Regional Previews: Mountain Men

1. Colorado- The Buffs will pack run their way to a win here and will be one of the favorites heading into nationals.  The Buffaloes are fresh off an easy victory at Pac-12s for the second straight year.  The real question is: Will we see Joe Bosshard?

2. BYU- The Cougars looked great early but have slowly been dropping since.  Their top two are solid and will contend for the individual title here.  It will be up to their 3-5 to hold off the Lobos and Lumberjacks.

3. Northern Arizona- The Lumberjacks replaced Diego Estrada with Brian Shrader and Futsum Z and they have looked good this year.  They have avoided the bigger meets but have been successful at smaller ones.

4. New Mexico- The Lobos dominated the Mountain West conference and look to qualify for nationals out of this region.  Like usual, their team is comprised mostly of British imports.

5. Air Force- The Falcons have a tight pack.  They finished 2nd in the mountain behind New Mexico and placed 6 ahead of Colorado State's #2.

6. Colorado State- The Rams have run the big meets this year and are prepared to do well here.  They have  solid front runner in Alex Muntefering and a tight 2-5 pack.

7. UTEP- These guys are great through 2 and solid through 3.  Their 4 and 6 guys need to run well to even keep this spot.

8. Weber State- Weber edged out Southern Utah by 3 points at Big Sky.  They are led by John Coyle and have a solid pack.

9. Texas Tech- TT is not deep at all but front runner Kennedy Kithuka will likely win here.

10. Southern Utah- South Utah lost Cam Levins and any chance of making NCAAs.  They are led by 2011 individual qualifier Nate Jewkes.


It appears that 4 solid teams will qualify out of this region.  I really don't see anybody upsetting the top 4.  UTEP lacks depth and Air Force lacks a front runner.

Individuals:  The Kenyans will run hard and the BYU leaders will finish between them and the rest of the pack which will be tactically battling for team qualifying.  Most of the top positions will be taken up by BYU, Colorado, New Mexico, and NAU runners.

1.Kennedy Kithuka, Texas Tech
2. Anthony Rotich, UTEP
3. Rex Shields, BYU
4. Jared Ward, BYU
5. Jake Huryz,CO
6. Blake Theroux,CO
7. Futsum Zienasellassie, NAU
8. Brian Shrader, NAU
9. Matt McElroy, NAU
10. Hugh Dowdy, CO
11. Luke Caldwell, NM
12. Aric Van Halen, CO
13. Martin Medina, CO
14. Nate Jewkes, SUU
15. Alex Muntefering, CO St
16. John Coyle, Weber State
17. Tylor Thatcher, BYU
18. Jason Whitt, BYU
19. Pat Zacharias, NM

Regional Previews: Midwest Men

Welcome to my regional rankings!  I'll start with the Midwest region because it is my favorite.  I ran in it a few times and it will always have a special place with me.  This region is to be held at SW Missouri State in Springfield.  The course is a big loop with some inner loops.  It has some long, slow hills that you have to go up a few times during the race.  The meet was last held here in 2010. I will preview teams first and then individuals after that.

1.  Oklahoma State- In past years, OK State has ran easy and let OU win.  This year, I think even with running easy, OK State will still win.  They crushed Texas and OU at Big-12s with their first 3 running in an easy pack and their next 2 running together just 6 seconds back.

2. Oklahoma- Oklahoma looked great their first race out this season but since then they haven't ran quite as well.  Don't get me wrong- they're a great team and will finish 2nd here but they aren't quite as good as last year.  Miler Pat Casey is leading this team that had a 26 second spread at the conference meet.

3. Tulsa- Tulsa was third here last year and they are a better team now.  I don't think they quite have the depth to challenge for the automatic qualifier but they will score much less than their 120 points last year.  Oklahoma's third best team is also led by a miler- Chris O'Hare.

4. Kansas- Kansas has come out of nowhere this year.  They have always been a decent team but this year they are deep.  They had a 1-7 spread of just over 30 seconds in the Big-12 race.  Look for them to run in a pack and be led by Evan Landes or Don Wasinger.

5. Iowa State- The Cyclones finished 16 points behind Kansas at Big 12s.  The only real bright spot was front runner Mohammed Hrezi who finished 14th.  They need their 3-5 guys to get closer to Hrezi to beat Kansas.

6. Illinois- The Fighting Illini have been moving up the regional rankings all year.  They recently beat Minnesota 86-141 at Big 10s led by Jannis Topfer and Hunter Mickow.  They could finish as good as 4th on a good day.

7. Missouri- The Tigers ran very well at the SEC to move ahead of Minnesota in my rankings.  They won a tie breaker for third and were nearly second to Arkansas.  They are led by Hayden Legg and Max Storms.

