Yeah, I know that there's still a week(end) of indoor t&f remaining, but I figured it might be useful to preemptively get an outdoor thread started--otherwise some folks might start posting outdoor stuff on the indoor thread and we'd have two threads going (the way we did at the beginning of indoor, actually).
I follow only the Cornell squads closely; but just looking at their rosters, it appears the Big Red will be valid contenders for both Heps outdoor titles. Here's a little preview of their prospects:
The men will likely miss Bruno Hortelano-Roig, who's prepping for the OG for Spain, but still have plenty of talent for the open sprints and 4x100 (which they won at last year's Heps without him). They should be okay in the 400 and 4x4, and more than hold their own in the middle distances. RoJo always seems to get about a half-dozen guys around 30min for the 10,000, and the Big Red should do some distance scoring in the outdoor meet--despite the Ivies' extraordinary level of talent in the longer events--though they may not have a contender in the steeple.
All four jumps should continue productive for Cornell's men. They have a lot of firepower in the throws (remember that Mozia was mostly considered a discus man in high school!), though maybe with a hole in the javelin. They should be very strong in the high hurdles and decathlon, as demonstrated indoors, and return the men who went 1-2-4 in the 400H.
Cornell's women should also have great event coverage. Their prospects in the sprints are solid, though it appears they'll still be relying heavily on Hewitt in the shorter open races and 4x1; and their 400 depth, though it should again make them the favorites in the 4x4, has yet to produce a contender for individual honors. They should get more than their share of hurdles points, as well, with a chance to score very well (as usual) in the longer race.
The Ivy middle- and longer-distance races will be crazy this year (the 4x800 could be extraordinary), but the Red have a wealth of talent there, including three of the top four returners in the steeple. They could also add some top athletes who raced sparingly, or not at all, indoors.
The Big Red should have multiple scorers in each of the jumps, though perhaps not individual contenders in most. They're somewhat thin in the throws, but with very high-quality performers in most events should still score quite well. The heptathlon, which doesn't seem to have the participation that we see in their men's multi-event squad, is probably their only event that's of some concern.
As indoors, the men's outdoor meet should be a Cornell-Princeton contest, with several squads aiming for the spoiler role that Columbia played at Barton Hall. Brown (third last year, with most of its scoring from underclassmen) and Harvard (with its top individual trackmen and throwing crew) could have a real tussle with the Lions. The champions? Too close to call. When the indoor season started, Princeton loomed as an easy Heps winner; Cornell ended up giving them all they could handle. Outdoors, I think the same situation obtains.
For the women, there are once again multiple real contenders for the championship. Columbia should cover the outdoor events somewhat better than in previous years, and has the stars (do they get Hale back?) to repeat the indoor win. Virtually every other Ivy team, however, has to be given at least a chance for the women's win. Cornell (my narrow pick) will contend, but so should Princeton, particularly if they return to full strength. Harvard has the potential to score many points outdoors; Dartmouth could collect a lot of points in several events; Brown graduated some scorers from last year's third-place squad, but most return; and Penn graduated very few, and should surprise a lot of people.
PS Is the outdoor squad limit 37? 39? Would someone please remind me?