MIAC XC 2021

It really isn't that surprising that Concordia finished in the top half of the MIAC. If you look at the results from the MIAC championship race this year, you can see that Concordia had runners place 1st, 17th, 18th, 28th, and 36th. According to the NCAA Cross Country/Track and Field 2021 and 2022 Rules Book, Rule 21, Section 6, Article 3b, this means that Concordia scored a total of 100pts because you have to add up those 5 finishing places.

I did the math, and there were only 4 teams that had lower point totals prior to counting their 6th runners. These teams were Carleton (50pts), St. Olaf (59pts), St. John's (86pts), and Gustavus Adolphus (98pts). Since there are 11 teams in the MIAC and Concordia finished 5th according to these calculations, it seems obvious they should have finished in the top half of the MIAC.

One interesting thing to note, however, is that there were technically only 10 teams in the MIAC competition this year. That is because St. Mary's only had 3 runners compete, and according to Rule 21, Section 6, Article 3c of the same NCAA Rules Book, that means they are not a complete team and do not count in the final results. In the case of St. Mary's, they were probably unable to have a full team this year because they do not have wifi. This greatly hinders their ability to send recruitment emails and visit LetsRun.com where they can gain essential running insight.

This is just my opinion that it seems obvious Concordia should have finished in the top half of the MIAC, but maybe I am missing something. My guess is that the above post is from one of the "liberal arts" Northfield schools, where they do not gain practical skills such as adding up numbers and comparing statistical results.

Here is my source of the rules:

http://www.ncaapublications.com/productdownloads/TF22.pdf

sabermetrics wrote:

- The second tier of teams, fighting for spots 3-5, is St. Olaf, Carleton, Eau Claire, and Oshkosh. I predict that Carleton and St. Olaf triumph over the WIAC schools in this tier for 3rd and 4th. but,

Tough look for #15 in the nation

For reference, what the top 30 would have been if only MIAC runners were included at Regionals:

1. bocovich, 2. young, 3. santos, 4. isahak, 5. bowman, 6. boone, 7. stumbo, 8. curtis, 9. nakasaka, 10. goldsmith, 11. hinchcliffe, 12. dewall, 13. grant, 14. kelly, 15. cassidy, 16. mendel, 17. smith, 18. knutson, 19. allen, 20. grove, 21. cavanaugh, 22. tanner olson, 23. thompson, 24. lavey, 25. lyford, 26. hussien, 27. diekmann, 28. sather, 29. casey olson, 30. lee

This results in a top 4 of the oles with 63, carls with 69, johnnies with 72, and gusties with 77.

Carleton's collapse was pretty spectacular (1:03 gap between 3 and 4 ain't it) but the Oles also had a bad day, and would have been in serious danger of not making nationals had Carleton run as expected. St. John's and Gustavus had good days, and the Johnnies' solid depth but lack of relatively low sticks would have fared better at a smaller meet.

In terms of what this means for next year, Carleton and Gustavus will be in trouble. Carleton only has one returner who finished in the top 75 at regionals, and Gustavus is graduating their whole non-Hinchcliffe top 6. The Oles and Johnnies each graduated a couple members of their top ~9 (a consistent top 5 is a foreign concept to both schools) but should be fine. None of the other teams, and also probably Gustavus, figure to be very relevant for the 2022 season.

GAC will reload. They have a lot of young talent.

Heard one of the Carleton runners had asthma issues. It's tough when your No. 1 doesn't run No. 1. The rest of the squad mostly ran non-short course Lewis & Clark PR's. It looks like the top 4 Oles also all ran season bests too. They just didn't have the 5th runner they needed. Maybe that should have been Arne Ellefson-Carnes. I'm sure the Oles coaching staff will regret that. Their weapon has been depth all season since they can rotate guys in and out.

Concordia impressed and if the new coach can recruit like she coaches they will be tough. St. John's will reload. I expect them to challenge the Oles next year.

St. Olaf punches their ticket. Carleton, as expected, does not qualify.

Here are the individual athletes going from the MIAC:

Lloyd Young - Saint John's (MN)

Ben Santos - Carleton

Munir Isahak - Concordia-Moorhead

Henry Bowman - Carleton

Calvin Boone - St. Scholastica

Andrew Stumbo - Gustavus Adolphus

It’s unfortunate we won’t get to see one last Northfield matchup at natties. Best of luck to the Oles and all the individuals that qualified!

SQUISH!

Time for a Miac track thread? lmao

quack

Good day for the conference at natties. Oles finish 17th, much better than their ranking of 28th, and Munir earns all American honors! Lloyd and both Carls also ran solidly. Another great season for the conference in the books, time for track!