My prediction as an infromed Brandeis University Cross Country Athlete:
Christopher Collet will not be able to wave his arms in victory 200 meters before the finish due to a decisive kick from Alex Phillip.
Wartburg as per usual will choke and get 12th-7th by sending their entire team to be glorified pacers for the first 5,000 meters only to fall into the void.
MIT is overinflated in terms of prowess. Top 3-4, but unlikely to win. Good pick for podium.
Braden Nicholson from North Central will be in the Top 5, I find it hard to say Top 3, but on a good day, he in the conversation to be runner up or 3rd.
And now for my most controversial: Pomona-Pitzer will not win the National Championship. I think they are an incredibly deep team, whose B team could easily be Top 5 in the nation if the coach wanted to run them. As me writing this, in California it is 63 and sunny with no wind. The conditions in East Lansing will be something they have never encountered. There are plenty of Eastern and Midwestern teams who have been exposed to this weather for 2-3 weeks already and have adjusted. I also considering that Pomona relatively little competition in comparison to Midwestern and Eastern teams, they will have to run extremely smart to win. Some teams are going to take it out to them.
I see something special from another team, one which has been peaking their abilities and is ready to go for the National Championship, North Central. They too have a super deep team when comparing them to Pomona-Pitzer, however, it is another aspect which makes them the favorite for me. They run incredibly smart. They are a work-up come from behind fight like hell type of team when on the course. Unlike other teams in the Midwestern region, in particular Wartburg who tends to run from the front and slowly drop off as time goes on. As a student of Brandeis University, I have not witnessed Pomona-Pitzer run, so I can't make claims about their team's chemistry, but considering that they will be in a foreign enviroment where the temperture will hover around 18 degrees when the gun goes off, and the fact that the competition will be taking it out to them from the start, I easily see a situation where the Midwestern and Eastern teams aclimated to the enviroment and who are just as fast will panic Pomona-Pitzer into running off their strategy or running too fast from the start.
Time will tell!
I've actually heard that Wartburg's men will be taking the race out in 4:30 this year looking to break the field early
Oh please. Absolutely hilarious joke. Clearly this is a troll account, and a pretty lousy one at that. Wartburg is obviously not going to take it out in a 4:30, they made some mistakes last year, but with many of their guys returning after that experience I’m confident they’ll surely learn from it and be a much stronger force to contend with at Nationals this year.
Wartburg’s men will be taking the race out in a 4:25 this year.
Just got off the phone with my son Nick Lyndaker. He plans on gapping the field at 6k. This kid loves the snow.
better get ready to give yer balls a tug @AlexPhilip @EwiasWingwen Chris Collet
I have very close ties to Nick Lyndaker as well. I am his 4 year old son. His race plan has leaked on my running website which I am the CEO of.
Lyndaker was born and raised in the snow so he knows these conditions. He plans on controlling the race on Saturday from up front, setting the pace the entire way until he breaks away from the field at the 6K. He’s going to take the race out with the pack in a modest 4:42, and then slow it down a bit by running his next mile in 5:18 for a 10:00 2 mile split for the leaders. Everyone will be expecting this, but Lyndaker will then slow the pace down to a pedestrian 6:35 third mile. This will shock and confuse everyone, even the spectators, as to why their 3 mile split is 16:35. Amidst all of this confusion, Lyndaker will then jet away from the pack before anyone can even notice and run his 4th mile in a snappy and relaxed 4:08. After hitting the 4 mile in 20:43, he will be nearly a minute ahead of the pack after opening up such a massive gap, and then he will cruise through the last mile in 5:03 to win his first ever national title in a relatively modest time of 25:46. Teammate Timmy Boyce will be the only runner in the field that will remotely be able to match Lyndakers move, and he will run a mark of 26:18 good enough for 2nd in the nation.
I heard Callum England of Wartburg has a nasty kick don't sleep on him for the title. His 63 400 hurdle speed is the fastest out of the entire field and will be a useful asset towards the end.
My prediction as an infromed Brandeis University Cross Country Athlete:
Christopher Collet will not be able to wave his arms in victory 200 meters before the finish due to a decisive kick from Alex Phillip.
Wartburg as per usual will choke and get 12th-7th by sending their entire team to be glorified pacers for the first 5,000 meters only to fall into the void.
MIT is overinflated in terms of prowess. Top 3-4, but unlikely to win. Good pick for podium.
Braden Nicholson from North Central will be in the Top 5, I find it hard to say Top 3, but on a good day, he in the conversation to be runner up or 3rd.
