Pre-Nats always gives us a good indication of just how good the teams and individuals we have been seeing run great all over the country compare on the same course on the same day. We also got a better idea of how the top freshmen stack up against each other. On the women's side, one put her name out there as not only the best freshman so far, but one of the best in the NCAA. Griak champ and NC State Frosh Laure Hoer proved she is the real deal, placing fourth in Women's White Race. Her time of 20:13 for the 6k course is stellar and 10 seconds faster than Oregon's Jordan Hasay ran last year at the NCAA Championships when she placed 18th. In the process she also beat pre-season top freshman Emily Sisson who placed 15th in the race, certainly not a bad showing for her first go at Terre Haute. Expect Sisson to close that gap on Hoer, she usually progresses well throughout the season and raced long into the summer, capping it with a 15:48 US High School 5k Record. Other freshman in the top 30 in that race were Stanford's Jessica Tonn (19th - 20:53) and Georgetown's Madeline Chambers (29th - 21:01). In the Blue Race, Texas' Marielle Hall, a Dream Miler last spring, threw her name out there by leading the 5th place Longhorns, finishing in 20:41 for 17th. Also looking good making her debut as a Husky was Katie Flood. She was Washington's 2nd in 23rd with a 20:48. 

On the men's side, no clear front runner emerged. The fastest frosh of the day was Stanford's Erik Olson, running as the 7th man for the top team of the day. He was 53rd with a 24:28 in the Blue Race. Just 4 seconds back were UNC frosh Jake Hurysz and FSU frosh Jakub Zivec who ran identical times of 24:32.7 for 59th and 60th respectively. Ty McCormack of Clemson and Tyler Byrne of Louisville were only 6 more seconds back in 68th and 70th. In the White Race, Notre Dame's Martin Grady earned took top honors placing 61st in 24:40. The top freshman may have appeared to have been Eastern Kentucky's Soufiane Bouchikhi (9th 23:54), who is a frosh in terms out eligibility, but for the FloFrosh Award, you have to be fresh out of High School and Bouchikhi ran for Eastern Kentucky in track running 7:59 in the 3k and 14:01 in the 5k. The interesting thing this year on the men's side, with so many frosh so close together, is if all of the top frosh will even make the NCAA meet. Many are on teams that may, or may not make the championship and individual spots, with only 5 per region, are difficult to come by. Also, while Pre-Nats is a great indicator of where they stand right now, a lot can change by late November as many of these newcomers are still getting adjusted to college life and training. Last year, Hasay handily beat Allie McLaughlin at PreNats, placing 3rd to Buffalo frosh's 10th, but McLaughlin came out on top at NCAA's placing 5th and taking the FloFrosh Honors.

Believe it or not, there were other meets this weekend! At the Chili Pepper Invite, non of Oklahoma State's big-dog frosh ran for the Cowboys, most notably Matt McElroy. He did suggest at the Jamboree that he would not be racing again until Big 12s, so keep an eye out for that. Ok State frosh Shane Moskowitz did race, however, unattached for the second time this season. This suggests he will red-shirt the year, but is running well as he was the top frosh at the meet, beating Arkansas frosh Bryan Cantero by two spots. Cantero was 29th with a 30:52 on his 10k home-course. Also running at home were the Oregon freshmen. Parker Stinson was 11th (24:08) overall and the 5th Duck at Dellinger, which turned out to be essentially an Oregon/Wisconsin Dual. Fellow Duck Frosh Brian Shrader was 33rd in 25:00. Wisconsin freshman Alex Hatz did not run for the Badgers for the second time making it safe to assume he will red-shirt this season. On the Women's side, Oregon's Sarah Andrews ran unnattached, placing 12th, which suggests she will red-shirt this year, as well. At Penn State, Villanova freshman Emily Lipari had a great day placing 8th overall (21:00). She was the 4th Wildcat, to help the #1 ranked team to victory. At UVA's Panorama Farms, Wake Forest's Nicole Irving was the top female freshman in 9th (21:27). On the men's side, UVA frosh Colin Mearns, Drew Paisley, and Chris Foley finished 24-25-26. Mearns ran unattached.

Vote Below for who you think will be the top male and female freshmen by the end of the season.