Official 2015 Heps XC thread

wejo wrote:

So it's official: Yale sucks, they have no chance of winning, let me repeat. Yale sucks.

Glad someone from Yale FINALLY recognizes that. :-p (Sorry - couldn't resist as a Harvard alum.)

Glad to hear that you're going to try to make it though. Unfortunately, I cannot - I cannot justify 6 hours of driving for 2 hours of racing. I can't make it a weekend as I need to be back home by 5pm for work-related emergency coverage. I wish the meet was back at Princeton (sigh).

So I hope people will be VERY helpful through social media on providing updates and images of the meet. I checked the Ivy League website and they have no plans of any kind of video for the meet, so Twitter and Instagram will be all I have to go on for live coverage.

This year is special: the 40th editions of the women's Ivy League/Heps xc and t&f championships. I hope to be at the meet at VCP next Friday, but that's looking a little iffy; in any case, I just wanted to say...

THANKS to the universities, athletic departments and their directors, alumnae/alumni, donors, and of course athletes of the Ivy League, for having developed the women's competition to a level that could not have been imagined, back when we got things started. Thanks, too, to the good folks at HepsTrack.com who have helped bring the Heps community together and given well-deserved publicity to the Ivy athletes and teams.

And special thanks to the Ivy women's COACHES, past and present, who have aided the progress: people like Peter Fox Smith of Dartmouth and Betty Constanza of Penn, when the championships were new; those who've raised the League's "game" in the years since, like Lou Duesing at Cornell (and his successors, Rich Bowman and Artie Smith), and more recently Jason Saretsky of Harvard; and above all Peter Farrell of Princeton, who has spent more than three decades helping his program and *all* the Ivies' teams develop to their wonderful (and still-improving) current level. Well done, ladies and gentlemen! Your commitment and energy and vision have made track & field and cross-country a vital part of the great education that the Ivy League offers, and I'm grateful.

Very sincerely,

Greg Page

Cornell '73

C/M Runner wrote:

wejo wrote:

So it's official: Yale sucks, they have no chance of winning, let me repeat. Yale sucks.

Glad someone from Yale FINALLY recognizes that. :-p (Sorry - couldn't resist as a Harvard alum.)

Glad to hear that you're going to try to make it though. Unfortunately, I cannot - I cannot justify 6 hours of driving for 2 hours of racing. I can't make it a weekend as I need to be back home by 5pm for work-related emergency coverage. I wish the meet was back at Princeton (sigh).

So I hope people will be VERY helpful through social media on providing updates and images of the meet. I checked the Ivy League website and they have no plans of any kind of video for the meet, so Twitter and Instagram will be all I have to go on for live coverage.

Does Harvard still have a team? I thought they gave up the sport a few years ago ;)

That's a joke - from the son and brother of Yale alums.

When I was coaching, I was really hoping Harvard would get consistently better. I didn't want Princeton to have 7 sub-9 guys on the roster at once when I had zero. I wanted that to be split between Harvard and Princeton so the other teams had a better chance.

I keep claiming I'll do an exhaustive Q&A about college coaching. Initially I was waiting for the guys to graduate but that's happened unless they are in a 5th year.

Anyway, the way I came to view the men's league during my last few years at Cornell is as follows. In a given 5 year period, Princeton will win 3 (based on top end talent). Columbia probably one (based on numbers) and then maybe one of the other schools has a chance to win one once every 5 years. Yes that's depressing for the other schools but it's also realistic.

I remember Weldon hearing that and saying something along the lines of , "Man you are jaded, you used to say you'd beat Princeton. Talk the guys up" I was like, "Sure, it's possible to win as you only need 5 guys but unlikely if they have 7 sub-9 guys from HS on the team and I have zero."

In the last 10 years, Princeton has won 7, Columbia 2 and Dartmouth 1. So basically that is what has happened. Now, will that continue for the next decade? Who knows.

