Who ya got???
Who ya got???
Tough to call, but I'll comment on just the men's side and break it down.
Last weekend, Miami upset Ohio university in a dual meet. Josh Park once again crushed the field as expected, but it appears OU is hiding their cards. Interesting move. Clearly from their house tour video, they have plenty of room for dancing. Perhaps they danced a bit too much before the race. Watch out for the bobcats. They might have something up their sleeve.
Buffalo could be in the mix. They had a decent performance at the MAC Indoor championships. They had some very eye opening performances. However, they will be racing on grass and odds are they won't be using their cheaterflys in cross. And they are also in Buffalo, which never helps anything, that city SUCKS. There is literally a state between them and the rest of the conference that doesn't even have a MAC team, but let's see if the cheaterflys continue to improve off of their indoor season. I've seen some impressive runs on social media from them, but then again, the cheaterflys do take off approximately 15-30 seconds per mile in some estimates.
Look for Kent to be a major sleeper, I've heard about some impressive sessions coming from those guys. Definitely a sleeper to look out for. They had a pretty good 800 runner at Mac, and they always have Bookman who loves to lead races early. Not typically at the end of the race, but he's always a contender for the halfway point champion. Maybe this year with those brave tactics he could win it if he is still running. They are a quiet group, which is always dangerous.
The returning champions of Eastern Michigan lost their head coach, which is never a good sign. They also lost their senior Wicker, who was a crucial runner for them each of the past several seasons. I have also seen that they seem to have created an instagram account named "ypsiboyztrackcloob" and appear to not be taking anything seriously, but post at times as if they are. They have an entire section dedicated to one of their runner's birthdays, Noah Perrin, where they show him looking quite fat and a bit weird (that's putting it nicely). Look for them to fall apart with this lack of seriousness. Also, haven't seen Payne in any of these pictures or videos that they post, he could be washed. That instagram page posted about a 10k he ran, but it seems highly unlikely what they posted. It is an interesting account to follow at times, but these boys might have gone off the rails a bit. Their talent should at least not let them fall too hard.
It is unfortunate Akron won't be at the race because their school screwed them. Last year they had an impressive performance by Migliozzi but they underperformed as a team it seemed, considering their regional finish. They had Godbott who probably would've attempted to crack the top 30 for the individuals this year, assuming all things go normally. Truly a sad situation at Akron though. I hope they can figure out a way to reinstate the team. They had the youtuber Easterling which brought some spotlight to their program, but the university wanted that to fade away I suppose. He appears to be doing well at YSU now though, where he brings their only bit of relevance they've had in years.
Beckman from Central I believe has graduated, so look for the Central team to plummet. Their knight in shining armor is gone. He always provided a smile on everyone's face as well as some stellar running. Nothing else to say about them.
Toledo is another major sleeper. A huge sleeper I'd say. In fact everyone should sleep on them (ha). We will see if they get anymore off-brand Kenyans that might crack the top 50. Always fun to see.
Bowling Green has no chance whatsoever and should just look to volunteer at the race since they will be the likely hosts. It would be a great service to all if they did not congest the start line at all.
Miami had an impressive outing last Saturday. They look to use their Torpy runners who did not compete last year. I noticed that one Torpy didn't race, and their other Torpy appeared to be doing a threshold type of run I'm guessing based off of the time. They were insistent on their chances to make nationals last year, so I'm sure they will come ready. Their top 800 runner was in their scoring 5, which I'm sure they are pleased with. They had a great start by beating OU. I'd say they turned some heads with that victory. They will look to take back the conference before the Torpy brothers depart.
Team prediction: Kent pulling off a major upset. Potentially OU as well if they really show up
1. Kent 2.Miami 3. OU 4. Buffalo 5. EMU 6. Toledo 7.Central 8. BG (if they show up)
Individual prediction: Even though Torpy from Miami and Magnussen from EMU have the best 5k times, I will have to go with Jacob Harris. He seems to steal the Kenyan powers from his teammates when necessary, and this could be the year he takes over completely after a great finish last year at Cross.
Can't wait to see what happens, I've given my thoughts, but it is truly a toss up.
Lol EMU got lucky last year and Miami will take the throne again. Miami will dominate.
I think that Miami and Eastern are the clear front runners to this battle for the conference championship. It’s not doubt they have returning depth on their squads all around. I happen to think Buffalo is crazy underrated right now after the indoor championships but the cheater shoe dilemma states above is concerning because on grass it’s a whole different ball game and literally those shoes should be banned from the track. Plus they had some notable time trials on their coach’s Instagram (all in vapors tho). I will say the same for Toledo. They have good returners, some Kenyans and a good young core of guys posing a threat. Ohio BG Central and Kent are in the back as a team unless ur name is Josh Park or Drew Johnson. Dude was a stud indoors my god. Park won in 2018 too. Expect both to maybe win the thing. Here are my predictions Eastern 1 Miami 2 Buffalo 3 Toledo 4 Ohio 5 Kent 6 BG 7 Central 8.
Are you JOKING? Miami will CRUSH EMU. Drew Johnson? Seriously? Dude can’t run more than a mile. Toledo is awful. But to think Eastern will repeat, you must be delusional.
UPDATE!
Dual meet between Kent and Buffalo (would be a tri if Akron didn't screw their athletes by cutting the most inexpensive sport). Quite the surprising revelation though, Buffalo dominated the Kent State team. I wonder if this could be another OU-Miami situation, with Kent not showing their cards. Either way, I will update my prediction with the assumption that both teams raced to their best ability.
