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.

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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.

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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!

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The Starved Elephant wrote:

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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.

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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.

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@ 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.

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rockfish wrote:

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

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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.

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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.

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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...

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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...

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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.

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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.

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