And Grote dropped the Hoyas four places in his current poll (I am going to have to give him the word).
Commentary and ratings compliments of Ryan Grote:
THE GROTE POLL TOP 31
1. ARKANSAS- I will not read anything else into their race in Stillwater, other than the fact that Boit probably could have run 24-flat at least at Van Cortlandt. The Hogs are good.
2. WISCONSIN- It would be neat to see the whole squad run together someday. If not, I can wait until November 21st. That will be neat. So will the 30-foot RV I rented and am driving there. Actually, neat would not be the right word. It will be a disaster, a mess, utter chaos and mayhem. Anyway, Solinsky showed that he is one of three Badgers who could win the NCAA title. The Hogs really must be good. Our dog, Toby, is turning 3 on October 16th. The day before, the same day of Pre-Nats, is OkTOBYfest…we have 3-dozen bratwurst and wieners (I said weiner…) coming in from Wisconsin, Usinger's…good stuff. Toby will have a good day. Will the Badgers be at Pre-Nats and have a good day?
3. COLORADO- They won the Rocky Mountain Shootout. A Buff takes the individual win, as should be the case. Business as usual. Some have asked about this Papazian fellow? Well, all I know is that he must not really be THAT good, because his alma mater, Gill St. Bernard's, just averaged 20:00.20 at Holmdel on Saturday vs. 20:33 with him there. And, yes, I'm talking about guys. And, yes, it's a 5k. And, yes, they averaged that for 5k of running. They must have a good coach?
4. IONA- Hoping to see them race complete and more along the lines of how good I feel they are…which I'm sure is their main objective as well…pleasing The Grote Poll. Hey, what person is that? Referring to my self as something I've “written”? Is that still referring to oneself in the 1st person? I've always felt that was a sure sign of idiocy. If I don't even know what it is, that seems to be consistent with the idiocy. It must be so then.
5. BYU- Gill St. Bernard's has no school and practice twice in the next 2 weeks for Jewish holidays or something. Same deal at BYU?
6. STANFURD- I will not rank them higher than 6th. Palo Alto to Maine is a long way. How much Perrier must those guys have gone through on that long flight on their private jet just to stay hydrated?
7. ARIZONA- Beating Notre Dame in South Bend is something only the likes of Stanfurd does…or in football I guess beating Notre Dame in South Bend is best done by the likes of Bob Davie and later Tyrone Willingham. Either way, pretty good showing, Mutanya is beating Cheseret for now, that gives them two top-10 types. They have a 5th guy within a minute of their first which should put that 5th guy in the top-70, which should put ‘Zona at least this high.
8. TEXAS- Jason Vigilante playing it low key, but still stealing the hype from Dick Harter…the man behind the man.
9. PORTLAND- Moore and Rolfe are the top 2 collegiate x-c runners in the state of Oregon right now. Gaylord is 3rd, and also would be 3rd Pilot as of Saturday, but of course he is no Pilot. He would never consider such a shabby place as North Portland, such an inferior program as Portland. A coach that likes metal? And not even Stryper at that? No way. Actually, didn't he play soccer there, but leave and go pro or am I confusing him with somebody else. Kilbugh almost beat Gaylord, as well. Nice showing for UP, in what was the opener for most of them. So, would Gaylord right now stand a better chance at winning the PAC-10 or the WCC? Enough. I'm just jealous according to the anonymous geniuses on the message boards. Go Pilots.
10. NOTRE DAME- The University of Portland of The Midwest. Only they have football, don't wear purple and somehow always manage to beat even the best Portland x-c teams.
11. ARIZONA STATE- Lofty ranking based on last year more so than this year so far.
12. WILLIAM & MARY- I wound up finally finding the results from the meet the Tribe actually ran. I'm pretty much like half a retard…at least. The Count ran well. W&M remains my pick in the region.
13. CAL POLY- Assuming they will be at Pre-Nats to rack up more at-large points. They, too, are probably jealous of Gaylord. All they have is somebody named Llamas, who either was actually in Falcon Crest, and repaid all of his money that he made to regain eligibility, or has a relative Lorenzo Llamas who was in Falcon Crest. He was probably jealous of other shows like Dynasty or Dallas back then.
