Track and Field Blogs - Justin Kopunek

Women's Great Lakes Regional – 2009 Ranked Teams: Michigan #23, Michigan State #26, Notre Dame & Indiana Others Receiving Votes

2008 Automatic Qualifying Teams: Michigan, Wisconsin 2008 At-Large Teams: Michigan State, Notre Dame 2008 Individual Champion: Nicole Bush, Michigan State

Team Outlook in 2009: This region is a little weaker than usual with no teams ranked in the top 20, but there will be a good team battle between four teams that are closely matched. Michigan gets the ‘favorite’ role after edging out Michigan State at the Big Ten Championships by 15 points. The two teams were 4th and 5th at the meet and have certainly felt the effects of graduation this year. Indiana was back another 24 points and will hope to close that gap up at regionals. The Hoosiers are a team that is currently just outside the 31 teams that will run at Terre Haute and will need to run well this weekend and beat some teams ranked ahead of them for a chance. The team just ahead of them is Notre Dame, who was 6th at the Big East Champs. The Fighting Irish ran well at Pre-Nats and their home meet, but they are not guaranteed an at-large bid by any means. They will certainly be making a push for an auto-spot. At Pre-Nats, Notre Dame and Michigan State ran in separate races. If you compare the two teams times as if they ran a dual meet, the Fighting Irish come out with a 27-28 victory. That outcome might change in a larger race, however. Ohio State was only 3 points back from Indiana at the Big Ten meet, so they are more than capable of being in up in the top 4. Wisconsin, who made the trip to NCAAs 16 of the past 20 years including each of the last 4, is experiencing a down year and it does not look like they will be making a repeat trip.

Individuals To Expect Up Front: Indiana senior Wendi Robinson is the top returner in the region and is running well this season, but she was beaten by a few steps at Big Tens by Kaitlyn Peale of Michigan. Right behind them was Michigan State’s top runner, Emily MacLeod. All three schools have strong runners in the second spot, as well. Indiana’s Sarah Pease was 8th in the Big Ten, Michigan State’s Carlie Green was 15th, and Michigan’s Kaitlyn Patterson was 19th. Notre Dame senior Lindsey Ferguson has been running well all fall and was most recently 10th at the Big East Champs. Marissa Treece was 14th at regionals last year for Norte Dame, but was way off that performance at Big East where she was the team’s seventh runner. Getting near that performance will be critical to the team’s chance of making NCAAs. Wisconsin’s #1 Caitlin Comfort was also 10th at her conference meet, The Big Ten and Ohio State’s Jordan Jennewine was only two spots back. Freshman Camille Bushcomb of Purdue showed at the Big Ten meet that she can run with the top girls in the region. Ari Fisher of Toledo is fresh off an individual win at the MAC Championship and can certainly be a factor in the individual race this weekend. She finished 12 seconds ahead of the runner-up, Alexandra Lizarribar of Kent State. Lauren McKillop of Butler is also coming off of a conference victory. She took the Horizon League crown with teammate Katie Clark by her side for second. The two are freshmen.

What you may expect to see…

1. Michigan 2. Notre Dame 3. Michigan State 4. Indiana 5. Ohio State 6. Miami (Ohio)

1. Peale (Michigan) 2. Robinson (Indiana) 3. MacLeod (Michigan St) 4. Ferguson (Notre Dame) 5. Pease (Indiana) 6. Comfort (Wisconsin) 7. Jennewine (Ohio St) 8. Green (Michigan St) 9. Clark (Butler) 10. Bushcomb (Purdue) 11. Fisher (Toledo) 12. Patterson (Michigan)

Women's Midwest Regional – 2009 Ranked Teams: Illinois #13, Minnesota #17, Iowa State #18, Iowa #30, Nebraska Others Receiving Votes

2008 Automatic Qualifying Teams: Minnesota, Illinois 2008 At-Large Teams: Nebraska, Iowa 2008 Individual Champion: Racheal Marchand, Iowa

