Big Sky XC 2016

Idaho State is an up and coming program in men's and women's, I agree on that token. I am also intrigued to see NAU's women under a new regime.

NAU men's top 5 is going to be unreal!

I have always b en a fan of the nau program, but can't understand why the women don't have same success as the men. On that note, why didn't they recruit anyone on either the men or women's side? Blaise Ferro, their only freshman is no longer listed on the roster. Did he get cold feet after learning of Hains departure?

Look forward to following NAU this year, and hope to make the conference meet in Moscow this fall!

Bump for first weekend of comp. Any results out there?

Bump for start of season. Any results yet??

BIGS GUY wrote:

One of the most underrated conferences out there full of traditional rivalries.

Overrated:

-Weber's women - They're good but Top 25?? ok....

-Eastern Washington's men and women. Not sure how they plan to meet their preseason ranking. Definitely not the strongest recruiting classes in the conference and lots of graduation on the women's side.

-Montana State's women. That's it.

Underrated:

-SUU's men. Lost A LOT of guys but their depth should save them from falling out of the top 2

-Idaho's men and women. Underappreciated recruiting classes on both sides and some returning talent. Could be top 3 on both sides. Preseason 7th on the men's side is a joke.

-Idaho State's men. 6th in coaches poll. Could easily be top 4

So my question to you good sir- are you a current Vandal or a graduate? Your love affair with Idaho is fairly obvious.

In response-

No, the WSU women are very VERY good. They lost one from last year and get back off a mission an even more talented runner. They will destroy everyone at the conference meet and it will come down to a little luck as to wether or not they get a point or two (depends on who shows up) at Notre Dame.

EWU- no idea how both teams got ranked so high, they lost almost everyone and have no Bussiness in the top 5 of big skys. Agree there.

NAU men will very likely perfect score the meet.

First meet was yesterday Idaho, Gonzaga, Montana, Eastern....some interesting things. Idaho looked particularly good on both sides but it was 4K/6k which means very little in the grand scheme of things.

SUU men "B" looked weak at Idaho State's home invite while their women beat ISU and looked strong. Odd year...

SUU men had a dominating performance at the Sagebrush Invitational. (Hosted by USU) They had 5 in the top 11. The teams were USU, Boise State, Utah Valley University, University of Utah (I believe they only have a women's team) and Westminster. In other words, the competition wasn't that intense. But they did get experience on the site where regionals will be held. (Different course though)

Was that Boise's A squad?

Yes, that was everyone, even Andrew Rafla and Mike Vennard.... They may have been taking 'er easy tho

A few of my takeaways from this weekend:

-Idaho actually is the real deal. Kudos OP.

-SUU's men and women look really good. I don't think NAU is going to see a clean-sheet at the conference meet...

-NAU's women looked weak, men not quite as incredible as maybe billed?

-Eastern Washington didn't convince anyone they deserve their ranking but didn't cement themselves as "bad"

-Idaho State's men look strong; ladies not as much

-Weber's women are nowhere near BYU's women right now. When Flotrack puts out rankings with Weber's women ranked a few spots ahead of BYU you know Isaac still has some friends in Austin.

-Montana. No idea. Maybe better than expected?

NAU looked both amazing and vulnerable today. Weitz blew up I see. Hopefully no Futsum doesn't = injury

Jdudjsjdj wrote:

Was that Boise's A squad?

I believe so. USU was able to get a lot of teams there (well, a lot for them as usually that invite has 1-2 additional teams) because it will be the host to the West Regional meet. I'm sure most of the teams wanted to familiarize themselves with the course.

Women: Weber definitely the real deal. EWU women lost a ton. Montana coming back into the thick of it. NAU not what they used to be. MSU lost a ton. Idaho looking good.

Weber the real deal based on what result? Nearly letting worse-ranked BYU put up 15 pts on them last week?

Big sky bystander wrote:

Women: Weber definitely the real deal. EWU women lost a ton. Montana coming back into the thick of it. NAU not what they used to be. MSU lost a ton. Idaho looking good.

Yes, NAU women are not what they used to be, but to be fair in this first meet they did not run their top 2 runners in Melanie Townsend and Paige Gilchrist both all conference runners from last year.

NAU men just beat #18 Michigan in Indiana without their top 2 runners in Futsum and Tyler Day who was 3rd at conference last year. They almost scored a perfect score (18) only a Michigan runner spoiled the sweep. They scored 1,2,4,5,6. That´s pretty impressive I would say.

This Weeks Rankings....

Men

1. NAU

2. S. Utah

3. Weber State

4. Montana State

5. Eastern Washington

Women

1. Weber

2. NAU

3. Idaho

4. Montana State

5. Southern Utah

Guessing you're a Montana St fan...

Not so fasttttt wrote:

Yes, NAU women are not what they used to be, but to be fair in this first meet they did not run their top 2 runners in Melanie Townsend and Paige Gilchrist both all conference runners from last year.

Townsend & Gilchrist are definitely top notch, no argument there. They will be way up at BSC.

Sycamores wrote:

Weber the real deal based on what result? Nearly letting worse-ranked BYU put up 15 pts on them last week?

Based on the accomplishments of the runners they have back this year. Everyone runs through their first meet so it's a bit early to ignore everything else and just look at that.