Post by mackite fan on Oct 12, 2004 15:07:12 GMT -5
The vaunted Western Invite has passed, and most teams have now established their baseline position in the pecking order. Most experienced harriers know that the top spot at Western is only the most gracile support upon which to place the dream of a CIS championship. One strand of connective tissue is all that seperates some teams from being out of the running. With that being said, the last 2 weekends of racing since the first report have provided reams of information for we CIS XC soothsayers.
Here we go... the long awaited edition #2...
1. Calgary Dinos. Everyone reading this must be thinking-- is he daft? Have the high mileage weeks induced anoxic injury? Guelph won at Western, is ranked 1st by the coaches, and Calgary lost to Manitoba last weekend! As I said last week-- fear the Bisons. However, hold your criticism until you read the method behind my madness: Calgary was missing 2 of their top 5 at the Saskatchewan Open: Heather Sim and Lindsay Winter will debut this weekend. Even without these 2 lasses, they ran 6 under 19 minutes including a scintillating 17:32 from the victorious on-form Shannon Slater. With a deeper field, and more 'high sticks' than the Bisons, the Dinos will seperate themselves and repeat as CIS Champions. Never underestimate a team that knows how to win when it counts.
2. Dalhousie Tigers. Once again, readers must be questioning the intellect of those who allowed me to graduate from university. Clearly, Guelph AND Western (and nearly Toronto) beat Dalhousie at the UWO invite did they not? As the D-O double G said-- you forgot about Sophie 'Dre' Williams. Young Sohpie was absent from the Dal side at UWO and managed to sneak under 19 minutes on a fast course in Maine, thus proving my theory that Coach Henniger had at least one #5 runner in his bag of tricks. I think the top end talent with 3 medal threats will benefit Dalhousie in a deep CIS field. Dalhousie's medal position is, however, the most tenuous, as they seem to have the least depth of the top sides (that is until their next sub 19 running team member comes out of the woodwork!).
3. Guelph Gryphons. Finally, say the coaches who have placed the Gryphs atop the rankings week after week! This side is strong, and won the UWO meet without Kristina Rody who blazed to victory in her debut in Wilamette. This side has slightly more depth, but less front end talent than Dal. If they can handle the home field jitters at CIS, they might pull off the upset victory at home.
4. Manitoba Bisons. This edition's mover of the week. The Bisons impressed at the Saskatchewan open running a meaghre 1-5 split of 15 seconds (18:08-18:23) on a fast course. This type of close pack running was Western's strength early on, however they seem to be spreading out a bit (>30second 1-5 split at the Lakefront invite) which is why I give Cornejo's plains runnin' lasses the nod over the galloping Mustangs.
5. Western Mustangs. These lasses gave the Gryphons a good scare on their home course losing by only 11 points. Looking 'behind the music', they ran a full side whilst Guelph and Dal were shorthanded. Regardless, this is a deep and fast crew, and in a weaker year they might add to Mr Vigars' trophy case which runneth over with OU and CIS crowns.
6. Toronto Blues. The Varsity Blues are inching up the ladder. With the help of the evil scientist Darth Bakal, Coach Ristuccia has transferred some of his 2:14 marathon-debuting prodigy Danny Kassap's slow twitching myocytes onto the legs of his harriettes and has seen promising results thus far. His team placed a strong 4th behind Dalhousie at the UWO invite, and had 4 runners under 19 minutes on a quick course at Geneseo NY (15s 1-4 split) sans #2 runner Liz Snyder. Perhaps young Genny McInnes' disturbing, innovative, yet surprisingly effective locomotion dance training will inspire a continued ascent up the rankings.
7. Victoria Vikes. At this point things start to get tricky. We're into the if so-and so improves alot and this or that injury gets better we might... territory. Well, the Vikes lost solid XC lass Liz Ramage to the Pandas (red shirting) as well as a few other stalwarts from their sides of years gone by. Nonetheless, the Vikes ran reasonably well at Stanford, and may move up the ranks once a little head to head competition at their home meet goes down.
8. Alberta Pandas. The Pandas seem to gravitate to this #8 position. I am hoping that something grand happens at the UVic race and they leapfrog over some other teams because I'm tired of keeping them here. They have 2 strong rookies in Hockin and Ritchie, however the lack of any top 10 threats will keep them out of the top 5. Maybe Coach Giles' unbridled optimism will squeeze a diamond from coal, but I wouldn't bet on it.
9. McGill Martlets. The Marts demonstrated they are better than I thought by placing 5th at the UWO invite. I think a deeper field will hurt them at CIS, as their 4 and 5 runners were over 20 minutes; this will hurt their team score. Coach Barret needs to find a way to get 5 lasses close to 19 minutes or his side will struggle to maintain their top 10 ranking.
10. Queen's Golden Gaels. The Gaels have a great 1-5 split of 16 seconds from Western. The problem is that it starts at 19:43. Global team improvement is required for this team to go anywhere. I don't doubt coach Lakins will have the lasses well prepared, but a without a few runners in sub 19 shape it's the old: 'there are a few Juco transfers and Redshirt Freshmen' rebuilding speech for the Booster Club.
11. In the No Cigar (yet) category: York Yoewomen. The Yo's are much improved over last year and were a measly 3 points behind Queen's at the UWO Invite. Kirkham and Hillsburg are fit, but their 5th runner coming in at 21 minutes is sub-optimal to say the least. If they can scrounge up a 5th who can crack 20 watch out!
