Official 2018 Pre Nats Discussion Thread

WOMEN

CARDINAL RACE (10 A.M.)

Arizona

Arkansas (7)

Auburn

Baylor

Boston University

BYU (9)

California

Charlotte

Colorado (1)

Dayton

Duke

Florida State (25)

Illinois State

Indiana (11)

Liberty

Miami (Ohio)

Minnesota (21)

Montana State

NC State (13)

Nevada

Northern Arizona

Northwestern

Ohio State

Ole Miss (18)

Oregon (4)

Portland (23)

Portland State

Richmond

San Jose State

Syracuse

Tulane

UCLA

Utah Valley

Western Michigan

Wichita State

WHITE RACE (10:45 A.M.)

Air Force

Arizona State

Arkansas State

Cal Poly

Central Michigan

Clemson

Colorado State

Eastern Michigan

Furman (12)

Georgia (28)

Harvard

Idaho State

Indiana State

Kansas

Lamar

Louisville

Michigan (10)

Nebraska

New Mexico (3)

Notre Dame (22)

Purdue

San Francisco

SE Missouri State

South Dakota State

Southern Utah

Stanford (5)

USC

Utah State (20)

UT-Martin

Wake Forest

Washington (16)

Washington State

Weber State

William and Mary

Wisconsin (8)

Yale (24)

Purdue was #13 in the last ranking

So in the Women's White Race which was already the weaker of the two team and individual wise, Colorado is not entering their A team. So Oregon pretty much has not big team to race against. This is ridiculous. The meet director needs to put them in the Cardinal Race. Its Pre-Nationals C'mon they need to do better than this. Having it at Wisconsin this year after Nuttycomb in hindsight has been a disaster. Nuttycomb should have just been Pre Nationals. Seems like schools that didn't attend Nuttycomb are getting penalized.

Ducks got Ducked wrote:

So in the Women's White Race which was already the weaker of the two team and individual wise, Colorado is not entering their A team. So Oregon pretty much has not big team to race against. This is ridiculous. The meet director needs to put them in the Cardinal Race. Its Pre-Nationals C'mon they need to do better than this. Having it at Wisconsin this year after Nuttycomb in hindsight has been a disaster. Nuttycomb should have just been Pre Nationals. Seems like schools that didn't attend Nuttycomb are getting penalized.

Penalized? The idea is to have two even-strength races. Taking the best team out of one and putting it in the other throws that off.

The whole purpose of a race like this is to determine the at-large bids to Nationals. Since Oregon is going to qualify anyways, it does not matter at all.

I live a couple blocks away and will be spectating Saturday. Lots of rain the past week, but cooler and dry starting tomorrow. I was planning to head over there tonight during my run to check out course conditions. I'm excited to watch my first college XC meet. Go, Bucky!

The team races are still even because there is no team who can really give NM any competition in the Cardinal race but all the top front runners are in the Cardinal race which makes the race itself very competitive and stacked....The white race not so much.

@ I'm Excited,

Any insights on places to park near the Zimmer course and not have to take the shuttle? In previous trips i have parked on the shoulder on Woods Road and cut through the woods coming on the course around mile 1.

In the spectator race information it is indicated cars on Woods road will be ticketed and or towed? In the spectator info for Nuttycombe Woods road was not called out?

The shuttles for pre nats and nats are going to be abysmal. It seems the Wisconsin / NCAA is definitely not making this a spectator friendly venue.

Any insights appreciated.

rockfish wrote:

It seems the Wisconsin / NCAA is definitely not making this a spectator friendly venue.

.

Do you know how many people are reading this and wishing they could attend any one of these 3 big meets (Nutty, Pre-Nats, Nats)

You have a chance to be there at an incredibly friendly venue for spectators and what do you do? You complain about the shuttle service. Shuttle service you have not yet experienced. I have ridden the shuttle for the last 2 Nuttys. It was quick and easy and cheap. It may get a bit slower as these meets get bigger. So what?? Stand in line with the parents, and fans. Ask the people behind you how their daughter/son ran? If you don't have time - don't come - you won't be missed.

Park in the neighborhood off Cty Hwy M (Pleasant View Road) on the est side of the golf course. It's a quick hike - less than a mile - on the Ice Age Trail over to the race course. Just follow the yellow blazes.

Can you run from the church? I am bringing a team so paying $100 when they can jog a mile to the course seems silly. How about doing a workout in between races? I assume we can find somewhere on the course with the hundreds of racers who will be warming up and cooling down.

How do you know who is running? Some teams have 15 runners listed.

Park at church wrote:

Can you run from the church? I am bringing a team so paying $100 when they can jog a mile to the course seems silly. How about doing a workout in between races? I assume we can find somewhere on the course with the hundreds of racers who will be warming up and cooling down.

Cty Hwy PD along there is pretty busy with a narrow shoulder, but it's only like 1/2 mile to the race course. If you can't run the course you could always run on the bike path just west of the church down toward the Epic campus.

Boise St had Pre-Nats listed on their season schedule, but some reason decided not to run. For Colorado, not sure if this was ever planned or not. Still - the meet is missing 2 of the best female teams. I guess they are choosing not to race it since they just went 1-2 at Nutty, and both are locks to make Nationals? Neither race again until their respective conference championships?

BTW - by being in the White race, the Oregon ladies must feel like they are in the 'B' or 'JV' race. Its a shame that the division between the Cardinal and White races wasn't a bit more even. Oh well...

Buffs and Broncos wrote:

Boise St had Pre-Nats listed on their season schedule, but some reason decided not to run. For Colorado, not sure if this was ever planned or not. Still - the meet is missing 2 of the best female teams. I guess they are choosing not to race it since they just went 1-2 at Nutty, and both are locks to make Nationals? Neither race again until their respective conference championships?

BTW - by being in the White race, the Oregon ladies must feel like they are in the 'B' or 'JV' race. Its a shame that the division between the Cardinal and White races wasn't a bit more even. Oh well...

That was my point the White race is very much watered down and it does seem like a "B" race. At this point they would be better off combining all the seeds in one race and just having a "B" race for teams running their non 7 scorers like they did at Nuttycomb.

Youngstown state repping

Looks like Baxter is healthy and running. It will be interesting to see how fast he goes and what NAU's 1-5 spread is.

https://nauathletics.com/news/2018/10/11/cross-country-returns-to-madison-for-wisconsin-pre-nationals.aspx

I am bummed Boise isn’t running pre-nats. I wonder why the change? It was indeed on their calendar in the beginning.

"While some reluctantly crawl out of the trenches, you will once again see NAU leading the charge." — Matt Baxter

That quote pretty much sums up NAU's approach to big races the last few years and I would expect the same on Saturday.

I'll be paying attention to how Ryan Raff performs in his second big meet. He did fade a little at Nuttycombe, so if he shows some improvement and everyone else runs their typical race, that 1-7 spread will be tight.

ItsNotMeItsYou wrote:

"While some reluctantly crawl out of the trenches, you will once again see NAU leading the charge." — Matt Baxter

That quote pretty much sums up NAU's approach to big races the last few years and I would expect the same on Saturday.

I'll be paying attention to how Ryan Raff performs in his second big meet. He did fade a little at Nuttycombe, so if he shows some improvement and everyone else runs their typical race, that 1-7 spread will be tight.

Don't be surprised to see a much different NAU lineup on Saturday compared to Nutty. I can see them resting some guys that ran Nutty, and replacing them with Baxter (of course) and others that could use some big meet experience. The team score prob means less here to NAU than does giving various runners experience on the course - as they are obviously a lock to get to Nationals.