D3 South Southeast Predictions

I agree Fire B.. I think BC will challenge for a top 2 spot at regionals..Their only problem at BC is depth.. They cant afford to loose guys like they did last year. W&L has a good one two punch but are weak in the 3,4,5.. positions.. I also think Trinity is a stronger team than you have them listed..I see them as a top 5 team along with Rhodes and WL. Emory/ Bridgewater are neck and neck..Runners to keep an eye on ..I have three...Hiegel out of BC and Fields out of Rhodes..both were outstanding Freshman and could challenge for a top spot .. and Witt out of CNU..The first two were some of the fastest freshman in the region,,and Witt has been talked about alot already..Of Course their are the upper classman who I expect will be in the top pack at regionals ..Mees (if hes back) Reid from CNU, Strehler and McDonald at WL and Gibson out of BC..BC also has a top notch #3 in Connor Mcgruder and Osbourne at Lynchburg..EMU has Alex Tibedeaux..I'm sure Im missing someone but its going to be an interesting year..

It will be an interesting year with this region. I think if everyone stays healthy this year, W&L men's xc will surprise everyone. They have a solid top five this year. W&L has three strong seniors this year along with one strong junior. One sophomore is coming back from a navicular stress fracture from his senior year and was running low mileage last season so watch out for him and some of the sophomores this year.

What about the women?

It will be very tight this year for the ODAC..but I still think the S/SE will go like this..

1. CNU no one can touch them in the region..they would have to have a huge

melt down and I dont see that happening

2. Emory / BC both are solid teams ..I would give the nod to Emory if Mees is

back..Otherwise I think BC could take 2nd

3. W&L Still dont think their 3,4,5 men can stack up to BCs or Emorys

proof is in the pudding though...

Of course as in every year injuries can take their toll I wouldnt be suprised to see Lynchburg sneak in and take the ODACs and they might make a suprise run at the top 2 in the region.. I think they've been a bit over looked but I know they have decent 5k and 10k guys..so watch out!!

Women s team W&L is looking very strong to repeat as the ODAC champion

BC lost alot of runners to graduation ..

1. W&L

2. Roanoke

3.EMU

4.Lynchburg

5. BC

Who are BC's 4 and 5? So much has been said about their top 3. All very good under 15:10. Who completes their team to compete with Emory like it was said above?

They have a crew of solid returners one who was a top 20 performer at the ODACs last year and two talented freshman (who were HS standouts) who could challenge to be on the top 5 of BCs team..They only lost one senior from LY and I believe he was not routinely a top 5 guy..I based my opinion that their top 3 are very strong..BCs. #3 Magruder ran a 15:07 5k .. One of the recruits is a 15:57 5k xc guy..and he only ran part of his senior year xc due to injury..W&L are very solid as well but they are mostly a 1/2 punch.in Strehler and McD...Although I really like two sophmores on their team.. Alex Dolwick..this kid really stepped up last year and was a big reason for their conference win..Another soph. for W&L is dangerous is Cooper Baird ..If he is healthy and had a good summer of training ..watch out!!. but I did determine today that Emory's ..Mees will be back this year and it will be a tough road for BC or W&L to out run those guys.. So the discussion on BC might have to wait for another year as their young guns develop ..its conceivable that BC could see 3 guys go sub 15 in the 5k this year in T&F and they all come back next year!! but until then I see Emory as a solid #2 in the S/SE region..

Barely anyone ranked like their Region finish. Is CNU getting too much credit? Seems like Emory, W&L, and BC had better track 5K performances last spring aside from the one guy from CNU going sub 15. Trinity will be much better than they show up to be. Same for Rhodes seeing that they have the second best recruit in the region behind Witt from Newport.

Emory has everyone back and hopefully a healthy new number 2 runner. Their recruiting class includes the following:

4;22/9:26

4:29

4:28/9:38

4:20

4:28/15:00(3mi xc)

9:39/15:18(3mi xc)

4:05(1500)/8:53(3k)/15:26 (5k xc)

It would be very surprising if anyone in the region could beat them.

Well as good as those times are they are not as good as CNUs ..not to take away from Emory but CNU is a very powerful team that has several kids that are much faster times than the ones you posted..we are talking freshman with 9:07 speed!! The other issue with the rankings is where did Rhodes get a 4th place ranking??!and I think BC is a much better team than 5th .. W&L is decent and maybe a 3rd but I could easily reverse it and put BC 3rd,. Due to better track times from the spring..

Man, this was actually a great thread that was going with good insight into what looks to be a great year for the S/SE. This guy above had to pull something like this. One on every thread I guess.

Congrats to CNU and Emory for getting some love in the National Poll today.

The Emory incoming freshman times overall are more impressive than CNU's incoming freshman class. Emory has 3 newcomers with sub 16 5K times; CNU has 1. As close as these 2 teams appear; it may come down to which star freshman comes in first at the region race. Zack Witt (CNU) 15:31, 4:12, 9:07 2 mile vs. Luis Torres (Emory) 15:26, 4:05 1500, 8:53 3K. The other wildcard would be two runners coming back from injury. Shane Sullivan (Emory) 14:54 5k this past spring and J.J. LaPointe (CNU) #22 at 2014 region, 25:12 PR.

I don't get your comment FB.. Are you saying I shouldn't have pointed out that CNU has much better times? Or the I don't understand the latest regional rankings?

It was in reference to someone else. Post has been removed. Not yours DIII guy. Mad respect your way.

In other news. How about Berry? Sleeper in the region mixing into Emory's top 5.

Mees is NOT back baby. Nowhere in the results. Berry looks like a solid team

Mees is back--Emory held out a bunch of their top men and women. Still won easily.

W&L started off their season running most of their top 5 on a 5k course..It appears from the times it was a tempo effort so I cant tell much from the results other than Alex Dolwick wasn't in the mix? wondering if they are holding him out for some reason? BC had their first effort but it appears they did not race their top4 runners and the remaining were also running a tempo effort..Emory did basically the same thing holding back their top runners from the first scheduled event of the year..

Hard to tell about Berry since the times were not very fast..So I suspect that this first meet by Emory in particular was more of a practice effort. I also didnt see any of Emorys top guys in this race so cant garnish too much from the results..

DIII Guy wrote:

Hard to tell about Berry since the times were not very fast..So I suspect that this first meet by Emory in particular was more of a practice effort. I also didnt see any of Emorys top guys in this race so cant garnish too much from the results..

?? Most of Berry's runners PRed, those times for that course, this time of year are moving.