Last the year the MSU spartan meet was really tough conditions - hot, humid, and sunny, the course was really really soft and had no shade. I'm guessing this year was a little better, but I think the course will run a pretty similar to the Oshkosh course by November.
That race had some big upsets though on the men's side- NCC (USTFCCCA #13) and JHU (#16) beat John Carrol (#3) and SUNY Geneseo (#6). John Carrol's #5 got 73rd - if they can't tighten that up by the national meet, there is no way they will be in contention for a podium spot. Geneseo was even worse - they should drop out of the top 10 after that. OTOH, have to acknowledge that NCC is in very good form - they have several guys with all-American potential (Svienty, Nicholson, Riss) and solid depth behind them - with how poor JCU and Williams have looked, I think NCC might even have a shot at a podium spot.
Also, Case Western would've looked really good if their best 5k runner (Jaster) ran at all and their second best 5k runner (Begley) ran well - if they can get those two running like they are capable of and the rest of the squad running like they did today, they might be top 15 in the nation. Obviously, easier said than done, but I had questions about their depth going into this season and that was definitely not an issue today.
No real surpises on the women's side - I wasn't sure about how Geneseo and JHU would stack up, but it looks like the USTFCCCA rankers had it right: Geneseo is a little better than JHU right now.
Elsewhere in the Midwest:
- Chicago faced WUSTL at Gil Dodds, I think Chicago slightly outperformed for both men and women, which means they won comfortably on the women's side and at least kept it close on the men's side. I don't think either squad was really at full strength on the women's side, WUSTL was missing Behrens while Chicago was missing Kelly and Harnett. Didn't see anyone obviously missing on the men's sides, I think WUSTL didn't look like a top 10 team though.
- UWW faced UWLAX at Ken Weidt. On the men's side, UWW (#9) beat UWLAX (#5) comfortably (21-37). That is a significant upset. The times were underwhelming, so it's possible some runners were holding back, I think they should be switched in the rankings based on how the raced today though. I'm guessing UWLAX was tempoing on the women's side - two whitewater women went 1-2, and then UWLAX women took 16 oof the next 17 spots with a couple big packs. UWLAX won comfortably.
- Wartburg and Loras didn't face any real D3 competition
- St. Olaf hosted a meet, results were mostly as expected. Stout underpreformed their regional ranking significantly on the women's side while Carleton didn't look good on the men's side - don't think either of those teams are making the national meet anyway.