2008 DIII XC

Well, NYU lost a ton to graduation and Cortland gets a goodly number of guys back, so they're probably the favorites for Regionals; but I think the Violets may really surprise some people at the Regional/National level. Their B team was maybe top-ten in the Region last year, and if they get 12-15 guys working this summer for the newly-opened varsity spots, they could be very strong again.

I can't see NYU repeating, but then last year I couldn't see Kosgei losing, either. (Which reminds me, I wonder whether Hamilton will have a shot at going to Nationals this year--it's basically their 2-5, plus a point, against everyone else's 1-5...)

I guess my pick is Cortland FTW, but I understand they've had coaching changes, so who knows.

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Who are the hot DIII recruits this year?

I think you better be out the door and on your second run if you think your gonna make it to nationals. You might as well try and make it in division 1 if your only mediocre in 2008.

No disrespect to the Hamilton team, bu unless a few more Kenyans show up in Clinton, NY, they will not go to Nats. Kosgei is THE MAN.

Kosgei will once again not win

Dizzzzzzzy, Bold prediction. Who will?

dizzzzzzy wrote:

Kosgei will once again not win

What kind of pr's/time would be needed to make nationals from the new england region for D3 nationals. Im an incoming transfer to a school and im wondering if i could be in the hunt. i was under the influence low 26's will be needed on an average course. For the sake argument, lets speculate the time needed to make nationals if it were held at franklin park.

The last individual qualifier out of New England this year ran 25:13 at Conn College's course which is flat (large incline is maybe 5m). So maybe mid-25s would put you in the hunt.

If the weather is cold and crappy, Kosgei may not win. But who will ?

I know NCC has been down lately, but they return all 7 of their guys from last year and had 5 guys at 14:50 and better in the 5K this year in track. Its easy to disregard them with the failures of late, but with their tradition and a legendary coach I put them in my early pre season top 4.

Don't you mean Baby XC??

Whoops, in my previous NY-centric post I didn't even address half of the DIII competition: the women's teams.

Who's looking good for this fall? Recruits seem to have a much more immediate impact on the women's side--who's bringing in a good group?

With the coaching change at NYU, I wonder how their women will do this fall (and more so, next fall). The Violets have had individual stars in the distance events in years past; can McDonough put together a competitive *team*? I suspect he can, and probably even faster than he did with the NYU men.

anyone have a course map of hanover

Kaul FTW

The Hanover course is a really weird XC course. It all seems pretty flat with just some gentle rolling stuff but it is not at all a fast course.

First, the weather will not matter, Kosgei will dominate. If you saw the 5k, you saw just how ridiculous he is.

Second, stop talking NCC up until they do something at Nats. Three straight years now they have been talked up as a trophy team and three straight years they have run terrible when it counted. They are full of potential as their track times indicate, but fail to perform when it matters. NCC will probably run away with prenats against a tough field to only barely finish in the top 10 at Nats.

The east coast will once again dominate. Cortland FTW.

predictions are for the wimps who sit behind thier computer screens on november 22nd ;-)

I saw Kosgei in the 800 at the Liberty League meet and he did the smae thing he did at Nats in the 5K. He absolutely took off with 200 to go and the crowd just gasped. It was crazy, it looked like the rest of the field had stopped running. I do believe that if he puts it all together he can get to yet another level.

Shouldn't all d3 prediction threads come to an end until Kosgei graduates we can just agree he will dominate each season?

Good Idea................