All of the Top Teams Will Battle Each Other This Weekend

Published by Adam Schneider/DyeStatCOLLEGE.com editor on October 12th, 2016

This weekend easily has the biggest meets of the year . The Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational will have 12 of the top 20 women and 13 of the top 20 men’s teams on the DyeStatCOLLEGE top 20 rankings. The NCAA D1 Pre-Nationals has the second best meet with two of the top Pac-12 teams, Colorado and Oregon, facing some of the nation’s best including top 10 teams Arkansas, Portland, Michigan, and the Stanford women.

In Wisconsin the USTFCCCA #1 Northern Arizona Lumberjacks will finally race their top runners and face the DyeStatCOLLEGE #1 Iona Gaels who recently dominated the Paul Short Run. Senior Futsum Zeinasellasie is looking to lead Northern Arizona to their first NCAA team title in coach Eric Heins’ final year with the Lumberjacks. Coach Heins feels his team is eight deep and he has several low sticks. Led by Kieran Clements (23:37), Iona put all five runners under 24 minutes at the Paul Short Run, something never done before at this meet (2015 NCAA runner-up Patrick Tiernan barely broke 24 last year).

Defending champion #3 Syracuse will have another chance to prove they should be the favorite fir the NCAA meet and feature race favorite Justyn Knight. So far the Orangemen’s depth has not performed as well as last year. #5 BYU defeated Syracuse at Virginia Panorama Farms and have had success by committee without any standout individual. The #7 Stanford men will likely race their top returners from last year, Senior Sean McGorty and sophomore Grant Fisher, and others that have contributed to NCAA trophies the last two years for the Cardinal. #9 Wisconsin has run well this year after losing most of their top runners last year due to injury. Senior Malachy Schrobilgen and junior Morgan McDonald lead a talented team.

Three years ago the Friar women won the NCAA title and they could potentially win a title this year. Providence is ranked first by USTFCCCA and third by DyeStatCOLLEGE. They are undefeated coming into this meet and have run well at every meet. This will be Providence’s toughest competition. Senior Sarah Collins is again the leader after the team finished fourth at last year’s NCAA meet. 2015 #2 NCAA runner for the Friars was Catarina Rocha and she has yet to race. 

#2 (DyeStatCOLLEGE) Washington showed at the Washington Invitational that they could win their first trophy since 2011 and possibly their first NCAA title since 2008. The Huskies dominated the Washington Invitational placing three runners in the top five. Sophomore Charlotte Prouse won and junior Katie Knight was fifth and they have run well all year. Junior Amy-Eloise Neale was third and seems to overcome her injuries of the past. The team is six deep. 

North Carolina State, #4 ranked by DyeStatCOLLEGE, was second to Providence at the Notre Dame Joe Piane Invitational even without some of their top runners, Ryen and Wesley Frazier.  Erica Kemp has raced well this year to lead the Wolfpack. Returning NCAA champion New Mexico, ranked fifth, did not race well as a team at Notre Dame (finished fourth). Injuries have hurt the Lobos this year and their depth behind returning all-Americans Alice Wright and Calli Thackery did not race well at Notre Dame.

Boise State (ranked seventh) has had a new #1 runner this year with Brenna Peloquin as sophomore Allie Ostrander has yet to race. Newcomers have run well and Boise State could win this meet if Ostrander returns. Runners for #8 Michigan State would like to earn a second title to go along with their 2014 NCAA title. Coach Walt Drenth may try to use this meet as a springboard to another title. 

The Portland Pilots won the Roy Griak Invitational against a strong field. With their newfound confidence this is another opportunity to prove themselves as a trophy contender. Junior Lauren LaRocco won two all-American awards at last year’s NCAA championships (6th in the 5000m and fourth in the 10,000m) and she has pulled this team to significant improvement this year

The NCAA Pre-National Invitational has turned into a meet that prepares teams for the championship race. It has cost some teams an NCAA at-large berth because they had to pass on the Wisconsin Invitaitonal and missed out on some of the head-to-head wins needed to advance to the NCAA meet. This meet is still the second best meet of the year outside of the NCAA championships itself. 

Last year #8 Colorado had a chance to win a third consecutive NCAA title. An illness early in the season for Ben Saarel may have prevented that from happening. Now the Buffaloes have lost four of the runners that were a major part of that success. Coach Wetmore is developing inexperienced but talented runners that are turning into a potential trophy team. 

#2 Oregon is led by three-time defending NCAA champion Edward Cheserek. Last year he led the Ducks to a fourth place finish. Oregon won their last title in 2008, led by Galen Rupp’s win in his senior year. Cheserek is hoping to repeat Rupp’s feat and this is his best chance with the entire top five returning. As expected the Ducks have improved this year with the exception of 2015 #2 (Trevor Neuman) and #3 (Jake Leingang) who are having a slow start to the season.

Coach Chris Bucknam has #6 Arkansas in a great position to trophy. With five of their top seven returning runners and the development of returning junior Alex George and sophomore Cameron Griffith this will be a great test for the Razorbacks. #10 Portland has developed quickly this year after winning Roy Griak. This will be Portland’s first test against top-10 teams.

The women’s DyeStatCollege #1 is Colorado. They were second at the NCAA meet last year and have run faster than last year. Senior Erin Clark is the defending champion at this race. Junior Kaitlyn Benner is sometimes a #1 for Colorado and she has been healthy this year. The addition of sophomore Makena Morley (97th at the 2015 NCAA meet) has boosted the team and she was the Buffaloes #3 runner at the Rocky Mountain Shootout. This meet will be a chance for the Buffaloes to prove how good they are. 

Oregon was third at the NCAA championships last year but lost two of their top three runners. Junior Allie Cash has not put in a good race this year but this meet could be her big debut to join the great debut by freshman Katie Rainsberger at the Washington Invitaitonal. They could be a solid 1-2 for the Ducks. 

#10 Arkansas is a very young team this year. Sophomore Devin Clark missed training all of July due to a foot injury but she is back. Arkansas has a very deep team and this year’s group of freshmen are potentially Coach Lance Harter’s best. This will be another good meet for this team to develop. 

This preview only covered the teams ranked in the top ten of the rankings. Many teams competing this weekend could put more emphasis on the meets this weekend than the top ten teams I mentioned. The most important meets to the schools are the conference meets, the regional meets that qualify them for the NCAA championships and then the championships themselves. Last year Michigan won the women’s meet at Pre-Nationals and lost to both Colorado and Oregon at the NCAA meet.