8. Minnesota- The Gophers have been missing a front runner this year with the graduations of Hassan Mead and Ben Blankenship the last few years.  They have been led by John Simons most of the year and are patiently awaiting the return to top form of Pieter Gagnon.  The Gophers, 5th at Big 10s, were predicted to make nationals by flotrack's Kolas Calculator but that is a very long shot now.

9. Southern Illinois- The Salukis won the Missouri Valley with 34 points placing all 5 of their runners in the top 10 and within 27 seconds of runner-up Zach Dahleen.  It will take a big team effort to move past the Gophers.

10. South Dakota State- SDSU is fresh off a victory at the Summit League with Mike Krsnak as the individual champion.  They finished just behind Iowa at Griak but look to be much improved since then.

Early in the year it appeared that as many as 6 teams would get into nationals from this region.  Now, it looks likely that only 4 teams will get in.  The only scenario would be if Tulsa or Oklahoma were to lose to Iowa State or Illinois and that isn't likely.

Individuals:
There is no Hassan Mead to set the pace and drag everybody else along this year.  It will most likely be a tactical affair with a slow pace early.
1. Girma Mecheso, OK State
2. Shadrack Kipchirchir, OK State
3. Tom Farrell, OK State
4. Patrick Casey, OU
5. Chris O'Hare, Tulsa
6. Mike Krsnak, SDSU
7. Bill Kogel, OU
8. Kevin Williams, OU
9. Jannis Topfer, Illinois
10. Hunter Mickow, Illinois

The two bolded runners would be the automatic individual qualifiers.

Other individuals to watch out for: The rest of Tulsa, OK State, and Oklahoma's teams, Zach Dahleen of SIU, Peter Gagnon of MN, Don Wasinger of KS, Cosmas Ayabei of UMKC, Trent Lusignan of SDSU, Jeff Mettler of USD, Mohammed Hrezi of ISU, Hayden Legg and Max Storms of Missouri.

At Least Once More Before It Snows (For Real)

At least once more before it snows... That was my mantra as I drove the 7 miles from Laramie to the Happy Jack Rec Area.  I had planned this run all week but it became all that much more urgent when I woke up this morning to a light covering of snow on the ground and a forecast for more tonight. 

I arrived at Happy Jack Trailhead and was surprised to find it ten degrees colder and much, much windier than in town.  That is a lesson I should be used to by now.  I began my run on the fairly tame Happy Jack Highway.  As busy as the name seems, there wasn't another human soul to be seen.  My objective for the day was to conquer a trail infamously known as "Death Crotch".  The handmade wooden sign appeared after 3 miles of running.  I glanced up, unable to see the top of the mountain I was about to tackle through the mist.  It reminded me of the mythical Mt. Olympus, with it's peak surrounded by clouds to house Zeus and co.  As I began the ascent, I kept thinking that it wasn't as bad as last time.  However, last time was months ago.  Since then, my fitness had improved drastically and I made sure to not make the same mistakes as last time.  In my last adventure up this hill I had started at a different trailhead and proceeded to hammer the 6 miles downhill to the base of Death Crotch.  This time wouldn't be the same.

My second thought as I worked my way up the trail was, "what's that noise?!"  I was most assured that it was only a mountain biker but I ran up the trail a bit to get a better angle, just to be safe.  What I saw rustling around in some bushes was astounding.  It was a full grown male Elk!  Prior to this experience, I had seen captive Elk from afar.  This one, however, was not tame, captive, and certainly not afar.  It was huge.  You can read about how big an animal is all you want but until you meet one in the wild, you will never truly realize what that means.  The large mammal caught site of me and sauntered off into the valley.  I decided to continue on up the trail.  It wasn't until after he was out of site that I realized how fast my heart was beating.  Running Death Crotch can sure make your heart race but seeing an Elk while doing that was nearly enough to give me a heart attack.

After my heart rate returned to normal, or as normal as it could be going up a steep hill, I went back to focusing on the task at hand.  Sure, it was hard, but not nearly as hard as the last time I had done this run.  This time I was even able to enjoy some of the views along the way.  Miles away, a truck appeared to be the size of a Hot Wheels car as it cruised on Happy Jack Road.  Higher and higher I went, until the cloud completely surrounded me.

I ran along Summit Trail for awhile before hopping onto my favorite trail at Happy Jack, the Haunted Forest Trail.  Running down Haunted Forest is technical and tricky on a good day but day was especially difficult.  The mist made it hard to see very far in front of you and the night's snow turned the dirt surface into a slick mud.  Until this day, I was unsure of why the Haunted Forest was given that name but today, it was revealed to me.  The huge white aspen and birch trees loomed like ghosts in the distance and the whole trail had a very mystical feel to it. I made it safely down the technical part of the trail and the rest of the run was enjoyable but rather uneventful.

When I came back near the trail head, I simply didn't want to stop running.  The temperature was great and now, looking out my window as it snows harder and harder, I am glad that I kept running.  It may be the last time I am out there this year without some kind of apparatus strapped to my feet.