2018 NIRCA XC

After yesterday I think that Princeton and Maryland should be talked about as contenders. Princeton averaged 26:06 and Maryland 25:45 on the very fast Princeton invite course.

Tbh I'm worried that UO might not quite have it this year as they have yet to race a full squad and I haven't seen any results for christman (their #1 guy) outside of Dellinger.

And shoutout to Justin Gallegos of UO for the sponsorship!!

cant wait to see the washed up Michigan squad struggle

Based off of results from NIRCA's website, I would consider this my top 10 power rankings for now. I'm guessing these will change substantially after Regionals:

1. Michigan

2. Oregon

3. Purdue

4. Penn State

5. Iowa State

6. Maryland

7. NC State

8. VA Tech

9. UVA

10. Princeton

MSU and UNC have looked great this season, but I can't really put them in over any of the teams listed. I'm not sure what I think about NC State or Virginia Tech, but Regionals will help a lot. Mid Atlantic will give Princeton another shot at Maryland and Penn State. It will be their first race against UVA and VA Tech. As always, NIRCA is extremely hard to predict. I suspect one of the top 5 teams at Nationals isn't in my list.

P.S. I've heard Billy Bowhill has finally gotten over his perpetual injuries. He's Penn State's secret weapon.

Billy Bowhill is a saint

PrincetonGod wrote:

Billy Bowhill is a saint

A saint? Have you met the man?? Billy Bowhill is but a GOD among MEN.

Having watched him since high school he is most certainly PSU's secret weapon

PRs of 15:19.2 for the 5k and 25:12.9 for the 8k he is most certainly a dark horse going into Nationals this year

rumor has it though that he's taking regionals easy so I'm not expecting him to put up big numbers next year

I call bull. Billy is probably just some washed up 7th year senior who is talking himself up.

UC Davis averaged 25:29 last weekend in Santa Clara, so they are looking like contenders

Fuq Penn State wrote:

I call bull. Billy is probably just some washed up 7th year senior who is talking himself up.

I can personally guarantee you Billy is not aware of this website but yes he is an old man

On the distaff side, the MidAtlantic regionals are this weekend at Lehigh (Paul Short course) so it's a good chance to see some strong teams like Penn State and Princeton. Top 9 on the women's side go to Nationals.

Interesting...are they not running with the team this year?

Regionals for Great Lakes and Mid Atlantic were not particularly fast. Penn State looked stronger than they have, with some runners that we haven't seen this season. Indiana gave Michigan a good run for their money in the Great Lakes. Anyone know anything about the Shelbyville course?

Billy Bowhill took the race pretty easy and is gearing up for the race of his life in Lexington.

The Great Lakes regional was extremely windy. Nobody wanted to take the lead so the pace was very pedestrian for the first 5k or so (I was in the lead pack going through around 16:3x). IU made a move at 5k and around six other runners were able to cover it. The times are not indicative of effort at all. Most were 45sec-1min slower than season bests. Congrats to Michigan for winning their first regional championship, they had a strong front runner in Opdyke. Looking forward to seeing how nationals will play out.

Speaking of nationals, has anyone seen the course yet? If so, can you give a rundown of what it looks like and what its racing tendencies are (hilly, flat, open to wind, typically strung out, typically run in tight packs, etc)?

Was at Mid-Atlantic Regionals. Women of Penn State looked very strong winning with 44 points. Pitt was a surprise third. I don't think PSU can beat Michigan but should be a good Nationals.

Penn State women were missing 2 of their top 5. They solidified that they are a national title contenders.

I was on MRun once and I would have sworn we won a regional at some point when I was there, but it looks like I was wrong. It's been a very strong club for such a long time. Glad to see them running well!

NewNIRCANerd wrote:

Was at Mid-Atlantic Regionals. Women of Penn State looked very strong winning with 44 points. Pitt was a surprise third. I don't think PSU can beat Michigan but should be a good Nationals.

You clearly weren't there or completely forgot the score. Nirca's website has extremely messed up results. Penn State women only won by 4 points and scored 65 not 44.

galensucks wrote:

Based off of results from NIRCA's website, I would consider this my top 10 power rankings for now. I'm guessing these will change substantially after Regionals:

1. Michigan

2. Oregon

3. Purdue

4. Penn State

5. Iowa State

6. Maryland

7. NC State

8. VA Tech

9. UVA

10. Princeton

MSU and UNC have looked great this season, but I can't really put them in over any of the teams listed. I'm not sure what I think about NC State or Virginia Tech, but Regionals will help a lot. Mid Atlantic will give Princeton another shot at Maryland and Penn State. It will be their first race against UVA and VA Tech. As always, NIRCA is extremely hard to predict. I suspect one of the top 5 teams at Nationals isn't in my list.

P.S. I've heard Billy Bowhill has finally gotten over his perpetual injuries. He's Penn State's secret weapon.

Curious what your power rankings are after this weekend... Thoughts on NC State's performance out of the Southeast?

OK harsh. Actually I was there....The scores given out that day on NIRCA's FB page had the current (correct) scores now reflected on NIRCA's website. The website, however, initially put out scores that were wrong and I didn't realize it until I compared it to the scores released on FB right after the race. So.....relax. Yes, PSU won only won by 4 over Princeton and 10 over Pitt but given that the Mid-Atlantic is the strongest region, they still looked good. Good enough to beat Michigan? We'll see...