the season with all of the variables that go into cross country.

"Unusual" funny or "ha-ha" funny? Of course it's not the only factor...I personally think it is the biggest factor, though. Particularly at the d3 level. Just my opinion and I respect that others might disagree. There are some programs that always seem to peak at the right time and some that never seem to. What else could it be besides coaching?

ObservingReporting wrote:

I find it funny that you list bad coaching as the only factor that will have people running slower at the end of the season with all of the variables that go into cross country.