Track and Field Blogs - Justin Kopunek

Men's South Central Regional – 2009 Ranked Teams: Arkansas #22, Texas Others Receiving Votes

2008 Automatic Qualifying Teams: Texas A&M, Arkansas 2008 At-Large Teams: None 2008 Individual Champion: Shadrack Songok, Texas A&M

Team Outlook in 2009: The South Central Region is by far the weakest region for men’s teams this year. Not surprisingly, many teams in this region are strong in track & field, but less scholarship money seems to be focused on distance runners in this region. There is only one top 30 ranked team in the South Central and it is Arkansas at #22. The Razorbacks have qualified for nationals every year from 1974-2008 and this year should not break the 35 year streak. At the SEC Championships, Arkansas placed second, only 5 points behind the NCAA #6 ranked Alabama team. This Arkansas squad is one that could significantly surpass their ranking, especially if Eric Fernandez returns. He was the Razorback’s #2 last fall in his freshman season where he placed 7th at regionals. Texas should pick up the second automatic spot to NCAAs, despite not being ranked in the top 30 nationally. They finished 5th at the Big 12 Champs, one spot ahead of Texas A&M. The Aggies will make a push for a top-2 spot at regionals, because getting an at-large bid will be tough out of this region. Texas A&M did beat Auburn at the Wisconsin adidas Invite, which could provide them a point, but there are a lot of teams in other regions that seem to deserve a spot in Terre Haute more than a third from the South Central. Things could change after this weekend, however. Lamar just won the Southland Conference and appears to be the next best team in the region.

Individuals To Expect Up Front: Nine of last year’s top ten graduated, or have not been competing this season. The one who is remaining is Francis Kasagule of Lamar. He is not the individual favorite however, as the region gets World Championship Team USA member Dorian Ulrey. Ulrey did not compete for Arkansas last fall and has been leading his team, most recently with a runner-up finish in the SEC Champs. Kasagule won his conference meet, the Southland Conference, over Joshua Sawe and David Rooney of McNeese State and Mitch Ownbey of Stephen F. Austin. Lane Boyer of Arkansas is also a high returner after last years 11th place finish. He was 8th in the SEC last weekend, one spot ahead of freshman teammate Solomon Haile. Texas had a tight pack of 3 (Rory Tunningley, Habben Berhane, Brian Rhodes-Devey) finish right behind All-Americans Girma Mecheso and Jordan Kyle (who compete in other regions) at Big 12s. The Longhorns top runner earlier in the season, Brock Simmons, was off his usual performance level at the conference meet. Texas A&M’s Joe Sauvageau and Mitch Bible were both top 15 at regionals last year and Andrew Montes led the Aggies at Big 12s. Drew Bean of Lamar beat all the A&M guys at the Wisconsin adidas Invite.

What you may expect to see…

1. Arkansas 2. Texas 3. Texas A&M 4. Lamar 5. McNeese State 6. Stephen F. Austin

1. Ulrey (Arkansas) 2. Kasagule (Lamar) 3. Boyer (Arkansas) 4. Haile (Arkansas) 5. Tunningley (Texas) 6. Berhane (Texas) 7. Rhodes-Devey (Texas) 8. Sawe (McNeese) 9. Simmons (Texas) 10. Montes (Texas A&M) 11. Rooney (McNeese) 12. Elliot (Arkansas)

Men's Mountain Regional – 2009 Ranked Teams: NAU #4, Colorado #5, New Mexico #12, BYU #14, UTEP & Utah State Others Receiving Votes

