OAC predictions 2008

Top men's teams: Ohio Northern, Heidelberg, Mt. Union

Top women's: Baldwin-Wallace, Otterbein, Ohio Northern

Individuals for the men: Jimmy O'Brien, Scott Lasch, Dustin Ford.

Individuals for the women: Ashley Scullion, Niki Reese, Kim Chinn.

The Women Dont Matter but here is how the mens race will break down barring any injuries or Mount/Otterbein runners that quit.

Team:

1. ONU (Best OAC team this century, OAC champs no contest)

2. Berg (Clear # 2 will not be challenged for that spot)

3. MUC (Tons of Talent but not enough depth or leadership to be a runner up contender)

4. BW (Good up front but terrible after that, but easily better than OC)

5. OC (Dont expect much from them)

6. Wilmington (They Need some more Johnstown HS Alumni)

7. Capital ( They are much improved but still should not be considered to have a legitimate xc program)

8. Marietta (Josh Mickle is worth mentioning in the discussion of possible breakout individuals, but the Pioneers will are in search of 4 other runners to make a competitive team)

9. JCU (The most forgettable team in the OAC)

10. Musk (Ian Hankins.......)

Top 30 Individuals

1. O'Brien (ONU)

2. Lewis (ONU)

3. Butcher (Berg)

4. Hill (BW)

5. Ford (Mount)

6. Lasch (Berg)

7. Bowsher (ONU)

8. Adam (ONU)

9. Porter (ONU)

10. Martin (Berg)

11. Mrak (Berg)

12. Whisler (Mount)

13. Bowen (BW)

14. Griffin (Mount)

15. Basista (Mount)

16. Stiles (Wilm)

17. Baker (ONU)

18. Schneider (OC)

19. Saling (Berg)

20. Hiser (ONU)

21. Eberts (BW)

22. Castrillo (OC)

23. Orr (Wilm)

24. Lemon (Berg)

25. Mickle (Mar)

26. Wolfe (Mount)

27. Dieterich (Mount)

28. Thatcher (ONU)

29. Buhovecky (BW)

30. Fyock (OC)

best team this century? did you mean decade?

ONU didn\'t knock my socks off at hanover last weekend. But they\'re still the heavy, heavy, heavy favorites.

Lasch ran poorly at Berg\'s dual meet with tiffin, then I didn\'t see him in the results at Marietta this weekend. What\'s the deal there?

Heidelberg 26

Otterbein 46

Otterbein is a lot better than I expected. That score could've been a lot closer.

i am just curious how lasch was AA his freshman of cross. and since then he has done absolutely nothing. he even has barely has represented himself well in the conference.

is that because he is lasch or is there an internal thing with the coaches?

Expert I think that's a direct shot to all the runners at Mount Union by saying they have no leadership! I think that we haven't seen enough yet or enough head to head yet to jump the gun. I think that ONU Mount and Berg will defenitly all be up front, but to pick one of them right now would be too premature. None of the big races have started yet and who knows how hard everyone has been running in the small invitationals.

Big meet on the 27th at Otterbein: Mount, Berg, Bein, Case, Wilmington, BW, Ashland

Most likely that race was a product of the conditions of that day. Nationals that year were really, really muddy which made it very hard to move up throughout the race. For the most part, wherever people were in the pack through the first mile or two was where they stayed. Lasch was leading the race at the mile, which isn't really surprising considereing he runs nearly every race he's in like that, for better or worse. That day, it turned out to be for the better.

The score would have been a lot worse if Lasch was present. Yet they still beat Otterbein by 20 points. And this was without Lasch. Heidelberg had 4 new guys in their top 7 at this meet than they did at the end of last year for Conference and Regionals and Nationals. This should open some eyes as to Heidelberg's depth and talent. I hope to see Heidelberg's full team at Otterbein this week and see what they are made of. Both meets this year they have ran without a top 3 runner (Martin at Tiffin Invite and Lasch at Marietta). This will be a very exciting race this weekend with the competition that will be there. Good Luck to all teams and runners.

It couldn't have been a lot worse. It could've been at the most a couple points worse...unless he counts for 5-6 people these days.

rain predicted for saturday. if that holds true it should make things even more interesting. the course/starting line could be remniscent of OC invitational two years ago.

The weather channel says 30% chance of rain. I think we're going to be okay.

Lasch missed Marietta because of an illness in the family. They will be at full strength at Otterbein.

any word from the 'bein invite?

i must say after the first few weeks I don't think ONU is as good as everybody thought they'd be.

Mount put 5 in front of otterbein's one

Mount beat hberg

otterbein lost to hberg by 20ish

otterbein beat bw by 10

was ashland there?

otterbein is the absolute worst at putting up their results in a timely fashion.

Yes ashland was there. Team was first, edging out case western by a few points.

Rough estimations of ashland's finishers:

4th-Cameron Johnson--25:14

5th-Brock Weaver--25:15

8th-Jeremy Trein--25:19

13-Nick McQuillen--25:29

15-Matt Stratman--25:30

I believe their 6th and 7th were also under 26:00.

Solid race for the ashland squad. A gap from 1-5 of 15 seconds is impressive.