NESCAC 2023 XC Thread

John Lucey from Williams is dominating the field, mark my words

I think it’s going to be hard to beat Williams. After that it will be a toss-up more than in years past. Colby finished second last year but won’t finish second again after losing Morris, Mellor, and their 3-5 in a scandal. Midd was 3rd and I could realistically see them being pretty good again next year but they’ll have slack to pick up without Kessler. Conn is going to drop off big time. Love (6th last year) and Carter (3rd) are both huge loses. Their #6 last year was also a senior. Bates will be interesting. They lose Ryan Smith and Eli Boesch-Dining (Dining was all conference and Smith barely missed it). Ned Farrington has been a beast in track but didn’t have a great XC season in 2022. If Bates is going to be a competitive team in the NESCAC he’ll have to put it together for XC next year.

After the worst Nationals performance in history (they allegedly had food poisoning), Tufts will be interesting. They’re #4 and #5 were seniors. Wagude hasn’t had a great track season and neither has Aouchiche who was freshman of the year last year. I think they’ll finish worse next year than they did last year but that’s more because of other teams getting better. Amherst is young and is going to be a problem next year. 4 of their top 5 at conferences last year were freshman and Henry Dennen finished 7th in the 5k at track championships. He’s run 14:32 this year and will probably make the all conference team next year.

Bowdoin is also a team to watch next year. I could realistically see them making a jump into the Top 5. They’re returning 7/7 from last year and Angevine (4th in conference 10k), Peters (6th in conference 1500m), and Goddard (11th in conference 5k) will be a dangerous trio. Bockmann was 4th in the Steeple. He’ll probably contribute next year too.

Trinity losing Travis Martin is huge. Big loss. Tobias L'Esperance-Kerckoff will be their #1 next year but beyond that they are shallow.

Hamilton also loses their all-conference low stick in George Brady. Andrew Harrell was 6th in the conferences 10k but he will be gone too. They’ll be near the bottom.

Owen Rogers returns for Wesleyan and they are young but they’ll need big improvements to compete next year. I wouldn’t expect them to finish last again.

Given all this here are my way too early predictions:

1. Williams

2. Amherst

3. Middlebury

4. Bates

5. Bowdoin

6. Tufts

7. Conn

8. Trinity

9. Wesleyan

10. Hamilton

11. Colby

What was the scandal? I haven’t heard of that

Something about a groupchat. Not sure the details but James Boyle, Liam Carchich, and Quinn Potter (who was injured for NESCACs last year but would’ve probably been their three) are all not on their track roster. Boyle and Carchich haven’t raced since February.

Agreed, Amherst is absolutely on an upward trajectory. All of their biggest pieces are returning, not to mention their top frosh this year (9:05, 4:16) was sidelined most of cross and all of track. With Dennen, Dassin, Cahill, and Stephens all vying for the top spot, they're gonna have that low stick they so desperately missed last year with the loss of Owen Daily. Also hearing whisperings that Williams' Tuohy Gaydos might be taking the year off, which, if true, makes me question whether they're still the top dog in the cac. In the post Ryan/Lindgren era, I think Amherst has a real chance of reclaiming the throne.

Nobody on this thread wants to read anything except what the scandal was about. Let’s go.

speaking of scandals, apparently Funke-Harris is stepping down as head of xc at Amherst?? anyone have any info/ speculation on potential replacements?

No scandal... apparently it's just a personal/family decision - nothing to do with coaching or her relationship with the team. Still, will be interesting to see how this plays out for Amherst. Very curious who the replacement will be and how they'll shape the future of the program, especially considering all that young talent.

Any predictions for the women?

John lucey will be so strong this year. I hear he plans on going to bed at 10 every night from now on. Watch out boys

John Lucey won't be caught for it, but will be working in a lab to perfect his EPO dosages for this XC. Will be a scary guy out on the course. Hard to beat a chemical stud like that.

C'mon what happened at Colby?!

Anyone heard from NESCAC dad lately?

does that guy who ran a 4:06 mile have a COVID year to use? I can't remember the name.

Any individual title picks? Williams boys? Gironda have a chance? Wagude? Farrington? Should be a much tighter pack up front next year with the likes of Lindgren, Morris, Martin, gone.

my money's on Will Merhige out of Amherst. Rumor has it Amherst is launching a graduate program in Golf Management just so he can use his last year of eligibility and finally claim the Nescac crown.

The conference meet this year actually falls on Merhige's 27th birthday, which will make his inevitable victory all the more special

Just got off the phone with my best friend Charles Hicks. He's transferring from Stanford so that he can get his Master's from Bates. I also found out that Conn college has recruited 3 star recruits named Julian, Ricky and Bubbles and the current Conn college coach is being replaced by an alcoholic named Jim Lahey and his shirtless assistant Randy.

NESCAC dad took a paternity test and it was found that he was NOT the father