DIII Cross Country: 2011

Conference results? Post em if you got em, please.

yay running wrote:

Conference results? Post em if you got em, please.

You should be able to find every conference you are looking for here.

Haverford blows out Dickinson 19-46, NCC wins CCIW with 15 points.

Haverford men all over the Centennial today scoring 19 points.

http://www.dickinsonathletics.com/sports/wxc/2011-12/files/2011CentennialResults_Men8k.pdf

Haverford put their top 7 runners in the top 9 of the race. Look for them to be in the hunt at nats. Very good team. I don't see Dickinson in the top 10 at nats. Maybe between 10 and 15. After that there's a gap with the next Centennial team which was Swarthmore not Johns Hopkins. Expect Swarthmore to get a little respect and Hopkins to drop in the rankings.

Johns Hopkins women ran well. Haverford women weren't too far behind and grabbed second to suprise Dickinson. Hopkins score was a little high for a top 10 team coming out of this conference. They may be a little overranked. Haverford should move up. Dickinson should move down. Dickinson women looked thin up front. They've been sliding in recent years and haven't finished this low at Centennials in more than 15 years.

Don't look at the times in these races. This isn't the usual course that Dickinson uses. Course was moved to another high school. This course isn't as fast as the one closer to their college. Plus the area got hit with a lot of snow today.

Good luck to all at regionals.

For the MW Region:

CCIW Results: NCC looked very strong. While Wheaton's men attempted to run with the Cardinals, they ultimately faded over the last 3k. NCC's strength in numbers was clearly displayed as they rolled to a perfect score (15). Augustana took out the race aggressively well, but did not have the depth or talent level to compete with Thunder or NCC.

WIAC: Crazy fast meet! Any information on the course that was run and the tactics of the teams there? How the race played out? UW-Oshkosh and UW-Lacrosse both look very strong.

It's a shame the MW can only send 5 teams to the NCAAs.

It looks like a two team race for the top, with many competitors for podium spots.

My top ten teams and individuals:

North Central

Haverford

Washington U

Wheaton

Calvin

Oshkosh

Dickinson

NYU

Lacrosse

Williams

Nelson, Stout

Berube, Geneseo

Burnstein, Washington

Sathre, St. Thomas

Schmidt, Middlebury

Salukombo, Denison

Shillit, Haverford

VanderRoest, Calvin

Kleinsasser, Occidental

Perez, North Central

I'm not sure that Wheaton deserves their #5 national ranking, but it's mighty impressive for North Central to put 15 points in a race that included a top 5 team.

Williams is for sure better than 10th. I'm a Midwest guy, but let's be serious here.

ho hum wrote:

Williams is for sure better than 10th. I'm a Midwest guy, but let's be serious here.

I wouldn't be so sure. Yeah they have a great spread, but the lack of a top guy could really hurt them.

Emil Zatopek wrote:

I'm not sure that Wheaton deserves their #5 national ranking, but it's mighty impressive for North Central to put 15 points in a race that included a top 5 team.

The same could be said about the Centennial Results. Not sure if Dickinson deserves their ranking either, but Haverford scored 19 points against the 4th ranked team. And the only guy who broke into their top 6 is a 14:37 guy. The course must have been very slow, but they only had a 19 second spread.

Similar things can be said about North Central, sweeping the #5 team and having a 15 second spread.

It seems to me that these two teams are leagues ahead of any other team in the DIII. It looks like this is going to be one of the most exciting years in cross country in a while - with a classic two team battle, and also a ton of really good individuals fighting it out for the top spots.

Is this a joke? Nelson is not the top individual in the country. Not even close.

lotta talk east of the ol' mississip. here's what happened out west:

VERY close in the SCIAC:

Oxy shows that they earned their recent NCAA ranking, barely edging out CMS + La Verne. 1st through 3rd only 12 points away. Any other conferences have a closer 1-3 placing? Pomona Pitzer dropped off quite a bit. Kleinsasser and Forbess battled and it was only in the last 500m that Kleinsasser began to pull away, and he won by 6 seconds.

NWC:

Whitworth edges Willamette by a close 4 points. Neither team has a national ranking, and it's tough to compare them to the other teams in their region, since they rarely race. Willamette received votes in the last poll, but Whitworth none. Castillo wins convincingly, almost no contest.

