Track and Field Blogs - Justin Kopunek

Men's Great Lakes Regional – 2009 Ranked Teams: Wisconsin #10, Butler #26, Ohio State #28, Indiana Others Receiving Votes

2008 Automatic Qualifying Teams: Wisconsin, Michigan 2008 At-Large Teams: Butler, Notre Dame 2008 Individual Champion: Patrick Smyth, Notre Dame

Team Outlook in 2009: Last weekend Wisconsin finally put all the pieces together at the Big Ten Champs and ran like a team that has been in the top 5 at NCAAs every year for the past ten years. They scored an impressively low 26 points, sticking all their scorers in the top 8 and their entire top 7 in the top 16. The next closest to them in team scoring was Ohio State with 91 points. Being that the Buckeyes are the third ranked team in the region, the Big Ten meet suggests Wisconsin should be qualifying to nationals relatively easily. The Badgers seem to be well ahead of the second ranked team, Butler, as well. Coming off a perfect 15 score at the Horizon League Championships, Butler will be a good match against Ohio State for the final auto-spot. Butler did not have the best race at Pre-Nationals, so they would have a tough time qualifying through with points. The Great Lakes Region is relatively weak this year with Michigan and Notre Dame having not as strong as they have been in the past and it seems likely will only get two teams in. Indiana may be the best shot for an at-large team from the region. They had a big win at Paul Short, beating Iona and N.C. State, which could earn them 2 much needed points. This Indiana team is good and I would not count them out of the race for an auto-spot either. You can read more about the Indiana team here.

Individuals To Expect Up Front: Butler’s Andy Baker is not only the top returner behind last year’s runner-up finish, but he has also been one of the top runners in the NCAA this season. He was 3rd at Notre Dame and 2nd at Pre-Nats. You can expect that all of Wisconsin’s runners will be in the lead pack. At Big Tens they were lead by underclassmen Elliot Krause, Maverick Darling, and Mohammed Ahmed, followed closely by All-Americans Craig Miller and Landon Peacock. Ohio State has an All-American of its own up front in Jeff See with sophomore Taylor Williams heading up the team’s main pack. Indiana is led by two underclassmen, Freshman Zach Mayhew and sophomore Andrew Poore, both of whom were top 10 in the Big Ten. Michigan’s Sean McNamara was 10th in the region last year, but way back in 23rd at the Big Ten Champs. They were led by freshman Brendon Blacklaws led the Wolverines at that meet. Notre Dame is led by senior Jake Walker and Michigan State by sophomore Josh McAlary. Third in the region last year, Chris Lemon of Dayton will be looking to make another trip to Terre Haute this year. He recently won the Atlantic 10 Championships and his brother Matt Lemon also earned an individual NCAA bid last fall. Scott Keeney of Indiana State gave the Sycamores representation on their home course at Terre Haute last November. This year, ISU has 3 other runners Eric Shultz, Jeremiah Vaughan, and Mike Disher, right with Keeney. If they will be able to get any an individual bid may come down to whether more than 2 teams qualify out of this region or not. Kent State’s top runners were right in the mix with Wisconsin’s early in the season at the Iona Meet of Champs. Scott Hilditch was their top runner at that meet and Aiman Scullion was the MAC individual champ for Kent State. Eric Finan of Cincinnati was the top collegiate finisher at the Iona Meet of Champs and could be up towards the front at regionals.

