XC 2006

[Nevada Hoya]

With just over a month to the 2006 XC season we should start previewing the Hoyas. For the men the biggest loss was Rod (Radwan) Koborsi. He has been proving himself over in Europe this summer, and if he were back, he would definitely be a top 5 (in the country) choice. BUT, he is not back. But he didn't even run XC last year, so the biggest loss in XC for us was Fleet Hower. The men's team, IMO, has 12 runners, who would be competing for the top seven spots. As usual, the early meets will probably try different lineups, even running all, where there are no limits. My choices for the top seven would be the following: Andrew Bumbalough (Bumbi), Matt Debole, Dan Nunn, Alex Mason, Andre Laboy, and freshmen Dan Gerber and Sandy Roberts. However, Bumbi and Alex Mason will be running in China in middle August, so they will probably want a break, so don't expect to see them run in the early meets. Filling their places will come from these five runners: Steve Meinelt (I would have ranked him in the top seven, but I am not sure of his elegibility), Levi Miller, Brian Dalpiaz (still waiting for his breakthrough - he usually starts the season very well; I hope he is able to sustain his form this year), Justin Scheid (another runner, who has good potential), and Mike Krisch (he might surprise). We have two very good 800m runners in Alex Bean and John Maloy, but I don't know how well they run XC - they will probably do it for the training benefit.

It is too early to judge how this team will fare on a national basis. They should get back to the NCAAs again, but they might be anywhere from 10th to 20th. Reformation thinks next year will be a big year, so we will have to see.

[Nevada Hoya]

I think the women have a solid top five, so if everybody in that group is healthy, I think we can do well. The top five should be Maggie Infeld, Elizabeth Maloy, Natasha Labeaud, Nana Hanson-Hall, and one or both of the Ogrodnicks (Lise and Avril). Since last season Natasha redshirted (injury) and the Ogrodnicks underperformed in XC, but showed their talent during the track seasons, this year's team should be greatly improved over last year. As with Bumbi and Alex Mason, Natasha will be running in China in mid August, so she probably won't be available for the early season meets. Others to back up the team are Jennie Funk, Melissa Grelli, Joanna Rodgers, Christine Whalen, and freshman Renee Tomlin.

I think we can do some damage on the national level, especially if our top five stay healthy and run up to their expectations.

[reformation]

As far as the men go, I would bet that we have a young and strong top 4 (Bumby, Debole, Miller, and Nunn). We'll have to see if a fifth can really step up so we can score well at NCAA's--agree with Nevada that we are somewhere between 10th-20th with some potential for upside surprise because of the team's relative youth. I think that we are probably a year away from returning to the NCAA top 10. Also I wouldn't be surprised if the two elite freshman Gerber and Roberts are redshirted to try for the world junior XC team as we did with Bumby.

As far as the women go we have three nationally competitive runners(Maloy, Infeld, and Labeaud). I think that there will be a big improvement over last yr, but of the elite runners only Natasha Labeaud has a real 5k+ focus as opposed to the 1500. Hanson Hall is obviously a national class 800m runner but I don't think will be nationally competitive at XC. The O'Grodnicks were very inconsistent last yr, I think we will need them to step up big time if we are to see a big improvement in overall team results.
The recruits Renee Tomlin and lauren Gregory are talented 800-1500m runners but were not nationally competitive in hs at XC--maybe they can step up, especially Tomlin--Overall we will see improvement, but I think we are at least a couple of years away from returing to a top 10 program--I was pretty surprised that the women did not recruit any elite x/c types this yr, I suspect it will be a focus in the upcoming yr.

[Nevada Hoya]

A couple of our XC men are racing tonight in Eugene in the 1500, as a prep to their races in China next week. They are up against a pretty good field.

Men's 1500 Meters
1 Said Ahmed NIKE
2 Bolota Asmerom NIKE
3 Anthony Famiglietti adidas
4 Sean Graham NIKE Farm Team
5 Gabriel Jennings Unattached
6 Jason Lunn NIKE
7 Thomas Morgan Zap Fitness
8 Jonathon Riley NIKE
9 Grant Robison Reebok
10 Jacques Sallberg Run With Us
11 Matt Tegenkamp NIKE
12 A.J. Acosta USA Jr. Team
13 Andrew Bumbalough USA Jr. Team (Georgetown)
14 Alex Mason USA Jr. Team (Georgetown)
15 Cory Thorne USA Jr. Team

[Nevada Hoya]

Neither of the Hoyas finished the race. It looked as if Bumbi wanted to go out at a fast pace and dropped out with 500m to go. No mention of Alex, but that he DNF.