I also thought the year Princeton would be most vulnerable would be this year or next. It can take a year to figure out Ivy recruiting. Vigilante's first batch of recruits are juniors this year and there wasn't a single junior running for Princeto at Wisco. But they are loaded with freshmen and sophomores so the other ivy teams should take advantage of it while they can.

The blueprint for the other schools (besides Columbia) to win is as follows. You get 4-5 distance recruits a year (maybe 3-4 of note). You need to hit on basically all of nearly all of them so you have 3 good seniors. You need at least once realy studly underclassman who can make an impact as a frosh/sophomore and then you have chance.

Either that or get a class of guys to take a year off. I think if I got back in the game, I'd try to get a whole class of guys to take a year off or take a gap year between HS and college. Then you'd have a ton of seniors one year and a shot.

The Ivy guys ran in the Ekiden in Japan last week. Here are the resutls via Race Results Weekly.

Looks like 4 princeton guys and 2 harvard guys ended up racing.

Teams:

1. Aoyama Gakuin University, 2:09:05 CR

2. Yamanashi Gakuin University, 2:09:43

3. Komazawa University, 2:09:50

4. Toyo University, 2:10:40

5. Tokai University, 2:10:55

6. Waseda University, 2:12:06

7. Chuo Gakuin University, 2:12:32

8. Meiji University, 2:12:53

9. Ivy League Select Team, 2:15:20

10. Kyoto Sangyo University, 2:15:24

11. Ritsumeikan University, 2:15:43

12. Daito Bunka University, 2:15:50

13. Josai University, 2:16:29

14. Daiichi Kogyo University, 2:17:46

15. Hiroshima Keizai University, 2:20:17

16. Nippon Bunri University, 2:20:30

17. Chukyo University, 2:21:00

18. Tohoku Region Select Team, 2:21:03

19. Hokushinetsu Region Select Team, 2:21:18

20. Hokkaido Region Select Team, 2:21:57

21. Chugoku - Shikoku Region Select Team, 2:23:07

First Stage - 8.0 km:

1. Keisuke Nakatani, Komazawa, 22:34

2. Yusuke Ogura, Aoyama Gakuin, 22:49

3. John Kariuki (KEN), Daiichi Kogyo, 22:51

4. Shin Kimura, Meiji, 22:52

5. Kazuto Kawabata, Tokai, 23:08

6. Rintaro Takeda, Waseda, 23:12

7. Ryutaro Ichitani, Yamanashi Gakuin, 23:18

8. Daisuke Uekado, Kyoto Sangyo, 23:19

9. Sam Pons (U.S.A.), Ivy League, 23:20

10. Shu Hamano, Ritsumeikan, 23:36

11. Jinnosuke Matsumura, Josai, 23:56

10. Naoya Takahashi, Toyo, 23:57

Second Stage - 5.8 km:

1. Hironori Tsuetaki, Chuo Gakuin, 15:51 - CR

2. Kenya Sonota, Komazawa, 15:59

3. Yuma Hattori, Toyo, 16:03

4. Yuki Nakamura, Aoyama Gakuin, 16:08

5. Haruki Minatoya, Tokai, 16:09

6. Kentaro Egashira, Meiji, 16:10

7. Toshiyuki Yanagi, Waseda, 16:11

8. Shogo Hata, Yamanashi Gakuin, 16:12

9. Ken Nakanishi, Kyoto Sangyo, 16:38

10. Hiroshi Yamamoto, Ritsumeikan Univ., 16:44

...

13. Tyler Udland (U.S.A.), Ivy League, 16:57

Third Stage - 8.5 km:

1. Kazuma Kubota, Aoyama Gakuin, 24:11 - CR

2. Hazuma Hattori, Toyo, 24:13

3. Takaya Sato, Yamanashi Gakuin, 24:38

4. Naoki Kudo, Komazawa, 24:40

5. Keita Shioya, Chuo Gakuin, 24:44

6. Chihaya Kasuga, Tokai, 24:49

7. Shinichiro Nakamura, Waseda, 24:51

8. Masatoshi Teranishi, Kyoto Sangyo, 25:03

9. Noritoshi Hara, Daito Bunka, 25:07

10. Naoki Saita, Meiji, 25:19

...

