Of course Nico will run as fast as he possibly can at the championships. What runner do you believe ever blew off a chance for a win to pace some teammates at that race? It would be ridiculous. Adding one point to the team score would make him a team player.
Also - Montana State had three runners mixed in with NAU’s top 4, MSU’s 4th man was 11th and their 5th man was an All American who made finals at USATF last year but had a little bit of an off day.
There is no clear favorite? Stanford could have 4 ahead of everyone else’s 2. Based on races so far this season they have the best 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and maybe now 6 in the country.
Well… yeah. Hamilton is a horse and never has a bad race, but Perrin was MSU’s first runner at ND and Richtman has been within 3-4 seconds a few times. They’re likely to have a really solid 1-5 split in Albuquerque.
Well… yeah. Hamilton is a horse and never has a bad race, but Perrin was MSU’s first runner at ND and Richtman has been within 3-4 seconds a few times. They’re likely to have a really solid 1-5 split in Albuquerque.
Having stated all this, right now there appears to be no clear favorite amongst Stanford, OK St, BYU and NAU for the title. All have front running studs and plenty of quality depth. NAU and BYU are the recent NCAA team champs, BYU has a really tight pack, OK St has home course "advantage" (if such a thing exists for xc), and Stanford has the overwhelming track talent led by three 27:40 - 27:44/10k guys.
Highly unlikely, but possible . . . submitted for your consideration . . . all four teams under 100 points at NCAAs?!
There is no clear favorite? Stanford could have 4 ahead of everyone else’s 2. Based on races so far this season they have the best 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and maybe now 6 in the country.
Agree with this and no way there are 4 teams under 100 pts. Stanford and possibly 1 more team under 100 at most. Depth of men’s field makes it unlikely for more than 2 teams to score under 100.