2015 College Cross Country

[DrJay]

About time for this thread. I'm certain it will get as many hits as jazz's College Football thread.

From the CU Buffs website:

Their goal this year: not only win a third straight NCAA title — something that hasn’t been done since Arkansas won three straight from 1998-2000 — but also place all five scorers in the top 25.

“We legitimately have a chance to do that,” (Connor) Winter said. “Then we’d have the legacy of not just winning three national championships in a row, but we’d also have five guys in the top 25, which has only been done I think three times ever. That would give us the opportunity to say unquestionably we were one of the best teams ever, across the board, in any year.

So any statheads know if that's true? Only three times with all five in the top 25? Looks like UTEP only did it once, in 1981. But they sure did it with style....1, 2, 3, 7, 8, 19, 20.

[Atticus]

About time for this thread. I'm certain it will get as many hits as jazz's College Football thread.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZ . . . what? . . . running? . . . oh, cross country . . . ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
;-)

[Bruce Kritzler]

men- Syracuse, Stanford, Ok St, Mich St all won big invites this weekend.
women - Boise beat last years champ Mich St at Minnesota.

Besides UTEP, maybe Oregon or Wash St might have put 5 in top 25 (modern era). Maybe Michigan State from early years?

[26mi235]

When Wisconsin won a couple times back their 6th man was in scoring spot 16, I think, and they had the race winner as well. Stanford had an even tighter run. By the way, that Wisconsin team did pretty well at Big Tens that year - their eighth runner finished in ninth (they get to run 7+2 at the conference meet) and even though he was in the top ten he did not get to be All-Big Ten because he did not count.

As for the race on the mens side the likely winner is in for his third straight. Stanford looked pretty good this weekend, McGorty won in a fast time (23-low) and Grant Fisher finished second in 23:33 running as a red-shirt (i.e., not officially on the team). They also have the Rosa twins, who are potential top-10 runners and some solid back up might make them pretty competitive with Colorado. However, Stanford has a reputation for not performing particularly well at NCAAs (although there are some notable exceptions to that) and Colorado doing better than expected (again with exceptions).

On women's side both Avery and Nelson are out, for different reasons, while Disanza, the fast-closing number two last year (she was 18 seconds back at 650m to go and took back more than half of it) has not yet opened (Wisconsin Invite?). Team-wise, Boise State made a statement this weekend at Griak beating the defending champs with a lot of runners that are not particularly well-known. Michigan is looking like the team they were expected to be last year, although it might take a bit to see where they and Michigan State really stand. Colorado is a likely podium squad and could win.

However, the other top squad is New Mexico with several stellar new additions and transfers [Auckland, Scotland: 19th at 2015 World XC (sr. race); 2015 Euro U-23 10,000 runner-up; 2014 Euro U-23 XC champ; PBs of 15:27 and 32:22 and she is better in Cross and Courtney Frerichs second at NCAA SC, 9:31, who was 13th last year]. Plus, they have the 10, 17, and 43rd place returners from last year and two 5th year 16:2x Harvard transfers.

[26mi235]

By the way, the second biggest race of the year is coming up on (Friday) October 16, when 20 to 25 of the top thirty teams from last year's NCAA Finals (31 teams go). Anyone in the vicinity should come for the race. I should be doing crowd control yet again; look for the guy with the bull-horn on the S section (where they go back and forth 5 times on each 4km loop (twice for the men's 8k, once plus for the women's 6k).

[KevinM]

Since UTEP 1981, I found 8 instances of the winning team's 5th scorer placing in the top 25 overall:
Arkansas 1992 (Niall Bruton 25th)
Arkansas 1993 (Michael Morin 25th)
Iowa State 1994 (John Kihonge 22nd)
Stanford 1996 (Nathan Nutter 15th)
Stanford 1997 (Jonathan Riley 23rd)
Arkansas 1999 (Matt Kerr 24th)
Stanford 2003 (Adam Tenforde 12th, 6th man Don Sage 13th)
Wisconsin 2005 (Stuart Eagon 14th, 6th man Tim Nelson 15th)

Wisconsin 1982 came very close (5th man in 26th, 20th among scorers).

[Bruce Kritzler]

This past weekend Oregon, Colorado, OK St, UTEP, BYU, Michigan, and Arkansas all performed well on the men's side.
Top ranked New Mexico debuted impressively for the women, along with Colorado, Oregon, Michigan, NC St, and Arkansas.

[26mi235]

Wisconsin, on the other hand, continued mid-season training prior to the major ramp up coming in two weeks, with: Adidas Invite (about 25 of the top 31 teams from last year on both the mens and womens side; second most important race of the year under the current rules); Conference; Regionals; NCAAs.

[By the way, Wisconsin has made NCAAs every year since they went to the qualifying format (Regionals) about 43 years ago, and has been in the top 10 for 19 straight years; advertising over, return to your normal programming...]

