What’s to see in Division Three?

As the 2008 cross country season began it became apparent that there was a lack of D3 coverage on Flotrack. D1 meets and runners are covered semi regularly, and there was already a weekly article on D2, however the NCAA’s third division (which is also its largest) lacks any type of regular coverage. So I begin my quest to bring to you a recap of the previous weekend’s meets every week, and at least every other week an interview with one of the division’s top runners or coaches. My hope is that everyone can gain a little insight about what it means to be a D3 athlete, and if anyone has suggestion for how the article can be improved, or people I should interview, it will always be appreciated.

Now onto the good stuff. This past weekend offered up the first taste of the collegiate cross country season, with many teams across the country competing in their opening meets. There were rivalry dual meets, and early bird invites a plenty, but the divisions defending champions Amherst Women, and NYU men were idle, so it will be at least another week until they begin their respective title defenses.

Enough about last year, the USTFCCCA preseason rankings came out this past week and some familiar faces as well as some new ones are at the top. Here is how they look. 

 D3 Preseason Rankings

Both number ones were unanimous, as Amherst women look to defend their 2007 title and SUNY Cortland on the men's side, begins their quest for the 2008 National Title under a new coach. It is extremely unlikely that the final polls will look identical to these (I will set the odd at 500,000:1), so I am curious to know how everyone thinks the poll will look in November. If you have any guesses for at least the podium, feel free to post them below in the comments section.

Although only 5 teams from a region can qualify for nationals, which will take place in Hanover, Indiana, a few regions boast more than this number on the preseason national poll. The Midwest leads all regions with 13 total teams on the two polls, 7 on the men’s and 6 on the women’s followed closely by New England which boasts 6 teams on each, however keep in mind that while the poll includes 35 teams, the starting line in Hanover will only include 32. All 8 regions were represented on each poll, although the South only had one men’s team in the top 35, but will be granted at least 2 teams, via the automatic qualifying process (look to Emory just off the poll receiving votes). As for conferences well represented, the Wisconsin Public schools have 4 on each poll, while the University Athletic Association boasts 5 on the men’s and 3 on the women’s.

Now that the preseason stuff is out of the way, lets take a look at how the first weekend of the regular season went. Many of the top 35 were off, and many of the teams that did race, did not race their full squads, but lets look at what happened anyhow.

Women’s

The 6^th ranked Washington University Bears, hosted their early bird 4k meet finishing 5^th behind competition including Division 1 Marquette and their own Alumni Team. 

UAA foe Case Western Reserve University, ranked 10^th won their home invitational the Bill Sudeck invitational as they begin a new phase after the graduation of Multi-time All American/ 10,000 meter NCAA champion Esther Erb. Behind Case was 26^th ranked Oberlin College in second, and 35^th ranked Allegheny in third.

27^th Ranked Swarthmore finished second at the Delaware Valley College invite, behind d3 and Centennial Conference rival Ursinus College.

Kenyon College ranked 29^th, bested the field at the Wooster College Invite.

32^nd ranked Washington & Lee led the field at Virginia Wesleyan Blue Marlin Invite

A few other teams in the top 35 including TCNJ had intra-squad scrimmages or alumni meets, and if any other ranked teams competed and I missed them, my apologies, these are what were available on the school’s athletic department pages.

Men’s

Earning their highest ranking in program history the 5^th ranked Carnegie Mellon Tartans competed at the Duquesne Duals. Although official results have not been posted, CMU had to have acquired at least one loss, since the host Dukes went 8-0 according to their athletics website.

North Central ranked 7^th took second to Northwestern at the Bassett Creek Invite

10^th ranked Augustana took 9 of the top 10 spots en route to winning their home invitational on a 4-mile road course.

14^th ranked Allegheny finished second to 24^th ranked Case Western Reserve University at Case’s own Bill Sudeck Classic

16^th Ranked Heidlberg lost a close dual meet 28-27 to Tiffin College

Washington University ranked 23^rd finished fourth at their home early bird invite, finishing behind teams including division 1 Marquette and their own Alumni team.

Rounding out the ranked teams competing this past weekend, 29^th ranked Brandeis University took on their cross-town rival in division 2 Bentley College, defeating the Falcons 19-42 in this dual meet over a 5900-meter course.

Again if I missed any results I apologize.

Well that’s that for the first weekend in D3 XC for the 2008 season. Look out every week for this column on the latest in D3 news and results.  I hope you enjoyed, but feel free to let me know what I can do to improve the article for you. Also look out for the first interview after next weekend’s action.

