Conference meets serve as appetizer for what's to come

By Adam Schneider of Dyestat

This weekend there were some deep conference meets. The Pac-12 Championship meet is probably the best and the Mountain West and Big Ten championships were also very good.

The Pac-12 Championships were hosted by Oregon this year and the Ducks had aspirations of winning the title, but it seems that heavy training (like last year) got in the way of top-ranked Oregon’s bid. The Ducks are focused on the national championship meet and across the board they did not run as fast as they did at the Bill Dellinger Invitational over the same course a month ago. Second-ranked Colorado controlled the race from the beginning and won by a 53-71 margin over Oregon and fifth-ranked Stanford (Oregon won the tiebreaker with more one-on-one victories). Sixteenth-ranked Washington was fourth with 128, Cal was fifth with 132 and Utah was sixth with 146.

The top seven individuals in the Pac-12 final were strong enough to be in the top 12 at the NCAA meet. Junior Dani Jones (18:57.3) of Colorado beat Oregon’s Katie Rainsberger (18:58.5), defending champion senior Amy-Elise Neale of Washington, seniors Vanessa Fraser (19:02.6) of Stanford and Grayson Murphy (19:03.8) of Utah, freshman Lilli Burdon (19:07.8) of Oregon, and sophomore Fiona O’Keeffe (19:08.5) of Stanford. After the meet, Neale commented that she is in better shape this year, but the competition is so much stronger this year.

Second-ranked New Mexico dominated the Mountain West Championship with a 22-50 victory over ninth-ranked Boise State, with 10th-ranked Utah State third with 73 points. New Mexico took the first three spots led by NCAA favorite sophomore Ednah Kurgat (19:58.77), freshman Weini Kelati (20:11.63), and junior Charlotte Prouse (20:14.67). Sophomore Allie Ostrander of Boise State (20:27.83), the 2015 NCAA runner-up, was fourth.

The Big Ten Championship meet has regularly had one of the top teams in the country. Each year since 2012 the conference has produced a top six team at the NCAA Division 1 final (Michigan State won in 2014). Seventh-ranked Michigan has had recent NCAA success (second last year) and won its second consecutive title. The Wolverines prevailed by a 55-86 margin over 13th-ranked Minnesota. They were followed by 18th-ranked Wisconsin (100), 19th-ranked Penn State (107) and 20th-ranked Michigan State (119). Indiana Junior Katherine Receveur won the individual title (20:10.3).

Top Regional Teams at D1 Regionals:

Nov. 10 Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama and Mississippi State at NCAA D1 South Regional

Nov. 10 North Carolina State, Furman, Eastern Kentucky, and Virginia Tech at NCAA D1 Southeast Regional at Charlottesville, Virginia

Nov. 10 Providence, Columbia, Dartmouth and Syracuse at Northeast Regional at Buffalo, New York.

Nov. 10 Villanova, Penn State, Georgetown, and Princeton at NCAA D1 Mid-Atlantic Regional at Bethlehem, Pennsylvania

Nov. 10 Michigan, Michigan State, Wisconsin, Eastern Michigan, Ohio State and Indiana at NCAA D1 Great Lakes Regional at Terre Haute, Indiana

Nov. 10 Iowa State, Oklahoma State, Minnesota, Kansas and Missouri at NCAA D1 Midwest Regional at Ames, Iowa

Nov. 10 Arkansas, Abilene Christian, Texas, and Baylor at NCAA D1 South Central Regional at College Station, Texas

Nov. 10 Colorado, New Mexico, Utah State, BYU, Northern Arizona, Utah, Air Force, and Colorado State at NCAA D1 Mountain Regional at Logan, Utah

Nov. 10 Oregon, Stanford, San Francisco, Boise State, Washington, Cal, and UCLA at NCAA D1 West Regional at Seattle, Washington

Top 20 (last week’s ranking) - Conference Results

1. Oregon (1) - 2nd Pac-12 Championships

2. Colorado (3) - 1st Pac-12 Championships

3. New Mexico (2) - 1st Mt. West Championships

4. San Francisco (4) - 1st WCC Championships

5. Stanford (6) - 3rd Pac-12 Championships

6. North Carolina State (7) - 1st ACC Championships

7. Michigan (5) - 1st Big Ten Championships

8. Arkansas (8) - 1st SEC Championships

9. Boise State (9) - 2nd Mt. West Championships

10. Utah State (10) - 3rd Mt. West Championships

11. BYU (15) - 2nd WCC Championships

12. Providence (11) - 2nd Big East Championships

13. Minnesota (17) - 2nd Big Ten Championships

14. Villanova (NR) - 1st Big East Championships

15. Furman (14) - 1st Southern Championships

16. Washington (13) - 4th Pac-12 Championships

17. Iowa State (16) - 1st Big 12 Championships

18. Wisconsin (12) - 3rd Big Ten Championships

19. Penn State (NR) - 4th Big Ten Championships

20. Michigan State (19) - 5th Big Ten Championships

Who to watch: Eastern Kentucky, Georgia, Cal, Utah, Portland, Oklahoma State, Texas, Indiana, Georgetown, Eastern Michigan, Air Force, Columbia, Northern Arizona, Dartmouth