MIAC XC 2014

What do you think those times translate to on an average course? Deduct around 30-40 seconds?

I'd say on average 40-45 seconds, but there was also a lot of horrendous performances where people ran minutes slower than they had this year. I've never seen so many people crawling/limping/collapsing across the finish line

9:28 Update: Griak was the big action from the weekend, and it’s hard to know how much to take from it, as times were irrelevant due to the tough course and hot conditions. Even looking head to head is tough to do, as so many runners raced unusually poor. As such, for the most part only small adjustments are made in the rankings.

On Tap: Carleton, Gustavus, Macalester, Saint Mary’s, and St Olaf will travel to Eau Claire next Friday, as Olaf looks to do what Eau Claire did to them at their own home meet, and put themselves back on top. It will be interesting to see where Carleton stands against national competition with Jonah Barry, as he’s likely to debut. Gustavus vs Macalester should also be a good race. St Thomas heads to Waverly, Iowa for the Wartburg Invitational on Saturday.

St Olaf: 1, 2, 4, 5, 7 19 (9/14: 20) (8/31: 18) (8/28: 24)

St. Thomas: 6,10,13,16,35 80 (9/14: 88) (9/7:89)

Carleton: 3,8,14,29,33 85 (9/14: 88) (9/7: 92)

St. John’s: 11,22,25,30,41 129 (9/14: 133) (9/7: 102)

9/28 Update: St. John’s finished 4th at Griak, just holding off Hamline by three points. Thomas Feichtinger had a phenomenal race, placing fourth in a great time of 26:48, 20 seconds ahead of the #2 MIAC finisher Ryan Peterson. The rest of the team ran about as expected, expect for Preston Zimny and Caleb LeClaire, who struggled, likely due to the conditions.

Hamline: 12,15,18,44,52 141 (9/14: 142) (9/7: 140)

9/28 Update: Hamline showed they are capable of a top four finish at Griak, where they were inches behind St. John’s for the second race in a row. The Pipers finished fourth in the DIII race, three points behind the Johnnies. Hamline has a tremendous trio of Chris Gill, Ryan Peterson, and Nathan Rock, who all finished in the top 17 of the race and ahead of St. John’s #2. Their #4 James Logan also race very well to place 33rd and through four men Hamline were up 19 points. The fifth man was miles back however, as Cole Konczal ran 29:36 to place 76th.

Macalester: 19,28,32,36,38 153 (9/14: 136) (9/7: 137)

9/28: Mac finished 6th at Griak, behind the Johnies and Pipers. Lachlan Hinwood led the team, finishing 28th overall, as the 8th MIAC finisher. Hinwood looks like he’s having a breakout year and has given Mac a second option at the #1 spot. Joe Giamberdino came in 14 seconds after Hinwood, in 30th. Ross Boehme was much improved from St. Olaf, running two seconds faster at Griak on a day where times seemed to be about 45 seconds slower than Olaf.

Concordia Moorhead: 20,21,43,54,61 199 (9/14: 202) (Sept 7: 217) (Aug 31: 256)

9/28 Update:With #1 Carl Wahlin DNF’ing at Griak, the Cobbers placed poorly, finishing 11th out of 17, 54 points behind Augsburg. Ryan Sederquist ran well, and was 16th overall, and the #4 MIAC finisher. Sederquist was the only Cobber to break 30, and there is no indication of Matt Lillehaugen coming back, which moves them down substantially in the rankings.

Gustavus: 23,27,34,55,66 205 (9/14: 200) (9/7: 195)

St. Mary’s: 9,23,54,58,62 205

9/28 Update: Its tough to take much from the Cardinals performance at their home meet, the SMU No-Limit Invite, as times were slow and competition was lacking. Aaron Haley won in 27:23, with Jovan Newsum second with a 28:10. The #3-#5’s finished 12th, 17th, and 23rd. When the Cardinals head to Colfax next weekend, we’ll get a much better glimpse of where they stand.

Augsburg: 11,15,57,60,65 208 (Sept 7: 226)

9/28 Update: Augsburg finished 8th/17 at Griak, ahead of Concordia, who’s top runner dropped out. Abdullahi Salan was 23rd, with a 27:41. Mohamed Mohamed struggled once again, finishing 54th. It looks unlikely he will be top 15 at MIAC once again. #’s 3-5 were 66th, 84th, and 106th, about where they would be expected to be. Ahmed Nur has been out injured all season, and they will likely need his return to repeat their fortunes against Concordia.

