So, the 1st race in Terra Haute is starting in ~35 minutes, and will be the 1st chance this year to see the Buffs highly ranked cross country teams going against serious competition, and kicks off the "meat" of their one month plus schedule this year. (After this race, the Pac 12 championships are taking place in a couple weeks or so (in Oakland CA), followed by the NCAA Regionals a couple weeks after that (Albuquerque), and then hopefully a return trip to Terra Haute for the NCAA championships on November 22[SUP]nd[/SUP].)
A few notes about this race:
1) Per the above- linked cubuffs article, the women's 6K race will be starting 11 ET (9:00 mountain time (MT)), with the men following at 11:35 ET (9:35 MT). A detailed preview of the favorites by letsrun.com can be found here-
http://www.letsrun.com/news/2014/10...1-michigan-women-vs-3-oregon-vs-4-georgetown/ .
2) I’m sure cubuffs.com will come through with an article after the races are over. I’ll also write something if I see anything of interest, and mainly link to any other articles or interviews I can find.
3) Unfortunately, the only video coverage of the races I can find is via Flotrack.com Pro, so unless you have a premium subscription with them, I don’t believe video is an option. (I think it's like $20 a month, or $150 a year, so assume a person would need to be a HARDCORE runner and/ or have money to burn to make the investment.)
4) If you want to follow the Buffs while the race is on without video, I’d guess probably the next best options might be through twitter, with either https://NOPE/Flotrack or https://NOPE/cubuffstrack hopefully providing updates. Another possible option is the Letsrun forum. Although that forum often goes "off the rails", and I wouldn't recommend it for much exploration- it's usually safe to follow during a race, and does have many hardcore runners who will probably be updating times, places and so forth. It looks like the Letsrun thread currently set up for this race is
http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=6064233 .
5) So, who’s competing? This is a BIG race with I believe ~80 men’s and women’s teams. For the Buffs Nationally #1 ranked men’s team, the main competition will probably be from the #2 ranked Oregon Duckies, who also have the heavy favorite to win the individual crown in last year’s NCAA winner Edward Cheserek. On the women’s side, the #7 ranked Buffs will need to pull an upset to beat the three teams ranked above them- #1 Michigan, #3 Oregon and #4 Georgetown. (There are two big meets this weekend, both of which get their share of top teams. In addition to the Pre-Nationals, there was also a big race yesterday held in Wisconsin.)
6) So, what does this race mean to the Buffs? From what I can tell, it’s mainly to help Coach Wetmore decide who might run in later races, see how they’re really doing compared to other top teams, to gain confidence and get some bragging rights over other teams, and just to get some more experience in big crowded fields. It also lets the Buffs get a little feel for what the NCAA finals will be like, as it’s being held in the same location. This race is more important to conceived “bubble” teams, as beating other teams ranked above them helps “build their resumes” for an at-large bid for the NCAA Championships when the NCAA selection committee meets after the regional races. Since both Buff teams are #1 ranked in their region, they will hopefully finish in the top 3 at their regional races in 4 weeks and so earn automatic berths to the NCAA championships.
Flotrack @Flotrack · 48m48 minutes ago
OregonT&F @OregonTF · 3m3 minutes ago
Colorado Track & XC @CUBuffsTrack · 2m2 minutes ago