Team Outlook in 2009: The top two ranked teams in this region were involved in a tightly contested Big Ten team battle last weekend. Finishing in 2nd and 3rd, only 3 points separated Illinois and Minnesota with the former coming out on top. The same happened at Pre-Nats with Illinois beating out Minnesota by a mere 8 points. Either team could end up taking this region. The Illini have a better top 4, but their 5th girl closing the gap is the difference between this being a good team and a great team. Minnesota has a deeper team, getting 9 in front of Illinois’ #5 at Big Tens. The Iowa women were back with a solid 6th place showing at that meet. The other highly ranked teams in the region finished 3-4-5-6 at the Big 12 Championships. Iowa State took third behind very good Texas Tech and Colorado teams. At Pre-Nats, Iowa State placed one spot ahead of Iowa suggesting they are the reasonable pick for third in the Midwest. They ran well at Griak, even beating Minnesota, so they are guaranteed an at-large point if Minnesota beats them out for the second spot this weekend. After Iowa State at Big 12s were Nebraska, Kansas, and Kansas State. These teams finished closely and could easily switch orders at regionals, but it appears the only way they will be making it to Terre Haute is if they come up big and place in the top 4.

Individuals To Expect Up Front: This region features quite a few stellar ladies up front. Leading the field is last spring’s NCAA 5,000m Champion Angela Bizzarri of Illinois. Close behind her at Big 12s was Minnesota’s All-American Megan Duwell. Both of these women are very strong runners and will be up near the front in Terre Haute. They will also be racing Iowa State’s Lisa Koll who ran the fastest 10,000m by an American in NCAA history a year and a half ago. Steeplechase All-American Beverly Ramos of Kansas State is one of the best in this region, as well. She beat Koll at Pre-Nats, but 7 seconds back at their conference meet. Close behind Ramos, K-State has a Sydney Messick who was top 20 at both Pre-Nats and Big-12s. The best #2 runner is probably Illinois sophomore Kristin Sutherland who is having a breakthrough season. She placed 7th in a competitive Big Ten Championship. Not far back were Illinois #3 & #4 Elizabeth Boyle and Chantelle Groenewoud in 11th and 13th. Iowa State also had a solid pack of three behind their front runner, Koll, at their conference meet; Betsy Saina (17th), Grace Kemmey (18th) and Aliphine Tuliamuck (20th). Minnesota has the strongest across 5 runners with Duwell, Kayla Wagner, Stephanie Price, Heather Dorniden, and Elizabeth Yetzer all placing in the top 25 in the Big Ten. During the season, Brooke Eilers had been Iowa’s top finisher, placing 29th at Pre-Nats, but she was their 4th girl at Big Ten with Besty Flood taking the reins. Nebraska is led by Lara Crofford and Rachel Carrizales, who were 7-8 at regionals last year. Mihaela Susa of Oklahoma State is also one of the top returners after finishing 11th last year. Last year’s third place finisher Pasca Cheruiyot has transferred to Florida State, Leaving sophomore Terry Phillips to lead Missouri State. She has done a good job this season winning the MVC Champs and placing 12th at the Chili Pepper Festival. One spot ahead of her in that race was Katie Vanatta of Missouri. One place ahead of Vanatta at the Big 12 meet was Lauren Bonds of Kansas in 10th.

What you may expect to see…

1. Illinois 2. Minnesota 3. Iowa State 4. Iowa 5. Nebraska 6. Kansas

1. Bizzarri (Illinois) 2. Koll (Iowa St) 3. Duwell (Minnesota) 4. Ramos (Kansas St) 5. Sutherland (Illinois) 6. Bonds (Kansas) 7. Vanatta (Missouri) 8. Phillips (Missouri St) 9. Boyle (Illinois) 10. Messick (Kansas St) 11. Crawford (Nebraska) 12. Groenewoud (Illinois)

Women's South Regional – 2009 Ranked Teams: Florida #3, Florida State #9, Tennessee #29