14. Chris Bendtsen (U.S.A.), Ivy League, 26:10

Fourth Stage - 6.2 km:

1. Ryo Kuchimachi, Toyo, 17:49

2. Kenta Ueda, Yamanashi Gakuin, 17:56

3. Kazuma Taira, Waseda, 18:01

4. Yuki Hirota, Tokai, 18:04

5. Shota Baba, Komazawa, 18:06

6. Yuta Shimoda, Aoyama Gakuin, 18:10

7. Shinpei Muratake, Ritsumeikan, 18:27

8. Yuki Muta, Meiji, 18:29

9. Tsuyoshi Ebisawa, Chuo Gakuin, 18:34

10. Alejandro Arroyo Yamin (MEX), Ivy League, 18:38

Fifth Stage - 6.4 km:

1. Yusuke Nishiyama, Komazawa, 18:34

2. Shun Yamamura, Aoyama Gakuin, 18:36

3. Shunya Nomura, Toyo, 18:41

4. Ryunosuke Hayashi, Tokai, 18:52

5. Jun Sato, Waseda, 18:54

5. Shori Arai, Chuo Gakuin, 18:54

7. Tomoki Mawamura, Yamanashi Gakuin, 18:58

8. Ryota Tanaka, Meiji, 19:17

9. Masato Doi, Ritsumeikan, 19:33

10. Will Geiken (U.S.A.), Ivy League, 19:39

Sixth Stage - 10.2 km:

1. Dominic Nyairo (KEN), Yamanashi Gakuin, 28:41

2. Tadashi Isshiki, Aoyama Gakuin, 29:11

3. Yasutaka Ishibashi, Tokai, 29:53

4. Shohei Otsuka, Komazawa, 29:57

4. Shun Sakuraoka, Toyo, 29:57

6. Takumi Yamamoto, Chuo Gakuin, 30:20

7. James Leakos (CAN), Ivy League, 30:36

8. Kansuke Morihashi, Daito Bunka, 30:45

9. Kyota Yabushita, Meiji, 30:46

10. Koki Ido, Waseda, 30:57

Which Ekiden was it?

It's nice that they keep on inviting the Ivy Select Team, even if they are never really in top team contention.

Way to go Ivy League Ekiden Team! That 9th place showing is actually very impressive and it looks like every one of those guys ran well. The field is quite competitive and the guys we send are usually not in there peak shape in October, so that is about as good as we are going to do I think.

Now about the Heps, let's get a few things straight. I think as a fan base we should demonstrate our support for the race being back at VCP and try to make the event very well-attended.

C/M Runner keep in mind that you don't need to drive yourself. Get on

www.wanderu.com

and find a $20 bus ticket.

radtadrunner wrote:

C/M Runner keep in mind that you don't need to drive yourself. Get on

http://www.wanderu.com

and find a $20 bus ticket.

Thanks for the suggestion, but according to the website, the closest station is in another state (25 to 30 miles away from where I live, and going AWAY from NYC) and the hours won't work. Darn.

Does anyone have details on the time of the races for HEPS?

Did a quick search but didn't come up with anything

sort of cold where i am wrote:

Does anyone have details on the time of the races for HEPS?

Did a quick search but didn't come up with anything

From the Ivy League website:

Schedule of Events:

Men's Race: 11 a.m. (8K)

Women's Race: Noon (6K)

Awards Ceremony: 1 p.m.

The men's race begins at eleven and the women start at twelve!