Bethel: 40,49,56,74,75 294 (9/7: 321) (Aug 27: 252)

9/28 Update: Bethel are who we thought they were, as they finished 12th/17 at Griak, with their #4 and #5 runners finishing well over 30 minutes. Thomas Ritter ran fairly well to place 37th in 28:25, and Connor Haugen was the #2 in 60th.

1. Grant Wintheiser, SR 24:41.9 St. Olaf

2. Jake Brown, SR 25:14 St. Olaf

3. Hart Hornor, JR 25:15 Carleton (Aug 31st: 5)

4. Jake Campbell, JR 25:23.5 St. Olaf

Matt Berens, SR 25:25 Bethel

Calvin Lehn, SO 25:30 St. Olaf

5. Phillip Meyer, JR 25:38.5 St. Olaf

6. Jacob Gehartz, SO 25:40 St. Thomas (9/14: 10th)

7. Paul Escher, SO 25:44 St. Olaf

8. Jonah Barry, JR 25:45 Carleton (9/7: 7th)

9. Aaron Haley, SR 25:53 Saint Mary's

10. Ben Rascher, SR 25:55 St. Thomas (9/14: 5th)

11. Thomas Feichtinger, JR 26:01 Saint John's (9/7: 20th) (9/21: 14th)

12. Ryan Peterson, SR 26:13 Hamline (9/7: 9th)

13. Dylan Baumann, SO 26:15 St. Thomas (9/14: 17th)

14. Jerry Cook-Gallardo, FR 26:15 Carleton (Sept 7th: NR)

15. Nathan Rock, JR 26:24 Hamline (9/7: 21st)

16. Robby Williams, SR 26:25 St. Thomas

17. Abdullahi Salan, FR 26:25 Augsburg (Aug 7th: 31st) (9/21: 15th)

18. Chris Gill, SR 26:26 Hamline (9/21: 24th)

19. Joe Giamberdino, SR 26:26 Macalester (9/14: 12th) (9/28: 15th)

20. Carl Wahlin, SO 26:27 Concordia Moorhead (Aug 28: 52) (Aug 31: 45) (Sept 7: 32)

21. Ryan Sederquist, SR 26:28 Concordia Moorhead (Aug 31st: NR) (9/21: 27th)

22. Preston Zimny, JR 26:28 Saint John's (9/7: 13th)

23. Thomas Knobbe, SO 26:29 Gustavus (9/14: 32nd)

24. Jovan Newsum, SO 26:30 Saint Mary's

25. Caleb LeClaire, JR 26:34 Saint John's (9/7: 24th)

26. Mohamed Mohamed, SR 26:35 Augsburg (Sept 7: 11th)

27. Evan Jones, SO 26:36 Gustavus (9/14: 22nd)

28. Lachlan Hinwood, SO 26:41 Macalester (9/28: 32nd)

29. Thor Laack-Veeder, SR 26:41 Carleton (9/7: 43rd)

30. Andrew Hansen, JR 26:42 St. John’s (9/7: 42nd)

31. Sean Bjork, SO 26:43 St. Olaf

32. Mike Waltman, SR 26:45 Macalester (9/14: 26th)

Ben Withbroe, SO 26:45 Carleton

33. Walter Edstrom, SO 26:47 Carleton

34. Paul Nordquist, JR 26:48 Gustavus

35. Trevor Smith, SO 26:48 St. Thomas

36. Trevor Maggart, JR 26:52 Macalester

37. Kyle Wagener, JR 26:52 St. Olaf

38. Ross Boehme, SR 26:55 Macalester (9/14: 28th)

39. Thomas Ritter, JR 26:55 Bethel (9/7: 51st)

40. Jake Burr, JR 26:55 Saint John's (9/7: NR)

41. Maxwell Kuzara, SO 26:56 Saint John's (9/7: 27th)

42. Sam Bach, SO 26:57 St. Thomas

43. Matthew Lillehaugen, SO 26:57 Concordia Moorhead (Sept 7: 26th) (9/21: 33rd)

44. James Logan, SO 27:10 Hamline (9/7: 57th)

45. Joe Haase, JR 27:10 Carleton (9/7: 17th) (9/14: 36th)

Dylan Saul, SR 27:11 Macalester

46. Brian Anderson, SR 27:13 St. Thomas

47. Kyle Rossow, SR 27:13 Saint John's

48. Connor Haugen, SO 27:14 Bethel (9/7: 52nd)

49. Alex Ropes, JR 27:25 Macalester

50. Ryan Hanselman, FR 27:28 Carleton (9/7: 38th) (9/14: 51st)

51. Erik Alfvin, SR 27:35 Macalester (9/14: NR)

