2010 SoCon Cross Country

There are two guarantees for next year:

1) App will win

2) Wofford will get last

We have first and last on lock, 2-second to last are up in the air.

Mike Walker had a down year last year, don't count on that again. Soderman will be fighting for the win, they've got a bunch of young guys as usual, probably get one or two decent freshman. 6 in a row…should be a pretty uninteresting year.

The SoCon X-C depth just isn't what it used to be. When I ran for App State X-C in the fall of 1975-78, Furman was tough every year. William & Mary was very good in their final year in the conf in 75, VMI was strong, Marshall and East Tennessee State joined the conf (ETSU had their Irishmen including Adrian Leek). It was very difficult to make top ten and all-conf. Now I am happy to see my alma mater with such a strong group in the top ten each year, but it is against an easier playing field. Regarding Wofford, their women's team has a very strong recruiting class and should move toward the top of the conference.

UNCG brings back 4 of their top 5 as does Davidson. App loses 4 of their top 5 but hoome course advantage will play a big factor. Chattanooga has the two best xc runners in the conference, Furman returns all 5, Elon has a solid group. The conference will be pretty quick this year so with that.

1. UNCG

2. App

3. Davidson

4. Furman

5. UTC

6. Elon

7. Western

8. C of C

9.Citadel

10. Samford

11.Wofford

Incorrect Davidson LOST 4 of their top 5 in Thad, Peter, Lance, and Tom

What new recruits does each team having coming in? Any big impact freshmen in the SoCon this year?

Yeah, can't find anything on who App and Chatt are bringing in.

Well I think it's pretty safe to say that Chatts goign to be the super awesome, sneaky, bad #$% team that no one knows about, then they're going to get the SoCon and get crushed once again, for the...will it be 6...in a row? I can't remember.

SlowCon...

CofC lost their top guy who transferred out

Chatt had the conference by the balls until AD Sloan cut funding for the mens' program just before their streak ended. Gautier will have the guys back where they should be so long as Chatt can keep him there. The day Gautier retires the AD at Chatt is going to have his work cut out for him. Props to the guys at App, they've kept things going strong and deserve to picked at #1 going into the season.

Since we are talking about the 70's another program that ain't what it used to be is Western Kentucky (yes, I know they aren't a SoCon team). What has happened to them?

Gautier ran for Western Kentucky...

again w/ this slowcon thread

Who has App signed for this season? No one new on their roster.

Chattanooga will win it all. Coach Gautier has got the Mocs ready to go!

is the conference meet at state farm? or does app have a more worthy boone-like course

Trailrunnergary wrote:

Regarding Wofford, their women's team has a very strong recruiting class and should move toward the top of the conference.

Didn't people say tha last year, too?

If you mean "move toward the top of the conference" to reflect a bump one spot out of last place, then, well, yes, maybe.

But if you mean top half of the conference? Ha, ha, uh, no.

stuck with match.com wrote:

Chattanooga will win it all. Coach Gautier has got the Mocs ready to go!

Ready to go back to the runner-up spot maybe!

We've been hearing that about Chat for the past 3 years. Each year they get to the meet, choke big time cause they're scared, and lose. This year won't be any different.

Too many App guys posting on this board. Hopefully, you're alums. App has won 5 straight and deserve to be respected, but this year will be no cakewalk. In fact, I think it's one of the ripest occasions for UTC, Davidson, or UNCG to finally knock them off.

App has lost a lot of depth. Word is Sam Mordecai and Mason Campbell are no longer on the team. Both of them could have been contributors. We'll see if Mike Walker turns up; I, for one, hope he does. Otherwise, App will have no seniors other than Yarchin. Soderman clearly will have to be a leader this year. Brian Graves, Mike Lilley, Burk Staub, and Will Raby should be solid. That's 5 guys, 3 of whom are sophomores. Usually App has 10 and 5 are fifth-years. Someone like James Howard-Smith, Chris Moen, Alex Taylor, or Yarchin needs to step up and round out their top 7. Unlike most years, they are in the same boat as all the other conference teams: one injury could drastically affect them.

In reference to an earlier post, Davidson returns 3 of their top 5. They lose Divinnie and Harden, but Sieracki and Bruton were not top 5 runners. The 3 that return (Hopkins, Schmitt, Pagonis) are very solid and had good track campaigns.

UTC, Davidson, and UNCG have an excellent opportunity to excel this year with several upperclassmen returning. UTC and UNCG need to put it together this year because they will lose a lot next year. UTC has Berry, Kirwa, another Kenyan, Vasquez, and whoever they can come up with as a 5th. They have several returning sophomores like Kyle McLarty or Mark Cole that could be good.

UNCG has veteran 4 scorers back: Joey T, Koech, Andy Clyne, and Savoia. They also have Ben Vasquez who bombed conference last year (had he not they would have been 2nd), and hopefully a healthy Jermaine Coore who was all-conference 2 years ago.

Furman has McGoogan and Gilmer back, as well as 10K surprise Jay Miller, but I don't see the rest of their guys being able to hang with them. Western likewise lacks the depth. Elon showed promise last year, and it will be interesting to see if they can improve. C of C is getting better.

Predictions:

1. UTC

2. UNCG

3. App

4. Davidson

5. Furman

6. Elon

7. C of C

8. Western