Cross country 2017

[Nevada Hoya]

The preseason polls for this year's cross country are starting to come out. Flotrack is the first of the polls. They have the men at 21, which is where they were last year. Returning the injured Amos Bartelsmeyer an Jon Green (top 5 finish two years ago, and training at altitude this summer) indicates that the Hoyas might be top 20 this year. If the freshmen of last year make a big jump, then we may be looking at a top 10-15 ranking.

www.flotrack.org/video/1245672-2017-floxc-countdown-21-georgetown-men#.WaCNTSiGPIU

[Nevada Hoya]

Together with ranking teams, flotrack rates individual XC runners. Jon Green is ranked 20th, although the last time Jon ran the NCAA race he finished 5th. He trained at altitude this summer, and he is coming back from an 18th place finish at the NCAA 10,000 race.

www.flotrack.org/article/60758-2017-floxc-countdown-20-jonathan-green#.WaOM2iiGPIU

[Nevada Hoya]

The first week of Regional rankings. For the women:

Mid-Atlantic Region

There is very little reason to remove Penn State from the No. 1 spot in the Mid-Atlantic Region after back-to-back region titles. The Nittany Lions had no turnover from last year and feature a potent 1-2-3 combination at the top of their lineup with Tessa Barrett, Jillian Hunsberger and Elizabeth Chikotas. Villanova is ranked No. 2, followed by Georgetown and both return a strong number of runners from their top-7 and welcome a talented freshman class.


The women are not as deep as the men, but I will take a #3 regional ranking at this time.

[Nevada Hoya]

The men are ranked #1 in the Mid-Atlantic region.

Again from the US Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches:

Georgetown has won four of the past six titles in this region and is favored again. The top-ranked Hoyas return four of its seven runners from NCAAs last year, all of whom are either sophomores or juniors. No. 2 Navy will have to rebuild after losing a bunch of runners to graduation, including Lucas Stalnaker (88th overall at NCAAs last year). No. 3 Princeton is in the same boat as the Midshipmen, as is No. 4 Penn. No. 5 Penn State rounds out the top-5.

They say we return four of our seven runners from the NCAAs last all, all of whom are either sophomores or juniors. However, Jon Green and Amos Bartelsmeyer, both grad students, return after missing last year from injuries.

[Nevada Hoya]

In the US Track and Field and XC coaches poll, the women are ranked 26th. I hope this is not being generous, as the women did not make the NCAAs last year (31 teams). We have some good recruits, but mainly the middle distance variety. Martha MacDonald is the only new freshmen that can be marked as XC elite. Coming back are Paige Hofstad, whom I hope has a good year and can be our #1 XC runner. Also Maddy Perez is the only Hoya, who ran the 10,000m last year. Maddy trained part of the summer with Joh Green and Autumn Eastman in Flagstaff at altitude. Kennedy Weisner was our best overall runner last year in the mile, so I hope that transfers to the 5 and 6K that the women run. Also, our transfer from Yale, Meredith Rizzo, is an experienced XC runner and should add to the team in her graduate year. Piper Donaghu, Margie Cullen, and Maegan Doody will be contesting the top seven positions.

[Nevada Hoya]

The men in the US Track and Field and XC coaches poll come in at 16th (more realistic, IMO, than the flotrack poll). As an interesting aside, the teams ranked #1 and #2, NAU and Stanford, are both coach by Hoya alumni and coaches, Mike Smith and Chris Miltenberg.

It should be interesting to see the top seven for the men this year. We are very deep, but maybe not top heavy, as we have only one runner, who should be a top 20 or top 10 runner, Jon Green. Also, who will redshirt and always we have to watch out for who is injured. Michael Crozier and Nick Golebiowski are, besides Joh Green, the only true long distance runners with some experience at the college level. Adam Barnard was a bit inconsistent, but he could be a good XC runner.

