DII teams...

Ashland didn't there top guy just run 26:27 and there 5th man 27:20 at the last meet? Its good but not good enough to make it to the big dance.

The great lakes region is pretty open I think. Grand Valley is a virtual lock. Then I'd say Southern Indiana for second. after that is seems pretty open and congested for the last two spot. I'd say Saginaw and Northern Kentucky would be the early favorites for the other two spots. Hillsdale, Ashland and Wayne St. should be right there as well, though Wayne has looked a little rough so far. Ashland has a shot for sure... but not a sure spot. They will have to progress very well this season. What region is Missouri-Rolla in?

The North Central Region will not have more than 5 teams make nationals this year. You qualify to nationals by the following: Top 2 teams in each region automatically go. However many teams finish in the top 8 the previous year at nationals from your region, open that many more spots.

The Great Lakes Region would have had 8 teams make it last year had there been at large spots, just as this year it appears that they will have another 8 - 9 teams good enough and the North Central will have 7. What stinks for those teams is that they will not be ranked at the end of the year due to the final rankings being from the national meet.

I personally feel like their should be either a better way of doing the final rankings to actually make an attempt to get those teams who could be ranked in the top 20 but didn't make nationals. Maybe they could start an at large type system instead. It would suck for some of the south and southeast teams as they wouldn't have much of any representation at nationals but they don't deserve to be ranked ahead of much better comp come the end of the year.

oh yeah wrote:

The great lakes region is pretty open I think. Grand Valley is a virtual lock. Then I'd say Southern Indiana for second. after that is seems pretty open and congested for the last two spot. I'd say Saginaw and Northern Kentucky would be the early favorites for the other two spots. Hillsdale, Ashland and Wayne St. should be right there as well, though Wayne has looked a little rough so far. Ashland has a shot for sure... but not a sure spot. They will have to progress very well this season. What region is Missouri-Rolla in?

Agreed.

#1 GVSU by a landslide

#2 Southern Indiana unless they have a blow up which they have been known to do.

#3 - #8 should be extremely close

My guess is that Saginaw will pull away slightly and finish 3rd and NKU will be 4th.

This weekend will show much as there will be a few teams at Louisville and a few teams at Notre Dame and a few teams at Loyola.

To the person that is looking at times as a predictor to how good a team is, you probably should include how tough the course is into that factor. After finding those Ashland results and looking back, it appears that the Case team that was 2nd in that race ran much slower than what they ran the previous week. My guess is that it was either very hot that day, rainy and extremely muddy, or just a tough course. Either way, Ashland doesn't seem that bad.

Ashland will make the dance. They will go into All-Ohio ranked top 5 or 6 in the region. At all-ohio...they'll run a solid race and drop out as usual when the ranker looks at the TIMES.

Run a solid race at GLIACS for 3rd and then snag 4th at regionals

That is great that you are all for Ashland but time will tell for sure. It usually isn't the best to go public about what you are going to do. Let your feet do the talking.

This weekend will be some great cross action.

Anyone know whats going on with harding this year? How does a team ranked 8th in the nation preseason fall out of the top 25? Florida southern also they're always a top team and i noticed them drop out of the top 25 as well.

Koskei/Kern are redshirting

B. Dunbar? are you out of prison? or do they just allow internet access there?

So the south is going to be pretty weak this year, even more so than the other years.

Dubbya Dubbya You?

is it me or is wwu WAY overrated - how did they move up in the national polls after getting 7th at firman

Slippery Rock deserves some love on here. They are good this year.

Slippery Rock is definately a team that could sneak into the top five at NCAAs.

gvsu will kill everyone in the race ever

one more wrote:

is it me or is wwu WAY overrated - how did they move up in the national polls after getting 7th at firman

Yeah I thought that was a little strange too that they went up from 13th to 12th, but the facts are:

The majority of their team was doing a tempo. As you can probably tell because Tomsich got 56th, with Lemay a little ahead and jordan welling behind. Grimes, who ended up 7th in the race, the only one not tempoing on the wwu team, is wwu's #4. Tomsich may have won the race had he tried. SO wwu may have beaten chico that day.

...so no, they are NOT overrated.

Chico is a Very young team and doesn't have an NCAA low placer developed yet. I'd say they are a bit over-ranked @ 5th.

The Rock should in my estimation be ranked near the 5-6 spot given that Weiss has already run in the top 5 @ NCAA's and they have a good supporting cast.

WWU reportedly tempo'd the Firman meet. Their guy who ran 24:20's at Sundodger the week before was barely among the top 70 in the field (@ Firman). Their #4 from Sundodger was in the Top-10 @ Firman. This is an improved team.

wow bummer their girls team isnt doing to well either is it the same situation?

who tempos a meet

and i doubt they beat chico, i dont care if chico has no big names in there, wwu hasnt shown anything that remotely speaks to them beating chico, isnt gonna happen

i think it is bs that they did a "tempo" instead of race - kinda a cop out - "oh but we could beat chico" - riiiighhht, put up or shut up