NCAA XC Countdown #20: Georgetown Men and Minnesota Women

Aug 3, 2013 by Isaac Wood

For the next month, The Wood Report will be counting down projected team finishes in this year's NCAA Cross Country Championships in Terre Haute, IN. Make sure to stay up-to-date with The Wood Report throughout the season. You should follow him on Twitter, too.

View the full NCAA Top 31 Countdown HERE.

#20

Georgetown

Head Coach: Patrick Henner (14th Season)

2012 National Finish- 25th

Key Returners from 2012

Andrew Springer (Sr., 7:53 Open 3k, 13:46 5k, 29:28 10k)
Miles Schoedler (Jr., 3:47 1500m, 14:32 5k)
Darren Fahy (So., 8:15 Open 3k, 9:06 3k Steeple (US Jrs))
Ben Furcht (Sr., 8:12 Open 3k, 14:17 5k, 30:27 10k)
Max Darrah (Jr., 8:13 Open 3k, 8:43 3k Steeple)
Dylan Sorenson (Sr., 3:47 1500m, 8:13 Open 3k, 8:50 3k Steeple)
John Murray (Jr., 8:10 Open 3k, 14:15 5k)

Impact Recruits/Transfers

Jonathan Green (Fr., 2 X FL Finalist, 9:21 2 Mile)
Connor Sheryak (Fr., 15:05 5k (5th NBIN 5k), 58th NXN Nats '12)
Amos Bartelsmeyer (Fr., 4:11 1600m, 9:15 3200m, MO State XC Champ '12)
Ahmed Bile (Redshirt Frosh., 4:04 Mile, 2 X FL Finalist: 12th in '11, 14th in '12)

Season Preview

Depth is name of the game today. The reigning Mid-Atlantic Regional champions of 2012 return four of the their top seven and add a few surprises from track and some solid freshman to their 25th place national finish. Coach Patrick Henner has seemingly turned Georgetown into another "Steeple U" with the four very quality steeplers returning for him in 2013. Along with an almost certain All-American, things are looking good for the Hoyas this year.

Andrew Springer is the returning leader and star of this team. There is no doubt that he is All-American quality, and as long as he is healthy and actually runs in Terre Haute, he should find himself in the top 40. Springer is coming off of a very good outdoor track season where he qualified for nationals in both the 5000m and 10000m and placed 15th and 13th, respectively. Andrew has surprisingly good range with a 1500m PR of 3:41 and 10000m PR of 29:28. He is a pure cross country runner that will be more suited for the longer stuff as the season goes on and will be in the mix for regional individual honors and nationals as well.

Miles Schoedler was a very good pack runner for the Hoyas in 2012 where he consistently was their no. 3-4. Schoedler is a guy with good leg speed (3:47 1500m) that always pays off the last 400m where he blows by ten runners and gets that many less points. John Murray and Ben Furcht are very experienced xc runners that are also very good pack runners. These athletes know what it takes to make the National meet and they will provide solid veteran leadership.

The rest of the squad that returns is filled out by Steeplers. The 3k Steeple and Cross Country have not always been a consistent transition of excellence. There have been so many national champions in the steeple that have never cracked the top 100 at cross nationals. Georgetown does have three 8:50 and better 3k Steeplers and a former U.S. Junior Champion (Fahy).

Fahy proved his chops in xc in 2012 and will be counted on to be a top five runner. If Darrah and Sorenson (both nationals qualifiers in the steeple) can learn from Fahy, this is a deep, deep Georgetown team.

A good recruiting class does not hurt either. Ahmed Bile redshirted 2012 and has great xc experience having been top 15 back to back years at Foot Locker Finals. After a year of college experience, this should translate to a good freshman year for him.

Another two-time Foot Locker Finalist is Jonathan Green who could be the only true freshman that could crack the top seven. This team is so deep that they could go all year without suiting a single freshman up.

With Syracuse and Notre Dame out of the Big East, the conference championship is there for them to win if they can hold off Villanova. Georgetown has a lot of potential in 2013. If Springer can be the very low-stick that they need and their steeplers and veterans pull through, they could crack the top 15 at nationals for the first time since in five years.

#20

Minnesota

Head Coach: Sarah Hesser (1st Season)

2012 National Finish- 22nd

Key Returners from 2012

Molly Kayfes (Jr..,9:30 Open 3k, 16:15 5k)
Laura Docherty (Sr., 9:23 Open 3k, 16:10 5k, 33:24 10k)
Maggie Bollig (Sr., 4:27 1500m, 9:43 Open 3k)
Katie Moraczewski (Sr., 9:37 Open 3k, 10:14 3k Steeple)
Ashlie Decker (Jr., 9:36 Open 3k, 16:53 5k, 10:40 3k Steeple)
Rachel Drake (Sr., 9:44 Open 3k, 16:53 5k, 34:47 10k)
Liz Berkholtz (So., 9:45 Open 3k, 16:42 5k, 35:11 10k)

Impact Recruits/Transfers

Tess Wasowicz (Fr., 4:59 1600m, 2 x NXN Nats Qualifier)
Danielle Anderson (Fr., 10:24 3200m, 16:43 5k (2nd NBON 5k '12),

Season Preview

Coach Sarah Hesser steps into her new role as Head Women's Cross Country coach with quite possibly the deepest team in the country. Her scenario could not be more fun for any first time head coach, especially for one that has paid her dues as long as Coach Hesser has. She inherits a squad that brings back every single woman that ran on their 22nd place team at Nationals in 2012.

It will be hard to find a team that has the kind of quality depth that the Gophers have. Across the board, every single one of their top seven from 2012 has run sub-17 for 5k and sub-9:45 for 3k. A few of these ladies also have very good 10k PRs.

Molly Kayfes and Laura Docherty are the two top girls for Minnesota from their 2012 team that is all back for 2013. Kayfes seems to have been a little bit better as the season went on for the Gophers as she led the team at the Regional and National meets. On the other hand, Docherty was by far their best girl on the track and has the fastest 5k and 10k PRs of the bunch. This 1-2 punch is very good and both of these girls could be looking at All-American in Terre Haute.

To follow this nice duo are five other girls all capable of placing 3-7 on any given day. Katie Moraczewski, Ashlie Decker, and Mollie Bollig all traded off being the no. 3 girl during the Conference, Regional and National meets. The good news is that these three ladies are all going to be challenging each other for that spot in every race which will obviously make them that much better. Moraczewski is the better track athlete of the three, but Bollig has better wheels and Decker the best range of the bunch.

Rachel Drake and Liz Berkholtz both have good range and are capable 10k runners which will prove useful as the season goes on. With the Regional meet and the National meet being even closer together, their abilities to go up in distance will help them as their strength should shine with a shorter break.

If Minnesota was already loaded enough, they bring in a solid recruiting class highlighted by Danielle Anderson. Anderson is an accomplished high school runner her placed 2nd overall at the New Balance Outdoor Nationals 5k in 2012 and ran 16:43. That time alone would easily put her in the mix for the top five. Tess Wasowicz ran on a good high school team that helped her qualify for the Nike Cross Nationals two times, this kind of experience will be valuable in her transition from high school to college.

Minnesota's fourth place finish at the Big 10 meet in 2012 behind three very good teams (Michigan, Michigan State and Penn State) and third place finish at the Regional, are good motivators for the Gophers in 2013. If the above mentioned teams are not careful, Minnesota could surprise all of them and beat them. With this kind of depth of returning, experienced cross country runners, Minnesota could well find themselves finishing in the top 10 in Terre Haute.