2014 MAC predictions

Men: Akron

Women: Miami

The CMU women were very close to Miami and Toledo this year and then got even better on the track. They will be at home and that always helps. I could see them making a big push.

The Miami women ran really well to eek one out in the fall but didn't seem to do as well overall on the track. They return the whole team so they should be ready to defend their title.

The Toledo women didn't have a good fall and lost a close one to Miami. They ran very well on the track though and return pretty much everybody. They should be the favorite based on the spring but they were last year too.

The meet will probably come down to these three teams. No other team is good enough to really affect the meet and it could score like a tri meet up front.

Is Croghan still there? Remember when people thought he should be coaching at Ohio State?

term of it wrote:

Anybody hear Croghan is no longer at Kent?

more destruction of MAC wrote:

I heard from one of my running buddies that Miami has cut scholarships from their men's team and they are now only allowed to give out a few partial distance scholarships only.

If this is true--and I have no reason to doubt it--then men's track is on the chopping block. Any Miami alums or athletes who want to stop it should start working RIGHT NOW and you'd better be ready to play hardball. Do your research, file FOIA requests and be prepared to follow up with legal action when stonewalled. Be ready to refute any argument the university provides for eliminating sports and be ready to call people liars to their faces and to the press--because they will lie. High-level university administrators are generally not nice people and will respond to any pushback with all power available to them. They assume they will be able to do whatever they want and they almost always do. Getting some dirt on people so you can put their balls in a vice wouldn't hurt--they'd do it on you in a heartbeat.

Also, don't presume the process is purely within the athletic department. At BG, the first MAC school to cut men's track, the then-president was the man who made the decision, according to my sources.

Who are you people? Do you know anything?

Akron got a 4:09 miler from Ohio. Plus returning MAC 5k, 1500 champions.

term of it wrote:

Anybody hear Croghan is no longer at Kent?

He is most assuredly still at Kent. Dropped my daughter off for XC this week and he shook my hand at the field house door.

Now that most MAC schools have season openers this weekend, who do you think will be the worst teams to perform?

Still picking Akron? I'm going to go with EMU. We'll see how these picks play out:1. Eastern 30 pts2. Central (at home) 70 pts3. Akron 75 pts4. Buffalo 1005. Ohio 1106. Miami 1507. Kent 1658. Toledo 2009. BG 220Toledo looks good on the women's side.

Calling my shot wrote:

Men: Akron

Women: Miami

Look for Buffalo....

EMU got 12th at pre nationals without their 2 guy nick raymond. They are way way to good this year to be touched by anybody. Akron is favorite for 2nd but could be potentially be beat by ohio, buffalo or cmu

real question is if the toledo women will choke again under new coach and lose to miami like last year.

If Raymond is out hurt for the Mac meet, is Eastern vulnerable? Central sat 3 at Prenats and Akron had a sub par day. Where does Buffalo fall into the mix? I think the meet might end up a little closer than people think, especially if the course conditions are bad which based off of the weather there is a chance for some sloppy conditions

Buffalo had a great day at Paul Short but seemingly fell off the map for their next meet at Princeton. My prediction is they won't run well like usual because the training causes them to peak early.

I was hoping things had changed this year, but Buffalo always seems to peaks early, no matter the coach.

the bulls cant seem to figure it out when it counts. regionals last year!!! Really!?