Big 10 XC predictions

I think that you have forgotten how well Krause has done each year. Having sub-4 guys as 4th and 5th is not too bad, and Connor and Darling are no slouches that have not been on the big stage until now. RS freshman Shields surprised last spring with a 8:55 Steeple, and it is one thing to rely on a single young, inexperienced runner, but when your 5/6/7 runners are drawn from a host of talented runners that have not yet been in prime time because of the depth of the team each year the best of these will be pretty reliable, and remember at the Big Ten Meet, they get to run nine guys (a few years back they went 1/2/3/4/6/7/8/9/10[?]; taking all but a middle spot in the top ten.

Ahmed I think is the favorite now that it is clear that Mead is not in the hunt. If Peacock is back from his extended troubles (including iron deficiency) they will have two at the top and probably three with Krause (no one at the meet this year beat him last year, since Mead is toast).

"first UW finisher and second overall at the Big Ten Championship with a time of 25:05.9 ... did not compete in NCAA Great Lakes Regional Championship ... finished in third for UW and 75th overall at the NCAA Championship with a time of 30:39.7)." and ran 29:12 for 4th at Big Tens; pretty good #3 or 4, what does Indiana have at that spot.

You are crazy if you think Indiana is the best team! Wisconsin is way to deap and have more than two upfront runners.

Here is there top 7

Ahmed - will win Big Ten

Peacok - will be top 5

Krause - was 2nd at Big Ten's last year

Darling - will be top 10 if not top 5. Broke 14:00 for 5000.

Conner - will be top 10

Shields

Brice - was Wisco state champ 2yrs ago.

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Plus this doens't include

Hatz - top fresheman in the nation but he might redshirt

Finnerty - could be top 7 if he stays healty.

NO WAY will Indiana is the better team at the end of the year.

Indiana, shut up. I recall the same argument last year

"Indiana will win the big ten and be top ten at NCAAs"

-FAIL 4th at big tens, Hard to post 10th at NCAA's when you have a DNQ.

Then all indoor and all outdoor, "Indiana > Wisconsin"

put out or shut up. if you dont win this year (I say 'if' with mighty refrain from better judgement) then shut up till you actually do it.

I actually think indiana is a darn good team, but man hard to love a team the calls out the top team in the big ten every year and has nothing to show in the results.

-not a badger

Yea Indiana, stop getting on the message boards. I am 100% sure you are...I mean, there's no way anyone other than you could have said that. Take that you self-centered pricks.

It almost seems impossible that the Badgers have amassed that much distance talent on their team while also maintaining a great conference track team. How do they stretch their scholarship dollars to be able to do that. I would say they have the most raw high school talent of any team in the country!

Pretty close to what I'm thinking, save a few changes.

1. Wisconsin - Just as much raw talent as IU, and a history of getting it down when it counts

2. Indiana - Ton of talent, but maybe a year away

3. Michigan State - Could be Drenth's best team yet (I think they were 3rd or 4th a couple of years ago).

4. Ohio State -- similar to MSU, but maybe a little less quality...but execellent depth

5. Michigan - Gibby has some work to do, but a lot of talent to mold. It will be interesting to see how they adapt to a different training style

6. Minnesota - could be a rebuilding year. Losing Mead hurts.

Big Drop Off

7. Purdue - call me crazy, but I think this might be the year we see some tangible results

8. Penn State - Dawson and McNally are solid, but where's the depth?

9. Illinois -- Mickow could be all conference, but it's bleak after that.

10. Iowa - Thode is solid, but they're going to be a lot worse than normal.

whats going on wrote:

It almost seems impossible that the Badgers have amassed that much distance talent on their team while also maintaining a great conference track team. How do they stretch their scholarship dollars to be able to do that. I would say they have the most raw high school talent of any team in the country!

One thing is that the Badgers probably get a higher proportion of in-state talent than other universities do. Couple reasons why.

1A: What are the other good D1 running schools in Wisconsin? Glad you asked. There are 4 D1 institutions in Wisconsin... total. Marquette, UW-Milwaukee, UW-Green Bay, and UW-Madison. Don't know that much about Marquette... UWGB and UW-Milwaukee are not very good by D1 standards. Milwaukee in particular has a reputation as "the place where good runners go to die." If you follow Wisconsin running you'll certainly remember names of people who went to Milwaukee. And Marquette is not UW-Madison caliber either.

1B: What are the D2 schools in Wisconsin? UW-Parkside. That's it.

