For those of you expecting an interview this week, I decided to switch back to my old time schedule for these, so that means no interview this week, but I should have one for you in my post conference meet article. I do how ever want to introduce some commentary into my article, about things that are more or less on my mind right now, most are related to running, but some are not. If most of you guys are not fans, well then I will not include it in next week's edition. 

So here goes, while I will not mention any schools, people etc by name, some of you may be able to use the skills you have clearly learned from CSI and Law & Order, to figure out who I am talking about - Please do not take anything personally, it is all in good fun. First, while watching the World Series (Go Phillies!), I saw an ad for the all new MLB channel. Now I do not have a problem with this specifically, but rather that it will make its debut in January. The baseball season is long enough, and last I checked, no baseball is being played in January, I do not need to watch TO doing sit ups in his drive way the baseball edition. For those of you thinking, quit complaining you don't have to subscribe if you don't want to...you are right.

Also I often pay attention to school mascots, some are funny, others not so much, but what I really want to talk about are the school mascots who are just downright inappropriate. Now I am not talking about the dirty kind of inappropriate, I know what the USC Trojan is all about, what I mean is when it comes to the animal names, it should be at least remotely geographically appropriate. This means a team in the south easy should not be called the eskimos and a team in the north should not be named after something only found in warm/tropical weather areas (think Gators). Finally, I am a bit confused on how the rankings work. I know that there are only 8 voters, and they each represent a region, so although bias should be absent, it occasionally is not. What I am not understanding these days is how a team can lose (with its A team) to an unranked squad and move up in the polls, while the victorious team remains off. 

That is all for my rant, and now onto what you all really come here to read about. A new poll was released again this week and some things got mixed around a bit in the predicted field for nationals. The New England region led the way this week with 12 teams on the poll (7 women, 5 men) and thus it makes a decent amount of sense that the NESCAC would lead all conferences with 8 teams (5 women, 3 men). Based on the most recent poll, it appears that on the women's side, The Central, New England and Atlantic regions will all get the maximum 5 teams into nationals. The Great Lakes, Mid West and Mid East regions should get 4 teams in, while the West gets 3 teams and the South, only 2. My predicted last at large team appears to be the third team in the west, which is currently Whitman. On the Men's side, the Atlantic, Midwest, Great Lakes, New England and Mideast should all get the maximum 5 teams to Hanover, while the Central gets three and the West and South get only 2 teams in. No team in the top 32 gets slighted with the exception of the sixth team out of the midwest, but rules are rules. The 2 teams not to make the field of 32 that are nationally ranked are Grinnell (4th in the Central) and Pomona-Pitzer (3rd in the west). These are two teams that could sneak in if some of the other nationally ranked teams do not finish in the top 5 in their respective regional meets. 

RECAP:

Men

1st ranked Cortland's JV team placed 5 in the top 10 at the Cornell 5k, which had no team score

3rd ranked Lacrosse lost a dual meet to Luther 29-26 with a team comprised of only Freshmen and Sophomores

4th ranked Stevens Point placed 5 in the top 10 at their home meet which had no team score, while 9th ranked Oshkosh had 2 in the top 10. 21st ranked Platteville also competed

7th ranked Williams defeated 8th ranked Amherst at the Little Three Meet (Wesleyan is the third school) by a score of 21-48

14th ranked Haverford and 24th ranked TCNJ competed in a JV meet with no team score at Haverford. TCNJ placed 6 in the top 25

18th ranked St. Lawrance finished in 2nd at RPI, where 28th ranked Keene State was victorious and 19th ranked Trinity finished 4th

23rd ranked Willamette finished 6th at the Beaver Classic behind a group of D1 schools and local club teams

Women

3rd ranked Williams scored 24 points in its victory at the Little Three meet. 10th ranked Amherst was second with 51 points

4th ranked Eau Claire was 3rd at home with a team made up of mostly Freshmen. 14th ranked St. Thomas was first scoring only 16 points, and 8th ranked Lacrosse's JV team finished second

7th ranked Oshkosh put 4 in the top 10 at their home meet that had no teams scoring

13th ranked Cortland ran their JV team at Cornell, which also had no team scores

16th ranked St. Lawrence won the RPI 3.05 mile race, 25th ranked Ithaca finished second

20th ranked TCNJ and 31st ranked Haverford raced at the Haverford JV meet. While no team scores were kept, TCNJ did place 8 in the top 20

22nd ranked Messiah placed 9th at the Battle of the Buggy at Elizabethtown College

33rd ranked Whitman had its annual team 3k Time Trial

That is all for now, but keep checking back as I will be trying to add some conference Previews to this week's article as the week goes on.

CONFERENCE PREVIEWS

University Athletic Association (UAA)

 While I have promised to stay as unbiased as possible and cover all regions and conferences (and I will continue to do so) for the sake of time, my first conference championship preview will be of the conference I know best - the UAA. UAA's will take place in Atlanta, Georgia this year at 12th ranked Emory University on what was a very fast course the last time the meet took place there in 2001. On the Men's side, it will prove to be a very interesting race, or at the very least much more competative than the last 2 year when NYU would have defeated the rest of the conference in a Dual meet (granted they went on to finish 2nd and 1st at Nationals in those two seasons). The conference currently has 4 teams in the top 35 (top 13) with two other teams featured in previous polls (one is just off this week in "36th" place). Carnegie Mellon is the top ranked team in the conference and has one of the top individuals in Brian Harvey (last years Mid East champion) but NYU, Emory and Case are all nipping at their heels. Individually it should be a good race between Harvey, Jesse Schneider of NYU, Charlie Meade of Emory and Paul Norton of Brandeis.

