10-31-2019, 11:31 PM
This year's C-USA Cross Country Championships will be held on Saturday morning in Bowling Green, Kentucky.
Men
Jon Warren has his best team in years, with all of the top runners back from last year's squad. Hociel Landa and Alex Topini lead the team, and should be the Owls' top finishers. Andrew Abikhaled, Ace Castillo, and Adolfo Carvalho could make up the top 5, with Jason Bugg, Connor Meaux and Matthew Murray just behind.
Carvalho and Meaux are the only seniors.
Unfortunately for the Owls, Middle Tennessee is loaded with talented Kenyans, and this might be their best team ever. Currently, they are ranked 15th in the nation, and they are talented enough to be a top-10 team.
Rice will battle with North Texas and UTEP for 2-3-4, I believe. Charlotte has been good recently, but the 49ers were hit hard by graduation.
Rice is 5th in the South Central Region.
Women
Rice should be led by freshman sensation Grace Forbes, who finished 3rd overall in Santa Clara. Khayla Patel should be the number 2 Owl, with Alyssa Balandran, freshman walk-on Rachel Shoemaker, Lourdes Vivas de Lorenzi and Ashley Messineo likely the top 5. I think the key for the Owls is for the talented Vivas de Lorenzi to have fully recovered from last year's injury issues. It could be that our 6th and 7th runners may need to run well also - at Santa Clara it was Mary Claire Neal and Loren Goddard.
The Owls will be without one of their top runners, Ryann Helmers, who is redshirting this fall.
As with the guys, Middle Tennessee must be the favorites. They are not nationally ranked, though they received votes in the latest poll. They are 5th in the South Region. Rice is 4th in the South Central Region.
I'm thinking it will be MTSU with a close win over Rice, with UTEP (always a question mark when they can bring in unknown Kenyans) in 3rd.
Men
Jon Warren has his best team in years, with all of the top runners back from last year's squad. Hociel Landa and Alex Topini lead the team, and should be the Owls' top finishers. Andrew Abikhaled, Ace Castillo, and Adolfo Carvalho could make up the top 5, with Jason Bugg, Connor Meaux and Matthew Murray just behind.
Carvalho and Meaux are the only seniors.
Unfortunately for the Owls, Middle Tennessee is loaded with talented Kenyans, and this might be their best team ever. Currently, they are ranked 15th in the nation, and they are talented enough to be a top-10 team.
Rice will battle with North Texas and UTEP for 2-3-4, I believe. Charlotte has been good recently, but the 49ers were hit hard by graduation.
Rice is 5th in the South Central Region.
Women
Rice should be led by freshman sensation Grace Forbes, who finished 3rd overall in Santa Clara. Khayla Patel should be the number 2 Owl, with Alyssa Balandran, freshman walk-on Rachel Shoemaker, Lourdes Vivas de Lorenzi and Ashley Messineo likely the top 5. I think the key for the Owls is for the talented Vivas de Lorenzi to have fully recovered from last year's injury issues. It could be that our 6th and 7th runners may need to run well also - at Santa Clara it was Mary Claire Neal and Loren Goddard.
The Owls will be without one of their top runners, Ryann Helmers, who is redshirting this fall.
As with the guys, Middle Tennessee must be the favorites. They are not nationally ranked, though they received votes in the latest poll. They are 5th in the South Region. Rice is 4th in the South Central Region.
I'm thinking it will be MTSU with a close win over Rice, with UTEP (always a question mark when they can bring in unknown Kenyans) in 3rd.
