DII Nationals at Spokane

Is this at the Wandemere Golf Course? Same place DIII nationals was held in 2000?

What is the course like at Plantes Ferry Complex in Spokane, WA for the DII nationals? Terrain, etc?

Is there going to be a prediction contest again??

Oh please someone say yes!

Plantes Ferry park is tough, the several time i've raced on it it's been a little slow due to the footing. I would say no matter where or what direction you run at the park it's going to be 99% flat with VERY small rollers.

It's used primarily for soccer and softball games during summer & spring. The ground is strange even with mowed grass. It feels a bit soft i guess; when you finish you feel much more tired than you would running an equivalent time elsewhere. It's like the ground just sips your energy away through each step.

I will admit that on cold mornings with the ground a bit frozen it is very nice and 'feels' much faster with less effort.

GVSU!

I raced on the course twice this season and its fast. The ground has hardened up pretty good and the grass is pretty short, no reason not to really cruise on it.

The only challenges are that its fairly twisty and turny and there are two minor hills that you go up that don't slow you down a whole lot because they're short.

There are three small hills that you go down and they're nice little speed boosters that I think help keep the pace quick. Bottom line, I'd say the curves and twists slow you more than the hills.

I ran a 10k PR on it, including my track 10ks.

HOWEVER, I'd be surprised if there wasn't some snow there for NCAAs.

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AAU normally chokes at NCAAs they might hold it together this year.

Chico was certainly looking to win, but I don't think it was a top priority for them.

Talking to members of both AAU and Chico I'd say AAU is way more aggressive and hungry.

Moroccan in training wrote:

AAU normally chokes at NCAAs they might hold it together this year.

Chico was certainly looking to win, but I don't think it was a top priority for them.

Talking to members of both AAU and Chico I'd say AAU is way more aggressive and hungry.

Parisien (Alaska's #5) could be their x-factor. He hasn't shown his freshman year form (17th at Nat's in PA), but he could throw down on the right day. Should be a great race for 3rd-5th!

I doubt USI will get 5th seeing how 24th ranked Ashland was only 13 points away from them at the region. They are either very over ranked or Ashland is severely under ranked.

Guessing that ashland peaked for regionals, and my post can be a little deceiving, i listed 3 teams for possible 4th place..chico, mines and alaska...if they perform well so that would push southern back to 7th, then i listed augustana as a possible 5th place finish pushing them back to 8th. Usi does have two returning all americans that were on a top 10 team year ago, so im going to go on a limb and say they are not over ranked and ashland by far isnt under ranked.

It's really kind of in the middle I think.

Is USI a little overrated at 6? Probably just a tiny bit.

Is Ashland underrated at 24? I would think so after this past weekend. They got dogged all season because they ran on such slow courses. I do know that AU did not peak for regionals as was previously suggested.

Yes, AU ran well at regionals, and also it appears that USI didn't have that strong of a day as one of their top guys completely blew up. But I think with top performances by both teams, USI beats AU by about 30 points or so.

I think it'd be slightly more accurate if the rankings had USI at around #8 or 9, and Ashland around #15-16. I wouldn't be shocked to see AU get as high as 12th to be honest, assuming they finish around 30-40 points back from USI.

But continue on with more pertinent conversation. Just offering my 0.02 to

d2predictor wrote:

Is there going to be a prediction contest again??

Oh please someone say yes!

Yes, I'll probably put together the contest for wejo this weekend or sooner. I'm actually planning ahead this year as opposed to doing it Thursday before the race.

Thanks man! It was a lot of fun last year. Appreciate you putting in the time. You and Hamilton making the trip to Spokane?

how many good teams got left how cause of no atlarge bids?

was it just central missouri and NMHU?

No prob, I enjoy putting it together and getting some extra exposure for D2 on letsrun.

I could use some help on it from everyone on this thread. The last two years I have missed some top finishers because they bombed at regionals, or didn't run regionals and ran nationals. If any of the readers of this thread are aware of someone who falls into those categories and I might miss them, please post them here.

Not sure about Joel, but I'm not going this year. I'm just getting too old to go hang out with a bunch of 20 year olds. Instead I talked my wife into letting me donate the money I would have spent to the athletic department. It will be the first time since the team first qualified in 2005 that I won't be there in some capacity, kinda bummed. We made up for it though with some awesome tailgate parties at RMAC and Regionals.

Anyone know if they will have a live feed? There is almost no info about the race online, including what time it even starts.

There will be a live feed on the NCAA site. Also look for coverage on Runnerspace and Flotrack.

11:00 Women's 6k

12:00 Men's 10k

List of qualifying teams:

http://www.ncaa.com/news/cross-country-men/article/2011-11-07/championships-qualifiers-released

USTFCCCA National Rankings (11-9-11):

http://www.ustfccca.org/2011/11/featured/dii-national-rankings-adams-states-men-takes-back-no-1

Boulderunner wrote:

I'm just getting too old to go hang out with a bunch of 20 year olds.

You mean too old to be shouting abuse at a bunch of 20 year olds?

Not cool wrote:

Boulderunner wrote:

I'm just getting too old to go hang out with a bunch of 20 year olds.

You mean too old to be shouting abuse at a bunch of 20 year olds?

You mean 28 year olds?!

No. I mean 20-24 year olds.

lets hear some more predictions for top ten