The Conferences

Before I begin, a little fable.

Once upon a time, there was this ancient blogger who called himself a Luddite.
This person uses his computer all day & all night--but knows almost ZIP on the intricacies of using it.
This person is weird.

One day, he spent much time typing out his latest post of his blog.
He was about to type his last sentence when--POOF!--he hit some key which made the whole thing just go KABLOOEY---and disappear!!

He spent a LONG time trying to get back all the hard work he'd just done--to no avail.
He gave up and wanted to cry.

Then he thought--I have this loyal group of readers who read my blog---and I can't let them down!
Even if they shake their heads & think---Jeez, why doesn't he LEARN how to use his computer?---I had to go back to work & produce that post---as close to the original as possible!
He did that--and lived happily ever after.

The End

Okay, dear friends--because of the above FIASCO (a true story!)--this post will be somewhat truncated (shortened), but will contain everything ESSENTIAL to knowing what went down in the NCAA's Conferences---plus some other items.

A few Conferences saw the individual leaders who SHOULD make up the front-runners in the NCAA's--just 19 days away!
(The Regionals come first, and I'll have a post about those too!)
As this blog doesn't do much XC, I'll concentrate here on those runners who I see as the REAL contenders for the individual crowns on November 18th.

MEN
Justyn Knight and Grant Fisher won their Conferences with hard "last lap" kicks!
While times aren't really important, sub-24:00 for 8K courses are considered good---weather & terrain differences notwithstanding.
Knight won the ACC in 23:13, with Brent Demarest closing in 23:15, and Colin Bennie another 2 seconds back.
Fisher's 23:44.9 whipped past Joe Klecker's 23:48 to take the PAC-12!
Steve Fahey, Alex Ostberg, and Mahmoud Moussa all ended around 23:51.

But if you're placing bets, don't discount the African trio (Kenyan?) from the SEC--names of Vincent Kiprop, Gilbert  Kigen, and Alfred Chelanga.
These 3 have been running fast times all season--and generally finishing in some order on the podium.

Another to watch--though I'm not aware of super fast track PR's from him--is Jerrell Mock, who won the Mountain West race in 23:49 by one second over Cole Rockhold, another unknown quantity!

In previous posts, I've noted the high placings by such as Rory Linkletter and Connor McMillan.
In the West Coast Conference, McMillan's 23:23 beat Daniel Carney, Casey Clinger, and Linkletter, all of whom ran close to 23:29.
Add those two to the clan of possible leaders at the NC's.

A few other names to watch on the Men's side--
Cooper Teare, Tanner Anderson, Austin Tamagno, and Reed Brown from the PAC-12.
Colin Bennie from the SEC.
Josh Kerr from Mountain West.
Edwin Kurgat.
The Big 12's Hassan Abdi, Luis Martinez, and Sam Worley.
And the Big 10 winner--unknown to me!--Oliver Hoere, whose 24:09 beat Joe Hardy's 24:13.
Abdi is probably the most serious contender from the above little group.

WOMEN
Once again, the PAC-12 might provide a bunch who will finish in the Top 30 on November 18th!
Dani Jones--like Grant Fisher--kicked out of the crowd on the final stretch to win, time of 18:57.3.
Also under 19 were Katie Rainsberger and Amy Eloise-Neale.
Vanessa Fraser and Grayson Murphy followed 4 or 5 seconds behind!
Further back--but fairly fast--came Lilli Burdon, Fiona O'Keefe, Bethan Knights, and Brie Oakley.

Karissa Schweizer dominated the SEC's, her 19:36 beating Taylor Werner by 31 seconds!!
Katy Kunc finished another 6 seconds back.
Then came the Drop Twins--Jessica & Samantha.
(I googled them--they're fraternal twins--and both run for Georgia--the same Georgia team that scored 62.5 points at the OUTdoor NCAA's this year---ALL in the Field events!  That could change in 2018!!)

