2019 Big Sky XC

Bump.

June Eastwood FTW

Unless SUU has cloned Cam Levins 5 times I think NAU has a pretty good shot of winning on the Men's side.

Men

NAU will obviously be really super great again. There are also three other really good teams with Weber State, Southern Utah, and Montana State. It isn't too far fetched for all three of these teams to be vying for a NCAA appearance. Weber State has a bunch of guys that were freshman that were back from a mission last year that will be sophomores this year and should be even better. Montana State is loaded with young guys that were very good high school cross country runners between their sophomore and freshman classes. Southern Utah has Aidan Reed as well as some solid returners and guys like Josh Collins coming off of a red-shirt season last year. There won't be that many conference better through the top four teams than the big sky.

Women

NAU should be by far the best women's team, but seem to be missing something. Southern Utah might win again because of a great team culture. There are other teams that could be good, but lack depth. So, this should come down to NAU and Southern Utah.

My predictions for each team race

Men’s:

1. NAU - easy possible sweep. Their guys will be fit and ready to roll it out fast as always

2. Weber State - with the return of Jordan cross they’ll be looking to score 5 in the top 12.

3. Southern Utah - a non impressive track season with the exception of Aidan reed leaves me skeptical of whether their returners will be as strong this year.

Women’s:

1. NAU - I think they’re the clear favorite, given their top tier transfers and development with their older girls. Should be exciting.

2. Weber State - a group of girls ready to roll not to mention some solid local Utah recruits, they’ll be looking to get a spot at nationals

3. Southern Utah - the loss of Nickerson and Dimick will be felt hard, plus two of their top 3 returners were absent from outdoor

Individual:

Men’s:

1. Blaise Ferro (NAU)

2. Luis Grivalga (NAU)

3. George Beamish (NAU)

4. Theo Quax (NAU)

5. Aiden Reed (SUU)

6. Jordan Cross (Weber)

7. Christian Allen (Weber)

8. Ryan Raff (NAU)

Women’s:

1. Taryn O’neill (NAU)

2. Kelsi Lasota (MSU)

3. Alison Pray (SUU)

4. Kara Story (ID)

5. Lexie Thompson (Weber)

6. Jesslyn Brie’s (NAU)

7. Madison Fruchey (SUU)

8. Miranda Myers (NAU)

EWU

All around, a little heavy on Weber.....

bigskybigskybigsky wrote:

All around, a little heavy on Weber.....

Says the guy who tried to sneak Montana St into the men's team podium conversation...

....Total Weber homer for men and women. The MSU men will be good. Book it purple.

I don't know how this will end up working out in real life since they got a coach last week or something but on paper I think one of the most underrated teams in the conference are the Northern Colorado men.

Week one in the books. Some thoughts:

Utah Valley Meet:

W: SUU half-squad dominates Idaho State. Maddy Kauffman wins easily over some decent girls. Looks like they should be good again.

M: Idaho State beats SUU b-team. Maybe a small surprise? Not much info to be gleaned from this one it seems.

Clash of the Inland NW:

W: Montana beats Idaho narrowly. Idaho beats EWU comfortably. June Eastwood 2nd Montana runner. Was this a full Idaho squad?? If so, call me surprised that they lost to Montana. Literally every EWU girl was a FR or SO.

M: Idaho beats Montana by a bit. Not sure if Gonzaga had much of a team but it was closer than expected if the Zags ran a full team. Idaho only beats Montana by 13sec/runner which I would call a solid day from UM or a bad one from Idaho. Eastern way back as expected despite Barville being the top Big Sky male.

Bonanza (Nevada) Classic:

W: Sac St decently close (~30sec/runner) to a very good Nevada team ( but minus top runner). Not sure what to make of that.

M: Sac St loses to first-year Nevada team. Probably not a good sign.

Agreed that Northern Colorado's men is a relevant and competitive DI team currently (if you go off TFRRS profiles).

But underrated in the conference...probably not. The best teams in the Big Sky compete (an win) nationally, and mid level teams are still better than most DI programs outside of the P5. Despite the fact that they have develouped some very good distance guys, they are still out gunned in the state of Colorado an in the Big Sky.

Sliding Scale wrote:

Agreed that Northern Colorado's men is a relevant and competitive DI team currently (if you go off TFRRS profiles).

But underrated in the conference...probably not. The best teams in the Big Sky compete (an win) nationally, and mid level teams are still better than most DI programs outside of the P5. Despite the fact that they have develouped some very good distance guys, they are still out gunned in the state of Colorado an in the Big Sky.

Perhaps. I have a hard time seeing Northern Colorado behind Idaho State. No?

Aidan Reed likely redshirting, is this the year So. Utah misses out on nationals? Underwhelming track season for their returners in the spring to boot

Ogden,UT wrote:

Aidan Reed likely redshirting, is this the year So. Utah misses out on nationals? Underwhelming track season for their returners in the spring to boot

If this is true this changes the game considerably. Weber looks stacked but yesterday's race up in Idaho left me a bit confused. Some guys didn't seem to race, some seemed to race poorly, some ran unattached, and some weren't there at all. Not sure exactly what Weber we should expect to see in November.

If Reed redshirts, and having already lost Knevelbaard, they are relying on guys who were all over place last year (xc and track). Add that to a race where we don't know how good Weber really will be and we should have a fun show at conference.

And NAU raced this morning and almost ran the same as a Japanese University.

This was really a 'B' team by Southern Utah.

http://finishedresults.trackscoreboard.com/#/results/meet-xc/8899/scoreboard-xc/results/2

Weber men and women both looked pretty good.

http://www.runnercard.com/results3/meet?meetId=aae95504-1706-4c59-a475-7d610ca153df

Is there a reason the top guys didn’t race? Playing conservative or are injuries involved? The girls team looked strong.

Weber girls looked very strong as well, Weber seemed to be missing their top guy from last year.

Portland state beat eastern Washington by a good amount, are they beginning to rise up the conference rankings?

Kelsi Lasota doesn't have any more eligibility in XC. You might throw June in there after she decides to stop taking pills or Camila Noe from Montana State or Summer Allen from Weber or another NAU woman, they have so many that could rise up and likely will. I expect Brody Hasty to be in the top 5 at conference.