As far as the west region is concerned, it looks like the SCIAC will be taking control, especially since it's on their home turf.

West Region individual title looks to be a battle among Kleinsasser (Oxy), Brainerd (Colorado College), Forbess (La Verne) and Castillo (Willamette). (Brainerd competing in Tennessee won the SCAC for the 3rd year in a row and showed that he's ready to challenge for an All-American finish at the NCAA meet. His 1500 speed is among the strongest of this weekend's conference champions, and I bet it'll come in handy in the final 200m in Wisconsin).

Is this more evenly matched than the NCC vs haverford race of last year?

funny but wrote:

Is this a joke? Nelson is not the top individual in the country. Not even close.

Didn't he win prenats and wiacs? Gotta be up there.

Ya I don't see Forbess being in any sort of contention for the West Regional title. No doubt he ran a great race at the SCIAC meet, but Kleinsasser did what he needed to do to win, especially when you consider every other race this season. Kleinsasser, Brainerd, and Castillo will definitely be the 3 to watch, with possible statements to be made by Forbess, Dannenhaur (CMS), and Smith (Oxy).

(As usual,) It will be interesting to see the turnout at the Midwest regional, especially this year given the amount of turnover in week-to-week rankings.

Prediction:

1. North Central

2. Washington

3. Osh Kosh

4. Wheaton

5. La Crosse

#3-5 are particularly hard. Osh Kosh will likely have a good performance at regionals, but it will be interesting to see what Wheaton will do. For spot 5, I foresee La Crosse edging out Chicago given meet history and current standings. Interestingly enough, Osh Kosh did not pull away from La Crosse as much as expected at the WIAC championships (51-64). Much will be resting on the performance of runners 3-5 in the teams because teams like Chicago, Wash U, and Osh Kosh all had spreads of >60 seconds at conferences.

[quote]Two Team Battle wrote:

[quote]Emil Zatopek wrote:

The same could be said about the Centennial Results. Not sure if Dickinson deserves their ranking either, but Haverford scored 19 points against the 4th ranked team. And the only guy who broke into their top 6 is a 14:37 guy. The course must have been very slow, but they only had a 19 second spread.

/quote]

I think this will be a very close race at Nationals as well. The guy who finished right behind NCC's 5th also ran 14:37 outdoors too. Though it's very hard to compare track times to cross country times, both teams have a very good 1-5 split and it should be a battle.

The Sauce wrote:

Kleinsasser, Brainerd, and Castillo will definitely be the 3 to watch, with possible statements to be made by Forbess, Dannenhaur (CMS), and Smith (Oxy).

Dannenhaur and Smith are good runners, but I don't see them making "statements." What i do see is Smith trying to hang on with Kleinsasser like he always does, and then fading. Although, Forbess and Licon could get in there with Kleinsasser and Smith and the 4 could have a great duel, which would actually be a blast to watch. On top of that, both teams are counting on their top 2 to perform if they want to earn that coveted Auto Qaulifier.

Teams like CMS, Whitworth and Willmaette who truly lack the front-runner (well, Castillo is legit, but he'll have to work his ass off to get top 3) will have to count on their depth to get them through. Also, there's a kid from UCSC who's looking decent. I wouldn't be surprised if he snuck into the top 10.

...your cousin marvin berry wrote:

Dannenhaur and Smith are good runners, but I don't see them making "statements." What i do see is Smith trying to hang on with Kleinsasser like he always does, and then fading. Although, Forbess and Licon could get in there with Kleinsasser and Smith and the 4 could have a great duel, which would actually be a blast to watch. On top of that, both teams are counting on their top 2 to perform if they want to earn that coveted Auto Qaulifier.

Teams like CMS, Whitworth and Willmaette who truly lack the front-runner (well, Castillo is legit, but he'll have to work his ass off to get top 3) will have to count on their depth to get them through. Also, there's a kid from UCSC who's looking decent. I wouldn't be surprised if he snuck into the top 10.

Let's be honest, the west region is going to end up being Kleinsasser vs. Brainerd. Anyone else will be lucky to finish within 20 seconds of those two.