52. Andrew Magnuson, FR 27:35 Hamline (9/21: 41st)

53. Jase Pater, JR 27:39 Saint Mary's

54. Brendan Johnson, FR 27:40 Concordia Moorhead (Aug 7: NR)

55. Carston Dammann, Fr 27:45 Gustavus

56. Harrison Hitt, SR 27:46 Bethel (9/7: 73rd)

57. Andrew McGillivary, SO 27:50 Augsburg (Aug 7: 63rd)

58. Gabe Thiel, JR 27:53 Saint Mary's

59. Alex Liu, SO 27:55 Hamline (9/7: NR)

Noah Pilgrim, FR 27:55 Concordia Moorhead

60. Ahmed Nur, SR 27:57 Augsburg

61. Erik Larson, FR 27:57 Concordia Moorhead

62. Austin O’Hare, FR 27:58 Saint Mary’s

63. Cole Konczal, JR 28:00 Hamline (9/7: 47th)

64. Henry Dobbs, SR 28:01 Concordia Moorhead

65. Tyler Fiebig, FR 28:08 Saint Mary’s

66. Matt Carlson, SR 28:08 Gustavus

67. Sam Renier, JR 28:15 Gustavus (9/14: 58th)

68. Luke Iverson, SR 28:16 Augsburg

69. John Benson, SO 28:19 Gustavus

70. Brandon Krogman, FR 28:26 Saint Mary’s

71. Ibrahim Barqadle, FR 28:29 Augsburg

72. Aaron Larkin, SR 28:38 Concordia Moorhead

73. David Huffman, FR 29:32 Bethel (9/7: NR)

74. Marcus Danner, FR 29:34 Bethel (9/7: NR)

75. Chris Huss, SO 28:45 Augsburg (9/28: 65th)

James Woolley, FR 30:05 Bethel

76. Nick Lowery, FR 30:25 Bethel

77. Matt Berka, JR 30:36 Bethel

78. Eddi Flores, SO 30:55, Bethel

Eau Claire should be a huge indicator as to where all these teams are at. The top three teams look pretty locked, the only question being who finishes second between Carlton and St. Thomas. However, the battle between the next five teams is going to be really interesting. At this point I would agree that St. Johns and Hamline are the clear favorite for the fourth and fifth spot, but it looks like a decent number of people should be coming back from injury for a lot of these middle teams. Macalester brought in a freshman who could do some damage if he gets healthy. They really need to put a good showing in at Eau Claire, but this will be their third week in a row racing, so they may not be in top form. Gustavus seems to have a slew of older guys who should be coming back. Obviously they need to back up their top three, much like Hamline, and if their 4-7 step up then they could be dangerous. Concordia could also do some damage if they avoid any further injuries and get Lillehaugen back, hopefully Wahlin is back to form when they race in two weeks. I don't know what to think about Saint Mary's yet, I don't see Haley and Newsum being enough to get them ahead of 9th place.

At this point I would predict

1. St. Olaf

2. St. Thomas

3. Carlton

4. St. Johns

5. Hamline

6. Gustavus

7. Concordia

8. Macalester

9. Saint Mary's

10. Augsburg

11. Bethel

Mohamed Mohamed has always started his seasons off rather weak and then gets better. Probably lack of training. High school PR's of 9:23/4:15/15:50 on probably half-a$$ training. I still see him as a dark horse for top 5 at conference. Talent doesn't disappear. Take Griak for what it was worth, top 10 time was 27:14 so what does that mean?