2008 Automatic Qualifying Teams: Colorado, NAU 2008 At-Large Teams: BYU 2008 Individual Champion: David McNeill, NAU

Team Outlook in 2009: The Mountain Region has one of the most intriguing team races as these teams have been flip-flopping in the rankings all season. Two teams have set themselves apart as the favorites to get auto-bids, but which will be on topis unknown. NAU and Colorado both competed at Pre-Nats in separate races with Colorado’s 2nd place finish being the more impressive team performance. The results were skewed, however, as NAU’s All-American David McNeill finished way back with a cramp. Colorado’s All-Americans Kenyon Neuman and Jordan Kyle were further back than expected, as well. When McNeill showed he was back at top form, leading his team to a Big Sky Title with an impressive win, NAU jumped back ahead of Colorado in the rankings. Just as good as a race will be between New Mexico and BYU. The latter started off the season beating the defending national champs at home in the Bill Dillinger Invite. They followed that up by beating New Mexico by over 100 points at Pre-Nationals. The Lobos were not finished, though, coming back with their best team performance of the season to upset BYU at the Mountain West Conference Championships. They are both very good teams that should qualify at-large easily, but BYU will want to prove they are still the best team in the conference and New Mexico will want to prove that the MWC results were no fluke. UTEP is also a very good team out of this region. They recently won the Conference USA title by 1 point over Tulsa and they have an outside shot of getting an at-large spot in Terre Haute. If they can put together a great race at regionals and beat one of the top 4 teams, they will have their best chance at making nationals by getting pushed in. The same goes for the strong Utah State team that dominated the Western Athletic Conference Championships.

Individuals To Expect Up Front: This is a very competitive region this year individually. As listed above, McNeill, Neuman, and Kyle are each All-Americans. McNeill stuck with Galen Rupp longer than anyone else could in the NCAA 5,000m final last spring. He is also the defending Mountain Region Champ and was 15th in Terre Haute. Kyle finished 1 spot ahead of him in 14th there. Despite that fact, Kyle has not been leading his team this year. Neuman was the first Buffalo at Big 12s and Christian Thompson led them at Pre-Nats. Jordan Chipangama and Diego Estrada paced NAU at Pre-Nats with Ben Ashkettle close behind. New Mexico’s Jacob Kirwa narrowly beat BYU’s Miles Batty for the MWC individual crown. Behind them, their teammates alternated places in the 4-11 spots, with Chris Barnicle as the #2 for New Mexico and Rich Nelson for BYU. The #2 man for BYU during the regular season, Thomas Gruenewald, finished outside the team’s top-5 at WVC, but was 19th at Pre-Nats and will be key in the team’s final two races if he can replicate that performance. Third at WVC was Justin Tyner of Air Force. He will be a major favorite for an individual trip to NCAAs, along with All-American Nicodemus Ng’etich of UTEP. Ng’etich was runner-up at Conference USA with teammate Elkana Rotich six seconds back. Also vying for individual spots will be Summit League Champ Cameron Levins of Southern Utah, WAC Champ Brian McKenna and 3rd place finisher Daniel Howell of Utah State, and Gilbert Limo of Texas Tech. These people should all be up front, but it will be interesting to see if NAU or Colorado rest anyone since their spots at NCAAs are almost guaranteed.

What you may expect to see…

1. NAU 2. Colorado 3. BYU 4. New Mexico 5. UTEP 6. Utah State

1. McNeill (NAU) 2. Neuman (Colorado) 3. Chipangama (NAU) 4. Estrada (NAU) 5. Kirwa (New Mexico) 6. Batty (BYU) 7. Thompson (Colorado) 8. Ng’etich (UTEP) 9. Tyner (Air Force) 10. Gruenewald (BYU) 11. Medina (Colorado) 12. Barnicle (New Mexico)

Men's West Regional – 2009 Ranked Teams: Stanford #1, Oregon #3, Portland #7, Arizona State #13, Washington #17, Cal Poly & UCLA Others Receiving Votes

2008 Automatic Qualifying Teams: Oregon, Stanford 2008 At-Large Teams: Portland, Cal, Washington, UCLA, Cal Poly 2008 Individual Champion: Galen Rupp, Oregon

