Teams Will Push for Conference Titles This Weekend

Published by Adam Schneider/DyeStatCOLLEGE.com Editor on October 27th, 2016

Webcasts for the Weekend

This is the weekend for most NCAA Division 1 conference titles to be determined. In addition, this weekend will also solidify team’s resumes for at-large bids. Most teams do not travel much and because of that the tougher conferences help teams enhance their resumes with wins against each other. 

Nowhere is that more true than the Pac-12 conference. The #7 (DyeStatCOLLEGE rankings used throughout) Colorado men have not lost a conference title since they joined the Pac-12 in 2011. Colorado raced outside their own state for the first time at the ISU Pre-Nationals two weeks ago and they finished third. Colorado has young runners but they still have all-Americans John Dressel and Ben Saarel, who donned Buffalo jerseys for the first time this season at Pre-Nationals. #2 Oregon was led once again by 3x Pac-12 and NCAA cross country champion Edward Cheserek who led the Ducks to victory at Pre-Nationals, their first team victory since 2009. Sophomores Matthew Maton and Tanner Anderson have become top runners behind Cheserek after finishing fourth and 18th, respectively, behind Cheserek at Pre-Nationals. Junior Travis Neuman, #2 runner at the NCAA meet for the Ducks in 2015, has steadily improved this year after getting injured this spring. #3 Stanford finally added senior Sean McGorty and freshman Grant Fisher at the Wisconsin Invitational and they finished second as a team behind #1 Northern Arizona with NCAA regulars senior Garrett Sweatt, and juniors Jack Keelan and Sam Wharton making for a solid top five. #14 UCLA, Washington State, California and Washington have provided evidence they could make the NCAA meet this year and will likely battle for fourth at this meet.

#5 BYU and #9 Portland have proven this year to be better than what everyone expected coming into the year. The WCC Champoinship will be a tough race if both teams push to win. Both teams were in re-build mode last year and no one expected them to challenge for trophies this year but that is the case. They proved how good they were on the penultimate weekend of September with their victories at Virginia/Panorama Farms, BYU, and at Roy Griak Invitational, Portland. With an injury slowing Dallin Farnsworth in the early part of the season, BYU is led this year by senior Nicolas Montanez. Portland was seventh at Wisconsin Invitational without team leader senior Danny Martinez. Junior Jeff Thies led the Pilots with fifth place finish at Roy Griak.

The Big 10 has always done well in cross country and this year there is great depth once again. #10 Wisconsin still has that talented class from 2014 and Morgan McDonald has become the leader of that group. He was third at Wisconsin Invitational. His senior teammate Malachy Schrobilgen hopes to be healthy enough to win his third conference title after being injured last year. Coach Kevin Sullivan would love to have his #18 Michigan team defend their conference title but they lost their top two of their top three runners, Mason Ferlic and Tony Smoragiewicz, from last year. Junior Aaron Baumgarten and senior Ben Flanagan lead an experienced team this year that finished fourth at Roy Griak (Baumgarted was third) and Pre-Nationals (Baumgarten was eighth). #19 Indiana was fifth at Pre-Nationals. The Hoosiers are looking for a #5 runner to go with seniors Matthew Schwartzer, Jason Crist, and Carl Smith. 

Three of the top six teams, #1 Northern Arizona, #4 Iona and #6 Syracuse, this year will have limited conference challengers. The ACC meet will likely prove a little more difficult for defending NCAA champion Syracuse. Junior Justyn Knight has been undefeated this year and classmate Colin Bennie has struggled after finishing 8th at last year’s NCAA meet. The strong Orangemen depth from last year has come up short with the #5 runner costing them a shot at second at the Wisconsin Invitational. #17 Virginia, NC State and Florida State make this a deep conference. #1 Northern Arizona raced their top runners for the first time at the Wisconsin invitational and easily won. Senior Futsum Zeinasellasie was second and leads a deep group that coach Eric Heins knows is 8 deep. They have 13 of the last 16 conference titles. #4 Iona is looking for their 26th consecutive MAAC title. They won the Paul Short Run with a #1 to #5 gap of :19 and they all ran under 24:00. If they had done the same thing at Wisconsin Invitational they would have challenged the Lumberjacks, instead they were fifth with a 1:05 gap. #7 Arkansas was second to Oregon at Pre-Nationals and look to win their seventh consecutive SEC title. Frankline Tonui was second at Pre-Nationals and they have proven to be a deep team. #12 Mississippi won the Notre Dame Invitational and could challenge the Razorbacks for the title.

This will be a great weekend to watch cross country and see how teams are faring going into the NCAA meets. This is the last time teams will run just 8000m but this will give us an opportunity to see their conditioning and health status. Most teams will put in a lot of effort to win their conference titles.