Haverford also had two freshmen last year who ran 14:55 and 14:58, and perennial mystery Nick Farina who ran 4:14 in high school and has not done anything at Haverford.
Add that to their returners, they have a great and underrated team I think.
Haverford also had two freshmen last year who ran 14:55 and 14:58, and perennial mystery Nick Farina who ran 4:14 in high school and has not done anything at Haverford.
Add that to their returners, they have a great and underrated team I think.
I think St. Lawrence has a good chance of being top ten at nationals. They have Eli Howard who ran 25:11 as a rookie (75th at nationals), Dan Ramsey who was a 30:34 10k national qualifier as a freshman (beating the Cortland guys head to head) and a solid group of returners behind them. Added to that core are some legit stud recruits. Mike Fox from Warwick, top runner on his team that went to NTN, and I heard they had a few Kenyans who got in. As a program that has been very good in the past I think the saints have a lot to prove. After getting cheated out of a nationals bid last year they are ceartainly going to be hungry.
ps. Anyone else notice that Erik Donohoe didn't finish his freshman season...could he be returning?
pss. They had a freshman Jeremy Mwenda who went from not running to a 1:58 800 and 4:00 1500.
They'll have to battle to get out of the atlantic region first which is going to be solid again this year with Cortland and Geneseo setting up to the be the top two and NYU always a threat. SLU should make it to nationals but they won't be number one out of the region possibly wont' be top 3...
Post Master General wrote:
This Year NYU will be without Abdallah, Williams, Phillips (Who yes was injured the majority of last season) and McCarthy (even tho I understand he is now an assistant coach). That does leave them with a talented team led by Schnieder, and their coach is always able to recruit well, but loosing 4 of your top 5 is huge. They will be good, will probably hold on for the 3-5 spot in the Atlantic and make nationals, but expect them in that same position at UAAs.
Realize that Phillips was the top returner on the team from two years ago and never was in there top 5 last season. That team knew they had to stop up for him being injuried and they did just that. I am sure NYU will do the same next year.
P.S. What does McCarthy being an assistant coach have to do with anything???
He was the top finisher on the team from nationals when they placesd second, but I do not think Phillips was their top returner, I think most people would have considered that to be Abdallah no matter what. And mcCarthy being an assistant was brought up because I said they lose those guys, when in fact they do not totally lose him, just him in the races themselves as he will still be there training/coaching etc. It was meant as an aside, relax. I agree the team will step up, but there is only so far that the guys they have can go. Schnieder will be good, way up there at nats, but his supporting cast makes them as a team good but not great, like I said top 3 in the Atlantic region, maybe top 20 at Nationals. However I think there are a few other UAA teams that are top 15 or 10 teams.
Again, really interesting stuff and thanks to all. I haven't followed the sport too closely for some time, so it's nice to get clued in to the current situation.
I think this will be an interesting thread to revisit in about five months' time. Things change--especially in DIII, things change.
I'm still curious to see people's opinions on the women's side--NY/NJ Region (sorry, don't even know its proper name!), UAA, Nationals...
We've heard a lot about the east side of the country, how do people think the teams/people from the Central and West will effect the NCAA's?
As far as the Central (being a Central-er myself) I think most of last years teams that qualified will be hard-pressed to get back. Carleton is basically done with 6 of their best 8 gone, Luther loses 3 very solid runners, Wartburg 4, St. John's like 5 I think, including the best two, Nebraska Wesleyan loses their best two but keeps their 3-6. I think Hamline will be strong again after a year layoff, as apparently Brandon Gleason (5k nats indoor qualifier) will be back to lead them. Also, St. Olaf loses only one and if their next runners can step up then they will be good too. Of course, if all of last year's good team's are losing a bunch, maybe it will even out and all the same teams will get back again? I think if nothing else, the team race in the Central is a big chance for mid-packers from '07 to step up and lead. Every single one of last year's qualifiers was led by a senior. Who's next?