This may also explain why the WIAC is such a competitive conference. A lot of athletes that might go D2 or D1 in some other state end up in D3. (Or in Madison, because it's the best school in the state and because of low in-state tuition is probably the best option for a lot of Wisconsin students even if they don't get scholarships.)

In-state tuition for Wisconsin is really great, especially when you consider what you're getting: it's a well-regarded, "public ivy" type of school, one of the world's leaders in research. And with the reciprocity agreement with Minnesota, MN residents can get in-state tuition too.

Plus Madison is an awesome place.

madisonononononononon wrote:

Plus Madison is an awesome place.

^--This--^

Do the big 10 or other conferences give full rides? If they do, is it rare? And lastly, knowing theirs no perfect answer because it depends on, what the coach needs that year in cetain events, etc. . But, if coaches are calling you, want you to come on official visits, what would be a decent offer for one of the top elite runners in xc and track be. Is it like football and basketball, where they come to your games and go to your HS to visit the coach or your house etc. ?

one of the top elite in the state, not the nation.

Bryne is very up-front, I think. He will be honest with you and not play games. Some good/not great Wisconsin high school runners have done very well on occasion and they give them a chance to do that usually. It must be different for Bryne than Iona was.

A recruit wrote:

one of the top elite in the state, not the nation.

It seems like most of the top Wisconsin distance runners in the last 10 years are out of state. Tegankamp, Spiker, Bairu, Nelson, Withrow, Eagon, Bethke, Miller, Bolas, Peacock, Ahmed, Connor... and so on.

And the best sprinters and field guys are from Wisconsin.

They probably give full or close to full scholarships to the out of state distance guys, and then give smaller scholarships to the Wisconsinn state guys. A 25% scholarhship for a wisconsin kid is still cheaper than a 75% scholarship for an out of state kid.

Also there have been numerous football players who also did track and did not need a track scholarship cause they already had a football one.

They get some Wisconsin good old country boys for field and multi-events, sprinters are plucked from football of seems like Canada with the occassional full. After that, it's all distance and they're expected to run points at thier conference meet for sure. If I had to guess, I would say 6-9 scholarships in the distance area. Also, don't underestimate the reciprocity they have with border state as weel as a couple shady financial aid caveats they have (nothing to the extent of Oregon, but advatageous nevertheless!)

madisonononononononon wrote:

One thing is that the Badgers probably get a higher proportion of in-state talent than other universities do. Couple reasons why.

The other side of this: there isn't very much in-state talent in Wisconsin.

The meet at Wisconsin this Saturday should be interesting. Seven Big Ten teams will be there, with only Minnesota, Iowa and Penn State missing. Wisconsin will for sure sit Ahmed; I don't know if Indiana will run everybody.

Should be a good overall meet especially with three of the top Big East teams being there. Here are the teams:

College Men

• Air Force

• Florida

• Georgetown (#25)

• Illinois

• Indiana (#28)

• IPFW

• Kansas

• Marquette

• Michigan

• Michigan State (#18)

• Nebraska

• North Carolina

• Providence (#20)

• Ohio State

• Oklahoma (#12)

• Princeton (#24)

• Purdue

• Syracuse (#9)

• Texas A&M

College Women

• Air Force

• Eastern Michigan

• Florida (#8)

• Harvard

• Illinois

• Indiana

• IPFW

• Kansas

• Marquette

• Michigan (#27)

• Michigan State (#21)

• Nebraska

• North Carolina (#30)

• Ohio State

• Portland

• Purdue

• San Francisco

• Syracuse (#10)

• Texas A&M

We will see a good pre-big ten race next weekend. Im excited to see how Indiana and Wisconsin match up.

Does Indiana have a 5th man? They have Poore, Hubers, Mayhew, and Bayer. Maybe Turner, but he has never faired well in XC.

IU will win this rather easily I predict. Wisconsin won't run Ahmed and will be closer to 5th at this meet. Syracuse usually comes out pretty hard as well.

Big 10 order of finish Saturday:

1. IU (this team will not be worse than 8th at th dance)

2. Wisconsin (sit #1)

3. MSU (good pack and still excited about making Nationals last year)

4. OSU (usually start season way back but finished season 2nd at conference and 2nd highest finishing team at nationals too)

5. Michigan (though not a groupie regarding Gibby like most others in NCAA)

6. Purdue (actually had a good race last week)

7. Illinois (why cant they get better?)

IU rolls this easily.

Wisconsin will sit 3 of top 6 including Ahmad to get ready for Oregon meet.

Syracuse maybe a good call.