Upload a Photo Upload a Video Add a News article Write a Blog Add a Comment
Blog Feed News Feed Video Feed All Feeds

Folders

 

 

Top 25 DI Men's Cross Country Teams 10/27 - college.runnerspace.com Rankings

Published by
DyeStatCOLLEGE.com   Oct 27th 2014, 4:19pm
Comments

1. Colorado - In their first competitive race of the year at Pre-Nationals they tried to prove there was no competition and convinced everyone in the process. It was a historic performance. Ammar Moussa finally ran to his potential after he has battled injury during his collegiate career.  He helped them with their dominance and made it 6 in top 18 of the race. Top runners ran at Rocky Mountain Shootout and made it an easy run. Season preview - Colorado. Next is defence of their Pac-12 championship (never lost since they joined Pac-12).

2.  Northern Arizona - Hoover had an off race at Wisconsin Adidas (21) but Futsum (2) and McElroy (5) are looking great.  Behind the top 3, #4-#5 dropped them to 6th at Wisconsin Adidas.  The Lumberjack Top 3 finished in top 6 at Washington Invite.  Still Developing 4-5 for a title run - Weitz, Byrne and Glines are still working hard and should be ready for regionals and NCAAs to run well. preview - Northern Arizona. Next is Big Sky.

3. Syracuse - Won at Wisconsin Adidas with #1-5 and a great :14 spread.  Could easily be ranked 2nd if not for all of the possible changes and potential for Northern Arizona.  Ran a strong second to Oregon at Battle-In-Beantown.  Looking to repeat in second year of ACC.  Preview -  Syracuse 

4. Oregon - Ducks went 1-3 at Pre-Nationals and Jenkins and Cheserek went 1-2 (switched order) at Beantown, top 5 finished in first 10 at a good Battle in Beantown. Coach Powell is giving his young runners some needed experience as three freshmen ran at Pre-Nationals (#5-7).  Vets Melancon, Watson and Leingang (injury?) will be better choices later in the season.  If they can stay healthy, best team probably won't run until NCAAs.  Preview - OregonIt should be an interesting battle at Pac-12 with Colorado and Stanford.  

 

5. 

Stanford 

- They ran everyone except 3-4 at Wisconsin Adidas.  Korolev impressed with his win and Joe Rosa ran well but # 3-7 runners will have to improve significantly for Stanford to trophy.  With news that Jim Rosa is out for the year, it will be tough for Cardinal to trophy.  McGorty may not open at Pac-12 with a limited chance to trophy.  Jim and Joe Rosa feature  preview -  Stanford.  Get to run Pac-12 in bay area this week.

6. Oklahoma State - They ran at Santa Clara and a lack of good competition may cost them at the end of the season with a young squad.  Took first 11 spots at Jamboree with Erassa leading the way.  Preview -   Oklahoma State. Next they will face Oklahoma at Big 12.

7. Portland - Finished 4th at Wisconsin Adidas with 3-7 likely to see significant improvement by the end of the season.  Sat top 7 at Washington Invitational. Preview - Portland 

8. Michigan - Too many tough races may have hurt them at Wisconsin Adidas and they finished 9th. 1st at Notre Dame led by Mason Ferlic. Smoragiewicz was running much better this year until Wiscoinsin Adidas. Also won Big 10 preview.  Preview - Michigan 

9. Virginia - Team did not travel well and was fourth at Washington Invitational, has had a great season though.  Preview - Virginia.  ACC is very competitive with Syracuse, FSU, North Carolina, and NC State all ranked or close to ranking.  

10. Villanova -Put performance from Paul Short and Washington Invitational together and it was a good weekend led by Tiernan's great run in Seattle. They ran at the Princeton Invitational.  Preview -  Villanova.  Big East up next.  Georgetown will give them a good battle. 

11. Iona - 2nd at Wisconsin Adidas with top team as Byrne established as #1 runner.  3rd at Virginia Panorama behind Virginia and Furman.  Freshman Gilbert Kirui is running well until '13 #1 Kieran Clements runs first race.  Next up is MAAC. 

12. Georgetown - 3rd at Pre-Nationals. Tight Pack paying off.  3rd at Battle-In-Beantown (1-5 :28).  They will try to continue strong performance at Big East.  

13. Wisconsin - 4th at home meet.  #1-#2 established with #3-#6 all freshmen.  In meets they have run, have not done well.   Preview - 

Wisconsin.  Big 10 will be a big challenge with four freshmen as major contributors.

14. Indiana - Did not run well in Washington or Wisconsin Adidas (14th) but still have great returners and ran well earlier in the season.  They did not run well much of last year until Big 10, regionals and NCAA.  Need a good Big 10 performance to show they belong and to qualify for NCAA meet.   

15. BYU - 13th at Wisconsin Adidas - seems like runners trained through Wisconsin Adidas.  Won BYU Autumn against UCLA and then finished 2nd Notre Dame to Michigan.  Preview - BYU.  They will try to knock off Portland at WCC.