On the distaff side the conference features three teams in the top 35 with one just off the poll. The Case women last won in 2006 and look to be ready to take this year's title over defending champion Washington University. The individual battle looks to be between Bowhers of Case and Surtees of Wash U, although with the graduation of Case's Esther Erb and a number of girls from Wash U, this year's race will be a bit more open than in the past. I would expect some new faces to be toward the top both individually and teams. Overall this will serve as a very important meet for both the men and women as the UAA is one of if not the only inter-regional conference and therefore a win over other ranked teams can not only boost your teams chances at going to Hanover, but greatly help your regions chances of getting more teams as well.

Predictions: CMU men, CASE women. Could Surprise: Emory men, Brandeis Women

New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC)

I know, first I do my former conference, now I stick to a big conference in my former region, calm yourself, I will get to your conference next, but the NESCAC does have more teams in the top 35s then any other conference, so they deserve to be a priority. Both sides feature some of the top teams in the country, but again we will start with the Men. The meet will be hosted by Bates, and Williams will be going for their third straight and 11th championship overall, and I think they will get it. They will be challenged by Amherst who beat them at All New Englands though the Ephs were without top runner Kosgey. The edge will go to Williams in this case however Kosgey will finish no better than second as Hamilton's Peter Kosgei looks like he may be unbeatable, at least within the conference. Other top contenders for the individual title are Tufts Jesse Faller and 2006 New England region champ Hunter Norte of Trinity. Also in the hunt for the conference title with Williams and Amherst are Trinity and Tufts after this there should be a sizeable gap.

The top teams on the women's side may sound familiar, as the conference is led by 3rd ranked Williams and they should be followed closely by 5th ranked Middlebury and 10th ranked Amherst, the only three teams in NESCAC history to ever win the conference title. Also in the hunt are Colby (not too far from home) and Tufts. Looking at the individuals, Elise Tropiano of Amherst should be the favorite, however she will be challenged by Tufts Stephanie McNamara and Middlebury's Alexandra Kreig. 

Predictions: Williams men & women. Could Surprise: Trinity men, Tufts women (please note, I would not consider by Middlebury or Amherst to be a surprise and therefore I am making them ineligible for this category). 

Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC)

The third "power conference" out of the Midwest, is as always, the WIAC comprised of the Public schools of the Wisconsin Higher Education System. Given the success of the D1 Badgers over the last decade or more, it should be no surprise that this conference boasts many of the country's top programs. This year's championship will be hosted by Steven's Point at the Wisconsin River Golf Club. Although the host Pointers are ranked 4th in the country, they come into their conference meet as only the second favorite as rival Lacrosse is ranked one spot higher at 3rd. The Eagles of Lacrosse have one the last four conference titles and 29 overall. They seem favored to win numbers 5 and 30, however look for Steven's Point to defend their home turf in an "upset". Also in the hunt for the team title will be 9th ranked Oshkosh led by Willy Kaul and 21st ranked Platteville. Individually Kaul has to be favored after his 24:00 at the Brooks Oshkosh invite, however he will be challenged by Lacrosse's Paul Moran.

On the women's side another close rase is in store as 4th ranked Eau Claire leads the conference which also features 7th ranked Oshkosh and 8th ranked Lacrosse. The later two should challenge the Blugolds, which makes sense given that the Titans have won 15 league titles and the Eagles 6, the top two teams in league history. Individually, Oshkosh's Ayla Mitchell will be looking to defend her conference title and in doing so become the 6th person in WIAC history to win back to back titles. Look for River Falls Becca Jordahl to challenge and pull off the second "upset" of the day. Also chanllenging these two will be Jessica Scott of Platteville.

Predictions: Steven's Point men, Eau Claire Women. Could Surprise: Oshkosh men, Oshkosh or Lacrosse women.

Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC)

The Central region has a national high 7 teams ranked in the women's top 35 and three of these teams from from the MIAC. Leading the way is Carleton ranked 2nd in the region and 11th nationally, but not far behind them is the conference hosts and two-time defending conference champs St. Thomas ranked 14th in the nation. The Tommies have also won a conference high 14 titles overall. Also in the chase for the team title is 27th ranked St. Olaf. Leading the way individually is Bethel's Marie Borner who has had a fantastic season so far and is also the defending MIAC champion.

For the men, the MIAC boasts the top two teams in the central region, with St. Thomas and St. Olaf. While St. Thomas has the home course advantage, I am calling an upset on this one although a small one, and taking St. Olaf. Also in the hunt for the team title are Bethel and Hamline, both of which have been ranked nationally this season and sit at 6th and 8th in the Central region. For the individual race if you can call it that, it should be all Bethel's Dan Greeno.

Predictions: St. Olaf men, St. Thomas women. Could Surprise: Bethel men, St. Olaf women.