GMAC thread XC 2022

Northwoods will win

Northwood?!?!

maybe if the course is 7200 meters short!

Walsh is going to be a tough squad to beat this year. They lost their number one, but return most of their squad from last year that finished 3rd at regionals (and are the reigning conference champions). My money is on Walsh.

Individually, Fisher is back for another season, and unless something serious happens, I can't see anything barring his way to another championship. Leist could be a contender, as could Moore and Roberts. Should be interesting. The rumor floating around Ohio these days is that Ashland found another season of eligibility for Sven Kapes. Should make for an fascinating dual at conference if true.

It's almost sad seeing Northwood moved to the GMAC. The move indicates a severe problem in the GLIAC. The GLIAC is an absolute shell of its former self. Member schools are sick of the constant pandering to Grand Valley, hence many of the former schools jumping ship to the superior GMAC.

On the coaching side, I'm interested to see how Malone will do with Schaub at the helm. Not a lot of experience there, though the coaching staff retains Hackle for his 80th consecutive season at Malone. Like you mentioned in your previous post starting this thread, Tiffin has a young coaching staff, so the injection of youth into some storied programs should be interesting. Hillsdale's RP White is listed as their head coach, anyone know what happened to Towne? Maybe he went back to selling used cars?

Also, it's discus, show some respect for our traditions on this message board.

I am interested in hearing you elaborate on what specific actions the GLIAC to pander to GVSU. What actions did they take with the intention of benefitting GVSU that they denied other GLIAC members? I honestly want to know.

Interesting take from someone who obviously doesn’t understand Northwood’s history and their potential for overwhelming growth.

Let me ask you this: with experience and success in a conference that heavily panders to Grand Valley, how can Northwood be challenged in a conference such as the GMAC? Their short distance prowess is easily transferable to 3k and up, we’ve seen it done by athletes such as Boyd and Aldritch. The way I see it, their domination across longer distances will be incremental but inevitable, similar to the downfall of our great country.

And by the way, consider omitting your 800 time from your username. 2:40 is nothing to brag about, I have split at least that in a number of my 5k’s.

Walsh is the clear favorite, but they seem to have trouble the later the season goes. haven’t had any strong finishes at national champs, despite strong gmac/regional finishes. should be a top 10 program if they could run well through november. the later schedule with the festival year might pose a problem if this continues

cedarville is my pick for the gmac champs. these men have been at WORK up in the mountains. they’re top three put out more miles than Walshs whole program combined. mark my words, these corn-fed god fearing country boys are going to put on a SHOW in Findlay come November!

I’m just curious, who are you behind the screen and keyboard TrippinTiffin?

Boyd should be in the running for the individual title, he had an impressive showing last year at Regionals. Northwood lacks any serious depth, with Aldritch and Haviland nearly 60 places behind Boyd at the regional meet. Lets not forget how Northwood finished 5th at the GLIAC meet last year. I could see them being top 3, but they can't win.

Oh please, the mountains will do NOTHING for the JelloPackets. Remember D&E? They were mountain warriors and had nothing to show for it come championship season. Walsh FTW

I heard from inside sources that Anthony Town is working for a Toyota dealership in South Bend now.

Let’s discus these regional rankings!

Walsh at no.2, as expected. Nothing much to say here.

The next 5 slots will definitely be pretty tight, a lot of shuffling to come this season. Tech, Wayne, and SV raced several times last year, with a different order of finish each time. Looks like the same will happen this year, which will give us something exciting to track. Lewis will be good again, but may be on the bubble after losing Hoover. Cedarville definitely will be top 4. SV will miss nationals without CarLee, looking at last regionals, if you swap him for their 6th, they aren’t even top 10.

Findlay is a surprise. Their top 3 can all make it to Nationals on their own, but when your next man is putting up 176 points, you can easily bomb if they say doesn’t go your way. Not expecting them surprise anyone and make it past regionals. If you come in good, or come in mediocre, Coach Wiener tends to keeps you that way.

No Malone or Hillsdale, not a surprise when their top returners were 61 and 127 respectively.

Ashland's success will depend on if Steven Kapes has finagled an 8th year of eligibility from the hands of the corrupt NCAA. Without him, they will be a GMAC bottom feeder.

The team to watch this year is Findlay. They have a dynamic front three with Nick DeHaven, Noah Fisher, and Jordon Foster. If they can figure out a 4-5 they will be a strong team this fall. Walsh is the favorite heading into the season. They seem to somehow collect every decent Ohio guy. Kudos to them on convincing recruits not to waste away at mediocre MAC school for 5 years and actually do something with their careers. Cedarville is a model of consistency and I would have to imagine that they will put together a strong 7 to compete this fall. Any school outside of the top 6 in this conference should just be relegated to the NAIA.

Championship predictions:

1.) Walsh

2.) Findlay

3.) Cedarville

4.) Tiffin

5.) Malone

6.) Hillsdale

Looks like a few teams will be racing this weekend. Walsh, Cedarville, Findlay, Hillsdale, and Ashland. My guess is Cedarville, Hillsdale, and Ashland all likely to run their top squad, Findlay likely as well since they will be at regional course in Kenosha

Rumors are that Corey White has returned to Tiffin. Can anybody confirm? This would surely make them a top contender

Close. Corey White is still gone, but James Ngandu is back. Confirmed by inside sources.

Looks like we have an official GMAC coaches poll. tiffin originally ranked 5 and 6 - is that their a and b squad, or is it two mixed squads? might help the dragons if they put all their runners in one squad if you ask me

if I remember right, we havent had one of these polls in 3 or 4 years? usually we just get a preview article. who is pushing for this, as it seems kind of unnecessary

That will be huge for Tiffin! Bring some serious experience and diversity to their team. His win at the Houston Marathon will be a big inspiration to the dragons. I know it has been for me! 🇰🇪 🇰🇪 🇰🇪

They may not be the most accurate thing, but it brings attention to our sport. Not really much downside to doing it and it gives runners on the teams something to talk about. Every other sport does it; why not XC?

Okay, looks like we have some results from the first round of meets! Walsh likely held out their top guys, but they had a strong showing at the Wooster invite, with Toskin taking the win. I think the best showing this weekend was Cederville at Wright State. Their top five were solid, with a 40s spread between 1 and 5. I watched Leist run, he looked smooth as silk, and he had a lot of run left in him. He should be in contention for the title this year.

Some other thoughts on the weekend; Hillsdale looked rough, but worse than that was Findley. They likely held out Fisher, but my goodness, they ran terribly! Count on them rounding out the back of the GMAC. Malone hasn't run yet, but we should have a better idea of the conference standings as of next weekend. Any thoughts?