Patriot League Cross Country 2021

Look for Boston to win both championships. They average age of their top 5 will be 24 years old.

Women's, in descending order

Loyola

Holy Cross

Colgate

Lafayette

American

Lehigh

Navy

Army

Bucknell

Terriers

Men's:

Colgate

Loyola

Holy Cross

Lafayette

Lehigh

American

Bucknell

Navy

Boston U

Black Knights

read it and weep,

-The Birch Guy

Both of my daughters went to BU as they wanted a real city experience (they only applied to NYU as a backup).

As I was a good D1 runner, I tried to get them interested in sports at BU, even the most popular sport at BU, hockey.

They just didn't care. None of their friends cared. While I appreciate the emphasis on academics, I was shocked at how little athletics mattered on campus.

I went to a jock factory and didn't like it, but I am not so sure I liked this total apathy either!

Army wins both, Navy goes home devastated.

Bucknell dominating early got top 12 places in an "invite" against SFU. Gotta show those punk ass Franciscans who's boss, they've had it too good for too long. Navy cruised, 9 guys under 25, going to be tough to beat a service academy on the weekend of 9/11. Colgate and Holy Cross are still colleges. Melko looking good for Lehigh but rest of team kinda back. Is this a strategy to prevent burnout for the 1st time in forever or do they have nothing there? And this is your reminder that Loyola is still in the Patriot League

Quote from Navy Coach Aaron Lanzel about the 2021 XC season, "The team won't find fulfillment with anything less than a win."

Marshall Beatty might want to bring his lunch pail

Army will dominate both genders. Beatty / Jones have no competition. Boston women looking much weaker this year than last and Navy does not have the 1-2 potential that Army on both teams.

BU will never be good at distance again as long as the Head Coach is Gabe, he is a jack ass and a lousy coach.

fan behavior

Navy went demon time at UVA. Not sure what this 1-2 punch is gonna be you’re talking about

Ha funny joke. I be surprised if army can put 3 in front of Navy's 7

Army is only returning champs because Navy didn't compete. Yeah they're good but not mop the floor with the competition good.

Navy is going to assault the whole patriot league this year as a team but the individual race is up in the air. Beatty is still the clear favorite but Melko is on his home course and has far superior speed which helps on a fast course. Boston will have a 25 year old international up there somewhere but I see Navy as a pack team. If Malleck can get back on his feet he is always dangerous. Lafayette just got trounced by Lehigh, so much for a program turnaround.

Is that why Beatty dropped his ass in the 5k this past spring?

32-23 is not a trouncing. It's Lehigh peaking for Paul Short again for the 20th year in a row.

Same old same old every year. Army's got Beatty, Navy's got the depth. Navy looks better than usual after UVA though. Not gonna lie I'm not entirely sold on Army giving em much of a run beyond Beatty. I'll probably be wrong.

Have a bad feeling about BU. No sign of Malleck yet and hearing some bad things about the dynamic in that program after the coaching debacle in the past year or so.

Lehigh lacking depth behind Melko.

Laf doing a good job moving on up but isn't quite ready to make the next jump.

Bucknell looks deep but don't have a top 5 PL guy, otherwise could make the sneaky jump to 3rd.

Everyone else keep trying (though I like that kid from American)

Lehigh is talking about winning the league this year. They return TWO 5TH YEAR SENIORS. Slavin (24:24 8k) and DeMassa (24:25 8k). Melko (3:48/14:15) is a threat to win the league. Wilson is a decent 14:47 runner.

https://lehighsports.com/news/2021/8/31/mens-cross-country-season-preview-mxcs-trio-looks-to-lead-the-mountain-hawks-to-the-top-of-patriot-league.aspx

you are crazy, Navy and Army can put their entire top 5 in front of those 5th years. I'm not too sold on Melko over Beatty either but home course is a big factor. But who knows, he may burn out like the rest of the Lehigh teams under the coach. It is still so early to even predict these things but as always Bucknell is poo poo along with Lafayette. Discuss..

Last I checked you need 5 runners to win a championship. Melko, Slavin, DeMassa and Wilson make 4. That is considering none get injured or blow up like they typically do. Lehigh should keep with the grad student angle tho and get Sam Layding back. Dude's gotta still have some eligibility