ivy league predictions!

larus wrote:

Brown pulls a close upset over Dartmouth and Columbia.

i'm not bashing your prediction, but how is Brown gonna win it? I'm no expert on ivy league crud, but are they really in the running this year? Are they deep enough?

Brown actually has 3 guys who are capable of taking the individual title in Emond (8:09 3K), Gaudette (14:09 5K), and Tarpy (5th at Heps last yr and a good miler on the track). They seem to have 2 solid freshmen and DeCoste a solid runner who was hurt last year. All they need is 2 guys to step up and run 25:20-25:30 which isn't that big a deal. Granted I am talking about a team that continually should win HEPS and somehow seems to self destruct everytime (have never won a mens XC HEPS). Honestly Dartmouth seems like the best team (never fall apart in big meets). Columbia and Princton should be solid.

ok,

i'm not saying your prediction is wrong. after all, it's your opinion and you have thought it out very rationally. however, there are 3-4 teams where all they need is a 4 and 5 guy to do reasonably well to win the title. the same is true for dartmouth, columbia, and princeton. who knows, maybe there's a 5th team out there that just needs that to come around. it seems to be the thing most teams need for that matter.

I didn't say Brown was going to win because till they break the HEPS curse you can count them out of the top 3. I was just answering the poster above if brown was a contender. Actually Brown is probably the top team to get the title (they solidly have 3 guys who can win which is more than all the other teams) and would get more credit from the rest on this board if they ever produced at HEPS time.

here it is...

individuals - shoemaker, dartmouth returning champion

versus sundell, columbia, 13:57 in the 5000m outdoors. will be an incredible race. someone will have to run low 24:30's to win. Nobody else, with the exception of lieb, who i think is still hurt can run with these two.

chase pack - colangelo, princeton (8:50 st) tarpy, brown (8th last year) nicholl, dartmouth (14:18) , tulley, penn (14:19), gaudette, brown (14:09), dusen, columbia (29:54), smith, princeton; emond, brown;meyer , yale; adaslar- foreman , harvard

team race:

8. cornell - even though they seem to be making progress they still have no real front runners or significant pack

7. harvard - adslair and bienvineu will take out cornell with two guys in the top 20 or so.

6. yale - meyer and napper will provide enough to beat cornell and harvard. stll not deep enough to move up in standings.

5. penn -if without lieb, tulley , hayes and werner do not pack enough punch to challenge the top four.

4. princeton - enough talent to win, but team seems to be performing worse each year. they have a slew of footlocker finalist type guys, but they no longer get it done. where is baraco when you need him.

3. brown - has the talent to win. they could potentially put three in the top 10. but most likely, they will fall a bit short.

columbia and dartmouth will battle it out ... shoemaker vs. sundell and nicholl vs. dusen will be key match-ups. dartmouth probably has more retuning firepower if all are healthy, but columbia has a better incoming class. last year dartmouth won by five points. it should be another close one.