2008 Automatic Qualifying Teams: Florida State, Florida 2008 At-Large Teams: None 2008 Individual Champion: Hollie Knight, Auburn

Team Outlook in 2009: The previous 3 years the Sunshine State has dominated this region and 2009 should continue the trend. There is one difference, however. Now Florida looks primed to take top honors as Florida State is expected to grab the second auto-qualifying spot. Both teams made it back to NCAAs in 2006 after a brief hiatus. FSU quickly jumped to the podium in Terre Haute in both 2007 and 2008, while the Gators could not get out of the teens. This year Florida is ranked 3rd in the nation and will look to get on the podium for the first time in program history (11th is the Florida’s highest finish). It is a very competitive year and it will not be an easy. The truth is they may not even be the best team in the region. They both won their conference meets by a wide margin and each placed second in their race at Pre-Nationals. If you merge their results from their Pre-Nats races into a dual meet, Florida wins by 1 point, 27-28. In a larger meet, however, FSU’s Susan Kuijken should be able to score as low as 2 points which has a much bigger impact than in dual meet type races. Because this regional is really just a formality for these two strong teams, we may not see how these two squads match-up until Terre Haute. Either team could rest girls, or run at a reduced effort and still qualify through. The team that will be fighting to get to nationals at the South Regional is Tennessee. They Lady Vols are right on the cusp of an at-large bid it looks like. They beat Arkansas at the SEC meet and the Razorback’s are picked to qualify automatically out of the South Central region. Tennessee may get lucky and if they run really well they could slip in front of one of the Florida teams if they are resting for NCAAs. It is unlikely, but not out of the question. Georgia, Alabama, Vanderbilt, and Auburn, the next best teams in the South, were all well behind Tennessee at the SEC Champs and do not look to have the fire-power to make a run at an NCAA bid.

Individuals To Expect Up Front: Kuijken is hands down the best runner in this region (and one of the best in the country). She was second in Terre Haute last November and has won NCAA titles on the track at 3,000m and 1,5000m. Kuijken may not win this race, however. At last year’s South Regional she ran a controlled race, pacing teammate Pilar McShine and placed third. She did the same thing at Pre-Nationals this fall. In an all out effort, Kuijken, McShine, and transfer Pasca Cheruiyot (mentioned in the Midwest section above) are all capable of placing top 5 in this region. Auburn’s Hollie Knight is a very good runner. She won the region last year and was 11th at NCAAs, but has not shown that form this season. She was 6th at the SEC meet, behind five girls who run in the South Region. Going 1-2 at the SEC meet was Florida’s much improved pair of sophomore Rebecca Lowe and junior Charlotte Browning. Not too far off were teammates Stacey Johnson and Genevieve LaCaze in 5th and 7th. Tennessee’s Jackie Areson was third, while Georgia’s Kristie Krueger was fourth. Areson was an individual qualifier to NCAAs last fall. Auburn has a strong #2 in Stephanie Barnes who recently finished 8th in the SEC. The #2 runners for Georgia (Bridget Lyons) and Tennessee (Brittany Sheffey) were 11-12 in the SEC, respectively. Last year, Alabama freshman Sara Vaughn placed 7th in the South earning an individual NCAA spot, but she has not been at that level during her sophomore campaign. Instead, Alabama has had fellow sophomore Kelsey Johnson up front. Leading their teams this year as top-15 finishers from last year are Vanderbilt’s Rita Jorgensen and Georgia State’s Janel Blancett.

What you may expect to see…

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

1. Kuijken (Florida St) 2. Lowe (Florida) 3. Browning (Florida) 4. Cheruiyot (Florida St) 5. McShine (Florida St) 6. Areson (Tennessee) 7. Krueger (Georgia) 8. Johnson (Florida) 9. Knight (Auburn) 10. LaCaze (Florida) 11. Barnes (Auburn) 12. Northrup (Florida)