Time for some predictions. I would guess that the top 20 will look something like this:

1. Thomas Awad of Penn

2. Curtis King of Dartmouth

3. Tom Purnell of Harvard

4. Ben Rainero of Cornell

5. Kevin Dooney of Yale

6. Joey Chapin of Dartmouth

7. James Randon of Yale

8. Michael Sublette of Princeton

9. Jack Boyle of Columbia

10. Aubrey Myjer of Columbia

11. Brian Masterson of Dartmouth

12. Noah Kauppila of Princeton

13. Tait Rutherford of Columbia

14. Dominic DeLuca of Cornell

15. Brian Eimstad of Cornell

16. Steven Sum of Princeton

17. Cameron Stanish of Yale

18. Nicholas Tuck of Penn

19. Brendan Shearn of Penn

20. Ben Huffman of Harvard

I have no idea how the 4's and 5's will shake out. Team-wise I think Columbia, Dartmouth, and Penn are the deepest ones. Princeton always seems to run well but they lose their home-course advantage. The hills could really break things up, which would probably favor Cornell and Dartmouth given their locations.

Now, IMHO, the HepsXC title is going to go to the team who has the strongest top 5 runners - from what I understand of VCP, it is not an easy course and it will be a heck of a lot more technically challenging than Princeton's flat West Windsor Fields. Not quite sure which team that will be right now... Princeton has the close spread to make it really tough for the men, but they don't have a reliable low stick. Columbia, Penn, Cornell all have potentially good low sticks (Rutherford, Awad, Rainero). While Columbia's Myjer had a good run at Wisco, I'd say he'd be a dark horse since it was just one race in a huge field where early positioning really mattered, and he and Rutherford really took advantage of that. Awad has speed, but he has been sub-par in his two showings so far this season. The last time there was a repeat HepsXC champion was Ben True (2005-06, he ended up winning a third in 2008), and considering the recent trend of winning juniors who did not repeat as seniors (Chenoweth in 2009, Cabral in 2010), it would be big deal if Awad can manage the repeat. Cornell's Rainero has speed as well, but I'm not sure how strong he is. He could just break away early and try to get a good gap for everyone else to make up. Rutherford could really challenge as well, but I don't think he has quite the same foot speed that he could maintain throughout the entire race compared to Rainero or Awad. Maybe Dartmouth will surprise the field - they did at the Battle of Beantown with a 16 second scoring spread at Franklin Park.

In the women's race, I think it's Princeton's to lose. They have a very strong front 3 (I think they could get 3 in the top 10) but their 4th and 5th runners need to keep it close. Harvard beat Princeton at HYP because Harvard had the better #5. Columbia also has a good low spread, but they don't have the low stick. I think the female top 4 will be Princeton, Columbia, Dartmouth, Cornell in that order. Princeton's Bird is a steepler, and they typically tend to be pretty strong runners, so she's my favorite going into HepsXC. Harvard's Smith goes out fast but she doesn't quite have the closing strength needed to get the win (if VCP was back to a 5km, then she'd challenge Bird; but 6km she's weaker than Bird). Giordano won't get the title, sorry - she has been soundly beaten twice by Smith, once by Bird. I expect Brown's Schudrowitz to make the race interesting - she's my female dark horse. Cornell's Spillane and Penn's Mongtomery will be up there in the mix, but I expect First Team for them both.

Some definite Cornell and Penn bias, but I did my best to disentangle my picks from my loyalties. Here goes:

