Can Lawi Lalang be stopped?

+1

Lawi has proven that he is the class of NCAA XC this season. As athletes and fans, we should hope to see the best man win.

I ran into German Fernandez the other day, he said he was going to take the race out in about 5:50 at the mile, and dares anyone to go with him!

Lowe went 63, 8, 9

For those hoping that Lawi will be frozen out, the forecast for Madison for Sunday, the last day of the NWS forecast window, is for 57 while Terre Haute gets 63 and both warm the Sunday night. Since Terre Haute has the same general pattern later and warmer, this early forecast is for weather that is almost on the warm side with the dew point in the mid-50s. It might be damp, and on that course it can affect the footing (remember both GF and Mead getting injured mid-race).

Levins

things change from year to year my friend. One yr a guy could be beating someone and the next that person is returning the favor. If you were at wisconsin you'd have seen how badly estrada dropped derrick in the last mile. Being that this guy is training at high altitude, he's def got a big shot at hanging with lawi if its a hot pace. From what i've read on instride.org, dude is in monster shape and looking to go for the win. I'm not saying he's gonna win but remember indoors for the 5k he was the only non-kenyan with those guys at the end. He's a darkhorse but i think he could surprise the country!

It seems like I'm missing something regarding Estrada. All year - even before the season began - people have been picking Estrada has top 5. What did he do to catapult himself so high in peoples' opinions?

13:26 leading most of the race. also has never finished worse than 3rd this year, barring the Mountain Regional. Don't know if he was running that all out either.

He was not the only one doing the dropping; he lost ground to several runners in the last 500+m at Wisconsin.

when did this happen wrote:

It seems like I'm missing something regarding Estrada. All year - even before the season began - people have been picking Estrada has top 5. What did he do to catapult himself so high in peoples' opinions?

It happened when he ran 13:29 indoors.

It happened when he pushed the pace at outdoor nationals and just got outkicked.

It happened when he won the Cowboy Invitational.

It happened when he dropped everybody but Hill at Wisconsin.

It happened when he won his conference by 30 seconds on a tough course.

The dude's legit. And he's definitely a threat to Lawi.

I think that Stephen Sambu could stopped Lawi Lalang. I mean just look at what Stephen Sambu has done during his college career. Why has he not raced this year? they would be going one and two at nationals.

DE Fan wrote:

It happened when he dropped everybody but Hill at Wisconsin.

Lost time to Cabral as well and I think that Mead might have been rolling him in as well but cannot remember for sure. Thus, he really was not running much better than many of the guys in that leading group. I suspect that Ahmed can give him a run for his money as well.

But, yea, the bottom line is he is good and deserves consideration for top-5; a longshot for #1, however.

Looper 67 wrote:

Prediction

1 Lawi Lalang

2 Leonard Korir

3 Myles Batty

4 Ryan Hill

5 Paul Chelimo

6 Chris Derrick

7 German Fernandez

8 Trevor Dunbar

9 Jake Riley

10 Hassan Mead

11 Colby Lowe

12 Henry Lelei

13 Shadrack Kipchirchir

14 Diego Estrada

15 Luke Puskedra

I believe you are forgetting one Donald Cabral who has beaten your 3rd pick. He is deserving of top 10 consideration if not top 5.

I think you are seriously underestimating Colby Lowe, Diego Estrada, and Luke Puskedra

The lead is the easiest position to make mistakes from. Lawi will have to go out hard (too hard?) and get his usual lead by 4 miles or else there will be many quality individuals at 4+ miles that will be coming for him. Most will play it safe early especially if a team depends on them the for a high podium. This is not just another race; with 1 or 2 miles to go there may be 4 or 5 guys within 15 seconds who have assured high individual finishes for the team and will go for broke. My predictionis:

1. Korir / If there over the last mile will be hard to drop

2. Lalang/ Everyone is here, that is a long last 800M

3. Derrick / A senior, do it for yourself

4. Chelimo/ Enjoy the ride, let them die off in front of you.

5. Fernandez/ likely wont be top five late, but what if?

No way, no how does GF finish in the top 10 overall, even if his coach tells him to go for broke. This is my prediction:

1. Lalang

2. Korir

3. Estrada

4. Levins

5. Derrick

6. Hill

7. Cabral

8. Baddy

9. Chelimo

10. Puskedra

GF may be better than half of those guys and will outrun several -- he will not be concerned with Lalang or Levins or Puskedra (and Chelimo?), as they not figure in the scoring. Derrick and others from competing teams (e.g., Ahmed) will get his attention and focus.

somebody slap this guy wrote:

This is by far the worse prediction i've ever seen in my life.. puskedra and estrada are top 5 guys, with estrada having a chance at top 3. lets not forget this is a 10k not an 8k so that rules out guys like batty and Hill getting top 5. derrick can't beat estrada that was proven at wisconsin. some ppl make predictions out of their arses and you my friend are the king of them of all.

Hill beach Chelimo at the SE regional. In case you were wondering, regionals in NCAA cross country is a 10k for men.

pack wrote:

somebody slap this guy wrote:

This is by far the worse prediction i've ever seen in my life.. puskedra and estrada are top 5 guys, with estrada having a chance at top 3. lets not forget this is a 10k not an 8k so that rules out guys like batty and Hill getting top 5. derrick can't beat estrada that was proven at wisconsin. some ppl make predictions out of their arses and you my friend are the king of them of all.

Hill beach Chelimo at the SE regional. In case you were wondering, regionals in NCAA cross country is a 10k for men.

The Wisconsin differential was way too small to draw that type of conclusion from a meet where their placing really did not matter at all. Hill generally seems to have a better finish but, while my opinion of Hill had gone up over time, I am still not of the opinion he is ahead of virtually all the other guys. The team-oriented race will still not tell us everything either, because more is in play and with top team guys waiting to the end to make their moves, it gives a bit of an advantage to a strong finisher.