NCAA Regionals and Qualifying

[26mi235]

Two excellent pieces NCAA Regionals and Qualifying

This weeks edition of the The Wood Report preview each of the regions and predicts the top 10 individuals top 5 teams and the teams that will qualify for NCAA's and individual at-large bids. Check it out!

http://thewoodrunningreport.blogspot.com
(courtesy of LetsRun, an area where they do very well and make it worthwhile visiting.

and from Running Times (see Home Page link as well)

http://www.runningtimes.com/Article.aspx?ArticleID=27408

[sprintdoc]

I must have missed the memo on the change this year that ALL the regionals are on Friday. I can speculate this is done either to allow extra day of recovery prior to nationals or is this because of effort to bring more attention to the meets by not having them on same day as college football? Guess it also allows coaches to go recruiting at many state HS meets the next day.

Either way if they are going to stick with this I wish they would go a little later in the day so high school students could more likely attend than having them at noon. I know teams will need time to catch flights home so that factors into start times but going at 2 pm and 2:45 would not be too late.

Also has anyone heard of teams in the two eastern regionals at Yale and Penn St having trouble getting to the meet due to the Nor-easter?

[gh]

change to Friday "mandated" by fact that the Nationals themselves have moved two days earlier, from Monday to Saturday. So they're maximizing the rest time between the two races.

[26mi235]

From the comments that I have heard from the big Wisconsin Invite it seems like many coaches/teams like the Friday date. This probably means that they are fine with the timing for Regionals.

I was over at the Zimmer Championship/University of Wisconsin course this afternoon and everything seems to be ready (for the Great Lakes Regional). Many of the teams were there running the course etc. Tomorrow is supposed to be partly sunny with temperatures in the 50s for the races.

It certainly is by far the best course that I have ever run on. The biggest (i.e., major) course that I have been on previously is Mt SAC and the differences between the courses are HUGE. The footing at Mt SAC is much better now than it used to be but it is 'light-years' away from this one. There are no narrow spots on the course and the first turn is not until 800 meters after which it climbs 90 feet over the next 700m to the high point on the course. They have to do that climb three times in the men's race, the third time starting at 8500m and it will take a toll on those that are laboring, with lots of potential for changes in placings.

[aaronk]

Oregon won the West Regional with 56 pts.

Jordan Hasay beat Laura Hollander and Kathy Kroeger, 19:16 to 19:22 and 19:27, a pretty solid win for Jordan!

Other "name" track runners finishing pretty high were:

Cayla Hatton in 5th with 19:50
Allie Woodward in 7th with 19:52
Aisling Cuffe in 9th with 19:53
Alexi Pappas in 10th with 19:54
Katie Flood in 15th with 20:05

[Friar]

from Monday to Saturday.

So that's a change after what ... like 55+ years?

19:16 to 19:22 and 19:27

Three sub -20.00 girls is apparently what it's going to take. And two around 20.10?

[DrJay]

I can't say I'm all that excited about the NCAA meet. I guess the team races truly are up in the air, so I'll work on that, and maybe we might finally see Hasay win one. My favorite men's individual race doesn't excite me at all, not like some in the past....Torres, Boaz, or Cragg in 2002? Could Ritz win in '03 off of minimal training? Rupp vs. McDougal...who wins?

The Louisville course looks to be not spectator friendly. I've heard that from someone last year, and the map confirms that, given that I've run at the park (four miles from my parents' house.)

[ed gee]

Only one region was won by a US born male runner.

The qualifiers:

http://www.ncaa.com/news/cross-country- ... ional-meet

[aaronk]

While this might be better in a different thread (for the NCAA's next week!), I'll now predict who I think will win the individual races.

Men---Lawi Lalang---- Ran the fastest Regionals time, and has track creds that place him as pretty much an odds-on favorite!! Only Sambu or Dunbar will be close!!

Women---I WANT to say it will be Jordan Hasay, but one race does NOT a season make!! Thus, she'd have to run a CLONE of her Regionals race to have a chance to win the NCAA's!! Will she??
Right now, I CAN'T pick a clear winner for the women. I'd say it's a toss-up between Hasay, Hollander, Kroeger, Betsy Saina, and Abbey D'Agostino for women's individual honors!!

[ed gee]

Kennedy Kithuka will likely be upfront with Lalang. IMO, a US born male runner will be fortunate to finish in the top five at the NCAAs.

[26mi235]

Mo Ahmed of Wisconsin (5th last year) should not be overlooked. He finally open at the Big Ten meet and took a controlled third (behind Mayhew and teammate Darling -- those two might be among the top American-born finishers). Then he beat them an everyone else at the Great Lakes Regional and looked pretty relaxed doing so.

His season was delayed because of recovery from finishing 17th in the 10,000 at the Olympics, which, along with a 27:34 give him pretty good credentials even given that Lalang and Sambu are in the race.

He may be constrained trying to run a team race with Connor and Darling, but it is unclear what strategy they will use, as it seems a long shot to have title hopes because of the 4/5 runners not being up to those of OSU etc.

[ed gee]

It looks like the female winners from the last seven Footlocker championships are entered in the NCAA meet.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Footlocker ... mpionships

[26mi235]

It looks like the female winners from the last seven Footlocker championships are entered in the NCAA meet.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Footlocker ... mpionships

There are six winners from the last seven years, while the men have one winner, from back in 2008, and I think he was 19 at the time.

And this is a big contrast with the men where only one, Haile:

2011 Edward Cheserek 14:52 11 Northeast NJ
2010 Lukas Verzbicas 14:59 12 Midwest IL
2009 Lukas Verzbicas 15:07 10 Midwest IL
2008 Solomon Haile 15:15 12 Northeast MD
2007 Michael Fout 14:50 12 Midwest IN
2006 Chad Hall 15:20 12 West CA
2005 AJ Acosta 15:02 12 West CA

Molly Seidel 17:21 12 Midwest WI San Diego
Aisling Cuffe 16:53 12 Northeast NY San Diego
Megan Goethals 17:06 12 Midwest MI San Diego
Jordan Hasay 17:22 12 West CA San Diego
Ashley Brasovan 17:20 11 South FL San Diego
Kathy Kroeger 17:29 10 South TN San Diego
Jordan Hasay 17:05 9 West CA San Diego