What you may expect to see…

1. Wisconsin 2. Butler 3. Ohio State 4. Indiana 5. Michigan 6. Dayton

1. Baker (Butler) 2. Krause (Wisconsin) 3. See (Ohio State) 4. C. Lemon (Dayton) 5. Darling (Wisconsin) 6. Ahmed (Wisconsin) 7. Mayhew (Indiana) 8. Peacock (Wisconsin) 9. Miller (Wisconsin) 10. Poore (Indiana) 11. Finan (Cincinnati) 12. Scullion (Kent State)

Men's Midwest Regional – 2009 Ranked Teams: Oklahoma State #2, Oklahoma #18, Iowa State #27, Minnesota #29, Tulsa Others Receiving Votes

2008 Automatic Qualifying Teams: Oklahoma State, Minnesota 2008 At-Large Teams: Tulsa, Iowa State 2008 Individual Champion: Hassan Mead, Minnesota

Team Outlook in 2009: NCAA #2 Oklahoma State should comfortably win this race once again. The only question on this team is if they will run their entire varsity squad, or let a few guys take the day off. Also, will the guys who do race at regionals run as a pack, or go all out. Last year their top 4 ran within a second of each other at the meet and they rested a few members. Oklahoma appears to be the top pick for that second auto-spot. They recently finished a strong 3rd at the Big 12 meet, not far off a very good Colorado team. They also beat Iowa State comfortably, which should give them confidence going in to the regional meet. Iowa State is by no means out of the running for that second spot, this is a very good Iowa State team that could slip into the top two if Oklahoma falters at all. Other teams making the push for Terre Haute are Minnesota and Tulsa. Both of these teams are right on the cusp of an at-large bid right now. If they land in the 3-5 spots, a trip to NCAAs is certainly a possibility. If either team is able to get into that third spot, they will likely be pushed in by the team they finished ahead of (most likely Iowa State). Tulsa recently finished in 2nd by 1 point to UTEP at the Conference USA Championships and Minnesota was 3rd at the Big Ten Champs, only 6 points out of second.

Individuals To Expect Up Front: Again, this rests on who from Oklahoma State runs and how hard. In an all out effort, everyone in their top 4 (John Kosgei, Ryan Vail, Colby Lowe, German Fernandez) is capable of winning with their fifth man (Girma Mecheso) not far off. They have mostly run as a pack so far this year making it difficult to tell just how good the Cowboys are individually and where they stack up against each other. We may not find out until NCAAs. All-American Hassan Mead is the defending regional champ and just won the Big Ten title making him the most likely to keep Ok State from going 1-4. Also capable of breaking up the Cowboy’s pack is Tulsa senior John Beattie. Last year he was 29th at Terre Haute and 10th in the 10k at NCAAs on the track. He is fresh off a Conference USA individual win and was top-10 at Notre Dame (5th) and Pre-Nats (7th) this season. Both Iowa State and Oklahoma are lead by strong trios this year. Iowa St by Guar Marial, Hillary Bor, and Yonas Mebrahtu and Oklahoma by Kevin Schwab, Bill Kogel, and Robert Sorrell. Tulsa and Minnesota also have two solid runners behind their stud. Backing up Beattie is Lewis Timmins and Mark Davidson. Timmins was 20th at Pre-Nationals this year and Davidson was 10th at regionals last year. Behind Mead are Matt Barrett and Ben Blakenship. Barrett was 9th at Big Tens and Blankenship was 12th last year at regionals. Southern Illinois senior Jeff Schirmer finally began rounding into form at the MVC Champs after a shaky beginning of the season. He was 25th at NCAAs last fall, but the team had been led by Mohamed Mohamed until the conference championship. Jonah Lagat of Oral Roberts is a returning individual qualifier, as is Jesse Luciano of Iowa. Luciano finished just outside All-American at NCAAs last year in 43rd and was only his team’s second man for most of the season. Iowa freshman Jeff Thode may be one of the best true freshman in the NCAA this year, he just need to qualify individual to the Terre Haute to prove it, his conference meet was not his best effort and the long college season may be taking its toll on the freshman.

