A runner from this group of 9 guys as I see it unless Mr. Rugema is ready to roll like 2000.
Zep Joseph
Jake Rotich
Paul Keyzes
Nick Cordes
Paul Mcrae
Chris Siemers
Josh Eberly
Alfred Rugema
John Kemboi
It is really hard to give an edge to any of the runners. All have ran pretty damn good and are capable of taking the title if on that day.
I give the edge to Rugema if he is on but if not Zep Joseph will set up to the plate.
What do you think?
Not sure Kemboi deserves to be in there. He's only running 3rd on his team. I know he's a stud from his track work, but I'm not sure what's up with him this cross season.
hell no zeph eh go win shit, i give it to anyone else this isn't outdoor 10k
Siemers will win.
i would call rugeme the favorite. when hes in shape, hes tough to beat. zeph has shown he has the speed to pull it out as well.
You have the wrong McRae on the list. Ruben is the better of the two, I don't think Paul is even on the National team.
cordes
rugema
joseph
rotich
eberly
mcrae
manirakiza
kezes
seimers
levassier
eggers
stallings
kemboi
batres
larson
ac
western
chico
gvsu
sds
ucd
hillsdale
alaska
moso
adams
You should be slapped for leaving stallings off of that list. He will def. be in the mix.
I mentioned guys with a chance to win, not guys with a chance to be top 10. Nothing against Stallings, he has ran well but I do not think that he is close to what the guys on the list are capable of.
Most of those guys have no shot to win, but that's a good list of potential top 15'ers, with a few misses (look at last year's top 15)
Siemers will win. No contest.
thats my top 25 prediction
Why would you say that most of these guys have no chance to win? I would like a little detail why not everyone of those guys have shown the potential to put it together and win, I am looking for discussion so please let us know what you have seen to think otherwise. As for a good list of possible top 15 runners, this is a great list of top 10 runners. If you want me to through in who I think should finish by way of the season and personal knowledge of the other runners I would say that Stallings, Rowe, Larson, Burne, Levasser, Cele and ACU's next man will be the next 7 guys in no paticular order. I think that those guys plus the the original 9 I mentioned should be the top 16 with the first nine having no reason not to clearly be the top 9 guys. Who should be in the mix that is left out and where would you see them finishing. I do not think that this is really how things will pan out because people have bad races and fade a little but this is how if there was a ranking system based of the seasons races and other info, how I think it would look. Lets hear other opinions though.
err top 15...
here's the next 10 for top 25
16.clusener
17.laurie
18.rivers
19.sindayigaya
20.okello
21.rowe
22.byrnes
23.kuen
24.rodriguez
25.goodwin
bates, mutai, meese, lowery, doe, mcpherson, rivers and ndikumma all have solid chances of top 25.
from above i think eggers larson and batres are over rated, with kemboi and Rodriquez under rated. Cele always seems to get the biggest "bump" coming down from the altitiude. As far as the teams go SDS, MOSO, and Adams are underrated and the west in chico davis and alaska are over rated. I am sure the west thinks they match up but I beleive that they may get one top 8 team only with a big effort. Lowell is defineltly the sleeper of the group. They will be running for the coach in his last meet before officially retiring? Rowe and Staliings from the east may also be better than just top 15 and watch out for a big race from Joseph of North Florida. I think he will win it all over reguma, cordes and rodriquez.
Kezes totally dominated Eggers(12sec) and Batres(27sec) at the regional. Kezes looked like he had plenty more in the tank too.
what was that course like? fast, slow?
From what I've seen this year I'll pick Siemers. He looked amazing at the RMAC championships after giving Eberly and Mcrae a big lead at the mile he rolled them in. At Regionals Mcrae pushed the pace and Eberly had to run hard to catch him. I think Siemers ran smart and just held on to third ahead of the Adams runners and was saving himself for nationals. Just my obervation.
Fresno was a moderately difficult park course. Mostly good footing with a few really soggy spots and lots of rolling elevation changes, but probably not more than 75 vertical feet of elevation change anywhere. They modified the planned course slightly because of so much rain the day before. It might have been a tad longer than 10k.