1. Ben Rainero, Cornell

2. Thomas Awad, Penn

3. Nick Tuck, Penn

4. Curtis King, Dartmouth

5. Michael Sublette, Princeton

6. Tait Rutherford, Columbia

7. Dominic Deluca, Cornell

8. Brian Masterson, Dartmouth

9. Kevin Dooney, Yale

10. Connor Herr, Cornell

11. Tom Purnell, Harvard

12. Brian Eimstad, Cornell

13. Jack Boyle, Columbia

14. Brendan Shearn, Penn

15. Aubrey Myjer, Columbia

16. Joey Chapin, Dartmouth

17. James Randon, Yale

18. Noah Kauppila, Princeton

19.Cameron Stanish, Yale

20. Steven Sum, Princeton

The way Rainero's running right now, it's hard to see anyone besides Awad taking him down, and Awad hasn't exactly been performing up to par yet this season. Rainero has the speed (4:01 mile to outkick Oregon and Stanford at Penn Relays last year) to hang with Awad and anyone else for that matter. The way Tuck's been running makes me think he's poised to break out big at XC Heps, and other heavy hitters from past years (Purnell, Dooney) have not been themselves this season either. I erred on the side of giving the edge to guys with proven postseason credentials (King, Sublette, etc.) and I think the mid-distance-oriented Princeton in particular will suffer on the VCP back hills. As for Myjer, I was impressed by his performance at Wisconsin but his lack of consistently strong performances keeps him farther back in my books.

As for the team race, I'm gonna be bold and say that Columbia will be fourth behind Cornell, Dartmouth, and Penn. No idea what the order will be in front of or behind them. If that call holds up, Princeton finishing no higher than 5th would be the first time since 2004 they finished that low. We'll see.

If you are going by who had the best race last weekend then Rainero would win by a hundred meters. Look at the 5k PRs of the five guys right behind him - 13:51, 13:53, 13:41, 13:36, 13:50. If any one of them was at Heps I would predict them to win. However Rainero and Myjer have a few things in common that make me think neither will win. First of all the races last weekend were by far the best races either has ever had, making it unlikely that they will be able to consistently reach that level. At least Rainero is on a two-race streak of strong performances whereas Myjer's Wisconsin performance seemed to come out of nowhere. Second, neither Myjer nor Rainero seems to have ever raced longer than 3000m or 3000s on the track. When they get to hilly VCP, which runs much more like a 10k than the grass tracks out in Madison and Louisville, I think they will find it very difficult to stay in contact with the league's strength runners such as Rutherford, Dooney, and King, who have run low-29 minutes for 10k and have finished top three at multiple Heps championships.

Dooney in particular has been incredibly consistent at championship races, finishing 8th in xc, 3rd in the 5k, 3rd in the 10k, 5th in xc, 34th at NCAA xc, 3rd in the 10k, and 3rd in the 5k for his last seven championship races. I actually think my earlier prediction on him was way off and he is the favorite going into this thing.

I think the Dartmouth boys are going to win it with a strong 1-2 of Curtis King and Joey Chapin, followed by Salas, Masterson, and Adams in the chase pack. Nobody else is quite as deep through 5, 6, or 7.

Just one sequoia, you say?

I received word from Columbia's coach that the men's racing distance will be 5 MILES, not 8km as I was previously told by the Ivy League in September. I'm waiting to get confirmation from the League, but Coach Ireland told me that he reached out to the conference this morning to confirm it after I told him what I was previously told by the conference.In addition, Coach Ireland explained to me the women's 6km course:

I went and scored the meet through 3 runners from the posters above.

The only thing the two posters agree on is Harvard and Brown are not good.

Columbia also gets little love despite being the ranked #17 in the country. Penn is ranked #29.

You can give your own predictions in our NCAA XC conference polls here:

http://www.letsrun.com/news/2015/10/2015-ncaa-cross-country-fan-polls-give-us-your-top-10-and-conference-predictions/

donkeyriding scores through 3

Dartmouth 19

Yale 29

Columbia 32

Cornell 33

Princeton 36

Penn 38

Harvard NS (2 in top 10)

Brown NS (0 in top 10)

chaserofsteeples's scores through 3 (he admits to being biased for Penn and Columbia)

Cornell 18 (with a 4th runner in 12)

Penn 19

Dartmouth 28

Columbia 34

Princeton 43

Yale 45

Harvard (NS 1 runner)

Brown NS (0 Runners)

Ok, - got confirmation from the Ivy League office that the men's championship course will be the same as it was in 2010.

But in the League's mind, it is 8km. They say that no one ever really measured the distance of the course and they have assumed 5 miles and 8km are essentially the same thing, which is why their recordbooks have it listed as 8km.

Their logic. Not mine (as an engineer, I know they aren't the same but hey I don't make the race rules).