What you may expect to see…

1. Oklahoma State 2. Oklahoma 3. Iowa State 4. Minnesota 5. Tulsa 6. Southern Illinois

1. Mead (Minnesota) 2. Beattie (Tulsa) 3. Kosgei (Oklahoma St) 4. Vail (Oklahoma St) 5. Fernandez (Oklahoma St) 6. Lowe (Oklahoma St) 7. Marial (Iowa St) 8. Schwab (Oklahoma) 9. Blankenship (Minnesota) 10. Thode (Iowa) 11. Timmins (Tulsa) 12. Bor (Iowa St)

Men's South Regional – 2009 Ranked Teams: Alabama #6, Florida State#21, Auburn #25

2008 Automatic Qualifying Teams: Alabama, Auburn 2008 At-Large Teams: Florida State 2008 Individual Champion: Felix Kibioywo, Auburn

Team Outlook in 2009: This Alabama team is very good and is certainly the class of the field in the South Region. They have solid front runners and a great depth. At the SEC Championships they had only a 30 second spread from 1-6 to ensure the team title. They had a similar spread at Pre-Nats to place them a strong 2nd behind the defending NCAA Champion Ducks. Up front, Auburn is a better team than any other team in the region. In fact, they have one of the best top three runners in the country and a very good fourth runner. Like last year, Auburn’s problem is the back end of the scoring being too far back. Imagine is Girma Mecheso had not transferred this year; Auburn would be quite a formidable team. They key to getting an auto-bid is their fifth runner. Standing in their way is Florida State. The Seminoles had their best team race of the year so far at the ACC Champs, finishing 3rd, only 1 point behind Virginia. They are not as strong as Auburn up front, but the back end of their scoring is stronger. Their fifth man is actually Foot Locker Champ Mike Fout who is regaining his fitness and has been closing the gap on the rest of his team throughout the season. The best shot for the South Region to get 3 teams to Terre Haute seems to be for Florida State to beat Auburn at Regionals. This season, Auburn has beaten more teams that are ranked top-2 in their respective regions which would give them at-large points that FSU may be lacking if the finish third this weekend. The nest three teams in the region, Florida, Georgia, and Tennessee showed they were pretty closely matched at the SEC meet, but there is a big gap between these three and the top three South Region teams.

Individuals To Expect Up Front: The 2006 South Regional Champ Barnabas Kirui of Ole Miss is back and looks primed to reclaim the title. The 2007 NCAA Steeplechase Champ has not been the most present talent over the past couple of year, but do not overlook this talent who just won the SEC title. Auburn is led by last year’s regional champ Felix Kibioywo, Jean-Pierre Weerts, and Ben Cheruiyot who were 3-4-5 in the SEC. Trying to match them will be Alabama’s top 4; Moses Kiptoo, Tyson David, Fred Samoei, and Julius Bor. They were all top 15 at the SEC Champs and top 30 at Pre-Nats. Florida State is headed up by the contingent of Matt Leeder, Daniel Roberts, and Michigan transfer Ciaran O’Lionaird, fifth, ninth, and tenth respectively in the ACC. Florida is led by Justin Taylor and Anthony Morales. Morales led the team at Pre-Nats, while Taylor was in front at SECs taking 10th. Tennessee’s Michael Spooner was just a few ticks behind Taylor, good enough for 11th in the conference. An individual NCAA qualifier from last year, Micah Tirop of South Alabama is a threat to qualify again. He was 13th at Pre-Nationals and may not even be the top finisher from his team at regionals. Sophomore Zac Edwards led South Alabama at the Sun Belt Conference Championships by taking the individual crown. Middle Tennessee’s Festus Chemaoi was second in that race, but a significant 32 seconds back.

What you may expect to see…

1. Alabama 2. Florida State 3. Auburn 4. Florida 5. Georgia 6. Tennessee

1. Kirui (Ole Miss) 2. Kibioywo (Auburn) 3. Weerts (Auburn) 4. Cheruiyot (Auburn) 5. Leeder (Florida St) 6. Kiptoo (Alabama) 7. David (Alabama) 8. Taylor (Florida) 9. Spooner (Tennessee) 10. Edwards (South Alabama) 11. Samoei (Alabama) 12. Roberts (Florida St)