14. UTEP- Their Grote Poll debut. I am taking its roster into account and trusting that they are as good as they appear even without results. If so, this ranking may be a bit low. If so, can we arrange a trade with other divisions…how about we trade out Arizona and UTEP so they can race Abilene Christian and those types, and bring back in somebody like Adams State and maybe a D3 power like UW-LaCrosse, which is to be featured on
www.chasingtradition.com . By the way, its worth the 10-bucks and more. It should not be surprising that the really stupid people on the message boards are also really cheap. Sort of a vicious cycle type of thing.
15. NC STATE- Rumors of redshirts and what not persist. I thought they ran well at Great American, even if I was incapable of using the same thought process to discover that there was indeed another race with better teams than Norfolk State in it. So it goes.
16. FLORIDA- Henok, Enoch, ptooey! What are the chance that 2 guys in a team's top 5 are named Henok and Enoch? Apparently in the The Grote Poll the chances are 1 outta 31. The Gators were closer to Notre Dame in 2nd than anybody else was behind them in 4th. That anybody else was FSU, making UF the regional favorite this week. They had a decent 40-second 1-5 spread and got some wins over Michigan, Missouri, Colorado State, Duke, Navy, Wake, and Butler which could come in handy should they fall out of the auto spots in the region. From the looks of things, they will not.
17. GEORGETOWN- A not quite full squad at Lehigh, but full enough to beat a LaSalle squad which ran a lot better than they did at VCP.
18. INDIANA- Nothing out of them yet, which is perhaps good, some Big 10 and Great Lakes rivals have chalked up some losses along the way.
19. DARTMOUTH- Real fast course, but real good showing led by Ben True. Perhaps Iowa was a bit overrated, but for now Dartmouth looks like the Heps leader.
20. FLORIDA STATE- Big loss to rival Florida. Are all the FSU guys jealous of them now? And jealous of Gaylord, too?
21. WASHINGTON- Huskies beat Air Force and The Ducks. Good thing, as the football team is unbelievably bad. The world is upside down. Bet that Mark Mandi and teammates, and coach Greg Metcalf are all really jealous of Gaylord, too. I went to Washington for a year and a quarter, so maybe that is where all the jealousy came from? Makes sense since we won PAC-10's and the football team was in the Rose Bowl when I was there. Definitely a lot to be jealous about with Oregon then and Gaylord now.
22. IOWA- Still a great showing at Griak, but results in Maine have them swirling in the bowl, but not yet ready to be flushed down, as they still look to be the best of the region.
23. AMERICAN- Still looking good as auto in Mid-Atlantic.
24. OHIO STATE- By end of season, they will do the necessary things to be one of several Great Lakes at-larges.
25. AIR FORCE- Jealous? Talk about jealous? They must be incredibly jealous of Gaylord. Their team beat his team. Their top guy beat their top guy. And they probably aren't allowed to wear breatheright strips under their helmets when flying. Rumor on the inside is that Air Force is so irate that they are going to launch an assault on Gaylord, The Ducks, and Eugene. The main targets will be Gaylord's car (tire slashing was not enough for them), all altitude rooms and tents, all underwater treadmills, and Phil Knight and Gaylord's vast oil reserves.
26. MINNESOTA- Close with Iowa, OkState, and Kansas in the region. Have done enough or will wind up doing enough for an at-large.
27. CORNELL- Team RoJo will have a battle on its hands with Dartmouth. They will need to beat some people at Pre-Nats.
28. OKLAHOMA STATE- Where is the French guy? Am I jealous of France because I keep bringing this up? Or do I just not know much about OkState. If so, at least I am consistent.
29. LA SALLE- Back on the L-Train (Lionel Simmons?) I am going to believe and hope that the Explorers go out and explore the course at Terre Haute next week well enough to ensure an at-large if they can not beat G'town or American.
30. MICHIGAN- Not so great at ND.
31. NORFOLK STATE- If only they had gotten a chance to run in that race I did not even realize existed. Then what??? I will keep them in The Grote Poll for entertainment value alone as the underdog.
ON THE GROTE POLL BUBBLE: Providence, Columbia, Army, Morris Hills, Princeton, UPenn, Penn State, UVa, Wake, Alabama, Georgia, EMU, Michigan State, Kansas, Colorado State, NAU, Oregon.