Can anyone challenge Stanford or Kipyego?
Can anyone challenge Stanford or Kipyego?
jenny barringer
Yes, Jenny Barringer could, on the right day, beat Sally K. Certainly by next year Jennifer will be busting Sally's chops in that last 600.
Two other top fivers will probably be Susan Kuijken from Florida State and Bri Felnagle from North Carolina. I'm wondering if Virginia's Emily Harrison has already peaked (I'm rooting for her).
Danette Doetzel from Providence is running decently, but she has really not regained the promise she showed since winning the Big Ten title as a freshman and then transferring from Michigan State. This is her chance to shine. She seems hungry.
I am curious to see how Iowa's Diane Nukuri does. She has had trouble finishing strong in the past (as has Stanford's Ari Lambie).
Stanford is sitting tough as a team because Michigan doesn't have Alyson Kohlmeier (redshirting? Injured?) and Arkansas lost one of their best runners to Texas A&M and I think Dacia Barr hasn't been all that healthy (speculating, based on reading results).
Princeton has had a sterling year, and could finish second if all their women do what they're capable of (I'm waiting to see Jolee VanLeuven bust one--she's due). Most of the rest of the top seven have had some good races, esp. Christy Johnson and Liz Costello. And all of this without two varsity runners from last year: Alexa Glencer (appendix) and Reilly Kiernan (stress fracture). Next year they will take it all.
The Princeton women are all pretty cute too.
Can Yale's Lindsay Donaldson repeat her performance at last year's Nationals?
Georgetown's Melissa Grelli is coming on. It all appears to be coming together at exactly the right time.
I've been watching Oregon, who also has a good team, but the only one I am counting on to be tough, really tough, next week is Nicole Blood.
Arizona State has 3 good runners, but the team drops off after that.
As long as Stanford doesn't fold up--and they were lucky to win it last year, they should take it all again. Michigan's top two completely choked this time last season, or the Wolverines would have had it. They are a non-factor this time around (as far as getting on the podium).
That's all I can think of off the top of my head. I love women's cross country.
Since you love women's XC how about picking the top 5 or 10 freshmen. Last year is was a bit of a surprise with Hanna Grinaker, who was only third in MN, not a state as deep as California. Nicole Blood ran well and seems to be running quite well this year. Probably not top 5 but maybe.
While you are at it, pick top 5 sophomores. (Sallie does not count as anything but a seasoned vet).
Bri Felnagle is yummy.
I heard she wants to know how Badgers are endowed.
Okay, here's some names. The freshmen are harder to pick because some of them did not run in all the races. Also, Princeton's team seemed to be so up-there this season, it appears they have at least 3 pretty good freshmen (one from NJ and I think two from California h.s.?) although I only named their most consistent frosh runner.
I am also holding back on a few sophs that were excellent last year but are not doing as well this year (not going to name publicly who I think they are--it's not very nice).
Nicole Blood is really like a red shirt freshman because she was hurt through the whole cross season last year (or so I thought).
Okay, here's my selections:
Sophomores
Susan Kuijken (Florida State—older soph)
Angela Bizzari (Illinois)
Nicole Blood (Oregon)
Hanna Grinaker (Wisconsin)
Liz Costello (Princeton)
Christy Johnson (Princeton)
Marie-Louise Asselin (West Virginia)
Keri Bland (West Virginiaq)
Dani Parry (Arkansas)
Bridget Franek (Penn State)
Freshmen
Ilsa Paulson (Northern Arizona)
Alexandra Gits (Stanford)
Ashley Higginson (Princeton)
Sheila Reid (Villanova)
Alexandra Kosinski (Oregon)
Angela Wagner (Brigham Young)
As a Wisconsin RS freshman (but one that was not 'with' the team through her first year at UW) Cassie Hintz ran very well until she got mono. She might still run at NCAAs. She finished ahead of Grinaker in the Paul Short race and then second to her, and reasonably high, at PreNats, then was sick/mono for Big Tens (#5).
Stanford will win. They are monsters this year and they have experience teams like Oregon, WV, and Providence don't have.
Kipyego will once again win the title. Lets be real
Then i think its
2. Barringer
3.Susan K
4. McWalters
5. Lambie
6. Blood
7. Dotzel
8. McKaig
9. Felnagle
10. Kosinski
Kipyego and Barringer is a coin-toss for the individual honors. Stanford should probably steamroll the field, with Princeton coming in second (I coached Christy Johnson in HS, so I'm a bit biased).
Unless the entire Stanford team gets food poisoning the night before, I can't see them losing. After that, my money's on Florida State-- Karen Harvey will have the ready at the right time and they'll have a couple really low numbers. For sentimental reasons I hope Princeton pulls out third, but with so many underclassmen, how they handle the pressure and the crowds is a big wild card. They should be in the running to win it next year when Stanford's big guns graduate.
Don't think anyone challenges Kipyego - winner by 14 sec last week over Barringer. Barringer did finish very very strong however. Kipyego did not look too tired.