[aaronk]

I'm much more individual-oriented than team-oriented.
And just from limited observation, there's several Frosh---male and female---who are showing good stuff so far.

Grant Fisher took 2nd at Stanford a week or so ago, running unattached.
Not sure, but might be a temporary redshirt---meaning he might still run XC officially for Stanford at Conference, etc.

John Dressel finished fairly high in a recent race---maybe 6th or so.

Matt Maton also ran well recently.
(That covers BOTH 3:59.38 HS milers!!)

Ed Cheserek won easily.

Don't think he'll be too competitive at NCAA's, but Steepler Zak Seddon won a close one a couple of weeks ago.

On the Women's side, Erin Finn has won her first 2 races---both fairly easily.

But Ryen Frazier seems like the BIG star so far, winning twice with course records!
(Sister Wesley ran good too in Ryen's first win---but ran unattached while she awaits eligibilty after transferring.

Allie Ostrander won a biggie in her first race for Boise State.

Dominique Scott won easily last weekend.

Not all the above are Frosh, but those seem to be the BIG names so far!

ADD: Forgot about Aisling Cuffe, who opened with a good race.
If she's ALL the way back, she'll be VERY tough!

Also, Sarah Baxter finally showed up in a race result---about 33rd place, but not bad for a first outing for Oregon!

[aaronk]

Here's an update after today's big races---the Wisconsin and Crimson meets.

Men
Marc Scott had a fierce last 100 kick to win Wisconsin.
Never heard of him before.
(In post race interview, he said he's "not going to NCAA for 2nd".)

Cerake Geberkidane has been quietly winning races, his Crimson win the latest.

Chad Noelle finished just 8th in Wisconsin.
I said "just" because he's a top track runner!---although track speed doesn't always translate to XC success!

Stanford ran without the Rosa twins or Grant Fisher.
But Sean McGorty took 3rd.

Women
After 2 wins, Ryen Frazier finished 38th in Wisconsin.
She'd been with the leaders at 4K, so faded bad in final 2K.

Allie Ostrander beat Molly Seidel & Dominique Scott with a final 800 push, her 2nd win of the season!

Anna Rohrer finished 12th (2nd frosh) in Wisconsin, but had an excuse---she's been sick with a flu for a week or more---and in fact was coughing pretty badly during her post-race interview!!

The Course Record Ostrander beat today?
Held by none other than Abbey D'Agostino from 2013!!

New Mexico's women won with the lowest score ever at Wisconsin---32 points!!
(Syracuse men won with 101 points!)

[Black September]

Noelle was not "just eighth in Wisconsin."

[aaronk]

Noelle was not "just eighth in Wisconsin."

You're right!
Noelle was "just" 8th at the Crimson race, not Wisconsin!
A full 59 seconds behind Geberkidane!!

As noted in my earlier comment, I said "just" because track speedsters should be able to run fast in XC too---although, as I also noted, that's not always the case.

But "just" is relative!
LOL

[NotDutra5]

You're right!
Noelle was "just" 8th at the Crimson race, not Wisconsin!
A full 59 seconds behind Geberkidane!!

As noted in my earlier comment, I said "just" because track speedsters should be able to run fast in XC too---although, as I also noted, that's not always the case.

But "just" is relative!
LOL

Noelle is essentially a 1500m runner running 4th on a quality roster. He's fine.

[26mi235]

Anna Rohrer finished 12th (2nd frosh) in Wisconsin, but had an excuse---she's been sick with a flu for a week or more---and in fact was coughing pretty badly during her post-race interview!!

What is it with people talking about the "flu". Influenza is a disease with a high fever and body ache, without particularly having a cough or much sneezing. I think she was suffering more from something like bronchitis, if I remember what her mom and dad said. My guess is that Ostrander has been running amazingly well -- and is likely at the top of her game now, rather than in November.

This notion that a good 1500 meter runner should be excelling at more than five times the distance is a bit silly as a baseline expectation. And, of course, the championship distances are even further at 10km.

It was breezy (not windy) and brisk at Wisconsin and the pack stayed together for a long time, with things really speeding up the last several thousand meters. I thought the "other" Scott would be the one kicking in to win the race -- DS was third going in to the final section, about 10+m behind. The real story, however, is that everyone else is running for second. At this point I would rate New Mexico's chances on the women's side (much?) higher than Colorado on the men's side. The top four New Mexico women ran together not that far off the lead at the end and I would not be surprised if they could have finished 1/3/5/7 rather than 4/5/6/7, while their fifth runner moved up to 10th by the end. That is, it is possible that they could have beaten the field, and it was a pretty good field (even if runners like Disanza were not running).

[Tuariki]

This notion that a good 1500 meter runner should be excelling at more than five times the distance is a bit silly as a baseline expectation. And, of course, the championship distances are even further at 10km.

Then why do you rave on in another thread that 1500m counts as a distance race?