Men's 1500m: Jason Lunn goes directly to the lead, goes through 300m in 42.5. The runners are already in a long line. Lunn 56.3 at 400 meters. Andrew Bumbalough,Matt Tegenkamp, Said Ahmed and Anthony Famiglietti follow Lunn . AJ Acosta is 3rd from the back. 1:40 with 2 laps to go for the lead pack of 6. 800 meters in 1:54.5 for Lunn. The pack is now 4; Lunn, Tegenkamp, Ahmed, and Bumbalough. Acosta is now 4th from the last. Bumbalough drops out with 500 meters to go. Lunn drops out at the bell. Tegenkamp takes over and Ahmed follows through 1200 meters in 2:53.7. Gabe Jennings is moving well down the backstraight, trying to catch Anthony Famiglietti, who is 3rd, with 200 meters to go. Tegenkamp pulls away from Ahmed down the homestraight to win in 3:36.06. Ahmed, looking over his shoulder, holds on for 2nd in 3:38.31 over a hard-charging Famiglietti (3rd, 3:38.61) with Jennings 4th in 3:38.96. Acosta is 10th of 11 finishers in 3:47.48.

[Nevada Hoya]

From letsrun.com: Bumbi was planning on a DNF. He wanted a good 800, but there wasn't one being run, so he decided to hang with the leaders through 1000 then drop out. Came through 800 in 1:54ish, not sure what his 1000 split was...

[Nevada Hoya]

XC schedule for 2006:



2006 Cross Country Schedule/Results

Day Date Opponent Location
Sat 09/09/06 Great Meadows Invitational The Plains, Va. All Day
Sat 09/16/06 James Madison Invitational (Women) New Market, Va. All Day
Sat 09/30/06 William & Mary Inter-Regional CC Challenge Williamsburg, Va. All Day
Sat 10/14/06 Pre-Nationals Terre Haute, Ind. All Day
Fri 10/27/06 BIG EAST Championship Boston, Mass. All Day
Sat 11/04/06 Cavalier Open Charlottesville, Va. All Day
Sat 11/11/06 NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional Lock Haven, Pa. All Day
Sat 11/18/06 IC4A/ECAC Championships Bronx, N.Y. All Day
Mon 11/20/06 NCAA Championships Terre Haute, Ind. All Day

[Nevada Hoya]

Great Meadows Invitational opens up the 2006 XC season for the Hoyas. The first pre-season poll is up (the Not The Grote poll) with the Hoyas at #17 (with my son's alma mater picked for 4th (by the not so biased Ryan Grote):

1.Wisconsin- Too good not to pick for the repeat.
2.Arkansas- Picked them all of last year, but this is The Not The Grote Poll, not The Grote Poll, so its different.
3.Colorado
4.Portland- If this were The Grote Poll, I’d never pick my Pilots to win their first trophy and win the region for the 2nd time, but this is The Not The Grote Poll, so I did it.
5.Iona- Could be another trophy back in Westchester.
6.Texas- Look out ‘Buffs at Big 12…
7.Stanfurd- I know its not spelled with a “u”…I don’t like them, and I don’t care.
8.Kansas- Entire top 7 is back from 12th place squad.
9.Oklahoma State- Solid group, 8th last year, looking for more.
10.BYU- Bad day at NCAA’s last fall.
11.UTEP- Even worse day at NCAA’s last fall.
12.Oregon- Not even at NCAA’s last fall.
13.Virginia- Young team on the rise.
14.William & Mary- Tribe getting great recruits from Jersey and elsewhere, hopefully a healthy Count.
15.Michigan- Due for a good year.
16.Arizona State- Louie Quintana has built a solid winning program.
17.Georgetown- Bumbalough still running track right now.
18.Dartmouth- Wish Ben True would run all year.
19.Villanova- Back in the meet and then some.

[Nevada Hoya]

They have the 2006-7 roster for the track and field team listed on guhoyas.com. Listed as running middle distance and distance are freshmen Alex Bean and Dan Leyh, but John Maloy is only listed as running MD, so as far as XC goes, the first two will probably be running XC seriously, while John M. might be running it just for background training. Other freshmen, who should contribute to XC are Dan Gerber and Sandy Roberts, and perhaps Owen Boyle. Interesting is that Fleet Hower is still on the roster and listed as a senior. I am not sure how much eligibility he has. If he has some for XC, our ranking should go up at least two or three spots.

[Deleted]

Nevada - keep it up. I really enjoy reading your XC and track posts, but generally don't know enough to post and add anything to the conversation.

Just because there may be nobody else contributing doesn't mean we aren't reading!

[Nevada Hoya]

Thanks Buff

[reformation]

I hope Bumbalough is running, otherwise our ranking will end up lower than the poll suggests(I hope the poll was just referring to bumby's 1500 focus over the summer). I noticed that the women have a frosh not previously mentioned as a recruit-Sarah Lorch from Tacoma Wash--I couldn't find anything about her that was recent, so she may be coming off an injury in HS.

Gerber and Roberts could add something as frosh to XC, but I'd bet that they are red shirted. I think Fleet only has outdoor eligibility left. It was interesting to see that Stanley Lagrenade also has eligibilty left as a fifth yr senior.