Diane Nukuri will be up there.
Colorado will finish much higher than their ranking, 22nd.
How did you come up with your freshmen list? A girl from Nebraska beat Gits in the same race and also ran a faster time then Higginson and Wagner at Pre Nats. She ran a 20:24 at her Regional race, which I believe is a bit faster than Reids 20:37 (on the very fast Lehigh course)! The other 2 I totally agree, just saw that she was 1 of the 2 to get an at-large.
Llib Sregor wrote:
How did you come up with your freshmen list? A girl from Nebraska beat Gits in the same race and also ran a faster time then Higginson and Wagner at Pre Nats. She ran a 20:24 at her Regional race, which I believe is a bit faster than Reids 20:37 (on the very fast Lehigh course)! The other 2 I totally agree, just saw that she was 1 of the 2 to get an at-large.
It is hard to be up on all of the freshmen and he did it as a quick response to my question. Your comment adds more info, thanks, but you could use a slightly more constructive tone. Could you add even more information on either the freshmen or sophomores? Do you know much about the Princeton crew (I don't just comments people have made around here)?
The Nebraska girl you're talking about is Lara Crofford.
I don't really look at times too much in cross country. I look at how runners finish in relation to each other. I think this gives a much better feel for how someone is performing. As for Lara Crofford, she was only a second behind Minnesota's Jamie Cheever, but 17 seconds behind Iowa State's Lisa Koll. She also finished ahead of the rest of Minnesota's team, Katie Engle, and Jolly Burke--runners I am better acquainted with. That gives me a much better idea of where she is than just looking at a time.
If they ran the same distance at Nationals as they do at pre-nats, there would be a strong likelihood the times from pre-nats would be faster (even though most are in better shape at nats). The weather is often better during pre-nats, and this year the course was dry, perhaps at nationals it can be soggy, freezing, etc. Even on the same course comparing races on two different dates, times almost never help me figure out where someone is.
As I've said, too, it's hard (at least for me) to place the freshmen. You don't get too many races to learn very much about them. Once in a while you get someone like Hanna Grinaker who stands out like she did last year, shining like a new dime.
As to Princeton's team, they are pretty young. Caitlin McTague and Heather Iatauro are the only seniors in their top 12, and they're more middle distance oriented runners. Jolee VanLeuven and Megan Brandeland are juniors. Brandeland seems to be having a breakout year for herself.
As for the Princeton freshman, they are:
Sarah Cummings (California): 10:28 3200m
Ashley Higginson (New Jersey: 10:16 2 mile, state champ
Elisabeth Molen (Alabama): 10:47 2 mile, state champ
Brooke Russell (California): 4:59 mile in h.s.
Liz Deir (New York): 6:45 in 2000m steeple, state champ
Next year, they should have back (sophomores right now) Alexa Glencer, a Michigan high school multiple state champion, and Reilly Kiernan, a New York state champ during her prep years. So they should be stacked.
The course will likely be dry and pretty fast, with temperatures in the mid-to-upper 40s at race time or even a bit higher. However, it will breezy at least, and the course is reasonably open if it has so much viewable terrain. That could lead to running in a group rather than alone unless you find yourself breaking the wind on the point all of the time. Of course, there are the up wind and down wind legs, but crosswinds usually feel like it is coming from the front because of the runner's own velocity vector (although not so much as on a bike where the speeds are 20-25mph).
Interesting piece on Nukuri from IA:
Top three this year maybe?
I am predicting top 10 for Melissa Grelli. I saw her at the NCAA 10K on the track this year, and she is very focused. Sally finally won that race, but Melissa beat the others.
Melissa Grelli has been moving up with every race. I think she really is the peer of Bri Felnagle and Susan Kuijken. She's right there with them.
I am really curious as to how Kuijken will perform. She's been beating everyone since September. I think both Felnagle and Grelli have been closing the gap. None of them has been at Sally or Jennifer B's level this season, but Melissa could bust one tomorrow and I wouldn't be at all surprised.
JeffTheChef wrote:
Melissa Grelli has been moving up with every race. I think she really is the peer of Bri Felnagle and Susan Kuijken. She's right there with them.
I am really curious as to how Kuijken will perform. She's been beating everyone since September. I think both Felnagle and Grelli have been closing the gap. None of them has been at Sally or Jennifer B's level this season, but Melissa could bust one tomorrow and I wouldn't be at all surprised.
Not so fast my friend.
Flash Results, Inc. Hy-Tek's Meet Manager
ACC Cross Country Championships - 10/27/2007
hosted by Univ of Virginia
Panorama Farms, Charlottesville, VA
Last Completed Event
Event 1 Women 6k Run CC University
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Name Year School Finals Points
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Results - Women
1 Susan Kuijken SO Florida State 20:23.5 1
2 Emily Harrison SR Virginia 20:36.6 2
3 Brianna Felnagle JR North Carolina 20:52.5 3