Three other Conference winners (& assorted leaders) to watch are---
Sharon Lokedi from the Big 12.
She ran 20-flat, beating Anna West by 6 seconds!
Callie Logue, a Frosh, was 4th--but led the race early on!
Destiny Collins--alum of the Great Oak (CA) team--was 7th in 20:23.

The Mountain West was won by Ednah Kurgat, another one to watch in Louisville!
Her 19:58.8 beat Weini Kelati by about 13 seconds!
Charlotte Prouse took 3rd another 3 seconds back.
But Allie Ostrander may NOT be a serious contender this year!!
Her 20:27.9 took 4th, but was far off what she's capable of!
Alice Wright was 5th, but divided by 27 seconds from Allie O!!

Elinor Purrier--who recently beat Ms Schweizer with a hard kick--won the American East race by 48 seconds!!
It was a 5K.
Charlotte Imer also won a 5K race--time of 16:52, with 2nd a full 28 seconds behind!!
Paige Stoner, Dorcas Wasiki, and Dominique Clairmonte all went sub-20 in the ACC race, as did Catherine Rocha in the Big East race.
Rocha beat the 20:12 of Brianna Ilarda, and the 20:19 of Bella Burda.

The San Francisco State duo of Charlotte Taylor and Weronika Pyzik took the top 2 spots in the West Coast Conference race.
Taylor's 19:10 beat Pyzik by 20 seconds!
Both should be added to the "contenders" list!

Finally, do NOT overlook Katherine Receveur from Indiana, who won the Big 10 Conference in 20:10.
She led the entire way!
Madeline Strandema was 2nd in 20:13.
Sarah Disanza is slowly improving, taking 8th in 20:31.

The Frankfurt Marathon saw a quartet of Americans run good times.
Shure Tola won the Men's race in 2:05:50.
The NAZ Elite comprised the US group among the Men.
Scott Smith's 2:12:21 was a two-plus minute PR!
Scott Fauble ran 2:12:35 in his initial 26.2.
And Matt Llano--returning from THREE surgeries & months of lay-off--ran just a minute off his PR--time of 2:13:42.

Vivian Cheruiyot wanted a 2:20--or faster!--but fading over the final half, had to "settle" for the win, time of 2:23:35.
Gradually moving up from below 10th place early on, Sara Hall ended in 5th, less than 4 minutes behind Cheruiyot!
Her 2:27:21--run with steady pacing--took 45 seconds off her PR.
She moves from 22nd A-T US to 15th!!

I have just one HS XC result to report--but it's a doozie!!
Katelyn Tuohy took down the Course Record at the Bear Mountain (NY) race--her 15:55.3 run over a 3 Mile course!
BTW, one of Bob Dylan's earliest songs is called "Talking Bear Mountain Picnic Massacre Blues"!!
I'd say Tuohy MASSACRED that course!!
LOL

And yes, I have more Society items to report!
Molly Ludlow gave birth to her first child--a son--on October 23rd.
Alysia Montano should have her 2nd child in November!

Wayde Van Niekerk got married to a woman named Chesney Campbell this weekend!
Don't know anything about her (except that she's quite beautiful!!), but they became engaged last December!!

Finally, Kate Grace became the latest "Bowerman Babe"--the self-described nickname given to the growing group of female Superstars running under Jerry Schumacher at the Bowerman Track Club!!
Besides Grace, that gang includes Shalane Flanagan and Amy Cragg, Courtney Frerichs and Colleen Quigley, as well as Emily Infeld and Shelby Houlihan!!

Assuming I avoid another traumatic event, my next post will be my report of the NYC Marathon--and the LOADED Road 5K the day before!!

Then follows the NCAA Regionals (plus 3 of the 7 NXN Regionals).

A week after that comes the NCAA Championships of XC!

But intermixed with those will be my usual series of INdoor T&F Previews--Age and Class records--World, US, Collegiate & HS records--and what it takes to make my INdoor Top 24's--plus a detailed Schedule!!!

See you soon!