NCAA D1 Individuals

GF

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1) German Fernandez (healthy for quite some time now)

2) Sam Chalenga ( Easy top 2)

3) Chris Derrick (Kid is going places)

4) David Mcneill (fails to be in top 3)

5) Luke Puskedra ( THE U of O will put him back on top)

6) Dorion Ulrey (showing of the range)

7) some scum

8) Colby Lowe ( top 10)

9) Solomon Haile (how old is this kid)

10) Matthew Centrowitz

Chelanga

Derrick

Fernandez

Puskedra

Heineking

Go German!

1.Chelanga

2.McNeil

3.Derrick

4.Mecheso

5.Fernandez

6.Puskedra

7.Chipangama

8.Lowe

9.Ulrey

10.Sheridan

I'd say that only the top 3 are locks to finish in the top 10. Kipchumba, Mo Ahmed, Heath, Kirui, Wilhelm, and Haile are some of the guys that come to mind as likely top 15-20 finishers, and could easily finish top 10 too.

Also, like to add two others big time sleepers. Cabral and Bayer, went 1-2 at Wisconsin invite. They don't come from big name programs, but they are quietly doing great things.

Guy at the gym wrote:

Also, like to add two others big time sleepers. Cabral and Bayer, went 1-2 at Wisconsin invite. They don't come from big name programs, but they are quietly doing great things.

Damn, you had me beat on Cabral. He broke out last spring and it seems like he's not looking back any time soon. Watch out for that kid. I'd say he's a lock for the top 10.

Indiana will burnout like usual, they peak for the middle of the season. Therefore Bayer will do nothing.

as usual, for some reason, everyone is forgetting about Ryan Hill from NC State. He's been making big improvements every year since early high school. Is he what you would call a 'dark horse'?

I say Ryan Hill makes the top 7.

gf will not win

German Fernandez fan wrote:

1) German Fernandez (healthy for quite some time now)...

Didn't you see his Flotrack interview during OK State's long run? When he was asked how his training had gone during the summer he basically said, "Not very well". He may be healthy (which means top ten) but I doubt he's 100% fit (which means no way he keeps up with Chelanga - and probably not Derrick or McNeil).

Speaking of Derrick - In his interview several weeks back he was pretty hard on himself for going for individual glory last year at Nats instead of running with the team to bring them in where they needed to be. I would bet that he could be top 3 again this year but I suspect he'll hang with his teammates for at least 6k and then make a charge to somewhere between 5 and 8.

what derrick said was that last year he both didn't go for the win OR help his teammates, and that he needs to decide to either run with them or commit to going out hard with chelanga

The glass is half empty wrote:

Didn't you see his Flotrack interview during OK State's long run? When he was asked how his training had gone during the summer he basically said, "Not very well". He may be healthy (which means top ten) but I doubt he's 100% fit (which means no way he keeps up with Chelanga - and probably not Derrick or McNeil).

Speaking of Derrick - In his interview several weeks back he was pretty hard on himself for going for individual glory last year at Nats instead of running with the team to bring them in where they needed to be. I would bet that he could be top 3 again this year but I suspect he'll hang with his teammates for at least 6k and then make a charge to somewhere between 5 and 8.

german actually said it was the best training of his life it i'm not mistaken. he said its the most healthy training he's been able to put together

swe333t wrote:

what derrick said was that last year he both didn't go for the win OR help his teammates, and that he needs to decide to either run with them or commit to going out hard with chelanga

Why is it that folks can't hear?

Go listen to his interview again. He says repeatedly that he "was just like 'I gotta go, see you later'". He does not say he did not go for the win. He clearly went 100% for the highest place he could get. No chance he could catch Sammy. But it was clearly NOT because he wasn't trying. He ran purely for the top individual placing he could achieve and left his teammates to fend for themselves.

In none of this do I blame him. He is much harder on himself than I would be. I tend to think that elite college runners should be big boys and not require Derrick to babysit them for the race. Nonetheless that is clearly what he is implying he will likely do this year. "It is going to require more patience and maturity than I have shown in the past..."

Those two looked very fast closing at Wisconsin, distancing Ahmed with their speed. However, the Wisconsin buys did not have the legs/speed yet to close like that. Ahmed has done well at 10,000m and was the top frosh last year (30th) despite a late start to the season. He has had a much longer buildup this fall and will be ready for a good run at NCAAs -- Top 10 is clearly a possibility, as he beat a number of good runners to get to the top echelon in the 10,000.

bump

Cabral was one of the Big Six considered a contender prior to Footlocker 2007 along with Fout, Derrick, Fernandez, Puskedra and Lowe.

I wouldn't be too surprised to see him get back in the mix of it with his peers from the class of 2007.

That last comment made me wonder what happenned to Chad Hall....dude had a 4.0 GPA in high school and won Footlocker in 2007. How/Why did he end up going back UCR?

I had the wrong year. Hall won it in 2006. Michael Cybulski was a stud in high school. Did he get lost in the transition to college?