Roy Griak not the only big meet last weekend

By Adam Schneider of DyeStat

For a meet with so few teams, the Coast-to-Coast Battle in Beantown is one of the biggest meets every year. Indiana visited Franklin Park this year and they almost knocked off No. 12 Providence, being edged by the Friars by a 71-78 margin. It was a tight race with 17th-ranked Georgetown also scoring 78. Senior Elinor Purrier of New Hampshire dominated with a 14-second victory over a fellow All-American, Katherine Receveur of Indiana, by running 16:48.6 on the 5-kilometer course. The No. 18 Hoosiers had a 52-second spread among their top five runners. Providence senior Catarina Rocha (fourth) led a pack of two other Friars but the gap among their scoring runners was 58 seconds. Georgetown is missing its top two returnees from last year but improving runners allowed them to have a 20-second spread among its top five.

Seventh-ranked San Francisco finished sixth at last year’s Division 1 championship meet and the Dons proved their return to form for this year as they dominated the Roy Griak Invitational, sweeping the top four spots for a 22-point performance. Junior Weronika Pyzik (21:10 over the 6-kilometer course) was followed by teammates Charlotte Taylor, Isabelle Brauer and Marie Bouchard. The gap among San Francisco's five scoring runners was 44 seconds. Iowa State was next with 72 points and its gap was 56 seconds. Minnesota (85) and Michigan State (91) were the next two teams, both with two athletes placing in the top 11. 

Big meets this weekend:

9/29 Stanford, Oregon, Washington, BYU, Portland at Bill Dellinger invitational

9/29 Colorado, New Mexico, Arkansas, North Carolina State, Eastern Michigan, Utah, Washington State, Air Force, Alabama, Baylor, Texas, UTEP, Cal and Florida State at Joe Piane Notre Dame Invitational

9/29 Georgetown, Villanova and Georgia at Paul Short Run

9/30 Colorado State at Colorado’s Rocky Mountain Shootout

9/30 Michigan at Indiana Sam Bell Invitational

9/30 Arkansas at Chile Pepper Festival

9/30 Penn State, Oklahoma State, Missouri, Mississippi at Cowboy Jamboree

9/30 Boise State, Wisconsin, Furman, Eastern Kentucky, Vanderbilt, and Louisville at Greater Louisville Classic

Top 20 (last week’s ranking)

1. Colorado (1)

2. Stanford (2)

3. Michigan (3)

4. New Mexico (4)

5. Arkansas (5)

6. Oregon (6)

7. San Francisco (12)

8. North Carolina State (7)

9. Boise State (8)

10. Penn State (9)

11. Notre Dame (10)

12. Providence (11)

13. Wisconsin (13)

14. Eastern Michigan (14)

15. Utah State (15)

16. Washington (16)

17. Georgetown (NR)

18. Indiana (NR)

19. BYU (17)

20. Furman (18)

Watch list: Utah, Portland, Missouri, Villanova, Oklahoma State, Iowa State, Minnesota,  Colorado State, Baylor, Florida State, Mississippi, Cal, Vanderbilt and Louisville