The Meat Grinder: Weekend Recap (9/27/08)
The Meat Grinder Weekend Recap is a written conversation the writer has with himself covering the past weekend of cross country action. It includes the Top Ten Power Rankings at the bottom. It is written by ben wietmarschen who can be reached via email at ben@trackshark.com or via scroll-in-glass-bottle-chucked-into-the-sea at the "Atlantic Ocean."
To say it was the weekend of Division Two is to put it mildly. Holy Jeez, did these guys show they can bring it?! The two marquee invitationals of the weekend had D2 champions, one in the team race and one in the individual race.
In Minnesota, Div. II power house, Adams St., won convincingly over a bunch of nationally ranked D1 teams, including top 10 (for now) Minnesota and top 30 BYU, Iowa St. and New Mexico. Interestingly enough, the Grizzlies are ranked 2nd in the latest D2 national polls behind Abilene Christian. While Adams St.'s performance did not necessarily come out of nowhere, it is definitely the most impressive team performance of the year so far.
Out west, in Stanford, D2 flexed its muscle in the individual results. While I can't say I approve of his new clean cut look (the long hair and ghost beard were really working I thought), I CAN say that Scotty Bauhs can run with ANYone in the NCAA on a cross country course, period. Without a doubt, this guy's a beast and could give Rupp a run for his money on the grass and hills. The field at the Stanford Invitational on Saturday was solid and he stomped all over it. If only he had chosen a Division One school he could be rolling through Eugene in his Escalade or pocketing stacks of cash from boosters in Fayetteville. Scotty, you coulda got paid, son. You coulda got PAID!
Other (Division 1) ramifications from this weekend's meets will be explored in awards show form:
Team of the Weekend
The Cyclones are easily overlooked. First off, they are from Iowa, which, let's face it, kind of smells like a foot. Second, they have those ketchup and mustard uniforms that make me immediately look away once they enter my line of vision. The uniforms also make me want a Kahn's all-beef frank, so they're not all bad, I guess. In spite of these obstacles, the crew from Iowa St. showed that they're going to be a force this year in the Midwest region. The way they handled regionmates Minnesota and Missouri, it looks like they might fit comfortably in the 2nd automatic qualifying position at regionals this year.
Racer of the Weekend
Hassan Mead -- Minnesota. 2nd Minnesota Roy Griak Invitational
Mead made a sophomore year jump from All-American last year into NCAA top 10 consideration with his race at Griak. Mead is primed to make a huge statement on the national stage at the Gopher's next meet, Pre-Nationals, in a few weeks.
Elkanah Kibet -- Auburn. 1st Minnestoa Roy Griak Invitational
Kibet is a Junior College transfer from Rend Lake Community College where he won national titles in the NJCAA outdoor 10k and indoor 5k last spring. He was also 5th at NJCAA cross country nationals last fall. He is originally from Kenya. He ran away from some good runners on Saturday but no one is prepared to make him a national title contender just yet. Auburn will be at Pre-nationals on October 18th.
"The DyeStat Watch" -- Freshman of the Weekend
Chris Derrick -- Stanford. 3rd Stanford Invitational
In the weekend preview I said that Stanford only returns one scorer this year from last year's 19th place team. Apparently, Garrett Heath (129th overall and 4th man for Stanford) still has one year of eligibility left, despite being listed as a "SR" on last year's NCAA results (so it's not MY fault!). With that revelation, and Chris Derrick's amazing performance out of the gates on Saturday, Stanford has quickly become a contender. Also, freshman Jacob Riley finished 13th for the Cardinal and was the team's sixth man as they put 6 guys in front of the their 19th ranked rival, Cal's 3rd man.
They came in ranked 9th in the nation, primed to win their own big invitational for the first time ever and they finished 4th. It certainly was not a deal breaker for the Gophers as they lost to two strong teams in Iowa St. and BYU, but they no longer can be considered a top ten team. Certainly, Chris Rombough the All-American senior was expected to be around the top 5 and instead slipped to 13th, but that would not have made any difference in the team place. Minnesota is a young team (Rombough is the only senior) that will probably see improvement toward the end of the year similiar to last year's run to 8th place at NCAA. They just no longer have that 2nd place spot in the midwest regional wrapped up.
The Meat Grinder Top 10 Power Rankings
1. Oregon (1) - The Bill Dellinger Invite is this coming weekend. Surely, Vin will not run everyone, but it would be a whole lot cooler if he did...
2. Wisconsin (6) - The Paul Short Invitational is coming up for the Badgers on Saturday. There are rumors of injuries on the Wisconsin squad, so their roster for this weekend will be interesting.
3. Oklahoma State (2) - OK St. hosts the Cowboy Jamboree this weekend where they will be running...EVERYONE! Hooray for coaches with onions! J/K. Not really. Ryan Vail, David Chirchir and Wunderkind German Fernandez get to stretch out the legs a little and let us know what kind of shape they're in. It's a shame really, an event described as a "Jamboree" should not be focused on something as tedious as distance running, it should be used for dancing and funnel cake eating and possum-frying, you know, a real Oklahoma hoedown. Did I say that right?
4. Alabama (5) - It is either off to Oregon for the Dellinger Invite or to Auburn next Saturday for Alabama's next meet. They're even mysterious with their scheduling. What is going on down there, Coach Walker?! We need answers!
5. Stanford (11) - The Cardinal deserve a big bump this week for their statement performance on The Farm. They were the only top 10 team in action over the weekend and they set the precedent. They make as good a case as anyone to sit in this top 5 spot, but this year the top four teams seem to be in a whole different league.
6. Georgetown (10) - The Hoyas will debut at the Notre Dame Invitational this Friday.
7. Michigan (8) - UM will also be at the ND Invite.
8. Portland (7) - Portland will be another team in the stacked field at the Bill Dellinger Invitational on Saturday.
9. Colorado (3) - Apparently, Colorado has a LOT of guys who have run right around 14:00 for 5k. And, there are a LOT of Colorado Buffalo fans out there. They are deep through all seven runners and add Indiana transfer Jordan Kyle who will fit into the pack nicely. They are in dire need of a front runner to step up, though. Their top returner, Kenyon Neuman, finished 70th last year. That is 50 spots from the top 20. The best team last year without a top 20 runner was Cal Poly in 11th place. Just saying.
10. Iona (4) - You'll stay here for now Iona, but I have an itchy finger on this number 10 spot. The Gaels will be at Paul Short on Saturday.
Please feeel free to add your thoughts on the past weekend and/or disagree with mine in the comments below. Come back to the Meat Grinder Thursday for more XC coverage and a LOT more bathroom humor.
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Untitled Comment
05:50, Friday, October 3, 2008
.. Posted by Anonymous
Great work on that article Ben... I can see you put a lot of time and research into it... great tone n voice... as can be expected from you. Look forward to your next piece.
-Angelina Ramos-
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