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D3 NCAA XC Championships 2014

NCAA D3 Women's Team Preview

NCAA D3 Women's Team Preview

Nov 19, 2014 by Gordon Mack
NCAA D3 Women's Team Preview

By: Scott Rodilitz
All eyes will be on Johns Hopkins as they look to add a third consecutive title to their impressive run atop the podium. Undefeated against D3 competition on the season, the Blue Jays looked poised to once again run away with the title. Thankfully, the battle for top four promises to be much more compelling. At least six other teams can reasonably dream of making it onto the podium, which means that half of them will leave Mason disappointed. Here are you major contenders:
 
HONORABLE MENTION:
 
Emory
 
A disappointing start to the season saw the Eagles finish a distant seventh at Oberlin’s Inter-Regional Rumble, but Emory showed vast improvement at the UAA Championships. Led by senior Tamara Surtees, they won a close race for third by edging Case Western, the fourth-place team at Oberlin. Unfortunately, despite the solid race at UAA’s, Wash U and the University of Chicago both soundly defeated the Eagles. Though they will not embarrass their traditionally weak region, don’t expect anything more than a top 25 finish from the South Region Champions.
 
University of Chicago
 
After winning the tiebreaker to take the fourth and final spot on the podium last year, the Maroons came into this season with high expectations. They returned five of their top six from last year’s impressive run, but they did not get off to a great start. In recent meets, frontrunner Catherine Young has begun to return to her 2013 form, but she will be hard-pressed to duplicate her top ten individual finish. Despite their upward trajectory, the Maroons were only the sixth DIII team at the AAE Invitational and third at the Midwest regional meet, so they will need some magic just to crack the overall top ten this weekend.
 
UW-La Crosse
 
The Eagles have been impressive all year—in fact, their varsity seven had not lost a race until their second place finish at the Midwest Regional Championships. Most observers expected the 29 point defeat at the hands of Wash U, but the race would have been very close if not for a rough outing from stellar sophomore Elizabeth Frick, who had been moving up their top seven all year. If she can return to their main pack, the Eagles will crack the top ten.
 
WOMEN'S TOP 10 PREDICTIONS:
 
10. Carleton
 
Led by Central Region individual champion Ruth Steinke, the Knights are rounding into form at just the right time. They finished a distant 13th at the AAE Invitational, losing to U of Chicago and many other D3 teams, but they were missing two of their top five and looked much improved at their regional meet victory. Like UW-La Crosse, the Knights have trouble at the number five spot, but they got the nod at tenth because Steinke’s top ten potential makes their large gap more forgivable.
 
9. Calvin
 
No matter how you slice it, Calvin seems like a slightly better version of the Carleton team just discussed. Both teams have strong frontrunners that won their region—in this case, it was super sophomore Cassie Vince crossing the line first at the Great Lakes Regional Championship. Both won the team regional titles, too, despite identical 88 second gaps from first back to fifth. Both teams even have the same mascot, the Knights. That said, Vince beat Steinke by 15 seconds at the AAE Invitational, so expect Calvin to edge Carleton by just a bit at almost every position.
 
8. Williams
 
Runners-up in 2013, Williams will be hard-pressed to claim a fourth straight podium finish. Unlike all the other top ten contenders, Williams lacks a true frontrunner. They have gotten to see a lot of strong national competition, but have yet to knock off Middlebury, St. Lawrence, or MIT despite numerous opportunities. Though those losses make it unlikely that the Ephs can crack the top four, their depth will certainly propel them into the top ten. Sophomore Emma Zehner leads an all-underclassmen top five, and their 40 second gap at the New England Regional Championships was second-best amongst podium hopefuls.
 