[Nevada Hoya]

www.guhoyas.com/sports/m-xctrack/spec-rel/083117aaa.html

[Nevada Hoya]

From The Hoya. Not a particularly well-written piece as it goes from XC to outdoor track and it is confusing to know what is written about XC and what about track.

www.thehoya.com/track-fieldcross-country-hoyas-launch-2017-season/

The Hoyas open the XC season tomorrow at Penn State.

[reformation]

Agree-the author the hoya article could use an editor--kind of embarrassing that something this poorly written gets published. Besides that, excited for start of the season. I think the men will surprise to the upside--women's ranking is more on past glory, though perhaps if both the transfer meredith rizzo and new frosh canadian recruit can perform at a high level the team can make a top 20 or so ncaa run.

[Nevada Hoya]

The women did well today at Penn State. The top 25:

1 Jillian Hunsberger, Sr 21:07 5:39 Penn State
2 Paige Stoner, Sr 21:10 5:40 Syracuse
3 Kelly Hayes, Sr 21:17 5:42 Pittsburgh
4 Kathryn Munks, So 21:22 5:44 Penn State
5 Piper Donaghu, Sr 21:25 5:44 Georgetown
6 Madeline Perez, Jr 21:27 5:45 Georgetown
7 Christine Bendzinski, Sr 21:34 5:47 Bucknell
8 Alison Willingmyre, Fr 21:34 5:47 Penn State
9 Julien Webster, Fr 21:34 5:47 Syracuse
10 Autumn Eastman, Sr 21:42 5:49 Georgetown
11 Greta Lindsley, Jr 21:44 5:49 Penn State
12 Amy Cashin, Sr 21:49 5:51 West Virginia
13 Shannon Malone, Jr 21:49 5:51 Syracuse
14 Maegan Doody, So 21:51 5:51 Georgetown
15 Margie Cullen, So 21:52 5:51 Georgetown
16 Madeleine Davison, So 21:53 5:52 Syracuse
17 Jenna Farmer, Jr 21:56 5:53 Bucknell
18 Josette Norris, Sr 21:59 5:54 Georgetown
19 Joslin Sellers, Sr 22:04 5:55 Pittsburgh
20 Colleen Buckley, Jr 22:05 5:55 Bucknell
21 Aleta Looker, Sr 22:08 5:56 Georgetown
22 Amy Kelly, Sr 22:10 5:56 Pittsburgh
23 Makenzie Zeh, Jr 22:13 5:57 Pittsburgh
24 Olivia Hill, So 22:17 5:58 West Virginia
25 Miranda Salvo, Jr 22:19 5:59 Pittsburgh

From this listing the women beat Penn State because PSU's 5th women came in 29th, so for an invitational meet GU scored 50 points while PSU scored 53. However, Penn State has another way of saying that their women won since they scored the race on a dual meet basis and PSU had six wins and GU had 5 wins. Face to face Penn State had 27 and GU had 30.

PLACE TEAM POINTS PLACES OF FINISHERS AVG. TIME SPREAD

1 Penn State 27 1 2 5 7 12 13 14 21:40 1:24
2 Georgetown 30 3 4 6 8 9 10 11 21:40 0:27

So Georgetown win the invitational, while PSU won the dual meet. The Georgetown spread was a great 27 seconds. And GU got all seven of their runners ahead of PSU's 5th runner.

[Nevada Hoya]

The men actually did worse than the women, mainly because they held out some of the best runners (Jon Green, Spencer Brown, Amos Bartelsmeyer, etc.)

