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Top 25 DI Men's Cross Country Teams 10/20 - college.runnerspace.com Rankings

Published by
DyeStatCOLLEGE.com   Oct 19th 2014, 10:12pm
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1. Colorado - In their first competitive race of the year they tried to prove there was no competition and convinced everyone in the process. It was a historic performance. Ammar Moussa finally ran to his potential after he has battled injury during his collegiate career.  He helped them with their dominance and made it 6 in top 18 of the race. Top runners ran at Rocky Mountain Shootout and made it an easy run.

2. Stanford - Stanford ran everyone except 3-4 at Wisconsin Adidas.  Korolev impressed with his win and Joe Rosa ran well but # 3-7 runners will have to improve significantly for Stanford to have a chance against Colorado.  If Jim Rosa is out for season (it might also be pointless to run McGorty), they are barely in the top 10.   Jim and Joe Rosa feature

3. Northern Arizona - Hoover had an off race at Wisconsin Adidas (21) but Futsum (2) and McElroy (5) are looking great.  Behind the top 3, #4-#5 dropped them to 6th at Wisconsin Adidas.  The Lumberjack Top 3 finished in top 6 at Washington Invite.  Still Developing 4-5 for a title run - Weitz, Byrne and Glines are still working hard and should be ready for regionals and NCAAs to run well.

4. Syracuse - Won at Wisconsin Adidas with #1-5 and a great :14 spread.  Could easily be ranked 2nd if not for all of the possible changes and potential for Stanfod and Oregon.  Ran a strong second to Oregon at Battle-In-Beantown.  

5. Oregon - Ducks went 1-3 at Pre-Nationals and Jenkins and Cheserek went 1-2 at Beantown, top 5 finished in first 10 at a good Battle in Beantown. Coach Powell is giving his young runners some needed experience as three freshmen ran at Pre-Nationals (#5-7).  Vets Melancon, Watson and Leingang (injury?) will be better choices later in the season.  If they can stay healthy, best team probably won't run until NCAAs.

6. Oklahoma State - They ran at Santa Clara and a lack of good competition may cost them at the end of the season with a young squad.  Took first 11 spots at Jamboree with Erassa leading the way.  

7. Portland - Finished 4th at Wisconsin Adidas with 3-7 likely to see significant improvement by the end of the season.  Sat top 7 at Washington Invitational. 

8. Michigan - Too many tough races may have hurt them at Wisconsin Adidas and they finished 9th. 1st at Notre Dame led by Mason Ferlic. Smoragiewicz was running much better this year until Wiscoinsin Adidas. Also won Big 10 preview.  

9. Virginia - Team did not travel well and was fourth at Washington Invitational, has had a great season though.

10. Villanova -Put performance from Paul Short and Washington Invitational together and it was a good weekend led by Tiernan's great run in Seattle. They ran at the Princeton Invitational

11. Iona - 2nd at Wisconsin Adidas with top team as Byrne established as #1 runner.  3rd at Virginia Panorama behind Virginia and Furman.  Freshman Gilbert Kirui is running well until '13 #1 Kieran Clements runs first race.  

12. Georgetown - 3rd at Pre-Nationals. Tight Pack paying off.  3rd at Battle-In-Beantown (1-5 :28).

13. Wisconsin - 4th at home meet.  #1-#2 established with #3-#6 all freshmen.  In meets they have run, have not done well.  

14. Indiana - Did not run well in Washington or Wisconsin Adidas (14th) but still have great returners and ran well earlier in the season.  They did not run well much of last year until Big 10, regionals and NCAA

15. BYU - 13th at Wisconsin Adidas - seems like runners trained through Wisconsin Adidas.  Won BYU Autumn against UCLA and then finished 2nd Notre Dame to Michigan.  

16. Eastern Kentucky - 21st at Wisconsin Adidas.  Kosgey is doing well overcoming a slow starting Hessekbjerg. 5th at Notre Dame without everyone running well yet.  

17. UCLA - 7th at Wisconsin Adidas.  Was 2nd at Washington Invitational using pack running after finishing 2nd at BYU Autumn Invitational. 

18. Washington - Finished 8th at Wisconsin Adidas.  Colby Gilbert was #6 at Washington Invite and was #2 at Wisconsin Adidas.  Nelson is solidifying himself as a strong #1 with his third place finish at Adidas, sixth at Washington Invite.

19. Florida State - Team focused for Wisconsin Adidas meet and finished 9th after running first early.  It looks like they have solidified a chance to qualify for NCAA meet by scoring so many pelts at Wisconsin Adidas.  

20. Providence - 11th at Wisconsin Adidas.  Team ran well but struggling with #5 runner, rest of the team ran well.  3rd at Battle in Beantown without everyone running well. 

21. Furman - 4th at Pre-Nationals as they pushed pace early and paid the price.  Head Coach Gary will help team adjust for next appearance at NCAA meet. 2nd at Virginia Panorama and barely lost to Virginia and beat Iona.  Beat southern '13 NCAA teams in two previous meets too.  

22. New Mexico - 12th at Wisconsin Adidas.  Matheson go in his first race but Zacharias did not run.  Finished third at Notre Dame with 5 of top 7 returning from last year's 11th place finish.  

23. Arkansas - 16th at Wisconsin Adidas with Kebenei in expected high spot at 6th.  Rest of team down further than expected.  Could be training through or bad race.  Good 1-2 in Kebenei and Gonzales but not much else yet.

24. Southern Utah - 34th at Pre-Nationals without runners running at top level.  Won against a weak Griak Field and finished 6th at Notre Dame.  

25. Oklahoma - Many of their runners had an off meet (3 sophomores) at Wisconsin Adidas and finished 17th.  Coach Dunn likely preparing them for rest of season.  Against a tough Washington Invite Field they showed they belonged by finishing a very competitive 5th. 

 

Also Considered:

Michigan State - 15th at Wisconsin Adidas.  Have run well in the few meets they have had.  

Colorado State - 6th at Pre-Nationals with 4th-6th teams separated by 10 points. They have done well overcoming the transfer of #1 runner Jacob Morgan.  Finished a very close 2nd at a weak Griak, 7th at Notre Dame. Will take chances at Pre-Nationals.

North Carolina - Finally ran all of the runners from last year's NCAA meet (17th) at Wisconsin Adidas.  Mullherin has developed this year in the absence of his teammates..  Team finished 18th at Wisconsin Adidas with many runners from last year way off what they have done.  If they can get it together by Regionals they will be a top 20 team. 

 

Underlined Teams have preview articles hyperlinked


Because the objective is more than a month away, what happens during the season will not necessarily determine the winners at the end of the season.  Last season NCAA women's winner Providence was third at Wisconsin Adidas as Arizona won while Providence coach Treacy rested an injury-prone runner that proved to be pivotal at the NCAA championships.  My rankings are based on what teams are doing now and could or will do at the end of the season.  Based on the NCAA qualifying systems teams just need to run well enough during the season.

To show how little Pre-Nationals and Wisconsin Adidas reflected NCAA performance or how much - 2013 NCAA 6 of top 7 finished in the top 3 in one race or the other (Oklahoma State was 7th) but in 2012 only 2 of the top 7 finished in the top 3, and in fact two finished outside the top 12 (Wisconsin and Northern Arizona).

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