BIG SKY XC 2018

Teyes wrote:

NAU men a favorite for the National Title.

**breaking**

We're getting close!! Next week kicks things off for a few teams out there.

Some updates:

Brody Hasty to NAU is an enormous pickup. Perhaps not critical this fall but down the road could prove to be pivotal for their long-term successes.

Lyle Weese named the Montana St director. How does this change their team strategy? They've always been quite well-rounded up in Bozeman. Will that continue? Will there be more $$ in distance?

Any news on Sac St?

I doubt Hasty does anything year 1. He's got a stable of sub 14 guys to displace if he wants to travel.

Men's Preseason Poll

1. Northern Arizona (11) 121

2. Southern Utah 109

3. Weber State 96

4. Montana State 82

5. Idaho 79

6. Idaho State 69

7. Northern Colorado 57

8. Eastern Washington 34

9. Sacramento State 33

10. Montana 27

11. Portland State 19

(First Place Votes)

Women's Preseason Poll

1. Montana State (4) 111

2. Northern Arizona (5) 110

3. Southern Utah (2) 102

4. Idaho 94

5. Weber State 77

6. Montana 59

7. Idaho State 51

8. Eastern Washington 33

T9. Northern Colorado 32

T9. Portland State 32

11. Sacramento State 25

(First Place Votes)

Southern Utah has the best collection of talent on the women's side, so a little surprised by that. The men's side is dead on.

Feels like a solid copy/paste from last year’s results on the men’s poll...

Yeah, pretty damn close. Montana State was not 4th last year though.

Deece wrote:

Feels like a solid copy/paste from last year’s results on the men’s poll...

Any strong freshmen coming into the conference aside from Hasty of NAU?

What were everyone's thoughts on the initial weekend of competition?

Know it is hard to see much from these opening meets. NAU men are insanely good, which we knew. Another 15 point perfect score at conference this year?

Of their unattached freshmen, Ryan Raff absolutely made a statement. Was 2nd on their team at George Kyte.

Other thoughts:

SUU and Idaho State raced but lots of missing athletes so hard to draw many conclusions. Even the course changed so less to draw from that competition.

Idaho’s women look good. Eastern Washington is officially in the gutter. Too many coaching changes and transfers moving out and they’re a ghost of their own past at this point.

I can’t decide what to make of Sac State’s results. Help? It was at Woodward so surely we can draw some conclusions from that, no?

Nau women redshirting top 2 runners but their unattached freshman ran very well. Many in the top ten. They will be a top 3 team even without their redshirts. NAU men will most likely score a 15 at conf. Luis Grijalva was 40 mins behind their top 4 tho. Should we be concerned? With all the firepower he can be replaced tho

Not sure what the weather was like this vs last year but looking into George Kyte I'm less impressed with NAU that I had expected.

Men average 2017 - 23:06

Men average 2018 - 23:16

Women average 2017 - 16:04

Women average 2018 - 16:15

There are clearly some redshirts in there who would improve these numbers but these were those in uniform. I would normally say the guys probably weren't trying but last year they were packed up but the year they spread out indicating some level of fatigue throughout the squad. Dunno.

Any teams racing this weekend?

As was the plan, NAU ran the first 2.5 miles with the lead pack and there were much higher winds this year.

Last year, UCLA was at the meet and some of their guys (Brandt in particular) pushed the pace early in the race more than anyone did this year.

So, that 10-second difference likely all came in the first 2.5 miles before they actually started running.

Sac St and Portland St women getting ranking love in the West coaches polls. Are they really that good?

Region rankings in the mountain region seem totally off so I can't tell if I should trust the West rankings...

Lots of racing happened this weekend.

Nuttycombe Wisco

http://hss.eclipseracetiming.com/xclive/

Women

14. 338 Southern Utah

19. 553 Northern Arizona

Individuals:

28. Angie Nickerson SUU 20:21.1

Men

1. 46 Northern Arizona

10. 332 Southern Utah

Individuals:

3 Tyler Day NAU 23:21.3

5 Luis Grijalva NAU 23:23.8

7 Peter Lomong NAU 23:26.8

8 Blaise Ferro NAU 23:29.0

21 Christian Ricketts SUU 23:42.2

25 Geordie Beamish NAU 23:47.1

27 Aidan Reed SUU 23:49.1

Notre Dame

http://notre-dame-xc-invitational.runnerspace.com/eprofile.php?event_id=4298&do=news&news_id=542980

Women

11 Weber State 291

Individuals:

45 MarLee Mitchell Weber State 17:43.8

Men

5 Weber State 189

Individuals:

22 Stone, Jacob Weber State 24:26.2

Roy Griak

https://results.flotrack.org/XC-PTT.html?mid=1462

Women

5 Montana State 133

Individuals:

8 Kelsi Lasota Montana State 21:40.3

Men

6 Montana State 145

Individuals:

2 Ty Mogan Montana State 24:34.8

Capital Cross Challenge

http://www.rtspt.com/events/SacSt/cxc18/

Women

7 Sacramento St. 224

Individuals:

2 Amy Quinones Sacramento St. 21:18.4

Men

8 Sacramento St. 240

Individuals:

17 Andres Sandoval Sacramento St. 24:46.5

Charles Bowles Invite

http://livestats.willamette.edu/bowles/2018/

Women

3 Portland State 97

Individuals:

8 Gibson, Kaila Portland State 17:25.6

Men

4 Portland State 154

Individuals

15 Seidel, Drew Portland State 24:58.5

Montana Invitational

Women

https://gogriz.com/services/download_file.ashx?file_location=https://s3.amazonaws.com/sidearm.sites/gogriz.com/documents/2018/9/28/Women.pdf

1. Idaho 20

2. Montana 54

7. Eastern Washington 182

Individuals:

1. Kara Story Idaho 18:05.60

Men

https://gogriz.com/services/download_file.ashx?file_location=https://s3.amazonaws.com/sidearm.sites/gogriz.com/documents/2018/9/28/Men.pdf

2. Idaho 54

3. Eastern Washington 105

4. Montana 117

The last big weekend before the conference meet is here! Some solid inter-conference matchups brewing this weekend at Pre Nats - here's who lines up (in my predicted order):

Men:

CARDINAL

NAU

SUU

Idaho State

WHITE (this should be close)

Weber St

Montana St

Women:

CARDINAL

Montana St

NAU

Portland St

WHITE

SUU

Idaho State

Weber St

I think the picture for the conference meet seems to be pretty clear. Here's what I see going into next weekend:

MEN

1.NAU

2.SUU

3.Montana St

4.Weber St

5.Idaho St

6.Idaho

7.Northern Colorado

8.Sacramento St

9.Portland St

10.Montana

11.Eastern Washington

WOMEN

1.SUU

2.NAU

3.Montana St

4.Weber St

5.Idaho

6.Portland St

7.Sacramento St

8.Montana

9.Idaho St

10.Northern Colorado

11.Eastern Washington