Oklahoma State Men Are the Favorite to Win NCAAs – Despite some outstanding conference performances (which we’ll get to in a minute), Oklahoma State solidified themselves as the favorites heading into post-season action. Placing their top five runners in the top nine spots at the Big 12 Championships Saturday, the Cowboys impressed against competition that included Oklahoma and Texas.
As in the past, Oklahoma State used tight pack running to run away from the field. The trio of Girma Mecheso, Shadrack Kipchirchir and Tom Farrell finishing 2-3-4, along with Kirubel Erassa and Shane Moskowitz finishing 7-8, the squad ran a 1-5 split of only eight seconds. The team won with a mere 24 points, outpacing Texas (56 points) and Oklahoma (62 points).
That type of front running split will be hard to match by squads like Colorado and Wisconsin, but as Oklahoma State knows, they can’t take anything for granted.
Colorado Men Will Be the Fan Favorite to Pull Off the Upset – Yeah, yeah, we know regionals are still to be run, but as usual the Buffaloes will be playing the roll of spoiler at the NCAA Championships. Colorado headed into the Pac 12 Championships as the odds-on-favorite to win and didn’t disappoint against stiff competition from Stanford and Oregon.
Similar to Oklahoma State, Colorado ran a pack for nearly the entire race, as their 1-6 runners cruised a split of 10 seconds. Blake Theroux, Jake Hurysz and Hugh Dowdy ran 7-8-9, while Aric VanHalen, Martin Medina and Pierce Murphy ran 12-13-14, as CU beat runner-up Stanford 49-82, while Oregon narrowly edged Arizona State for third 105-109.
Colorado has been the surprise of the season. The Mark Wetmore led squad has depth and plenty of young talent to make a run at favorite Oklahoma State team, and as fans know, Colorado tends to perform very well at the NCAA Championships, especially as the length of racing extends from 8k to 10k.
Oregon Women Are Peaking at the Right Time – Believe it or not, for the first time since 1995, Oregon’s women’s team won the Pac 12 Championships. Jordan Hasay, Alexi Pappas and Allie Woodward led the Ducks finishing 2-4-5, as they edged runner-up Arizona 47-69. Stanford was third with 82 points, while Washington rounded out the top four with 92 points. Oregon’s 1-5 split was 37 seconds, which is pretty good considering Hasay, Pappas and Woodward will all challenge for top 10 finishes in Louisville.
Oregon’s victory gives the squad big momentum heading into the West Regional. While they’ll Arizona, Stanford and Washington again at regionals, the team is peaking at the right time of season to challenge for a national title.
Florida State Women Are Still the Favorite…Just Barely – While the Oregon Ducks were running away with the Pac 12 title, the Florida State women’s team was running away with the ACC title. Led by individual winner Violah Lagat, the Seminoles scored 35 points, easily outrunning runner-up Duke by 32 points.
Along with Lagat, FSU ran well up front, as teammates Colleen Quigley and Kayleigh Tyerman placed 4-5. Amanda Winslow had a solid effort in 11th, while Georgia Peel rounded out the team scoring with a 14th place effort. The squad ran a 52 second 1-5 split, but know they need to close their back end time just a bit if they hope to hold off squads like Oregon, as they eye the national title.
Here Comes Wisconsin – Just when the Badgers were starting to be questioned, along comes back Mohammed Ahmed and Reed Connor, boosting Wisconsin back to the top of the Big Ten, winning yet another consecutive conference championship. All season long the question of whether or not Ahmed and Connor would redshirt has lingered over the team and the rest of the collegiate cross country scene, so with Sunday’s results, the question has finally been answered and the Badgers are once again a trophy contender.
Wisconsin easily beat a strong Michigan squad for the Big Ten title, scoring 33 points, well ahead of Michigan’s 65 points. Indiana finished third with 79 points. Maverick Darling led the way in second place, while Ahmed, Connor and senior Rob Finnerty finished 3-6-7. Alex Brill wrapped up their scoring in 15th place, as the team ran a 38 second split.
Washington Women Are Trending Down – It’s been an up and down season for Washington in 2012. The Huskies were considered one of the favorites to challenge for a national title, but the squad is trending downward as the West Regional approaches. While front runner Megan Goethals returned to the line-up, finishing 12th overall, the squad simply isn’t running as many expected.
Their other front runner Katie Flood finished as their fifth runner in 26th place. If she can get back to challenging for top ten at the NCAA Championships, as well as Goethals being up to challenge for top 15, Washington may put themselves back in trophy contention, but they are still a ways off from challenging the likes of Oregon, Arizona, Florida State and Iowa State.
Portland Men Are Trending Up – After a very disappointing Wisconsin adidas Invitational, which saw the Portland Pilots place 12th, the squad bounced back to win the West Coast Conference championship in a hard fought battle with BYU. Running nearly man-to-man for much of the race, Portland’s final kick had the team winning on their home course by the narrowest of margins, 32-33.
Portland’s victory gives the squad some positive momentum heading towards the West Regional in two weeks. Scott Fauble, William Kincaid and David Perry led Portland in 2-3-5, while Lars Erik Malde and Jared Bassett rounded out their scoring in 9th and 13th respectively. Their 1-5 split was 25 seconds.
For Portland, their arrow is pointed in the right direction as the post-season kicks off.
Laura Hollander is the Pre-NCAA Individual Favorite – Whether it’s fair or not, Laura Hollander (Fr., Cal Poly) is considered the pre-NCAA individual favorite. Her impressive victory at the Wisconsin adidas Invitational brought her onto the national scene and her 32-second victory at the Big West Championships this weekend only solidified her front-running status. Hollander will be challenged in a big way in two weeks, when she takes on talents such as Kathy Kroeger (Sr., Stanford) and Jordan Hasay (Sr., Oregon) at the West Regional.
Kennedy Kithuka is Going to Challenge Lawi Lalang and Stephen Sambu – All season long, Arizona’s Lawi Lalang and Stephen Sambu have torn up the courses they’ve run on, showing why many consider them locked into first and second place finishes at the NCAA Championships in a few weeks.
Despite Lalang’s and Sambu’s dominance, the collegiate cross country world needs to take notice of Texas Tech University standout junior Kennedy Kithuka. Kithuka, who earned back-to-back NAIA cross country titles the past two falls, transferred to Texas Tech this fall and while running at an exceptionally high level all season, took it to another level this past weekend at the Big 12 Championships.
Squaring off against many competitors who will vie for top ten finishes in Louisville, Kithuka destroyed the field, winning by over a minute in 22:52. Kithuka beat runner-up Girma Mecheso (Sr., Oklahoma State) by 1:06, consistently pulling away throughout the entire race. Kithuka’s dominance is something to be watched as the NCAA Championships near.
