Austin Neura FTW! Don’t @ me.
Austin Neura FTW! Don’t @ me.
Bump
OK, I'll respond about women, since no one else is. I have NO knowledge of incoming runners anywhere, but from last year's results and recent years' patterns:
I agree BW is favorite - they had to have their best race at Regional to narrowly win last year, but return their top 7. And seems like the whole group has run well through track season.
4th and 5th place teams (in '18) Hope (losing 1,4,7) & Calvin (1,4,5,6) both lose significant runners, but both teams always seem to manage to come on strong at the right time.
Likewise with Allegheny (close 2nd in '18), who have really done well last 3-4 yrs . They lose 1 & 2, but some (not all) of their newer runners did well in track, I think.
Oberlin was close 3rd last year, then had very rough race at nationals. They lose their #1 & 7, will be interesting to see whether their depth (their 4,5,6 all close at Regionals) can move up a bit.
Otterbein (6th in '18)seems to me to have been a hit-or-miss team in last couple of years, but when they run well were dangerous. They lose 1, 2, 5, 6, don't know if they'll have others step up.
Mount Union and John Carroll have competed well, but while Mt U loses loses 1, 2, & 6, JC has all back, including first year Carmen Baujaucius who ran 35:20 10k on track, and 5 who were under 5:00 for 1500 -- solid group.
After looking at this, I'd rate it as:
BW
Oberlin - Hope - Allegheny- Calvin (with emphasis going from returning runners to historic pattern in that group)
Darkhorses: John Carroll & Case Western
Thanks for checking in, Austin.
Former BW athlete here. 3 of the top of 5 BW guys will not be returning this cross season, 1 of which is because of graduation. They'll need to pull something big to be competing for a top 10 spot at regionals again this year.
Thanks for checking in, Spencer
Ygo17 wrote:
Thanks for checking in, Spencer
I was thinking the same thing
Man, that sucks that Spence won't be back. He's one hell of a competitor and a great guy. I heard that he ran 31:57 in his post collegiate debut at a 10k in Columbus and I think he indicated training for a fall marathon. I wish nothing but the best for him. As for the team he's left at BW; 10th is a good spot for them to shoot for. New faces will have to show up though since they're down a few from what the board says.
Also on the women's side, for BW... I pick them as favorites to reappear at nationals for sure, it will be tight at the regional meet. Always is. Kelly Brennan and Alyssa Laughner had stellar seasons. Laughner is one of the top returners in the steeple with her 9th place finish. Brennan has been solid all throughout the year setting the overall (indoors and outdoors) 5k school record 17:19 at indoor OACs, indoor 3k record, the mile record, and the 800 record. Madison Kile has been a solid runner for them. They should have their 4th coming back from injury and ready to roll. their 6th will be huge for them this year as she has been very steadily improving. (this is all based on TFRRS results and historic patterns I've seen)
Oberlin has been solid in years past so they will be up there along with Allegheny and Hope. Otterbein will be fifth and the first out on the women's side.
Those are the four I have making it out as they are the clear top dogs.
Heard the Cards got another transfer coming in this fall, to add to the 4 that they already have on the team, he could make an impact immediately. They also have 5 of their top 7 from last year returning.
From where? At what point does it become suspicious that most of their top runners are transfers? It seems strange that a school like that with mostly in-state runners would get all of these transfers.
Why is it suspicious? Otterbein is in a major metropolitan area and has reasonable admission standards. Kids who miss their mom, dog, bf, gf, favorite coffee shop all can come home and have the luxury of running in a small-school setting. Other schools do, this Otterbein just seems to have more success attracting distance talent. Others tend to get QB's and jump shooters. It's not as bad as D1's that want to poach kids once they've had success, which has happened in Ohio.
TheMarathon wrote:
Man, that sucks that Spence won't be back. He's one hell of a competitor and a great guy. I heard that he ran 31:57 in his post collegiate debut at a 10k in Columbus and I think he indicated training for a fall marathon. I wish nothing but the best for him. As for the team he's left at BW; 10th is a good spot for them to shoot for. New faces will have to show up though since they're down a few from what the board says.
CONFIRMED SPENCER SPONSORED BY MAURTEN
Otterbein is to transfers what I am to propane and propane accessories
Anonymous821 wrote:
TheMarathon wrote:
Man, that sucks that Spence won't be back. He's one hell of a competitor and a great guy. I heard that he ran 31:57 in his post collegiate debut at a 10k in Columbus and I think he indicated training for a fall marathon. I wish nothing but the best for him. As for the team he's left at BW; 10th is a good spot for them to shoot for. New faces will have to show up though since they're down a few from what the board says.
CONFIRMED SPENCER SPONSORED BY MAURTEN
Ah I see we have another follower of the vlogs
Latest rumor mill:
Otterbein in talks with two possible transfers- one all-American steepler from D2 and a D1 xc national qualifier
Leakey wrote:
Latest rumor mill:
Otterbein in talks with two possible transfers- one all-American steepler from D2 and a D1 xc national qualifier
This is ridiculous. How do they do it? Is it because people want to be in that area? There are so many schools in the Columbus area like Capital, Ohio Dominican, Denison. How do they not get transfers like this?
I'd cut them slack for now. All unofficial rumors
Having been living in this area and following schools in XC for awhile I have a bold prediction
Kenyon College is a dark horse.
They don't look strong on paper but if you follow individual progressions they are on a path to be surprisingly strong next year, albeit without as much depth as some of the top teams, mark my word.
trackfield164 wrote:
Leakey wrote:
Latest rumor mill:
Otterbein in talks with two possible transfers- one all-American steepler from D2 and a D1 xc national qualifier
This is ridiculous. How do they do it? Is it because people want to be in that area? There are so many schools in the Columbus area like Capital, Ohio Dominican, Denison. How do they not get transfers like this?
It's building momentum. First of all, Otterbein the past few years has been placing high in the OAC and pretty decent in the great lakes region. Next, they get 1-2 decent transfers, qualify to nationals, and get their name out there and the snowball effect starts taking place. All other surrounding D3 schools haven't even come close to this yet. You need a good team and good stats to attract good runners.