LetsRun.com NCAA Preview: Iona the Favorite

Actually their reasons make a lot of sense. I would definately love to see a North East school win. When wa sthe last time that happened

Is there a potential problem for the women's individual predictions that Ari lambie is listed twice? On one line she's listed as Arianna Lambie and on another line she's listed as Ariannat Lambie. I noticed that people have voted for both of them.

Agreed. Rupp and the Ducks are overrated. Not denying that Rupp has a good shot at the title based on his 10K, but I think Lomong is way more likely to come through, especially in a championship race. Look for Colorado and Iona on top of the podium. Wouldn't that be sweet (for my fellow oregon haters) if 1-2-3 was some mix of Iona, Colorado, and Wisco... No. 1 Oregon doesn't even make the podium?

The 4th highest returning finisher from last year, Jacob Korir (7th last year), was not listed. And on the poll he is listed as being from Kentucky. He is from Eastern Kentucky. Come on people!

There are 3 guys who are expected to win. Korir is not one of them. He doesn't merit being mentioned.

This makes sense however I was looking at the colorado guys and vaughn isnt listed and should be top ten and neuman should be top 20 and wasnt on there and james strang is not on the team anymore. Also Harkrader is worlds better then last year and I see pannone finishing top 50 or 60 so just off the colorado score this system is flawed. It makes sense but only if you guys made it more current with an up to date roster.

I agree that It is Lopez's race to lose but I think that Josh McDougal has a better shot at wininng the whole thing than Rupp. I know Rupp has a much better 10k PR but McDougal has more experience running cross country and has better speed (3:57 mile, 13:20 5k). Yes he has choked at nationals in the past but this year it seems his season has been a bit more low key and thus he will likely be fresher for the big one than in past years. He is as fit as ever, especially coming off his 22:56 at Pre Nats. If there is one man that will break Lopez I think it will be Josh, but he'd better do it with more than a mile to go.

What time does the race start?

12:08 eastern time... men.

it is raining here now, but not hard. certainly won't be as muddy as last year.

don't count out UTEP or the hogs.

supposed to be warmer this year.

good point. how can you put stock in a poll/prediction when the creator of it can't get things right in the first place?

Jacob Korir wrote:

The 4th highest returning finisher from last year, Jacob Korir (7th last year), was not listed. And on the poll he is listed as being from Kentucky. He is from Eastern Kentucky. Come on people!

davebrown wrote:

don't count out UTEP or the hogs.

supposed to be warmer this year.

I love to count out UTEP, even if the weather is warmer.

In fact, there is very little reason that anyone SHOULD count on UTEP.

two important things to remember are:

-they have a history of under-performing at the end of the year

-they don't have a 6th man, therefore it only takes one guy to have a bad day and they are finished.

you can say the same thing for iona, one of their top 5 guys has a bad day and they don't have any shot at winning

except that they have a history of performing well at the end of the year.

but yes, they do lack depth at positions 6 and 7.

I guess those multiple XC titles fit perfectly under your statement (including their 17-point score in winning one of their eight titles) duh. can you be more stupid?-they have a history of under-performing at the end of the year

liptonesque wrote:

davebrown wrote:

don't count out UTEP or the hogs.

supposed to be warmer this year.

I love to count out UTEP, even if the weather is warmer.

In fact, there is very little reason that anyone SHOULD count on UTEP.

two important things to remember are:

-they have a history of under-performing at the end of the year

-they don't have a 6th man, therefore it only takes one guy to have a bad day and they are finished.

Let's not forget while we're talking that Kiptoo was hurt fairly badly at the end of last year. I'm sure the guys at letsrun had to have known that... He's much stronger this year - back where he was when he finished 14th. Just look at his results at the Pac-10s and west regionals compared to where he was a year ago.

And then it's not fair to say Oregon doesn't know the NCAA course. They were there last year. They've all run in big races before. It's not like they're inexperienced runners.

Also, their #3 may not be as strong as some others, but their 4, 5, 6, 7 guys are basically right on top of him. And they're interchangeable. If one has a bad race, they're not likely to lose a significant number of points.

It may be fair to argue that they "ducked" the competition at prenats, but i don't think it will hurt them. lananna didn't feel like it was in his team's interest to go to prenats and i'm not going to question lananna, not with the success he's had in the past.

they beat wisco in september by 19 points when both teams were missing a top runner (rupp and eagon). and oregon's #3 (#4, if you throw in rupp) beat wisco's #3 (#4, with eagon), and oregon's 4 and 5 that race were one and two places back of wisco's 3rd.

i definitely don't think that oregon should be a unanimous #1 and i wouldn't be surprised if they lose, but at least get some perspective on what's actually going on with them.

i do like that this at least opens up the conversation so we hear about more of the teams

uh, they do have a sixth man, albeit a slow one...but much can be said for alot of teams einstein.

liptonesque wrote:

davebrown wrote:

don't count out UTEP or the hogs.

supposed to be warmer this year.

I love to count out UTEP, even if the weather is warmer.

In fact, there is very little reason that anyone SHOULD count on UTEP.

two important things to remember are:

-they have a history of under-performing at the end of the year

-they don't have a 6th man, therefore it only takes one guy to have a bad day and they are finished.

What shoddy analysis, but that's what I've come to expect from the Johnson boys.

great comeback :)

ghostoftedbanks wrote:

I guess those multiple XC titles fit perfectly under your statement (including their 17-point score in winning one of their eight titles) duh. can you be more stupid?

-they have a history of under-performing at the end of the year

liptonesque wrote:

I love to count out UTEP, even if the weather is warmer.

In fact, there is very little reason that anyone SHOULD count on UTEP.

two important things to remember are:

-they have a history of under-performing at the end of the year

-they don't have a 6th man, therefore it only takes one guy to have a bad day and they are finished.

you sure do throw the word history around a lot....maybe you should check history before thowing it around so loosely. You say UTEP doesn't have a history of performing well at the end of the year? I guess all the titles they won came despite them performing bad at the end of the year? You say Iona performs well at the end of the year? I guess that trophy case at Iona is pretty heavy...except when it comes to cross country titles. check your history before making crazy statements. u must be in grade school.

liptonesque wrote:

except that they have a history of performing well at the end of the year.

but yes, they do lack depth at positions 6 and 7.