And now for my most controversial: Pomona-Pitzer will not win the National Championship. I think they are an incredibly deep team, whose B team could easily be Top 5 in the nation if the coach wanted to run them. As me writing this, in California it is 63 and sunny with no wind. The conditions in East Lansing will be something they have never encountered. There are plenty of Eastern and Midwestern teams who have been exposed to this weather for 2-3 weeks already and have adjusted. I also considering that Pomona relatively little competition in comparison to Midwestern and Eastern teams, they will have to run extremely smart to win. Some teams are going to take it out to them.
I see something special from another team, one which has been peaking their abilities and is ready to go for the National Championship, North Central. They too have a super deep team when comparing them to Pomona-Pitzer, however, it is another aspect which makes them the favorite for me. They run incredibly smart. They are a work-up come from behind fight like hell type of team when on the course. Unlike other teams in the Midwestern region, in particular Wartburg who tends to run from the front and slowly drop off as time goes on. As a student of Brandeis University, I have not witnessed Pomona-Pitzer run, so I can't make claims about their team's chemistry, but considering that they will be in a foreign enviroment where the temperture will hover around 18 degrees when the gun goes off, and the fact that the competition will be taking it out to them from the start, I easily see a situation where the Midwestern and Eastern teams aclimated to the enviroment and who are just as fast will panic Pomona-Pitzer into running off their strategy or running too fast from the start.
Time will tell!
People said the same stuff about PP pre-Louisville 2019, how we'd fall apart in the mud and cold. The opposite proved true; I raced that day, we would not have won if the conditions were ideal. There were significantly faster teams than us in 2019 (NC, WU), we just handled the conditions than most expected (pre race, winning was not on my radar in the slightest, we would've been thrilled with a podium).
This year PP is by far the favorite, the only team who is even close to being "just as fast" is MIT. The rest are fighting for 3 and 4 and barring some crazy falls/etc, I don't consider anyone else a serious contender for the title. But, it's exactly this kind of sloppy field that produces the craziest results, so I'm not entirely ruling it out. I'm not familiar with the conditions MIT faced this year, but to the best of my knowledge no one has raced in any real amount of snow, so I don't think it's that fair to say they'll have a significant advantage just cause they're from the NE. Of the 7 PP guys who I think are competing on Saturday, only 1 is a native Californian, the rest grew up across the Midwest/Northeast/PNW, so they're not unfamiliar with racing in real November weather. Admittedly, 25 and snow is pretty different from the 40 and rain we saw in 2019, so we'll see how it goes. I've been saying since our first championship that we would threepeat, hoping they prove me right.
Also ready for the waverly boys to sh!t the bed again. Always a nice distraction at the beginning of the day before the real racers start working.
Rumor has it that SUNY Cortland Alum Mitch Ryan has entered the 2022 Division III Cross Country Championship tomorrow in Lansing, Michigan. He’s well prepared for the cold weather with his fingerless gloves and bandana
Fortunately for Williams, LACCTIC predictions bore relatively little resemblance to NAIA nationals results, and so too for DIII. Williams eats up mud and cold for breakfast. Lindgren and the Ephs for the shock win! The Bear will fly.
I heard Callum England of Wartburg has a nasty kick don't sleep on him for the title. His 63 400 hurdle speed is the fastest out of the entire field and will be a useful asset towards the end.
That's funny, but you clearly didn't do your research and see that George Rickett has a 62.54 on tfrrs. He will be blowing past the 40th guy for an All-American spot. Hell, maybe Alex Phillip if he feels like it
I heard Callum England of Wartburg has a nasty kick don't sleep on him for the title. His 63 400 hurdle speed is the fastest out of the entire field and will be a useful asset towards the end.
That's funny, but you clearly didn't do your research and see that George Rickett has a 62.54 on tfrrs. He will be blowing past the 40th guy for an All-American spot. Hell, maybe Alex Phillip if he feels like it
Man, can someone tell this guy how Letsrun works? Idiot, you can't delete a reply
Stop this. You act like the NCAA knew 4 years ago that there'd be a snow storm in Michigan. It's an unseasonably early snowfall there. It's true cross country and it will be a level playing field. Sorry it can't be your perfect conditions, snowbird
Stop this. You act like the NCAA knew 4 years ago that there'd be a snow storm in Michigan. It's an unseasonably early snowfall there. It's true cross country and it will be a level playing field. Sorry it can't be your perfect conditions, snowbird