The top 50:

PLACE FINISHER TIME PACE TEAM

1 Colin Abert, Jr 25:46 4:57 Penn State
2 Aidan Tooker, So 25:50 4:58 Syracuse
3 Timothy McGowan, Sr 25:53 4:59 Penn State
Pace: 5:00 | Top
4 Kevin James, So 26:06 5:01 Syracuse
5 Reilly Bloomer, So 26:07 5:01 Georgetown
6 Joe Dragon, Fr 26:14 5:03 Syracuse
7 Bobby Hill, Sr 26:15 5:03 Penn State
8 Dominic Hockenbry, Fr 26:18 5:03 Syracuse
9 Henry Smithers, So 26:22 5:04 Georgetown
10 Austin Pondel, Sr 26:24 5:04 Edinboro
11 Simon Smith, So 26:25 5:05 Syracuse
12 William Bordash, Sr 26:31 5:06 Bucknell
13 John McGowan, Jr 26:31 5:06 Penn State
14 Andrew Sell 26:33 5:06 Una
15 Billy McDevitt, So 26:47 5:09 Penn State
16 Drew Dorflinger, So 26:47 5:09 Bucknell
17 Gene Baritot, Jr 26:48 5:09 Edinboro
18 Brady Bobbitt, So 26:54 5:10 Penn State
19 Nicholas Wareham, Fr 27:02 5:12 Georgetown
20 Ben Bumgarner, Fr 27:05 5:12 Penn State
21 Johnathan Chavez, Fr 27:06 5:13 Georgetown
22 Michael Bortolot, Fr 27:07 5:13 Bucknell
23 Eion Nohilly, Fr 27:11 5:14 Georgetown
24 Jack Salisbury, Fr 27:14 5:14 Georgetown
25 Chad Sussman, Jr 27:15 5:14 Bucknell
26 Dylan Scarsone, Fr 27:21 5:16 Georgetown
27 Jared Hallow, Jr 27:23 5:16 Edinboro
28 Kyle Adams, Sr 27:25 5:16 Bucknell
29 Kent Hall, Fr 27:29 5:17 Georgetown
30 Brian Dengler, So 27:31 5:17 Bucknell
31 Will Cather 27:35 5:18 Una
32 Colton Cassel, Fr 27:37 5:18 Edinboro
33 Connor McMenamin, Fr 27:37 5:19 Bucknell
34 Evan Minor, Fr 27:38 5:19 Bucknell
35 Brandon Hontz 27:43 5:20 Psu Una
36 William Loevner, So 27:48 5:21 Penn State
37 Jon Gusew, Sr 27:49 5:21 Edinboro
38 Eduardo Tapia, Jr 28:08 5:24 Edinboro
39 Domenic Perretta, Fr 28:10 5:25 Penn State
40 Alex Tomasko 28:14 5:26 Psu Una
41 Mike McLaughlin, Jr 28:18 5:26 Edinboro
42 Joseph Stark, Fr 28:19 5:27 Bucknell
43 Vail Freed 28:22 5:27 Psu Una
44 Benjamin Littmann, Fr 28:25 5:28 Bucknell
45 Matt Vira, So 28:35 5:30 Bucknell
46 Chandler Brooks, Jr 28:38 5:30 Edinboro
47 Owen Wing 28:44 5:31 Psu Una
48 James Weissenborn, So 28:49 5:32 Bucknell
49 Dylan Fine, Fr 28:52 5:33 Georgetown
50 Landin Delaney, Jr 29:11 5:37 Bucknell

Going by invitational scoring Syracuse scored 31, PSU 57, and the Hoyas 77. However, what was encouraging was the performance of some of the younger GU runners, who didn't make the top seven from last year, especially Reilly Bloomer and Henry Smithers. Reilly is from Eugene, so he must have attached himself to some good runners in the running capital of the US. Henry spent the summer with Spencer Brown, so he got some good training with Spencer. A bit disappointment with Eion Nohilly and Jack Salisbury, who came in 23rd and 24th, respectively. Since they were next to each other, I think the plan was for them to run a tempo run together. They are both classified as freshman, but gradewise they are sophomores. This was their first XC race for Georgetown, so they must have gone out cautiously.

In terms of dual meets Syr had five wins, PSU four, and the Hoyas 3.

[reformation]

men showed nice improvement in times vs last yr. Women more of a mixed bag as some runners were slower than last yr while Donaghu/Cullen showed nice improvement. More of a warm up meet for both teams-take the positives , don't dwell on the negatives. We'll have a better idea where the teams really stand after the next meet.

