Big Ten Predictions

50 degrees, 10 mph wind, raining. Course is supposed to be relatively hilly so probably will go somewhat tactical

Going to be unhappy if I paid $10 to look at a slideshow of pixelly images

Perfect! They lost the video feed from the cart

Anyone know why the MSU women have underachieved this year compared to national top-5/6 projections pre-season? Did they have a major injury to a key runner behind Magness? Been wondering all fall and wondered if any of you knew.

Anyone know what going on with Purdue. They’re not that bad by any means but not where they were a few years ago.

Holy sheet! Did anyone see the great pack running Rutgers displayed? They swept the last 4 places and squeezed 6 into the final 9. Damn!!

What's crazy is Hacker is 25 years old and still cant win conference. This is literally his seventh college cross country season. If he were better, or from another country, people would be up in arms.

michimanx wrote:

Anyone know why the MSU women have underachieved this year compared to national top-5/6 projections pre-season? Did they have a major injury to a key runner behind Magness? Been wondering all fall and wondered if any of you knew.

Didn't they graduate somebody, and also lost India Johnson to Colorado?

iowakidscanrun wrote:

Women

1. University of Minnesota

2. Michigan

3. Wisconsin

4. Michigan State

5. Illinois

6. Northwestern

7. Ohio State

8. Indiana

9. The rest…

My gut tells me the Michigan ladies are better than they have shown ( while avoiding the big meets) but not quite as good as Minn. I like your order.

1. B Hasz

2. J Magness

3. A Kohut-Jackson

4. M Hasz

5. A Engel

6. E Vanderlende

7. L Graham

8. K Windemuller

9. A Niggeman

10. K Hart[/quote]

In general slow times today (slower than Nuttycombe left and right), and Megan Hasz wins with Bethany 4th?

* Bethany Hasz 9th

allYOUcan3AT wrote:

Anyone know why the men's race is 5.2 miles on not a standard 8k? I found the women's 6k course map and it looks like one big loop with a couple cross sections.

It's cross country, who cares?

allYOUcan3AT wrote:

Anyone know why the men's race is 5.2 miles on not a standard 8k? I found the women's 6k course map and it looks like one big loop with a couple cross sections.

That started in 1975, the year Penn State first hosted the NCAA. They hosted the 1975 Central Collegiate as well.

PSU has two contiguous golf courses next to campus -- the White Course, and the Blue Course. The White contained the original 5 mile home course back in the day. For Nationals Harry created a 6 mile masterpiece spread over both the Blue and White courses.

For the Central Collegieates in 1975 the idea was to give those teams a trial run of the NCAA 6 mile by running the final 5 miles of the Nationals course. The problem was that the one mile mark was at a narrow funnel so Harry just bumped the start back a quarter mile, hence 5.2 miles. The 5.2 distance stuck since. The current 5.2 mile course is different than the original one and quite a bit easier.

Penn State really needs to find a coach. That performance was double-plus un-good.

In general slow times today (slower than Nuttycombe left and right), and Megan Hasz wins with Bethany 4th?[/quote]

The conditions were terrible for the women’s race. Cold rain and wind. Men’s race had already destroyed the course so it was a slippery muddy mess.

iowakidscanrun wrote:

In general slow times today (slower than Nuttycombe left and right), and Megan Hasz wins with Bethany 4th?

The conditions were terrible for the women’s race. Cold rain and wind. Men’s race had already destroyed the course so it was a slippery muddy mess.[/quote]

It's cross country, who cares?

free shipping with purchases wrote:

iowakidscanrun wrote:

In general slow times today (slower than Nuttycombe left and right), and Megan Hasz wins with Bethany 4th?

The conditions were terrible for the women’s race. Cold rain and wind. Men’s race had already destroyed the course so it was a slippery muddy mess.

It's cross country, who cares?[/quote]

I believe the comment was in reply to my comment about the times being slow. I appreciate the input. I was trying to make sense of where MI athletes were relative to MSU and MN. It seems to have turned into a mudders race so the results may not apply in other conditions.

Yep I was simply explaining why the times were slow and thus not comparable. Regarding Michigan women, I believe they are over rated. The coach made a bad decision to duck better competition during the season and put all his eggs in the B1G conference basket. MI blew up at cross nationals last spring, didn’t impress in track and now finished 4th in the conference despite peaking for this race. They may even get squeezed out of nationals on points because its likely they will lose to WI and MI ST again in the regionals.

Their 17-second spread is why Wisconsin almost beat Minnesota and did beat both Michigan teams. That team composition is better for big races, especially NCAAs . Wisconsin's 4-5-6-7 were 18-23-24-25; Michigan State's were 20-39-47-76, Michigan's were 27-35-36-38. The Ms all had spreads of about one minute. Compared to Nutty, Wisconsin's 4th and 5th there were non-scorers 8th and 9th here, while the 6th, 7th and 8th (96, 98, 111) from Nutty were 11th, 23rd and 24th here.

Michigan State's runners both will get a ton of points at the end, and are vulnerable to anyone having a bad day, but particularly 4 and 5, the runners most likely to struggle in a big pack. The fast course might help some of these teams at NCAAs. Great Lakes Regionals will be like this race without Minnesota. and given how close M, MS, WI were and adding Notre Dame (order at ACCs more like WI's) to the mix, makes the Regional a crap shot. WI picked up at least a point on the Michigan teams and and again at Nutty with ND and MS; they might get in with a third. I'm not sure on Michigan's points but since they have not been in big races, they might not have any.

I would be interested in more informed comments on how this could play out at Regionals, The last national ranking had Illinois, Butler and Toledo in 25, 29, and 30, but it is hard to see the them getting in.

Congrats to both teams. Now...wtf is gong on at Penn State? 8th and 10th?

Illinois will not be Great lakes. My "Guess is that between Notre Dame , Butler, and Toledo they may be able to stuff about an equal number of runners ahead of the number 4 and 5 runners from Michigan State and Michigan as Minnesota, Illinois, and Nebraska did combined at the Big10. I would expect very similar results as BIG 10, but don't expect it to be exactly the same.as Big 10.

You may have one of the 4 or 5 runners for Michigan State to have a great race to help offset the Wisconsin pack. Another unknown factor is where is Michigan's Larsen? Larsen has not run this fall for Michigan, but had a good outdoor track season last spring. She could put Michigan at the front. Another consideration could be one of the Wisconsin "pack" has a great "career best" effort and gives them a top 4 or 5 finish which would offset a great race by one of the Michigan's 3 or 5 runners.

Don't count Notre Dame or Butler out. Either of them could take one of the top two team spots with a great day.

GL region women will be a great battle.

GL men seems to be a two team show with Notre Dame and Wisconsin.