Rojo lets get that write up going.
Rojo lets get that write up going.
nosey wrote:
Rojo lets get that write up going.
Please!^
The women's race is looking like it could be the closest its been in years for the team title. The Princeton course might allow for it to stay packed up, rather than VCP that seems to string everyone out.
Keggy wrote:
nosey wrote:
Rojo lets get that write up going.
Please!^
I bet they won't publish any meet previews until tomorrow (Friday).
I've been looking into some of the student newspapers and I've found meet previews in the Daily Pennsylvanian and Columbia Spectator. These two articles actually provide some behind-the-scenes info on some of their early season races and mindsets, and how they are trying to change/adapt in time for Heps on Saturday. I only wish more of the schools did this instead of just reporting after-the-fact (if they even do anything: some newspapers just give 1 paragraph blurbs with no insight or quotes).
https://www.thedp.com/article/2018/10/penn-cross-country-ivy-heps-princeton-preview
Thanks for the articles! Why doesn't every paper do this? Seems obvious to me
keggy wrote:
Thanks for the articles! Why doesn't every paper do this? Seems obvious to me
Because football and soccer seem to dominate the readership's interest? That seems to be the general conclusion across all levels of media (i.e. high school, college, pro levels in media reporting). Some of the newspapers kinda did a "meet preview" by saying "the next meet on the teams' schedule are the Ivy League Heptagonal Championships, at Princeton" when the newspaper recapped their final pre-Heps race, so they may think they have their preview covered. But I doubt there are many "running-knowledgeable" people on the writing staff that can share informative coverage. I remember when I was in college, the woman who covered XC/TF in the student newspaper was roommates with someone who was on the team.
But anywho, there are SOME outlets that will do some kind of coverage.
The Stride Report confirmed on Twitter yesterday that they will be posting HepsXC meet previews. Here's a teaser though, where two of their contributors shared their thoughts about who will rise, who will crash, and who the underdogs are in the national sense, and some Ivy/Heps teams made the discussion.
https://www.thestridereport.com/articles/final-five-questionsMeanwhile, a final weather check:
(Per weather.com for Princeton, NJ) Today will have a high in the low 50s and partly cloudy conditions, low winds of 4 mph from the ESE. Good for travel and course preview, too bad it won't be like that for tomorrow. Rain will come in tonight and last thru late morning. At 11am (women's race), 85% chance of rain with a temperature of 50 degrees and winds from the NE at 18 mph. At noon (men's race), 70% chance of LIGHT rain with a temperature of 51 degrees and winds from the NE at 18 mph. Weather.com is predicting wind gusts up to 40 mph. Doesn't sound like a nor'easter to me but probably won't be too much fun if you're running.
I will share more meet previews as I find them, but seriously, don't let me dominate the thread. Share your thoughts, questions, comments, predictions, hamburger recipes, Halloween plans, whatever!
Predictions from Isaac Wood of @thewoodreport:
"Heps Men's XC Individual Predictions:
Hugo Milner- Harvard
Kieran Tuntivate- Harvard
Brian Zabilski- Columbia
Conor Lundy- Princeton
Patrick O'Brien- Dartmouth
Princeton beats Harvard in a close win"
FYI: the last time Harvard finished in the top-2 at HepsXC was in 1966, and the last time Harvard had at least a 1-2 individual finish was in 1969.
Bump
A lot of people are saying that Lundy is the clear favorite. Here's the top 9 5k prs from last year.
Tuntivate- 13:58
Zabilski- 13:59
Vasbinder- 14:01
Lundy- 14:04
Milner- 14:09
Schreiner- 14:09
Spiezio- 14:11
Grossman- 14:13
Willcutts- 14:15
That's actually a pretty tight spread. Of course 5k prs don't tell the whole story of how someone will race tomorrow. Some prs were set in better conditions than others, some people adapt better to xc than others, and injuries/illness happen. I still think Lundy's the favorite (all-American honors outdoors, top returner, great xc season up to this point), however I think the individual battle will be very close.
Here're the links to the articles in the Daily Princetonian:
http://www.dailyprincetonian.com/article/2018/10/womens-cross-country-to-host-heps
times new roman wrote:
A lot of people are saying that Lundy is the clear favorite. Here's the top 9 5k prs from last year.
