C/M Runner wrote:
I'm sorry to hear it as well.
So, who do we think will take the individual title then? Kellner? Feldman? Kovach? Caldwell? Epstein?
Neer is not running.
I suppose Kellner would be the favorite--having finished second to D'Agostino at Paul Short--but she may be very conscious of running to help insure a team win. In that case she may not try a runaway like the one that garnered her the Heps 10k last spring, but may stay with one or more teammates a good part of the way.
If that's the case, her junior teammate Rachel Sorna (who has already finished ahead of Kellner in a race this season, and was fourth at Short) may have just as good a chance as anyone. She finished only two seconds behind Kellner at Wisconsin; they were the first and second Ivy finishers. (In fact, I believe the Big Red went 1-2-3 in that regard, including Emily Shearer--who has excellent finishing speed.)
A real out-of-left-field suggestion here, but anyone like Kovach (who may have the most native talent in the field)--or really ANY runner who basically has no team podium placing to worry about--could very well take the race. The Yale women, on the other hand, with an actual chance to take the team title, may be less tuned in to individual glory.
Of course, AD'A's absence has to affect people's team predictions. Dartmouth is no longer in (essentially) a score-four situation, but I actually think they'll do pretty well--there's a lot more to that team than one or two runners, and they could be one of about five teams fighting for that last podium spot. What a race that'll be!
On the men's side, I read the team predictions (summarized at HTC), but with a grain of salt. I may be the Big Red Fan, but *two* predictions of Cornell's men finishing first? That's a little outrageous...still, they have their best team in a few years and will be part of the tense fight for a podium place.