NCAA INDOOR DISTANCE PREDICTIONS 2008

Who can touch Bobby Curtis? I would say David McNeill from NAU. The 800m will probably be a 3 way battle between the guy from ORU, Hernandez and UTEP guy.

i think the 800 is anyone's race

mile- everyone in the top 16 right now is sub 400.5, so it will be hard to tell also, but manzano can kick like no one i've seen. can anyone get him?

the 3k is too early to even know who will go, since half the qualifiers are in 2 events

5k- josh is going to go for a second title. this one won't be as close as cross

mcneill is fast. but he had people pacing him from start to finish. he ran in the back and kicked well. perry and behtke are contenders as well. they just couldn't quite close in a 56 like mcneill

Josh will win the 3k and 5k.

No way Josh will win both. He is very good but between Curtis, Perry and McNeill there is no way.

btw, unless josh can run a fast time in 2008, he wont be going to nationals in the 3k. he's sitting 19th now with his december performance. so he's got 2 more chances to get in or he wont double at all, let alone win two

i agree. i don't think mcdougal has run anything fast since the first week of the indoor season. anyone seen any fast times from him?

My guess with McDougal is that he is in preparation for the Olympic trials. He laid down a nasty 3k/5k early in December off of his XC form to get his qualifiers. He hit the Auto in the 5k, so now he is just biding his time. I think the fact that we haven't really seen him racing is the best indication that he is gearing up to go to Beijing.

800- I have no idea, haven't been following it much.

Mile- Its hard to not say Manzano. So I won't. I think the Mile will be the best race in the meet.

3k- McNeill will push Curtis, but I think Bobby is the better racer.

5k- McDougal runs away with it. Unless he doubles in the 3k, in which case he still wins but by 5-10m instead of 5-10 seconds.

i like hernandez in the 800

perry in the mile

curtis in the 3k

anyone but mcdougal in the 5k (because he IS going to win it, we all know that... I would like to predict an upset just so i would be the only one to guess right if it happened... so ill say lex williams)

Mcdougal's 7:56 in the 3k isn't good enough to qualify, so he'll need to run faster sometime in the next few weeks.

Where did McNeill come from? I'd never heard of him before seeing his 7:50. That's a disgusting time as a freshman.

Mcdougal-5k for sure

curtis-3k (mcdougal to double, don't see him pulling it off. Expect Mcdougal to run a solo time trial 7:53 at his conference meet.)

mile-monzano (great kick, he outkicked lagat!!! but remember he also got slammed by lopez)

DMR- Texas for a big win.

800-UTEP guy who has gone 1:46

the lists should be up in the next 48 hours. then we can make real predictions. i hear that a few of the top milers will be running the 3k. probably in fear of manzano.

800-hernandez

mile-manzano

3k-perry

5k-mcdougal

Mens

800m: UTEP always has some strong 800m runners, and Koech and Tanui are no exceptions. Shaun Smith is an obvious threat, but LSU will be there in force as well. Here are my picks for the mens 8:

Shaun Smith

Elkana Kosgei

Jacob Hernandez

Mile: Lot of good talent in this field but I'm not sure which coaches are going to put which athletes in this field, because it would be easy, in my opinion, to throw Acosta in the 3000 but then who else do they have in the mile? Centrowitz won't get it done in the mile, McGrath has a decent shot but nothing I would bet on. Here are my picks for the mens mile:

Leonel Manzano

Garrett Heath

Andy McClary

3000m: Is it me or does the NCAA get a little more talented each year? Robert Curtis will be tough to beat if this is what he goes for, but there are a lot of promising prospects. It's going to come down to has the wheels to get up and move though. So I'm going with

Robert Curtis

Andrew Bumbalough

Kurt Benninger

5000m:

Jacob Korir

Josh McDougal

Patrick Smyth

Who knows who is going to run which event. Should be good though.

First of all, McNiell is not a freshman. He is in his 3rd year at uni. Second, if you had not heard about him until his 7:50 then you have not paid attention to collegiate distance running this academic year. He was 10th at NCAA xc on a team that was 4th.

800-primm. you can quote me on it.

Any word on McNeill? He didn't run conference because he had a stress reaction in his foot and the trainers wouldn't let him. Is he able to run nationals?

Shaun smith has way more experience at big races than any of the other 800 guys..i think he has to be the favorite

i heard he still may run (mcneil) only thing is if he does run he won't be is 750 shape since he's been out a few weeks

it's going to be like LSU vs. UTEP in the 800m. might as well just make it a duel meet.