[TrueHoyaBlue]

buffalohoya said:

Nevada - keep it up. I really enjoy reading your XC and track posts, but generally don't know enough to post and add anything to the conversation.

Just because there may be nobody else contributing doesn't mean we aren't reading!

I second that!

[Nevada Hoya]

Another thanks, THB.

Reformation, I think Bumbi might be held out the first couple of meets, but I think he will run in the meets that count - BE, regionals, NCAAs (maybe pre-nationals). Yes, I think Fleet has used up his XC eligibility and may have only the outdoor season left. I didn't catch the Stanley L. extra eligibility; hope he can fulfill his potential this year; if he can we can have a good 4x8 relay team. And good find on Sarah Lorch. I don't know anything on her either.

Edit: Actually, I did notice Sarah Lorch in looking at the roster. I noted it, since she went to the same HS as Jon Lester, the Red Sox pitcher, who has lymphoma.

[reformation]

I found a few times on Sarah--she is probably a walk on--she was faster as a soph than a senior + probably had some injuries.

[Nevada Hoya]

GUHoyas has an article on the XC teams. They expect big things from the women. If their top five stay healthy, I think it can be a good year for them, definitely better than last year. They have Fleet definitely graduated, so no XC season, but maybe outdoor. They do not mention the freshmen, so I don't know if they are redshirting.

guhoyas.cstv.com/sports/w-track/spec-rel/090806aaa.html

[Nevada Hoya]

Sarah comes from a great team, Bellarmine Prep of Tacoma (sorry, CAHoya):

“We deserved a higher ranking, and proved ourselves today (to the rest of the US ),” said Bellarmine Prep Head Coach Matt Ellis following the announcement that his Hilltop Belles team had placed fourth. “Now hopefully the northwest will get the respect it deserves.”

Throughout the entire season, northwest teams have inched their way up through The Harrier magazine's national polls, ending up in good standing, but in some opinions, not far enough up the ladder. In Bellarmine's case (Hilltop Belles) they were selected as the third-best team in the northwest region, and wound up fourth overall at NTN, which according to Ellis, was nearly a certainty if his girls ran similar to their in-season performances.

“We knew we could do it,” said Ellis. “We knew we were capable of making the podium (at NTN).”

Led by Sr Brianna Felnagle, who stormed past 2004 Northeast Foot Locker XC Championships winner and New York State Champion Nicole Blood and 2003 Foot Locker National Champion Kaitlyn Kaltenbach over the final 600m, Bellarmine was off to a great start. Middle-school track sensation Nicole Cochran sprinted past a half dozen of her nearest competitors in the closing meters as well.

Felnagle (left) ran with Katelyn Kaltenbach of Colorado in fifth or sixth most of the race
before moving up strongly to 2nd place wih her customary kick.


Two in.
Then, Sr Rita Troup equaled her state meet performance, if not improved it in leading teammate Sr Megan Kelly across the line for a 43-45 #3 and #4 girl finish. This left only Jr Sarah Lorch, their #5 runner, out in the pack. Lorch, who had an off day at the state meet due to a recent illness, regained her strength over the past few weeks and closed Bellarmine's spectacular season in placing 97 th to secure their fourth-place position, leading a pack of eleven teams that finished within 64 points of each other.


Too bad we didn't get Brianna too!

[Nevada Hoya]

The first real XC pre-season poll (the Hoyas are pretty well placed at #14):

USTFCCCA Division I men's cross country poll
(Sept. 12, 2006)

1. Wisconsin
2. Arkansas
3. Colorado
4. Stanford
5. Texas
6. Iona
7. Portland
8. Arizona
9. Oklahoma State
10. Kansas
11. BYU
12. Notre Dame
13. UTEP
14. Georgetown
15. Oregon
16. Ohio State
17. Dartmouth
18. Michigan
19. Alabama
20. Arizona State
21. Florida State
22. Eastern Michigan
23. Minnesota
24. Florida
25. William & Mary
26. Virginia
27. Iowa
28. Michigan State
29. Butler
30. (tie) American, Providence

Also receiving votes: North Carolina State, Cal Poly, Princeton, Washington, Air Force, Tennessee, Weber State, Iowa State, Illinois, Liberty, Texas A&M.

[Nevada Hoya]

The women are ranked 24th, probably just about right. If the top five stay well the whole season, I expect maybe a top 15 ranking. There are two BE schools ahead of the Hoyas, Marquette at 18 and Providence at 20.

www.finishlynx.com/sports/athletics/x_country_poll/2002/body.htm

[reformation]

Agree w/your assessment Nevada that the rankings for both men and women's teams seem fair. I think both teams performance will be heavily affected by their 4-5 runners. Neither team has any real x/c superstars ,though obviously they have some outstanding track talent,
so I think a top 10 finish for either team will be tough. Winning the BE is a real possibility for both, since its really not a super strong conference in X/c this year.