7. Wash U
 
The Bears showed that they are more than just the Lucy Cheadle show after an impressive victory at the Midwest Regional Championships. Though Cheadle is the favorite to emerge with the individual victory, the AAE Invitational showed how important sophomore Sarah Curci is to the Bears’ success. Without her, they lost to Calvin and had a gap of over 2:15. With Curci back at UAA’s and regionals, that gap has almost halved and the Bears look formidable. Expect these women to redeem themselves after a disappointing 21st place finish last year. If everything goes well, they may even return to the podium for first time since winning it all in 2011.
 
6. Willamette
 
The Bearcats brought back their entire top seven after a twelfth place finish last year, but they have flown under the radar since losing to Calvin, Wash U, MIT, and Johns Hopkins at the AAE Invitational. Though they didn’t have to beat any top ten caliber teams in order to win the West Region, the results show a team that has made big strides since mid-season. The Bearcats’ 31 second gap at regionals was the smallest out of the other top ten contenders, and frontrunner Michaela Freeby is no slouch. In fact, the West Region runner-up finished eighth at last year’s national championship. If that gap stays low and Freeby runs to All-American honors, the Bearcats will bring a team trophy back to Salem.
 
5. Middlebury
 
Bolstered by transfer Adrian Walsh after a third-place team finish last year, the Panthers actually have five runners on their roster who would have scored a total of 189 points last year. Even without factoring in any improvement, that total would have been good enough for a podium finish. However, a lot can change in a year, and though All-American hopefuls Walsh, Alison Maxwell, and Summer Spillane have stepped up, the Panthers have struggled to find a dependable fifth runner. As a result, they find themselves on the very edge of podium contention going into the final weekend. 
 
4. St. Lawrence
 
The Saints started the season ranked 25th after losing four of their top seven to graduation. Newcomers Cassia Hameline—a senior hurdler—and Megan Kellogg have been revelations for St. Lawrence, and their 2-3 finish at the Atlantic Regional Championships propelled the Saints to a one-point victory over rival SUNY Geneseo. St. Lawrence also showed well at Paul Short against out-of-region powers: they beat Williams comfortably and their top four were competitive with Johns Hopkins’ main pack. Unfortunately, the Saints have been missing a fifth piece all year. Freshmen Carrie Pomainville and Ashley Leta have done their best, but the Saints will struggle in a field this size unless they close that gap.
 
3. SUNY Geneseo
 
Despite coming up just short last weekend against St. Lawrence, the Knights’ team is built for national success. Their victory at Pre-Nationals gives them confidence on the course, and their depth gives them the ability to survive an off day or two—they put seven runners in front of St. Lawrence’s fifth last weekend. Frontrunner Cassie Goodman has had quite the senior season, and she looks poised to lead the Knights onto the podium in the final race of Coach Mike Woods’ prestigious career.
 
2. MIT
 
The Engineers are the only team with the firepower to prevent Johns Hopkins from pulling off the three-peat, but they will need all five of their stars to put it together this Saturday. They gave the Blue Jays a good battle in the middle of the season at the AAE Invitational, and they have certainly improved at the front end since then. The resurgent Sarah Quinn led from gun to tape to win the regional title, but the most important piece of the puzzle is Nicole Zeinstra, the only Engineer to finish outside the top 10 in the dense New England region. If she can return to the middle of their pack, the Engineers just may pull off the upset, since the fast course favors their aggressive racing tactics. After losing a tiebreaker to keep them off the podium last year, the Engineers will be hungry to make amends.
 
1. Johns Hopkins
 
The Blue Jays are the back-to-back defending national champs, return five of their runners from nationals last year, and have not lost to a D3 team all year, so they should be considered the strong favorites to retain the team crown. The faces have rotated a bit this year, though Sophia Meehan has been a rock at the front of nearly every race. She and freshman Bridget Gottlieb went 1-2 at the Mideast Region as Johns Hopkins ran away with the team title. Though they were missing the stellar Ashley Murphy last weekend, All-Americans Frances Loeb and Hannah Oneda rejoined the top seven with fifth and nineteenth place performances, respectively. No matter who toes the line for them this Saturday, expect at least five top fifty finishes, and perhaps that many All-Americans.

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