DIII Cross Country: 2011

Way to go Wheaton and Coach Brad-dog. Nice work.

Freelove wrote:

Well they were a well-beaten 3rd here so I'm not sure that their chances really warrant any discussion. I don't see anyone but Haverford and NCC winning.

Right. According to Freelove, the only thing worth discussing are those teams who have a chance on winning the National Meet. Thanks for the clarification. Please proceed with this thead, but be sure not to include any team that doesn't have a chance at the title.

Running sarcasm detector....no sarcasm detected.JK your sarcasm is stupid we shouldn't care about wheaton, stop complaining.

DougC wrote:

Freelove wrote:

Well they were a well-beaten 3rd here so I'm not sure that their chances really warrant any discussion. I don't see anyone but Haverford and NCC winning.

Right. According to Freelove, the only thing worth discussing are those teams who have a chance on winning the National Meet. Thanks for the clarification. Please proceed with this thead, but be sure not to include any team that doesn't have a chance at the title.

Lots of talk about Haverford vs. NCC after today. NCC is a clear #1 favorite, Haverford looked to struggle at Princeton today. Their top guy DNF'd and one of their top 7 was not running which generally doesnt bode well. NCC proved at Oshkosh they are the team to beat. Looked to me like Calvin had a bit of an off day though, I think they could be closer but not close enough to beat them if they run like that again. A couple teams that could make a bid against NCC aside from Haverford I think are Bates coming off a shocking defeat of Geneseo. Geneseo could do it if their top guys run like they were earlier in the season. Dickinson? Know nothing about this team but they are certainly ranked well.

panda bear wrote:

oshkosh results:

NCC 49

WashU 137

Wheaton 154

Calvin 156

Oshkosh 158

UChicago 231

MIT 240

NYU 246

This race only goes to reaffirm (as if it were ever even in doubt) the dominance of the MW Region. No more needs to be said.

Actually, it just reaffirms that this meet was in the Midwest and therefore more Midwest teams were able to compete than teams from other regions.

Teams that were supposedly going to be contenders (MIT, NYU) were also-rans today. MW dominance, baby

So here is my question(it really doesn't matter)...but why did Oshkosh run there whole team in the varsity race and then cut every other team off at 10. I know it is their home meet but that is ridiculous!

Anyhow thoughs on the race:

-NCC is very good (even with out Klein)

-Wheaton surprised

-The MW is by far the deepest region (despite down years for some UW schools)

-MIT got out slow and got stuck (as did some other teams)

-The south region is very bad....there top team finished 21st with other ranked teams farther behind

A couple teams that could make a bid against NCC aside from Haverford I think are Bates coming off a shocking defeat of Geneseo. Geneseo could do it if their top guys run like they were earlier in the season. Dickinson? Know nothing about this team but they are certainly ranked well.[/quote]

-Watch out for Midd, Bates, and Williams, making a run for the podium at nationals. There spreads are very impressive and have a fair amount of depth. Any one of these teams has a shot at 3rd with an outside chance of top 2... MIT was a poor representation of the region... overrated.

rcc wrote:

panda bear wrote:

oshkosh results:

NCC 49

WashU 137

Wheaton 154

Calvin 156

Oshkosh 158

UChicago 231

MIT 240

NYU 246

This race only goes to reaffirm (as if it were ever even in doubt) the dominance of the MW Region. No more needs to be said.

This typically SEEMS to be the case until nationals roll around, when half the MW teams crap the bed and teams from the AR or Mideast snag podium spots.

In the history of division 3, a team from the Midwest has come in first or second 37 times, or 49% of the time.

new england peeps wrote:

-Watch out for Midd, Bates, and Williams, making a run for the podium at nationals. There spreads are very impressive and have a fair amount of depth. Any one of these teams has a shot at 3rd with an outside chance of top 2... MIT was a poor representation of the region... overrated.

MIT already beat Williams this year.

new england peeps wrote:

A couple teams that could make a bid against NCC aside from Haverford I think are Bates coming off a shocking defeat of Geneseo. Geneseo could do it if their top guys run like they were earlier in the season. Dickinson? Know nothing about this team but they are certainly ranked well.

To be fair, Geneseo ran pretty awfully at SLU (with the exception of Berube). It really wasn't surprising at all.

new england peeps wrote:

A couple teams that could make a bid against NCC aside from Haverford I think are Bates coming off a shocking defeat of Geneseo. Geneseo could do it if their top guys run like they were earlier in the season. Dickinson? Know nothing about this team but they are certainly ranked well.

-Watch out for Midd, Bates, and Williams, making a run for the podium at nationals. There spreads are very impressive and have a fair amount of depth. Any one of these teams has a shot at 3rd with an outside chance of top 2... MIT was a poor representation of the region... overrated.[/quote]

this is flat out not true. Yes, MIT is overrated, they don't have a good #1 which will bury them if they make nationals. But there aren't any NE teams that are top caliber national teams this year. All the top 5 teams in NE (Midd, Bates, Williams, MIT, Tufts) are pretty much the same, potential top 10 teams if they're healthy and run well, on average somewhere between 10-20. Still deserve to send 5 teams to nationals based on depth.

Also this thread as a whole should be chastised for egregious misuse of "there/their/they're." Elementary school grammar guys, c'mon.

Freelove wrote:

In the history of division 3, a team from the Midwest has come in first or second 37 times, or 49% of the time.

It's funny because 27 of these have been North Central. Also 6 of the years the Midwest took the 1 and 2 spots at Nationals.

Pretty big mix up in the national rankings. Huge jump for Wheaton as well as a big one for Chicago. With a down week and in a weeks time conference races, these should stay pretty consistent up until regionals.

National looker wrote:

http://www.ustfccca.org/2011/10/featured/diii-national-cross-country-coaches-poll-week-6

...these should stay pretty consistent up until regionals.

Why do you say that? The national rankings saw some drastic jumps and slight shifts in large part due to the Oshkosh pre-nats meet. With conference races upcoming, it will be interesting to see if the teams will maintain this form. For instance, in the WIAC, UW-Lax may prove they are an underrated team and have higher worth due to consistently strong peaking when it counts. In the CCIW, look to see if Augustana can rebound from a poor showing at UW-O and can Wheaton display another outstanding finish. In the UAA, WashU looks untouchable, but what of UChicago and NYU- will the order flip-flop from this past weekend-and can teams like Brandeis/Carnegie shock in the UAA to lend some credibility to their respective regions. These are just a couple of possible story lines heading in. I could see some changes in Natnl rankings prior to the regional meet.

Anyone see any potential for big upsets this week in Conference action? I think the NESCAC is up for grabs. Also #4 Dickinson face #2 Haverford, that could be interesting as Haverford hasnt been tested against comparably ranked DIII teams yet.

UAA should be a terrific meet, though I don't see WashU's progress being stopped--unless they "low ball" the meet for some reason, like trying to keep someone healthy. Seems unlikely, because the UAA is a huge meet for Wash (and all the other conference schools, for that matter).

On the women's side, a team that could go on to Nationals and do pretty well (~top 20) could finish out of the top half at the UAA. Possibility on the men's side, too, actually.