Heps Cross Country 2011

F.Y.I. wrote:

Cornell wins Princeton Invitational, but only finishes five(?)

They had 6 finish. Their tall guy (Heck?) was running right with the others through around 3 miles and didn't look stressed at all but then hobbled off the course with some kind of leg problem. Their last finisher looked to be around 25:40 or maybe under that but for some reason he didn't show up in the results. Chip problem maybe?

There was a very bad headwind on the most wide open part of the course and that surely slowed the times a little, probably by about 10 seconds overall. Nobody in the main pack seemed to be keen on pushing it into the wind. Somebody would try for about a minute but then they'd settle back into the group and the overall pace would stay modest. But the guy from St. Thomas (apparently he was the runner-up at D3 Nationals last year) just ran away almost from the start. Went through in 4:43 and already had about 4 seconds on McDonnell (who made D1 Nationals himself last year). Two Princeton guys that tried to separate themselves from the main pack were another couple of seconds back and the front of the pack was through the mile in 4:52-ish. The Princeton guys got rolled up near the end but Arroyo-Yamin had another spurt left and finished 3rd.

Other than people running in Indiana today, that kinda wraps things up until Heps... so who's going to Princeton?

Abbey d'agostino came 2nd overall at prints, 20:23, behind someone from utep ( I think she was only about 4 seconds behind her). Dartmou women 7th overall.

Interesting results from Terre Haute:

http://www.gosycamores.com/fls/15200/statistics/11-XC/PRENATS/MENSPRENAT.HTM?SPSID=65221&SPID=7268&DB_OEM_ID=15200

Dartmouth men 10th/35, Ethan Shaw 24th/296 @ 24:44 (8k) in a loaded field.

http://www.gosycamores.com/fls/15200/statistics/11-XC/PRENATS/WOMENSPRENAT.HTM?SPSID=65221&SPID=7268&DB_OEM_ID=15200

Dartmouth's D'Agostino 2d/303 at 6k (20:23), and looking more and more like a lead-pack runner at Nationals, led her team to 7th/37 in another loaded field, but well behind 5th-place Cornell, which was led by Kellner in 15th (Cornell finished six before Dartmouth's third).

Cornell women finished three points behind #18 Michigan and a single point behind #4 Colorado, but did not defeat any ranked teams. Still, as long as yesterday's big meet doesn't hold too much sway with the voters, I'd expect the Big Red to move into the ranked teams in the next poll.

My picks now -

men 1. Princeton 2. Columbia 3. Dartmouth 4. Brown 5. Harvard 6. Cornell 7. Yale 8. Penn

women 1. Cornell 2. Princeton 3 Yale 4 Columbia 5. Brown

6. Dartmouth 7. Harvard 8. Penn

ojdsijf wrote:

My picks now -

women 1. Cornell 2. Princeton 3 Yale 4 Columbia 5. Brown

6. Dartmouth 7. Harvard 8. Penn

Wow. I'd love this (Cornell alum), but think that the Big Red's getting anywhere on the podium (top three) would be impressive. Princeton is strong as hell, Yale beat Cornell head to head, and Columbia (allegedly) hasn't raced at full strength yet--their B team looked great at Mets.

Predict the score of Princeton Men!

I'll go first 29!

I'm excited for the race up front in the women's race. Banfich v. D'Agastino. Who will take the W?

rando wrote: I'm excited for the race up front in the women's race. Banfich v. D'Agastino. Who will take the W?

So much of the outcome of these close races is driven by confidence, an intangible that is hard to measure, but assuredly will affect the outcome of this race. On the basis of her 1st place finish at last year's HEPS, Banfich is by far the favorite to win HEPS this year. And, with an impressive fourth place finish at Wisconsin, she is in prime condition in the run-up to HEPS. Don't forget the home course advantage, too. So, as good as D-Agostino is, Banfich gets the edge in this one. Comments?

Ivy Insider wrote:

So, as good as D-Agostino is, Banfich gets the edge in this one. Comments?

Yeah--I think it'll come down to a sprint, and I simply don't know who (of the two) is a better kicker--haven't seen either one often enough (at least in a close finish). [By the way, I think there will be at least one other woman in the hunt for the individual title.]

Meanwhile, I think the women's team race is going to be one of the finest in recent years. Princeton still rates as the favorite, I believe, but I don't think they're gonna take 15 against the rest of the League!--and I could see four (actually, make that five) *good* women's teams contending for three podium spots.

D'Agostino will win...she's a big time performer. Improving every race, strong runner, confident as they come, outkicked Jordan Hasay. It'll be a great race though...they're both running great.

Looks like Waverly Neer is back from injury and racing again...watch for her to improve rapidly and challenge for top frosh honors.

tired tired tired wrote:

Yeah--I think it'll come down to a sprint, and I simply don't know who (of the two) is a better kicker--haven't seen either one often enough (at least in a close finish). [By the way, I think there will be at least one other woman in the hunt for the individual title.]

I disagree-- I think one will make a break from the other in the later stages of the race. Banfich has the experience edge, but D'Agostino is a tough cookie. I predict a win for Abbey.

And I honestly feel like these two are head and shoulders above the rest of the Heps field. Everyone else is racing for third place.

The Harvard guys and gals are so full of themselves there were two articles in their newspaper on their women finishing 40th in a race and their men running in the B heat.http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2011/10/16/wisco-invite-recap/andhttp://www.thecrimson.com/article/2011/10/17/crosscountry-gamer-wisconsin-101711/After reading those, all I can say is, "Let's hope it doesn't rain at Heps."

Saretsky said:

“We decided to not compete at Brown because of the weather,” Saretsky said. “The amount of rain affected it, and the course can be a little iffy to begin with—there is already much mud and a lot of roots on that course.”

and

“We were disappointed about not sending our athletes to Brown because of the weather, but we didn’t want to risk health and safety of our runners,” Saretsky said. “We had some intersquad competition that was very beneficial.”

I loved the guy in the comments section who wrote:

A Random guy wrote:

Seriously? I have never ever heard of a team not going to a xc meet because of inclement weather (except for lightning).

Looks like the men's race is a foregone conclusion with Cabral/Princeton, but the women's race seems to have some exciting storylines.

Banfich 4th at Wisco vs. D'Agostino 2nd at Pre-Nats: which is the more impressive performance? Which runner can improve more over the next two weeks? If one of them peaks for Heps and the sets up to peak for Nats, that could be the difference.

Can the Columbia women put an end to Princeton's streak? They weren't far behind at Wisconsin, and you'd have to imagine Waverly will show some significant improvement in even this short a period of time as she comes back from injury. Will another team surprise? I think if I had to pick Princeton vs. Columbia I'd give Princeton the edge, but if I were picking Princeton vs. the field my money's on the field.

I don't think the Harvard runners wrote or had anything to do with those articles.Sounds like they were written by a student trying to put a good face on a bad situation.

Dartmouth paper has an article as well. Maybe Saretsky did a good thing by not running the guys as at least his guys aren't disappointed.

ivy graduate wrote:

Dartmouth paper has an article as well. Maybe Saretsky did a good thing by not running the guys as at least his guys aren't disappointed.

Yeah, I noticed the Cornell men also didn't attend--probably helped themselves more by winning at Princeton (not even counting the opportunity to see/race over the course they'll run at Heps).

Anyone here going to Heps?

C/M Runner wrote:

Anyone here going to Heps?

Me, maybe. If so, I'd be taking the NJT train from Penn Station. How far is the walk from the Princeton station to the course--anyone know?