Tuntivate- 13:58
Zabilski- 13:59
Vasbinder- 14:01
Lundy- 14:04
Milner- 14:09
Schreiner- 14:09
Spiezio- 14:11
Grossman- 14:13
Willcutts- 14:15
.
Tuntivate's PR is is 14:26, not sure where you saw 13:58
Zabilski did run 13:59 but only finished 17th at Princeton Invite
Vasbinder's first race was Princeton Invite where he was 22nd, but maybe he is post injury and coming on(?)
Lundy only raced once this season, but won and looked good
Milner was 22nd at Pre-nats with a 24:11 which is solid
Spiezio and Grossman can be expected to mix it up early, but not counting on them for the win
Willcutts has a stronger 10k it seems, and was the tiger's second runner at Princeton Invite- he might be able to mix it up more than expected.
Tuntivate took last year off from Harvard and did run 13:58 and around 29:31 on the track. The 14:26 might be he PR from his soph year.
take a break wrote:
Tuntivate took last year off from Harvard and did run 13:58 and around 29:31 on the track. The 14:26 might be he PR from his soph year.
I’m fairly certain that tuntivate ran that 10k PR at the Asian Games at the end of summer, so it is pretty recent. Hopefully, he isn’t burnt out for Heps. He looked good in winning Roy Griak.
Nah, think he ran it at Penn, ran 30:xx at asian games.
nosey wrote:
Rojo lets get that write up going.
Can I write it 20 minutes before the start?
1) This thread is a disgrace. There is no mention of the word "Heps" in it. True story, I had a very prominent runner call me up adnd say, "Why isn't there a Heps thread this year. Or is their a problem with search on letsrun?" I said, "There is but they didn't use the words heps."
2) With a new baby, I haven't been following things closely. So that's my excuse for what follows.
3) In terms of the men's race, coming into every years I default assume Princeton is the favorite. This year, I thought Columbia could be a threat if they could find a 5 as they were really good in the 10k and 5k at outdoor heps. They had the 1-2 finishers in the 10k in Vasbinder and Zabilski amd #1 returner from the 5k (Schreiner, who was 2nd).The only other team I considered was Penn but when they finished close to the bottom of wisco (or one of those big meets), I was like, 'i'm writing them off."
Anyways, so that left Columbia as a potential winner.
But a few weeks ago, Pre-Nats weekend, I looked up results and went to the Princeton site as I knew Princeton was running there. I saw columbia there and assumed it was their B team as they were way back. Then I looked at the names and saw it was their A team. So I think people calling for a Princeton dominant win are correct.
Now I heard thorugh the grapevine that Scheiner for Columbia is healthy and might be running. He's on the start list but come on he hasn't raced all year. That to me makes no sense. If you are healthy, why haven't you raced? To be honest, if I was as good as he is, it would be tempting to let him sit this one out so he can do a 5th year somewhere else. And I dont' really see any other meets for Columbia so I don't see how they win.
So can Princeton lose? Yes anybody can lose. When I was coaching, I always looked for vulnerability at #6 and 7. IF I was them, I'd be a little worried at how far back #6 and #7 were last week. #7 was like 23 seconds back of #5. Admittedy, Princeton's #7 was in Columbia's top 5. And while from doing the track meets, I had never seen a result for Princeton's #6. I didn't recognize the name, David Krahn.
Just looked him up. He ran 858 for 3200 in HS and was the national freshman record holder in the 1600. So that's the type of 'problems' Princeton has. Worried if an 858 guy can step up if one of the top 5 is off.
Ok I just looked at some more stats. While Penn was way back at Wisco, it should be noted that their 5 man average time of 2457 was better than Princeton's 2459. I mean Princeotn has basically punted on the regular season before destroying Columbia last week. But a team that puts no one in the top 120 at Wisco and no one in the top 30 at Penn State two weeks ago, shouldn't win Heps.
I guess that would leave Harvard. I know they had a guy win the minnesota meet and i think gibby is a very good coach. Looks like they ran Pre-Nats. They have a decent top 3 but 4 and 5 are way back. A 32 second gap between 3 and 4 will kill you.
Princeton shouldn't lose unless they have at least 2 guys totally **** the bed in their top 5.
PS. I'm adding Heps to the thread title.
Here is women's first split at 1.5k.
Of course the 1st split doesn't mean much as there is a 3 seconed spready betwen 10thand 47th.
Barring a blowup. It looks like it's Columbia on the women's side.
https://twitter.com/letsrundotcom/status/1056203243150368769