2014 USATF National Club XC, NIKE BTC team to beat

Do they score 5? Because then they would have to score either Sol or Teg.

German was not in the top 100 last year. Heath just finished about a minute behind the leaders at the Silicon Valley 5k. Solinsky and Teg haven't raced in 6 months. THIS TEAM HAS NO CHANCE.

Good one wrote:

Heath just finished about a minute behind the leaders at the Silicon Valley 5k..

Garrett 13:52

Ellioth heath 14:23

I count 31 Seconds. Nowhere near 1 minute.

Playmakers Elite/New Balance - Team B

Jobadiah Christiansen, Jared Courtright, Eric Loveland, Brendan Molony, Bennett Prudhomme, Nicholas Thelen

Can you even beat that team?!?!

the Asics Aggies stand a chance.

Scott Bauhs 27:47, made 2011 WCs in 10k.

Isaac Chavez 28:49

Chris Frias 28:45, 12th pausatf xc 2014

Daniel Gonia 28:57, 6th at PAUSATF xc 2014, 20th '13 usatf nats

Phillip Reid 13:39, he won PAUSATF xc 2014

Sergio Reyes 28:29, 2:13 marathon, 4th pausatf xc 2014, 25th '13 usatf nats

Gordon Sturgess 3rd pausatf xc 2014, 14:18 at SVTT

Darius Terry 7th pausatf xc, 13:57

this team went 1-3-5-6-7 at PA USATF XC champs this year, plus a few others like scotty bauhs who didnt run at that race.

I wouldn't be surprised if they all DNS. If they do run there's a good chance they'll be pretty far back. Fernandez, Heath and Solinsky have all sucked for at least the past year (three and a half in Solinsky's case). Teg is probably doing better than most of them but he is still a shadow of his former self. Derrick and Hill are the only ones who've actually been running well. After a cursory look at the entry list I'd say the Asics Aggies and Zap Fitness look like the best teams.

I predict Derrick wins, followed immediately by German.

Seriously. German is back. That said, Derrick has been untouchable in cross for a while now.

All these guys are healthy. Derrick will win, Fernandez showed he's capable of challenging for top five based off his Silicon Valley TT performance, Teg can handle the XC course well and Hill can just pack it up with one of those guys and roll. They have four guys capable of top 10. A couple other teams will challenge, but they are the favorites. Solinsky is the big question mark, while Heath shouldn't be counted on to score. Should be a fun race!

Why are professional runners showing up to CLUB championships? Something doesn't seem right there. I get it that they loosely are affiliated with BTC but having a bunch of full-time professionals show up to this meet isn't what it's about.

Looking over the entries, the Nike team stood out the most simply because those happen to be the names I am familiar with..Derrick definitely seems like the favorite. Other than German and Hill, Sol and Teg seem like big question marks for even a start and decent finish.

Women: Boston Athletic Association - Team A

Elaina Balouris, Juliet Bottorff, Heather Cappello, Emily Lipari, Katie Matthews, Sarah Pagano (Decent Team)

Emily Infeld for the women's win??

All these names are signed up, but who will actually run the race?

I am looking at Zap, or Hansens if they field a full team by that weekend.

Team Run Flag is my underdog against Zap.

Zap has been tearing up the roads recently. BTC probably won't show at full strength. German Fernandez did finish well (meaning he finished...) at CVS, but I can't imagine everyone else is looking at Club Cross as a real goal, especially if they've been banged up as rumors suggest.

Team Run Flag will be deep. Brooks won't have a full roster. Asics will be in the mix as well.

The course will be dry and warm. 50's predicted on race day, with no rain or snow in the 5 days before hand.

Course does not go into the back woods like Paul short does. About half the course is around baseball and soccer fields. One climb near the end of the 5k loop. It will be decisive for those in the top pack knocking out the pretenders on the first loop and and slimming down the front group to a few before the long sprint to the finish on the last loop.

Course is 10.2k in actuality, according to the course map.

Club Kid wrote:

Why are professional runners showing up to CLUB championships? Something doesn't seem right there. I get it that they loosely are affiliated with BTC but having a bunch of full-time professionals show up to this meet isn't what it's about.

I bet they train together more than most clubs that will be competing. Wouldn't it be great if NOP fielded a team too?

Club Kid wrote:

Why are professional runners showing up to CLUB championships? Something doesn't seem right there. I get it that they loosely are affiliated with BTC but having a bunch of full-time professionals show up to this meet isn't what it's about.

If they're a USATF registered club its exactly what this is about. In fact, the meet would be better if all of the pro "clubs", who train together, showed up and brought full squads. Team championships are what make sports exciting.

If there was an actual Oregon Project vs Nike BTC showdown at this event, that would be incredible. Not that it will ever happen. In fact if there was a true USA club team XC championship each year with professionals, I bet the meet could start have the same amount of coverage as other USA track and field championships, which would be a HUGE step forward for XC.

Besides you, I don't see why anyone wouldn't want the professional runners there. If you're a top club runner, why wouldn't you prefer to mix it up with the professional runners and grab a few scalps? If you're a middle- or back-of-the-packer, then A) why does it matter and B) as a fan of the sport wouldn't you prefer to have the pros participating than not?

Seriously, what's wrong with you Club "Kid"...

I'm sure the Russian national team trains together more than most clubs as well. You missed the point that this is CLUB championships and not CORPORATE championships, which the Nike funded teams are.

Club Kid wrote:

Why are professional runners showing up to CLUB championships? Something doesn't seem right there. I get it that they loosely are affiliated with BTC but having a bunch of full-time professionals show up to this meet isn't what it's about.

I completely disagree - I particularly like the democratic aspect of it - get five people, show up and race. Profesh, amateur, whatever - throw 'em all in the same race.

It's awesome.

Club Kid wrote:

I'm sure the Russian national team trains together more than most clubs as well. You missed the point that this is CLUB championships and not CORPORATE championships, which the Nike funded teams are.

You're arguing over professional versus non-professional. Go back to the ACLU days if you want only people who don't get paid to be able to compete for national championships.

Can you please provide a clear definition of the term "corporate" that you're using? Last I checked the Nike BTC meets the criteria for a USATF Club. This is the USATF Club championship, so clearly it does meet the "point" of the meet, which is to have the fastest USATF club win.

If there is an alternative "point" of the meet can at bare minimum spell it out for us. IF you're going to argue that this isn't the "point" of the meet. You should at least be able to articulate what that "point" is.

agip wrote:

Club Kid wrote:

Why are professional runners showing up to CLUB championships? Something doesn't seem right there. I get it that they loosely are affiliated with BTC but having a bunch of full-time professionals show up to this meet isn't what it's about.

I completely disagree - I particularly like the democratic aspect of it - get five people, show up and race. Profesh, amateur, whatever - throw 'em all in the same race.

It's awesome.

That's not how it works but it's OK. USATF has a whole host of byzantine rules for who can and cannot compete for a club. If you think that 5 random people can show up and race for a team, you have a lot of learning to do about this meet.

ACLU? I have no idea why you think the ACLU has anything to do with this meet. Are you expecting Susan Herman to show up?

Last I checked I never said that NIKE BTC doesn't qualify as a USATF CLUB.

The "point" of the meet is to have the best CLUBS compete with clubs being the operative word. A bunch of Nike funded professional athletes who also happen to be loosely included in a secondary club is stretching that definition to its limit. I'm glad that you are happy that a bunch of Nike full-time professional athletes are expected to drop in to Lehigh next weekend to duel it out with other "clubs." How nice of them.