Team Outlook in 2009: The men’s West Region is the deepest in the NCAA. Seven teams made it out of the region last year and they will all want a return trip. Stanford is the NCAA #1 and for good reason. The Cardinal won Pre-Nationals with an impressively low 47 points and then stuck all 5 scorers in the top 11 in the most competitive conference in the country. Also winning a race at Pre-Nats, but 17 points back at Pac-10s was two-time defending NCAA Champions Oregon. Both teams are very good and will have no problems qualifying their teams. Because they are so good, either team could rest people at the regional meet. In fact, Stanford is so deep that their 8th man at Pac-10s would have been in every other team’s top-5 with the exception of Oregon. The rest of the Pac-10 is solid and the majority of teams should he in the hunt for at-large bids to nationals. Arizona State leads that group and they should be one of the first non-auto teams to qualify for NCAAs. Just behind them is Washington, who made a statement early in the season by winning Notre Dame (read more about ASU here and UW here). After them, UCLA and Cal Poly have decent shots of making it to Terre Haute. If either can jump past ASU or Washington at regionals, they should be pushed in easily. Cal Poly just won the Big West Conference title rather easily. Washington State beat some good teams at Pre-Nats (including Cal Poly) and has an outside shot at qualifying. They will need to place ahead of some of these other teams at regionals. Outside of the Pac-10 (and Cal Poly), Portland is the only team that seems like a lock to qualify, barring they don’t fall apart this weekend. The Pilots have the advantage of running in the less competitive West Coast Conference and they rested most of their varsity team and still won handily. They should be ready to earn a trip to Terre Haute for the fifth straight year and this seems like the team that has the most realistic shot of grabbing a top-2 spot from Oregon.

Individuals To Expect Up Front: There is a ton of individual talent in the West Region. If Stanford and Oregon do not sit out anyone from their varsity squads, you will see a lot of Cardinals and Ducks up front. Stanford sophomore Chris Derrick is undefeated and is a favorite to take the NCAA individual title. He has beaten the NCAA’s best distance runners head-to-head already; Sam Chelanga (Liberty) at Pre-Nats and Brandon Bethke (Arizona State) and Luke Puskedra (Oregon) at Pac-10s. Both Bethke and Puskedra will be contending for top regional honors with Derrick. Stanford’s #2 Elliott Heath has only been beaten at major meats this season by Derrick, Chelanga, and Bethke. If you can only be beaten by sub-13:30 5k runners, you are certainly one of the best in the nation. The rest of the Cardinal's top 7 placed in the top-20 at Pac-10s, Jake Riley (6th), Justin Marpole-Bird (7th), Miles Unterreiner (11th), Brendan Gregg (12th), and Ben Johnson (19th). With no seniors on the team, this may be the start of a Stanford dynasty out west. Behind Puskedra, Oregon has All-American mid-distance guys Matt Centrowitz, Jordan McNamara, and AJ Acosta, as well as Kenny Klotz and twin brothers Danny and Diego Mercado. Bethke is backed-up by ASU junior Ben Engelhardt. Washington is led by Kelly Spady, Colton Tully-Doyle, and Jake Schmitt and UCLA by Marco Anzures and Marlon Patterson. Portland has a solid group of four in veterans Alfred Kipchumba (18th at NCAAs last fall) and Tommy Betterbed and stellar freshmen Joash Osoro and Trevor Dunbar. Cal Poly’s Joe Gatel just won the Big West Championships with teammate Evan Anderson in 3rd. Julian deRubira of UC Santa Barbara and Chad Hall of UC Riverside were 2nd and 4th at that meet. Both will be hoping to grab individual bids to NCAAs. Washington State is led by Mark Moeller, Cal by Steve Sodaro, and Arizona by Mohamud Ige. All three were top-20 at Pac-10s and will also vie for an individual spot on the line in Terre Haute. One of only two individuals to qualify individually out of the West Region last year, Erick Garcia of Fresno State will certainly be looking to make a return trip. What it will come down to for these individuals is just how many teams end up qualifying out of the West.

What you may expect to see…

1. Stanford 2. Oregon 3. Portland 4. Arizona State 5. Washington 6. UCLA

1. Derrick (Stanford) 2. Bethke (Arizona St) 3. Puskedra (Oregon) 4. Heath (Stanford) 5. Kipchumba (Portland) 6. Centrowitz (Oregon) 7. Riley (Stanford) 8. Marpole-Bird (Stanford) 9. Mercado (Oregon) 10. Osoro (Portland) 11. Anzures (UCLA) 12. Spady (Washington)