2024 XC Pre-Nats

as usual a nice write up, but did not Tia Wilson run at Gans Creek (11th)? I would add Georgetown to the list of top teams not there. Baloga was right with Chisolm at ND and I might put her ahead on longer tougher course.

Hartman and Hutchins were both better than Cochran and Noe all last year. We're putting the Arkansas girls ahead based on one 5k against no competition?

OKState knows they have by far the best team so there's nothing to be gained by showing up here. it's what they did in 2023. Dave Smith will show up at Nats again and pretend it's anyone's race then act shocked when his team score is in the 40's.

The drama will be in the women's race.

Where are you seeing actual entries? Sorry if im obtuse but I cant seem to find names

Is Riggs ever gonna run for Stanford?

Has Thorvaldson even run this season?

I went to the link and saw the teams but not the names of who is entered. The OP is probably just assuming who is running based on the teams that are entered.

Who determines who gets in the fast heat? Please do t tell me Mock Byrnes and his cronies get to control this too? Kissing Mick’s butt shouldn’t be a requirement to make NCAA! What 35 teams will race fast heat?

It's all laid out in the meet info page:
"This year’s Pre-Nationals will consist of three races for each gender. Teams will be selected for the championship race, B-race, and open race by a neutral seeding committee. Seeding will be based on the most recent USTFCCCA National and Regional rankings. Each team will be permitted up to EIGHT athletes in the race they are selected for."

This is correct. Actual entries should appear any day now

We'll see. Cochran and Roe have improved since last fall. ST looked ready to go in a recent TRACK: All-Access video. Of the two you mentioned, I'd pick Hartman to mix it up with the Razorbacks.

Right, I missed the Tia Wilson result at Gans Creek. Fair call on Baloga. I would include WVU's Joy Naukot and (a healthy) Amina Maatoug as two others who could displace Chisholm and Hutchins in the top 10.

No clue.

Team-wise, yr probably right, though a full-strength, perfectly-peaked Ark men's squad remains a wild card, imo. Individually, I expect an equally dramatic podium hunt in both races.

No Thorvaldson. No Jansen. Rauber listed for NCSt.

Elise Stearns makes her XC debut for NAU. she's a huge factor if the women are finally to win a title. wonder if she's still building and Smith has her run a slower pace or even just do 4K and stop.

Entries seem to be potential runners at this point. Some may run the open race, unattached, or not at all. WA may run their full "A" squad though. On paper they look to be very good - maybe not quite as good as NAU though.

I wonder what is going on with Thorvaldson?

Thorvaldson looked fit & strong in a recent Ark team workout video but isn’t slated to race this wkend. Rauber didn’t appear in a similar NCSt training video, yet she’s listed as a possible entrant on Sat. Seems like followers of college athletics just have to live with these sorts of uncertainties (and the subsequent head-scratching they provoke). We can speculate why any student-athlete might DNS or withdraw from the public eye, but what’s the point? Could be a minor physical ailment or something deeply personal unrelated to running. Imo, it’s not our business to know unless an athlete chooses to share.

Thorvaldson did look good in that video, and then said in an interview she hoped to run the Chile Pepper - but didn't. And now this. So I am curious

As far as this W race goes I think NAU is favorite (duh!) although unless Stearns is in top 5 shape maybe not by a huge margin over 2nd, WA may give BYU all they can handle for 2nd, then ND, then W VA may give NC St all they can handle for 5th. First chance to see what FL and Stanford really have, and where O'Sullivan and Maatoug of WA are and can they challenge NAU in a month.

Does Chilsolm do her normal very fast start? How hard does Kosgei push the pace and do Hilda, McCabe and Halladay-Lowry go with her if she does. Good test for Chloe Thomas of UConn and Bunnage of Stanford plus the AR duo and Hartman of NC St as well. And, does BYU show they can handle the fast large field better than they did in VA last year.