[Nevada Hoya]

www.guhoyas.com/sports/m-xctrack/recaps/090817aaa.html (I think guhoyas.com might have been looking at Hoya Talk )

This meet really doesn't count in the at-large rankings. Those start in a week or two, so today was a meet of trying things out and not worrying about winning. Agaain, the top two teams at regionals make the NCAA plus about 13 at large teams based on a complicated scoring system that involved wins against top teams. When the clock is ticking then is the time to try to beat other teams.

[Nevada Hoya]

Big winners vis a vis last years times at this meet are Reilly Bloomer (1:46 improvement), Henry Smithers (1:37), and Margie Cullen (0:58).

[Nevada Hoya]

Sept 9, 2017 0:26:11 GMT -5 Nevada Hoya said:

www.guhoyas.com/sports/m-xctrack/recaps/090817aaa.html (I think guhoyas.com might have been looking at Hoya Talk )

This meet really doesn't count in the at-large rankings. Those start in a week or two, so today was a meet of trying things out and not worrying about winning. Agaain, the top two teams at regionals make the NCAA plus about 13 at large teams based on a complicated scoring system that involved wins against top teams. When the clock is ticking then is the time to try to beat other teams.

I was wrong on this. Sept. 8 was the earliest meet to be countable for at large purposes. Let's see how this affects the polls. Probably positive for the women, since PSU women are ranked 11th. Probably not too much for the men. Although this meet is a countable for at large purposes, the pollsters understand that GU ran essentially a B-team.

[Nevada Hoya]

The women moved up one spot in the regional rankings:

Mid-Atlantic Region

The Nittany Lions of Penn State have competed twice on the young season already, winning both the Lock Haven Dolan Duels and the Harry Groves Spiked Shoe Invitational, with Jillian Hunsberger pacing the field in both meets.

Georgetown climbed one spot to second after putting three runners in the top-10 at the aforementioned Harry Groves Spiked Shoe Invitational, knocking Villanova –who has yet to race – down to third.

[Nevada Hoya]

The men remain #1 in the Mid-Atlantic region.

[Nevada Hoya]

In the national rankings the women fell one spot. This is a little curious since Penn State has remained at #11, and the Hoyas, if you scored the meet as an invitational, beat PSU. Of course, PSU scored it as a bunch of dual meets and they beat the Hoyas if you considered only the PSU and Hoya runners.

Right ahead of the Hoyas is Indiana, coached by former Hoya coach, Ron Helmer. Essentially, Indiana was the team replacing the Hoyas at #26.


26 indiana INDIANA
Great Lakes Region (3)
Big Ten
Ron Helmer (11th) 70
(LW: RV)
27 georgetown GEORGETOWN
Mid-Atlantic Region (2)
Big East
Julie Culley (2nd) 67 ▼ 1

[Nevada Hoya]

The men, curiously, jumped a spot to #15. They did worse at the meet at Penn State, but moved a spot. I think the pollsters were cognizant of the fact that the Hoyas were running a B team, but the B team runners did very well and our first two runners improved greatly over last year.

[Nevada Hoya]

I hate to post this, but since it is about cross country and since it mentions Georgetown, well here we go:

“I got to do what almost any distance coach in this country would like to do: have control of the scholarships and be told I want a great cross country program before I want anything else by the AD. We were given a really nice gift and it was up to us. Didn’t have any limitations put on us. … I don’t know that we ever thought we would really win a national championship, but we were going to coach like that, we were going to recruit like that, we were going to evolve that. We got made fun of a lot early on. We used to keep a list on these whiteboards of coaches that we really love and respect that told us, It can’t be done there. You cannot do it at Syracuse. You’re going up against ‘Nova, you’re going up against Georgetown, you’re going up against Providence. You’re going up against the East Coast establishment with a program that’s never done it.”
– Syracuse University head coach Chris Fox talking about starting with a program that hadn’t made NCAAs in over 30 years and working up to becoming the 2015 NCAA champions.