The Individual Race: This year should be very interesting. Dal's Janice Ashworth marked her status as favorite by winning the Western Invite in 17:47 on an always tough course. Guelph's Kristina Rody and Calgary's Shannon Slater who ran 17:15 and 17:32 respectively on faster courses the next weekend should remind Ms Ashworth that the title won't be one that's easy to take.
Here we go... the long awaited edition #2...
1. Calgary Dinos. Everyone reading this must be thinking-- is he daft? Have the high mileage weeks induced anoxic injury? Guelph won at Western, is ranked 1st by the coaches, and Calgary lost to Manitoba last weekend! As I said last week-- fear the Bisons. However, hold your criticism until you read the method behind my madness: Calgary was missing 2 of their top 5 at the Saskatchewan Open: Heather Sim and Lindsay Winter will debut this weekend. Even without these 2 lasses, they ran 6 under 19 minutes including a scintillating 17:32 from the victorious on-form Shannon Slater. With a deeper field, and more 'high sticks' than the Bisons, the Dinos will seperate themselves and repeat as CIS Champions. Never underestimate a team that knows how to win when it counts.
2. Dalhousie Tigers. Once again, readers must be questioning the intellect of those who allowed me to graduate from university. Clearly, Guelph AND Western (and nearly Toronto) beat Dalhousie at the UWO invite did they not? As the D-O double G said-- you forgot about Sophie 'Dre' Williams. Young Sohpie was absent from the Dal side at UWO and managed to sneak under 19 minutes on a fast course in Maine, thus proving my theory that Coach Henniger had at least one #5 runner in his bag of tricks. I think the top end talent with 3 medal threats will benefit Dalhousie in a deep CIS field. Dalhousie's medal position is, however, the most tenuous, as they seem to have the least depth of the top sides (that is until their next sub 19 running team member comes out of the woodwork!).
3. Guelph Gryphons. Finally, say the coaches who have placed the Gryphs atop the rankings week after week! This side is strong, and won the UWO meet without Kristina Rody who blazed to victory in her debut in Wilamette. This side has slightly more depth, but less front end talent than Dal. If they can handle the home field jitters at CIS, they might pull off the upset victory at home.
4. Manitoba Bisons. This edition's mover of the week. The Bisons impressed at the Saskatchewan open running a meaghre 1-5 split of 15 seconds (18:08-18:23) on a fast course. This type of close pack running was Western's strength early on, however they seem to be spreading out a bit (>30second 1-5 split at the Lakefront invite) which is why I give Cornejo's plains runnin' lasses the nod over the galloping Mustangs.
5. Western Mustangs. These lasses gave the Gryphons a good scare on their home course losing by only 11 points. Looking 'behind the music', they ran a full side whilst Guelph and Dal were shorthanded. Regardless, this is a deep and fast crew, and in a weaker year they might add to Mr Vigars' trophy case which runneth over with OU and CIS crowns.
6. Toronto Blues. The Varsity Blues are inching up the ladder. With the help of the evil scientist Darth Bakal, Coach Ristuccia has transferred some of his 2:14 marathon-debuting prodigy Danny Kassap's slow twitching myocytes onto the legs of his harriettes and has seen promising results thus far. His team placed a strong 4th behind Dalhousie at the UWO invite, and had 4 runners under 19 minutes on a quick course at Geneseo NY (15s 1-4 split) sans #2 runner Liz Snyder. Perhaps young Genny McInnes' disturbing, innovative, yet surprisingly effective locomotion dance training will inspire a continued ascent up the rankings.
7. Victoria Vikes. At this point things start to get tricky. We're into the if so-and so improves alot and this or that injury gets better we might... territory. Well, the Vikes lost solid XC lass Liz Ramage to the Pandas (red shirting) as well as a few other stalwarts from their sides of years gone by. Nonetheless, the Vikes ran reasonably well at Stanford, and may move up the ranks once a little head to head competition at their home meet goes down.
8. Alberta Pandas. The Pandas seem to gravitate to this #8 position. I am hoping that something grand happens at the UVic race and they leapfrog over some other teams because I'm tired of keeping them here. They have 2 strong rookies in Hockin and Ritchie, however the lack of any top 10 threats will keep them out of the top 5. Maybe Coach Giles' unbridled optimism will squeeze a diamond from coal, but I wouldn't bet on it.
9. McGill Martlets. The Marts demonstrated they are better than I thought by placing 5th at the UWO invite. I think a deeper field will hurt them at CIS, as their 4 and 5 runners were over 20 minutes; this will hurt their team score. Coach Barret needs to find a way to get 5 lasses close to 19 minutes or his side will struggle to maintain their top 10 ranking.
10. Queen's Golden Gaels. The Gaels have a great 1-5 split of 16 seconds from Western. The problem is that it starts at 19:43. Global team improvement is required for this team to go anywhere. I don't doubt coach Lakins will have the lasses well prepared, but a without a few runners in sub 19 shape it's the old: 'there are a few Juco transfers and Redshirt Freshmen' rebuilding speech for the Booster Club.
11. In the No Cigar (yet) category: York Yoewomen. The Yo's are much improved over last year and were a measly 3 points behind Queen's at the UWO Invite. Kirkham and Hillsburg are fit, but their 5th runner coming in at 21 minutes is sub-optimal to say the least. If they can scrounge up a 5th who can crack 20 watch out!
The Individual Race: This year should be very interesting. Dal's Janice Ashworth marked her status as favorite by winning the Western Invite in 17:47 on an always tough course. Guelph's Kristina Rody and Calgary's Shannon Slater who ran 17:15 and 17:32 respectively on faster courses the next weekend should remind Ms Ashworth that the title won't be one that's easy to take.