No way he's top 5, dark horse for top 10 perhaps. Top five are All-Americans or very close most likely

oxygengone wrote:

Mohamed Mohamed has always started his seasons off rather weak and then gets better. Probably lack of training. High school PR's of 9:23/4:15/15:50 on probably half-a$$ training. I still see him as a dark horse for top 5 at conference. Talent doesn't disappear. Take Griak for what it was worth, top 10 time was 27:14 so what does that mean?

Those high school PRs just aren't that remarkable in the MIAC anymore. 10-15 years ago, yeah, you'd expect to be competitive as an incoming freshman with those times. Now you're probably one of 4-6 freshmen in the conference with a similar profile, and you're going to have to develop a lot to catch up with the front pack of experienced guys. Also, I seriously doubt that anybody who ran at Eden Prairie had a lack of quality training in high school. Those guys run a lot.

113 wrote:

Those high school PRs just aren't that remarkable in the MIAC anymore. 10-15 years ago, yeah, you'd expect to be competitive as an incoming freshman with those times. Now you're probably one of 4-6 freshmen in the conference with a similar profile, and you're going to have to develop a lot to catch up with the front pack of experienced guys. Also, I seriously doubt that anybody who ran at Eden Prairie had a lack of quality training in high school. Those guys run a lot.

Look at the guys he was competeing against in HS. He was running with Aaron Bartnik his entire senior year, I think he beat him a couple times as well, along with track. Bartnik got 8th at Griak and will only get better. Just saying the kid has potential and when he wants to put in the work that his competitors put in, his talent really can't be matched. I'm not a homer, I was just excited seeing him come into the MIAC because I saw him as D1 talent in high school. I believe he went to UW-River Falls for a year but not sure what happened there.

He's had a lot of academic issues, which resulted in him missing a couple seasons and was a big factor in his transfer

abc332 wrote:

Look at the guys he was competeing against in HS. He was running with Aaron Bartnik his entire senior year, I think he beat him a couple times as well, along with track. Bartnik got 8th at Griak and will only get better. Just saying the kid has potential and when he wants to put in the work that his competitors put in, his talent really can't be matched. I'm not a homer, I was just excited seeing him come into the MIAC because I saw him as D1 talent in high school. I believe he went to UW-River Falls for a year but not sure what happened there.

Can't compare him to Bartnik anymore...he's fallen behind, and each year it's harder and harder to catch back up if your lazy the rest of the time.

Gustavus could be dangerous??? And what, take 5th? Maybe Concordia will "do some damage" and take 6th away from the Gusties. I don't think either team will beat SJU or Hamline.

I don't know why you seem to think hamline has anything locked, their fifth guy was 29:37 at griak... Yeah griak was slow, but having your fifth guy that far back is going to be very detrimental at conference.

Hamline's fifth could kill them. If he is that far back then expect Gustavus, and maybe Concordia, to beat them. Hamline's top three definitely isn't going to be able to carry them if their 5th guy is that slow at conference. Gustavus and Concordia should be able to beat them if that gap stays the same.

Dude, don't get so defensive about your team's chances. Sure, it's not a 100% lock. It never is. But IMO, there's an 85% chance that Hamline beats both GAC and Concordia. Griak doesn't matter and neither will Lacrosse. When it comes to Como and the 3 teams we're discussing, I'll always put my money on the Hamdogs.

You're being quite hypocritical by being defensive about hamline... St. Johns is going to whoop em at conference.

Calvin Lehn is BACK! Look out NCC

Prediction Time wrote:

Calvin Lehn is BACK! Look out NCC

Let's not get ahead of ourselves here. He probably just started doing jogs after his stress fracture... I imagine he will be very cautious after being out the better part of a year.

He'll be cautious if he's smart. But there's probably a reason that stress fracture lasted a year.

After eau Claire things are looking very similar to your predtiction. Macalaster was 200 points behind the next miac school. Olaf looked as strong as ever but the surprise of the race was a crazy peformance from Carlton's hart hornor. He was close to wintheiser and looked strong at the end.

It will be interesting to see St. John's and Hamline race again on a course other than griak. Hamlines top 3 are very solid but their lack of depth might cost them. We could see gustavus come out over them with a strong top 3 of their own. I also see Carlton edging out st Thomas for second.