Post a Comment

Enter Your Name

or Login Here

Please enter this code to post comment. Login to skip Captcha.

#22	Brian McDonald   September 6, 2008 at 5:00pm Dan you're really hot, can i have your number? reply
#21	!   September 6, 2008 at 12:36pm Keep it rockin, Dan reply
#20	Dan Suher   September 5, 2008 at 10:26am Hey, so this article was to kind of introduce the column. In the future articles I will try to recap the weekend with results, add some insight as to what the results mean in the big picture for each region and nationals, and At least every week I will feature an interview. My goal is to get an interview from every region by the time nationals comes around in November. I will not be able to travel out to every region, however I know Ryan does have interest in getting regional meets covered so stay tuned. reply
#19	Anonymous Coward   September 4, 2008 at 8:35pm yeah you should come visti the Midwest school, its the deepest region by far. All the UW schools are great, North Central is North Central, there the definition of a dynatsy. And then Augustana in Rock Island. Paul Olsen has been the coach there for over 40 years and was The National Coach of the Year last spring. reply
#18	Dan   September 4, 2008 at 7:21pm Great to see the coverage of D3 Cross Country! Keep an eye on one of the premier D3 teams in the nation – Calvin College in Grand Rapids, MI. With a tradition that boasts multiple D3 National Championships for both the men & the women’s teams, and a former Olympic Steeplechase Bronze medal winner (Brian Diemer) as coach, there will certainly be a story or two this year. reply
#17	Rockin   September 3, 2008 at 11:41pm I'm bettin on williams too! eau-claire schmo-bear! reply
#16	Go D3 Women!   September 3, 2008 at 8:46pm my money is on the williams women. who the heck does eau-claire have? reply
#15	Robert Kistner   September 3, 2008 at 12:46pm watch out for the womens and mens Penn State Altoona teams! reply
#14	Mike Higgins   September 3, 2008 at 12:40pm Central region is the second most talented region of runners behind the Midwest region in Division III. That would be awesome if someone covered the Central region race Nov. 15 in Grinnell, IA. reply
#13	Porcupine   September 3, 2008 at 11:32am As the season taked shape, be sure to keep your eye on Peter Kosgei of Hamilton College. He is the D3 National champion at the steeple and 5000. Finished 2nd at XC nats last year and ran a 8:43 steeple at Penn Relays. reply
#12	Verycool   September 3, 2008 at 6:33am Very excited to see some DIII action here! I ran DIII track back in the day and am always looking for coverage. I'm going to make a bold prediction and say that Amherst won't rise to the occasion on the women's side... I think Eau-Claire will nip them for the championship. Thanks for the article and coverage! reply
#11	Megan Vaccaro   September 2, 2008 at 9:47pm thanks for the DIII coverage, now i will be spending even more time on flotrack reply
#10	Anonymous Coward   September 2, 2008 at 8:55pm Yeah DIII XC! Loras College will be at Nats. reply
#9	Dan Suher   September 2, 2008 at 6:26pm I will admit I am more familiar with teams in the ME, A and NE, but the MW is always a power especially the Wisconsin schools so I will make to include as much about them as possible. reply
#8	Straub   September 2, 2008 at 6:24pm look at all the wisconsin teams! reply
#7	Dan Suher   September 2, 2008 at 10:42am Thanks guys, if you have any suggestions please post them here, next weeks article will include the first interview. If you have suggestions for future interviews you can post them here as well. Also how does everyone feel about the pre season rankings? Any predictions for individual winners? reply
#6	Tom Collins   September 2, 2008 at 10:22am "anonymous coward" - the name says it all nice article dan! reply
#5	Check The Facts   September 2, 2008 at 9:15am Perhaps before you make smart-ass comments like that, you should really look at the times posted at the top of division 3, and look to where athletes are going, such as Nick Symmonds (7th world indoor 800m), Will Leer (4th Olympic Trials 1500m), Andrew Rock (Gold Medalist 2004 Olympic 4x4) and there are more. reply
#4	Anonymous Coward   September 2, 2008 at 8:14am There is a lack of D3 coverage because no one is interested in slower athletes. reply
#3	Brandon Spalding   September 2, 2008 at 8:11am This is awesome. I'm looking foreword to more D3 coverage. reply
#2	Cara Hawkins   September 2, 2008 at 8:10am Hell yeah, A DIII column, I always felt bad about writing D2 without there being any D3 or NAIA coverage but one girl can only do so much..column looks like it is starting out great, if you need help with anything hit me up! reply
#1	Thanks   September 2, 2008 at 7:48am D3 coverage! woohooooo!!! reply