The men's race at the Pac-12 Championships will be one of the most telling of the whole NCAA conference weekend, as six Saucony Flo50 teams descend on Tucson, Arizona, on Friday at 11:30 AM CT.

Following Colorado's entrance into the conference in 2011, the Buffaloes have won every Pac-12 title, while Stanford and Oregon have traded runner-up and third-place finishes. Since 2006, at least one Pac-12 men's team has reached the podium at the NCAA championships. Add in Oregon senior and future legend Edward Cheserek, and you have the best men's race of the weekend.

Stanford's last Pac-12 title came before Colorado entered the conference

Here's what we know: Stanford was 40 points behind champion Northern Arizona in Wisconsin. Cardinal coach Chris Miltenberg praised the team's performance, saying that it has never run that well at that moment in the season--ever. Grant Fisher (fourth place) and Sean McGorty (sixth) were stars, even if McGorty was a few seconds behind what we had predicted. What was even more impressive was the Cardinal's 3-4-5. Garrett Sweatt (32nd), Jack Keelan (35th), and Sam Wharton (41st) collectively ran the race of their careers and finished within three seconds of each other to outshine BYU and Syracuse. 

Sweatt, a senior, was 16th in the conference in 2015--his best conference showing ever for Stanford. Wharton (26th in 2014) and Keelan (27th in 2014) have put together fine performances, but they will need to be in the top 20 if this team really wants to win. If, JUST IF, we see redshirt freshman Alex Ostberg and true frosh Thomas Ratcliffe debut in uniform, it will be hard for any team to beat Stanford. Ostberg ran 14:16 in high school but entered college with an injury and has yet to race in uniform. Ratcliffe, a 4:01 miler, won the Stanford Invite unattached--his first ever cross country race. This kid is loaded with talent.

The last time the Cardinal men won? In 2010, when they scored 25 points. This past year was the second closest this team has ever come to beating Colorado (11 points), with 2011 (seven points) being the closest.

Hear from the Stanford men after their runner-up finish at the Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invite:

The Oregon Ducks could win their first title since 2008

Oregon shocked the NCAA by winning Pre-Nats over Arkansas. They're loaded with talent, much like every year, but their younger guys are really stepping up to the plate. Sophomores Matthew Maton (fourth place), Tanner Anderson (18th) and freshman Levi Thomet (26th) delivered in Terre Haute, but their (not so) secret weapon could be the vastly improved Sam Prakel. An All-American in the mile and 1500m, Prakel finished 36th at Pre-Nats, 45 spots better than 2015. If Prakel can outperform his 30th-place finish from this past year's conference championship, this team could sneak up on Stanford.

The Ducks already have a guaranteed one point, right? If/when Edward Cheserek wins his fourth consecutive Pac-12 title, he will be the first to ever accomplish that feat. Steve Prefontaine has three. Henry Rono has three. A bunch of guys have two. Cheserek, barring any tragedies, is about to have four.

Hear from Oregon coach Andy Powell after the Ducks' Pre-Nats win:

Are we reading too much into Colorado's Pre-Nats performance?

Like I said above, the Colorado men have won every team championship since they entered the conference in 2011. This could be the first year they don't take a trophy home to Boulder.

The Buffs had a good spread at Pre-Nats, only 12 seconds, but lacked a front-runner. Ryan Forsyth was 15th, but All-Americans John Dressel (27th place) and Ben Saarel (28th) looked off, and that's not something this team can afford if it wants to keep the Pac-12 trophy. But at the same time, Dressel was only 46th at Pre-Nats in 2015 before finishing sixth in the Pac-12.

Perhaps, Colorado was practicing a different strategy in Terre Haute. The Buffaloes were obviously working together, so why write them off? In a smaller field, this team could put together a good enough race to win their sixth straight Pac-12 title.

Watch the Oregon and Colorado men compete at the Pre-Nationals Invite: