Ehhh, don't know what you really expected after graduating all those seniors from last year. Carius somehow always seems to have guys pop up from nowhere. BUT let's get to the real action here and talk about Flotrack's individual rankings????? They seriously need to do more research.
#01 SR Josh Schraeder (UW-La Crosse)
#02 SR Ryan Cox (Williams)
#03 SR Nick Matteucci (Washington U.)
#04 SR Matt Osmulski (North Central)
#05 JR Lucas Mueller (Carleton)
FIRST OF ALL, L M F A O!!! Schraeder as #1???? HAA. This dude was literally the biggest choker on the planet last track season! Comes in ranked #2 in the 3k, #9 in the mile, #8 in the 5k, and a part of LAX's DMR which was ranked #1. WELL he didn't make it out of the 3k prelims which cost the team BIG time and then he didn't run the mile leg of the DMR which cost them even more points! Outdoors was a wash for him too. No chance he should be ranked first. He singlehandedly cost LAX and indoor team title.
SECOND OF ALL, Ryan Cox?????? Did this man even run track? GTFO!
The rankings should be 1)Matteucci 2)Mueller 3)Osmulski
Matteucci is the clear favorite here. The kid had a great XC season with massive improvement(10th!!). He followed that up with a great indoor campaign and then capped off the year with AA's in both the 1500m and 5k, a very tough double. You leave him in the race with 800 to go, GOOD LUCK!
Mueller has been getting hyped up after his 10k performance at nationals. Patel had a much faster time than any of those guys and should have put away the race much earlier, but IDK what goes on in his mind. But seriously, Mueller's PR in the 10k is 29:45 and he ran 30:14 at nationals. You shouldn't be surprised he closed fast! It was a slow race!! If he wants to win it, he'll need to make it fast from the gun.
Osmulski is interesting. He definitely had a good XC season and qualified for both indoors and outdoors, but really didn't do anything at either(just like majority of NCC's distance squad). If you'e ever watched him run he's a natural heel striker so that hurts him for style points too. He has a decent 10k PR, but if he wants any chance to win this thing he'll need to make the race fast and hope that people fall about with 2k to go.