Three of last year's individuals are gone. Four remain which included two All-Americans, a dude in about the top 80, and one in the middle 100's. So there are a couple of spots for new individuals assuming the returning four don't screw up. I'm actually pretty excited to see which unknowns from last year rise to the occasion in the Central!
yea haverford is great and 351 and 353 is great but saint thomas had a 350 and 354 and wartburg had some decent 1500 guys
the thing is there are a number of good 1500 meter runners who are not amazing at xc. Granted a guy who can run a 4.07 mile is probably going to be able to do okay, but will not necessarily be at the front. I know a lot of guys who ran at xc nationals like 3 or so years back that brag about beating nick symmonds in a race...sad but true
How many WIAC teams are going to make it back? No more Zdroik or Sigl this year...how is that going to shake things up? Is that Lax pack gonna be able to mix it up in the top 5?
leroybrown wrote:
How many WIAC teams are going to make it back? No more Zdroik or Sigl this year...how is that going to shake things up? Is that Lax pack gonna be able to mix it up in the top 5?
I believe so, yes. La Crosse has an untold number of very good runners in their team. Zdroik is obviously a big loss but they will still have a very tight pack. It is seriously insane how many runners in the 26:00-26:59 range they have, to go with at least 4 or 5 at least returning who can hit the 25's on a St. Olaf-type course I would guess. Stevens Point also returns their entire nationals team from last year which got 6th so at least, I would be surprised if LAX and SP can't get back. SP is in a position to perhaps knock off LAX, but I guess it would be close. I imagine Cory Baumann for SP will be important, it seems like he's way better through indoor and outdoor than he had been in XC.
Plateville will still have a pretty good team too, though the loss on "Single Point" Sigl and a couple of others probably takes them out of the nationals hunt. I bet Oshkosh becomes a threat for a third WIAC spot though, returning 6 of their 7 and, oh yeah, Willy Kaul comes back. I think this year Wheaton could be a spoiler in that region. They lost some of their top 7, but no one they can't probably replace, plus Field and Mull leading that team could mess up a WIAC team's plans.
So to answer your question, 3 again, replacing Platteville with Oshkosh.
The early individual favorite has to be Peter Kosgei, that is established. After his performance at Penn relays in the steeple chase there is no doubt in my mind that he at another level entirely. The race for second, however, is going to be epic. Brandon Mull and Brian Harvey are solid choices but Shamus Nally of Cortland is clutch and tough as nails. That said he has trouble beating some of his teammates at times so, look for Justin Wager or Seth DeBouis to be up there in that vicinity. A couple other guys to consider for 2nd place as this thread picks up steam:
Edgar Kosgey of Williams
Jesse Schnieder of NYU
Jed Christiansen of Calvin
and
Sam Moorehead and Hunter Norte (who was hurt last year)of Trinity
On the team side I like Cortland. But they are beatable, especially by Calvin and Lacrosse. I don't especially like to keep giving Trinity much credit but they are a sleeper team to make a big jump (29th last year) if Moorehead and Norte are as good as I expect.
Geoff McGrane From NYU, best recruit in the reign of nick mcdonough. Injured but 8:38 3k in HS, a little of injury has been hampering him for a while. but he should be coming back STRONG.
Norte was fat not injured
Mcgrane, 4.15 miler or better in hs has not run close in college, best recruit more like biggest bust.
Let harvery beat Schnieder at UAAs before talking about him being a bigger favorite at nationals
Please list if you are going to pre-nats at Hanover in the fall.
cortland takes home the title
maybe he was fat because he was injured?
Maybe he was injured because he was fat?
Frosty the Swami wrote:
We've heard a lot about the east side of the country, how do people think the teams/people from the Central and West will effect the NCAA's?
The west is going to be in for a real struggle this next year. Of the three teams that went to nationals, Willamette loses their top 3 from regionals last year, Occi loses top two (Ramon and Chavez) and Colorado loses their top 3 (Boggs, Morty, and Nichols). The fourth team, Linfield, loses their top 2, CMS, the 5th, loses their 2 and 5. Whitworth, the 6th, loses their 3rd, but that is all I know of. Willamette always reloads so they'll probably win the region, and then go on to choke at nationals, as always.
Of the individuals, 9 of the top 10 are gone, and 12 (??) of the top 20. If you continue back, its about half of the top 40 are gone.
So basically... the west is wide open, and the qualifiers probably won't have too much of an impact on nationals.
I heard from a friend today that Terrence Fox of St. Lawrence and Jerry Greenlaw of Cortland both broke their legs today in a tragic slatering accident. Count them out I guess.