Big East XC 2006

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The Big East 2006 XC meet will be held in Boston on Friday at Franklin Park. Last year the Hoyas finished 2nd to Notre Dame 51-31. If everybody runs well, we have a shot of beating the Irish. Apparently, all the runners (men) are well and are excited about the meet. Matt Debole and Andrew Bumbalough will lead the team with strong performances expected from Dan Nunn, Levi Miller, Justin Scheid, Brian Dalpiaz, et al.

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The women finished 4th last year, but the only BE team ahead of them in national rankings is Providence. Notre Dame also won the women's race last year, so this is a chance to beat the Irish. Liz Maloy leads the Hoyas with back expected by Maggie Infeld, Natasha LaBeaud (if healthy), et al.

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Preview:

Big East Championships

Notre Dame (This team will be tough to beat)
Georgetown (Very good front runners)
Louisville (solid top 4 will be in the running for 2nd place)
Providence (Very good team could finish higher)
Villanova (Bobby Curtis leads a good Wildcat team)
Syracuse (Up and coming team in the conference. Will be a very good team in the future)

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More predictions:

Big East Predictions
Race may come down to ND's #5 Adams/Walker vs. G'twn's #5
Dalpiaz.

Teams...first 3 teams are pretty solid. L'ville a tough 4th place team to beat. SU's depth may hurt Nova for 5th.

ND
G'twn
PC
L'ville
Syracuse
Nova
Cincy
Pitt
UConn
Marquette
Rutgers
SFlorida
The Hall
DePaul

Individual
Fagan (PC)
Curtis ('Nova)
Benninger (ND)
Bumbalough (G'twn)
Korir (L'ville)
Smith (PC)
Smyth (ND)
Scull (SU)
Debole (G'twn)
Thorne (L'ville)
Bair (Pitt)
Kiplagat (L'ville)
Heath (SU)
Keino ('Nova)
Scheid (G'twn)
Watson (ND)
Mitric ('Nova)
Dixson (Cincy)
Haji (PC)
Banks(G'twn)
Muldoon(SU)
Adams(ND)
Dalpiaz (G'twn)
Walker(ND)
DeRoches(Marq)


Note: these predictions don't take into account Dan Nunn and Levi Miller, who could be our 3-4 runners.

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Conference poll results before the BE Champs:


Big East Men's Poll
1. Notre Dame (10) 239
2. Georgetown (4) 230
3. Providence (3) 216
4. Villanova 189
5. Louisville (1) 189
6. Syracuse 142
7. Pittsburgh 138
8. Marquette 115
9. Cincinatti 111
10. Connecticut 108
11. Depaul 68
12. Rutgers 59
13. South Florida 49
14. Seton Hall 37


Big East Women's Poll
1. Providence (2) 47
2. Georgetown 44
3. Notre Dame (1) 41
4. Villanova 40
5. Marquette 36
6. Syracuse 34
7. Pittsburgh 27
8. Connecticut 24
9. West Virginia 23
10. Louisville 23
11. Rutgers 15
12. Cincinatti 14
13. St. Johns 14
14. South Florida 12
15. Depaul 9
16. Seton Hall 5

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From letsrun.com:

just heard from someone at the race who said close team race between G'Town, Prov, and ND. He said G'Town looked good - much better than pre-nat

But later post had it Provy by six over the Hoyas.

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The Friars swept both the men's and women's titles. Their men beat the Hoyas 52-58; at least we beat Notre Dame. Providence women won with 39 points. No word on how the Hoyas did. Martin Fagin from Prov and Frances Koon from Nova won the individual titles. No other info available now.

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A little more info from a spectator:

agan was alone soon after an opening mile of 4:25ish and looked comfortable through the tape. the race was very tight between nd, pc, and g'town through 3-4 miles; pc's 4th and 5th men moved up well through the second half of the race to get the win for the friars.

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We swept the 2nd place finishes in the BE with the women 2nd to Prov 39-68.

Finishers for the men:
5. Matt Debole 23:35 (he is very consistent in this meet as last year he was about the same time differential behind Fagin as this year)
7. Levi Miller 23:45 (great performance for the redshirt freshman; seems as if he was sick or injured, missing pre-Nats, but came back with a vengence, beating his fellow redshirt frosh teammate, Bumbi)
11. Bumbi 23:57 (if he could have finished right behind Debole, the Hoyas would have tied)
14. Michael Banks 24:14 (another one, who stepped up this year)
21. Justin Scheid 24:20 (slipped a little from previous meets, but good overall performance for Justin)
31. Andre Laboy 24:32
36. Brandon Bonsey 24:37 (a surprise this year)
41. Brian Dalpiaz 24:44 (Brian tantalizes us; one of these days he is going to pop one)
62. Sandy Roberts 25:18 (expecting a little bit better from Sandy, but with his DNF at Pre-Nats, maybe an injury or sickness)

Dan Nunn apparently did not run, as he is probably getting over some illness. He should be ready for regionals and nationals.

Women:
3. Liz Maloy 20:42 (great year for Liz)
8. Melissa Grelli 21:10 (surprise of the year)
16. Jenny Funk 21:34
18. Hillary Bontz 21:36 (I guess she cut back on her grad studies)
23. Natasha LaBeaud 21:45 (good to see Natasha back running; good omen for regionals and nationals)
26. Maggie Infeld 21:48(bit of a disappointment this year)
31. Joanna Rodgers 22:03 (solid year)
34. Kaitlin Collins 22:10 (decent performance)
56. Renee Tomlin 22:47 (normally a mid-distance runner, so the frosh is contributing this year)
No sign of the Ogrodnicks. This fact gives the Hoyas the first all American team (both men and women) in the Big East, as Providence has a bunch of Irish runners (and the Ogrodnicks are Canadian).

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Great pictures of the races at www.eliterunning.com (go to the Big East races). In one sequence of shots it looks as if Liz almost trips Melissa.

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www.georgetownvoice.com/2006-11-02/sports/xc-places-second-in-big-east