1) Miami 2) Buffalo 3) Kent 4) OU 5) EMU 6) Toledo 7) Central 8) BG
Cheaterfly boys could be on the move and overtake Miami. Or, Kent and OU will reveal their cards at the MAC meet. I'm still confident that EMU will fall apart based on their social media shenanigans and loss of head coach. I still expect the Kroger Kenyans to show up with Harris leading them. No comment on Central or BG.
Interesting perspective from wellthisoneisclose, I feel like that is an "expected" response considering the results of last MAC XC results. LOLnochance is a bit strong on the Miami prediction, but I guess our predictions now have the same winner. I still have a hunch that Kent and OU could surprise some people though.
Exciting developments, can't wait for some MACtion.
I am curious of your belief in Kent State. Haven't they been very down for a very long time. Have they made a rise I have missed?
Well they clearly have brave tactics at times as seen by the Bookman runner in various races. I was mistaken in my initial post though, I guess Bookman is done running from what I've heard. It will be interesting to see how their guys do at the MAC meet. If they perform like they dud today, they will definitely prove my "outside the box" hypothesis wrong. However, they had the winner of the dual meet with Buffalo. I don't necessarily have tons of evidence from races per-say, but it's just a hunch that I've had when looking at the program and hearing various rumors from around the conference. However, Buffalo beat them fair and square (assuming they didn't race in the supershoes). The Bulls are becoming an impressive program. I'd take their coach over any coach as well in a distance race, he seems to be an active runner himself who sets realistic expectations and sets his team up for success ((this seems like a normal coaching expectation (the setting realistic expectations and setting team up for success part), but it's overlooked by many coaches, with the MAC not being an exception)). Just a feeling I have from seeing various social media posts.
But who knows I suppose.
We simply have a tri meet going on here. Emu, Miami, and Buffalo. No other teams will contend for the title.
Only 4 days out.... last minute predictions?
Ok, I hate to always be the one who knows, but I am once again.
EMU men will win the team race, and it won't even be close. Buffalo and Miami will battle it out for second place.
Andy Payne from EMU will win the individual title. EMU will place at least two others in the top 10; Magnusson and Gualter for sure.
wellthisoneisclose wrote:
I think that Miami and Eastern are the clear front runners to this battle for the conference championship. It’s not doubt they have returning depth on their squads all around. I happen to think Buffalo is crazy underrated right now after the indoor championships but the cheater shoe dilemma states above is concerning because on grass it’s a whole different ball game and literally those shoes should be banned from the track. Plus they had some notable time trials on their coach’s Instagram (all in vapors tho). I will say the same for Toledo. They have good returners, some Kenyans and a good young core of guys posing a threat. Ohio BG Central and Kent are in the back as a team unless ur name is Josh Park or Drew Johnson. Dude was a stud indoors my god. Park won in 2018 too. Expect both to maybe win the thing. Here are my predictions Eastern 1 Miami 2 Buffalo 3 Toledo 4 Ohio 5 Kent 6 BG 7 Central 8.
Put some respect on Todd MFing Witzelben's name!
Told you EMU men would win the MAC meet easily. Andy Payne had a fall early in the race, was very far back at the mile and lost by just 2 seconds. He likely would have won as predicted had he not fallen.
Someonewhoknows from a different device wrote:
Told you EMU men would win the MAC meet easily. Andy Payne had a fall early in the race, was very far back at the mile and lost by just 2 seconds. He likely would have won as predicted had he not fallen.
1) Staying on your feet is part of the required talent.
2) You have no idea how he "would have" done.
I do not intend any disrespect toward the young man who fell, just a little to some Nostradamus.
ohio guy wrote:
Someonewhoknows from a different device wrote:
Told you EMU men would win the MAC meet easily. Andy Payne had a fall early in the race, was very far back at the mile and lost by just 2 seconds. He likely would have won as predicted had he not fallen.
1) Staying on your feet is part of the required talent.
2) You have no idea how he "would have" done.
I do not intend any disrespect toward the young man who fell, just a little to some Nostradamus.
It is, but he was pushed. He lost at least 15 seconds and came back and lost by 2. So, no guarantee he would have won, but a decent chance. He ran the best race today.
I was at the meet yesterday, my son told me he saw a Miami runner basically run Payne into the fence as they rounded the first turn, that he did some sort of role, and got back up. Payne was actually right around my son for the first mile or so, and I was confused about why he was that far back.
Mac parent wrote:
I was at the meet yesterday, my son told me he saw a Miami runner basically run Payne into the fence as they rounded the first turn, that he did some sort of role, and got back up. Payne was actually right around my son for the first mile or so, and I was confused about why he was that far back.
Yes, that is the word about what happened. If you look at the results, you can see that Payne was in 35th place at the mile, and he worked his way back up to take the lead with 1000 meters left and was beaten in the last 200 meters. He's not known as a sprinter, so it's tough for him to win like that. Josh Park is a great runner, but Payne had the best race yesterday. More importantly though, the EMU men dominated. Three in front of Miami's one.
Someonewhoknows writes a lot like Flagpole Willy. Just a hunch.
LOLnochance wrote:
Are you JOKING? Miami will CRUSH EMU. Drew Johnson? Seriously? Dude can’t run more than a mile. Toledo is awful. But to think Eastern will repeat, you must be delusional.
That didn't hold up well.