16. Eastern Kentucky - 21st at Wisconsin Adidas.  Kosgey is doing well overcoming a slow starting Hessekbjerg. 5th at Notre Dame without everyone running well yet.  Preview -  Eastern Kentucky.  Ohio Valley Championships are up next and another chance to prove whether they are prepared to qualify for the NCAA championships.  

17. UCLA - 7th at Wisconsin Adidas.  Was 2nd at Washington Invitational using pack running after finishing 2nd at BYU Autumn Invitational. Tough Pac-12 is up next. 

18. Washington - Finished 8th at Wisconsin Adidas.  Colby Gilbert was #6 at Washington Invite and was #2 at Wisconsin Adidas.  Nelson is solidifying himself as a strong #1 with his third place finish at Adidas, sixth at Washington Invite.  In the tough Pac-12 finishing better than fourth would be a great performance.

19. Florida State - Team focused for Wisconsin Adidas meet and finished 9th after running first early.  It looks like they have solidified a chance to qualify for NCAA meet by scoring so many pelts at Wisconsin Adidas.  Another good performance this week, at ACC, could propel them into top 15.   

20. Providence - 11th at Wisconsin Adidas.  Team ran well but struggling with #5 runner, rest of the team ran well.  3rd at Battle in Beantown without everyone running well. Preview -  Providence.  Coach Treacy will have to get his crew ready to beat Villanova and Georgetown at Big East. 

21. Furman - 4th at Pre-Nationals as they pushed pace early and paid the price.  Head Coach Gary will help team adjust for next appearance at NCAA meet. 2nd at Virginia Panorama and barely lost to Virginia and beat Iona.  Beat southern '13 NCAA teams in two previous meets too.  Preview - Furman.  Southern Conference championships up next and should be a big favorite.

22. New Mexico - 12th at Wisconsin Adidas.  Matheson go in his first race but Zacharias did not run.  Finished third at Notre Dame with 5 of top 7 returning from last year's 11th place finish.  Have a great shot to win both titles at Mt West again.  

23. Arkansas - 16th at Wisconsin Adidas with Kebenei in expected high spot at 6th.  Rest of team down further than expected.  Could be training through or bad race.  Good 1-2 in Kebenei and Gonzales but not much else yet.  Should be the favorite at SEC championships.

24. Southern Utah - 34th at Pre-Nationals without runners running at top level.  Won against a weak Griak Field and finished 6th at Notre Dame.  Should easily get next spot at Big Sky behind Northern Arizona. 

25. Oklahoma  - Many of their runners had an off meet (3 sophomores) at Wisconsin Adidas and finished 17th.  Coach Dunn likely preparing them for rest of season.  Against a tough Washington Invite Field they showed they belonged by finishing a very competitive 5th. Preview - Oklahoma.  Oklahoma State will be a big favorite at Big 12 but Oklahoma could give Cowboys first real test.  

 

Also Considered:

Michigan State - 15th at Wisconsin Adidas.  Have run well in the few meets they have had.  Preview - Michigan State .  Big 10 is another chance to prove themselves against Michigan, Wisconsin and Indiana.

Colorado State - 6th at Pre-Nationals with 4th-6th teams separated by 10 points. They have done well overcoming the transfer of #1 runner Jacob Morgan.  Finished a very close 2nd at a weak Griak, 7th at Notre Dame.  They get a chance to move up with a good performance at Mt West.

North Carolina - Finally ran all of the runners from last year's NCAA meet (17th) at Wisconsin Adidas.  Mullherin has developed this year in the absence of his teammates..  Team finished 18th at Wisconsin Adidas with many runners from last year way off what they have done.  If they can get it together by Regionals they will be a top 20 team.  Also can prove themselves at this weekend's ACC meet

 

Underlined Teams have preview articles hyperlinked


Because the objective is more than a month away, what happens during the season will not necessarily determine the winners at the end of the season.  Last season NCAA women's winner Providence was third at Wisconsin Adidas as Arizona won while Providence coach Treacy rested an injury-prone runner that proved to be pivotal at the NCAA championships.  My rankings are based on what teams are doing now and could or will do at the end of the season.  Based on the NCAA qualifying systems teams just need to run well enough during the season.

To show how little Pre-Nationals and Wisconsin Adidas reflected NCAA performance or how much - 2013 NCAA 6 of top 7 finished in the top 3 in one race or the other (Oklahoma State was 7th) but in 2012 only 2 of the top 7 finished in the top 3, and in fact two finished outside the top 12 (Wisconsin and Northern Arizona).

HashtagsNone
 
History for University of Oregon Track and Field and Cross Country - Eugene, Oregon
YearVideosNewsPhotosBlogs
2024 5 4    
2023 16 3    
2022 30 8    
Show 20 more
HashtagsNone
 
 
+PLUS highlights
+PLUS coverage
Live Events
Get +PLUS!