After reviewing the season so far, what are your thoughts about the Men's and Women's Championships?
After a huge performance at the Big 12 Championships, can anybody beat Sally Kipyego at the Regional and National Championships? I don't think so, she has an outstanding record competing in World Cross Country Championships so we know she can handle the pressure. Also, the weather report out of the meet in Lawrence was COLD AND WINDY. So much for the Kenyan Achille's Heel.
The Oregon Ducks showcased their young talent at the Pac-10 Championships with Galen Rupp outdueling Robert Cheseret... again. Galen has asserted himself as a power to be dealt with and should be considered one of the contenders for the individual crown. Another story out of this meet is the outstanding run by Oregon freshman Diego Mercado, finishing 9th. To cap it all off, the Ducks took home the team championship with coach Vin Lanana taking it to his old Stanford team. With a victory over Pre-Nationals champion Stanford, should the Ducks be taken seriously as title contenders? For those of you who answer "no they aren't contenders," how would you feel if A.J. Acosta was entered into their varsity squad?
Martin Fagan brings back memories of shattering the VCP course record last year by running ANOTHER outstanding time, this time at historic Franklin Park. Martin ran 23:09, 22 seconds ahead of second-place (Kurt Benninger). His Big East Championship coupled with his Pre-Nationals victory stamps him as one of the favorites heading into Regionals and Nationals.
In the worst performance of the weekend, the University of Texas-Kenya Men failed to perfect score the abominable C-USA Cross Country Championships. They scored 22 points.
From the weekend's worst performance to one of its best: STANFORD WOMEN. Ari Lambie led the Lady Cardinal as four of them crossed the line virtually together... and way ahead of everyone else. Stanford's fifth runner finished in 11th, giving the Lady Cardinal a winning score of 22 points. Isn't it funny how scoring 22 points to win your conference can appear, depending on how the points were scored? The Stanford Women DOMINATED the race and are the overwhelming favorite heading into the races that matter.
College coaches focus primarily on two things heading into each season: 1. Performing at the Conference Meet and 2. Performing at the National Meet. Two Coaches who have emphatically checked off #1 on their to-do list are Mark Wetmore and John McDonnel.
For the last 33 years, if you look atop the SEC Men's Cross Country Results, Arkansas and John McDonnel would be staring down at you... possibly laughing. The Hogs went 2-3-4-5-7 and scored 21 points for the win. They had a spread of only 20 secons for their top 5.
There aren't too many coaches in the NCAA that coach BOTH a Men's team sport AND a Women's team sport. Fortunately for the University of Colorado Buff's, Mark Wetmore can write out prescriptions for 100 mile weeks for BOTH Men AND Women. Just kidding. He is an outstanding coach and has proven so by winning a combined 16 Conference Titles in the last 8 years! The Men's Team scored an impressive 36 points, outdistancing Texas by 44 points. BADASS OF THE WEEKEND AWARD: Erik Heinonen, University of Colorado. Erik finished 9th in the race, held at Rim Rock Park in Lawrence. This is an impressive result, regardless of circumstances but Erik did something special to win this BOTW. He finished the race with twin blood trails running down his face, eminating from his broken nose and dripping onto his lips and chin.
The Lady Razorbacks bettered their Men's result. They went 1-2-3-5-6 for their top five and went ahead and added 10-11 to claim 7 of the top 11 at their Conference meet. They scored only 17 points!! Too bad they will run into Stanford at Nationals...
What were your thoughts about these or other conference races? Who are your picks to win individually? Any and all NCAA prediction or meet analysis is welcome here.