Several Big Meets During the Second Week of 'Counting' Meets

Published by Adam Schneider on October 1, 2015

This second counting weekend of the cross country season will have a large portion of the nationally ranked teams competing in major invitationals. The story lines vary but all five of the races are significant in giving the watcher a view of how this cross country season will play out.  

Last weekend Boise State made a statement nationally (won the Roy Griak gold race with 37 to defending champion Michigan State’s 116) and indicated that the Mountain West championship race for women at the end of October will not be handed to seven-time defending champion #1 New Mexico.  Both the Broncos and Lobos have new runners on their teams that will challenge for the top 20 individually at the NCAA Championships. The Broncos finally ran South African Annie Bothma and she finished third.

On Friday Scotland-native Rhona Alexander (19th at 2015 World cross country championships) and all-American UMKC transfer Courtney Frerichs (13th at 2014 NCAA cross country championships) debut for New Mexico at the Notre Dame Invitational.  Combined with returnees from last year’s third place NCAA team, this group is ranked first nationally. They face #14 North Carolina State  and Notre Dame, two teams with outstanding freshmen led by Ryen Frazier of the Wolfpack and Anna Rohrer of Notre Dame. Also running well and entered is Penn and Vanderbilt.  

This race will be key for men’s race teams just out of the RunnerSpace.com top twenty and looking to establish themselves nationally. The Paul Tergat coached #20 UTEP is not ranked by other national ranking groups but they are improved this year led by four-time NCAA track champion and cross country all-American Anthony Rotich. New Mexico, Arizona State, Southern Utah, Colorado State, and North Carolina State, all ranked in the top 30 (17, 18, 23, 26, and 27 respectively) by USTFCCCA.org are also trying to use this meet to gain “points” for being picked to be an at-large team for the NCAA meet after the regional meets November 13th.

The most “loaded” meet of the weekend is the Greater Louisville Classic on Saturday October 3rd. The men’s race features four in the RunnerSpace.com top 10 rankings #4 Iona, #5 Michigan, #8 Wisconsin, and #10 Mississippi and #13 Eastern Kentucky. Iona, Mississippi, and Eastern Kentucky did not run their top-sevens in recent meets in preparation for this meet, and Mississippi has not run anyone at all from their top seven.  Host Louisville has a much improved team with two all-Americans and will also try to create a big impression.

#5 Michigan, #6 Iowa State, #10 Wisconsin, #15 West Virginia, and #18 Penn State rested their top seven last week in anticipation of this women’s race.  Iowa State has yet to run their top seven, Wisconsin does not have entered three of their potential top 7 (Sarah DiSanza, Emma-Lisa Murphy and Allie Woodward) and West Virginia all-American Jillian Forsey will not run so those teams will not show what their are capable of.  Michigan has run very well so far this year and should win led by Erin Finn. Penn State has run very well and may challenge for top three with some developing, talented runners, and front-runner Tori Gerlach.

The Washington Invitational on Friday will have Pac-12 powerhouses and BYU looking for their first major competitions of the year. #7 Stanford, #8 Oregon, and #12 Washington will battle in the women’s race with additional strong northwest teams and BYU. Washington ran well at Sundodger and has looked very strong with two freshmen contributors, Charlotte Prouse and Lindsay Bradley, making for a solid top six. Stanford and Oregon have yet to prove they have a solid group of six or seven but last year’s performances and some signs early this year indicate that all three teams have solid trophy potential. Stanford could go 1-2 with all-Americans senior Aisling Cuffe and Elise Cranny while Oregon will battle with a fast pack running near the front like last year.  

The men’s race has two very strong trophy contenders, #2 Stanford and #6 Oregon.  Stanford may not race some of their injury-prone runners (Rosa twins and Sam Wharton) but Oregon is trying to push their long distance runners, led by NCAA champion Edward Cheserek, to help push their middle distance runners, led by Ryan Gil and Blake Haney, and get the group to race at a fast pace. Two of the top freshmen in the country, national leaders Matthew Maton and Tanner Anderson, will have their first races since high school.  Last year #12 UCLA indicated their strength at this race and they have a solid team again.  #15 BYU has looked good this year and will look to compare themselves with some of the top teams in the country. #18 Washington and #19 Portland have yet race all of their top runners together and this will be a good opportunity to test their teams. 

The women’s race of the Paul Short Run has just #9 Georgetown among trophy contention teams.  The men’s race race is expected to have full squads from #9 Villanova and a strong team from Georgetown. Villanova has also been conservative and looking to develop runners to replace two of their top five that they lost. Georgetown is missing #2 runner, now at Oregon, Ryan Gil. This will be a good chance to test themselves and prove they belong in the top 20.

The Princeton Inter-Regional will host a number of schools trying to establish their presence on the national scene. In the men’s race #14 Indiana has not impressed so far this year as a few of their top runners have not run their best. Providence, North Carolina and Virginia Tech may be battling to earn enough points and this will be a great chance for them to prove themselves.  The same is the case in the women’s race. #17 William and Mary ran well at home, Villanova ran well at Main Line but barely beat a strong Penn team. North Carolina and Princeton will also look to race well to show that they deserve an at-large bid at the end of the season.

Arkansas will host the Chili Pepper Festival and show off to the people of Fayetteville their talent.  #13 Arkansas women should debut senior Dominique Scott. Freshmen Devin Clark has shown she will be a solid #2. The men will run 2014-2015 mid-season addition Frankline Tonui and are trying to establish a strong team to hold off #10 Mississippi in the SEC championships this year and keep their five-year winning streak (and 22 of last 24) alive. 

The #1 Colorado men will debut their men’s top five for the first time this year at the Rocky Mountain Shootout.  In their only other race, the CSU duals, they showed the early competition for runners attempting to make the #6 and #7 spots on the team. The #4 Colorado women’s top seven have run and show they are deep but two primary runners, Carrie Verdon and Melanie Nun, have not run well as they are recovering from injury.