A few teams showed why they might be factors in (or getting to) Louisville.
Women: No. 6 Minnesota-Duluth won at the Griak, but No. 21 University of Mary (N.D.) was right behind. UMD is led by national title challenger Morgan Place. Place appears to have an adequate supporting cast. Will they upend Adams State?
U of Mary is more experienced and should move up in the rankings and improve on their 18th-place finish in Evansville. Freshman Nocona Frame is the major new face on the squad. Their No. 2 runner is Dakota Wolf. Awesome name.
The Abilene Christian women are making progress. The team was a solid eighth at the Cowboy Jamboree, led by Anais Belledant of Lyon, France.
The No. 5 Chico State women faced about every D1 program in California at the Stanford invite, finishing a respectable ninth.
Men: No. 9 Augustana handled D2ers and NAIAers at the Roy Griak meet in the Twin Cities. Augie has the unenviable (or perhaps eargerly anticipated?) task of breaking up the RMAC triplets at regionals.
Unranked Central Missouri was a hard-fought fourth at the Cowboy Jamboree. Last year, the Mules had one guy (Laban Sialo) at nationals. He was their No. 2 man last weekend. That meet almost served as a dress rehearsal for the South Central region -- Pittsburg State at eighth (the previously mentioned Adam Volkert was 22nd), No. 22 East Central at ninth, No. 18 Abilene Christian (minus a few pieces) at 10th. I believe only two nationals spots are up for grabs this year. It’ll be fierce.
Brent Handa led No. 5 Chico State to a sixth-place finish at No. 1 (d1) Stanford, dipping under 24 minutes over 8 kilometers. Three of the top 15 D1 teams ran that race.
Augustana men did not impress in my opinion. No way are they anywhere near adams, western, or mines.
ReplyDeleteChico state looked decent on a grass track course. At the moment they are not even a trophy contender, but they do have a long time to improve.
it appears Adams state has lost it's 4th member of last years national cross team as Gauthier has been removed from the roster. That leaves McNiff and Cragg as the only two returners that have raced since last November.
You do know that Augustana ran without their #1, in their 1st race of the year on a sloppy nasty and very difficult course. They arent going to beat Adams, Western, or Mines but they will be closer than last year (10th at nationals).
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