Inter-Regional Showdowns
Photo by: Gianini Venuto
While two weekends ago, racing was all about the nation, this weekend will emphasize the region, as several teams from across the country will come together for some inter-regional rivalry.
Of these face-offs, the Oberlin Inter-Regional Rumble will feature teams across the midwest, including some visiting Wisconsin schools that will make their way to eastern Ohio in the absence of the UW Oshkosh meet this year. The Augustana Interregional Invitational will showcase the central region including some west coasters, and the Connecticut College Invitational and Rowan Border Battle will both take care of the east coasters.
Following the release of this week’s Top 10 Lists, this weekend will be a chance for several nationally-ranked teams to race head-to-head for a chance to move up the D3GD polls and beyond.
Perhaps the most exciting match-up will occur at Augustana, where previously ranked #1 men’s team Pomona-Pitzer will line up with this week’s #1-ranked men’s team Wartburg. Pomona Pitzer started the season strong with an impressive third-place showing at the UC Riverside Invitational and a team win the following weekend at CSU San Marcos, both races posting a team average under 25 minutes for 8k.
However, one can hardly ignore the dominant fashion in which Wartburg’s men took the win at home two weeks ago. With a team score of just 18, they put 5 runners in front of #10-ranked WashU’s second scorer, averaging 24:43 for 8k, right around where Pomona Pitzer’s team average has consistently been all season. As Pomona Pitzer visits Wartburg’s regional turf, they will surely look to regain their #1 spot in the rankings.
Listen to the podcast breakdown for more on this week’s updated rankings.
Also making an appearance at Augustana in the men’s race are the teams from U of Chicago and WashU. This weekend will be the first time U of Chicago gets a look at other top 10 teams, and with fourteen extra days of training and the loss from two weeks ago in the rearview mirror, a rematch between Wartburg and WashU is sure to entertain.
On the women’s side, #3 U of Chicago, #4 Wartburg, and #6 WashU will all get a chance to see how they stack up to each other. Wartburg and WashU tied two weeks ago at Wartburg, with Wartburg’s women just narrowly edging out WashU in the tiebreaker, so it could be anyone’s race this weekend among these three teams. Unranked Pomona-Pitzer, who got bumped from the top 10 this week, will seek a chance at redemption.
The Augustana meet will also race several top individuals against each other. Look for cross country All-American Joe Freiburger, Pomona-Pitzer’s 1-2 Ethan Widlansky and Lucas Florsheim, U of Chicago’s Sam Craig, WashU’s Jacob Ridderhoff, and North Central’s Matthew Boelke all to run toward the front pack of the men’s race at the gun.
On the women’s side, keep an eye on Wartburg’s Aubrie Fisher and All-American Carina Collett, Pomona Pitzer’s Katie Cline and Genevieve DiBari, and certainly Hope College’s Anastasia Tucker, who comes off of a dominating 5k in Louisville, where she ran 17:11 and placed 28th among several Division I and II athletes.
Moving east to Oberlin, OH, where times are historically blazing fast, 43 teams will rumble in a loaded field on both the men’s and women’s sides. While most schools attending are part of the Great Lakes Region, some representing schools from the Mid-Atlantic, Mideast, Niagara, West, and North Regions will all travel to compete. Without the coveted UW-Oshkosh Invitational this weekend, the Rumble will get to see the UW schools from Whitewater, Steven’s Point and Oshkosh on the course this year. As long as athletes can handle rain in the forecast and trudge through some softer ground, this meet could produce some standout performances.
In the team scores, newly ranked #5 team John Carroll will face off with #8-ranked Wisconsin Whitewater’s men’s team, giving them a chance to justify their ranking and directly compete against another top-10 team. JCU appeared briefly in the top 5 of the USTFCCCA coaches’ poll in week two early on in the season, but has not made the standings since. A strong performance at Oberlin could solidify their spot within the top 5 and force more attention on the rising Ohio Athletic Conference school out of University Heights, OH. The teams from Carnegie Mellon and Case Western have a golden opportunity to utilize a fast race to rise in the regional rankings as well.
All eyes will be on JCU’s top runner, Alex Phillip, to take the individual crown following his head-turning performance at Paul Short, where he laid down a blazing time of 23:39 to place 6th overall among several Division I and II runners.
Phillip’s trendline implies that he will be tough to beat at Oberlin this weekend, but Mount Union’s Jeff Joseph is coming off of a breakout race from Louisville, where he narrowly missed the win against Wilmington’s Simon Heys, and is sure to make a run at Phillip before they see each other again at the conference meet. Look out as well for Case Western’s Jack Begley who placed third at Geneseo two weeks ago, Franciscan’s Liam Galligan who comes off an 8th place finish at Pre-Nats, and All-American David Fassbender out of UW Whitewater--all are sure to hang tough in the front pack behind Phillip.
The athlete to watch in the women’s race is Trine’s Evie Bultemeyer, who nabbed the pre-nationals victory in Louisville two weeks ago. Similarly to Phillip, Bultemeyer has few challengers around her, but look out for Franciscan’s Allison Bryant and Ohio Northern’s Tessa Pitcovich, who both come off of strong pre-nats performances, Carnegie Mellon’s Kristen Seballos, Baldwin Wallace’s Alyssa Laughner and Allegheny’s Emma Wall, who all duked it out at Paul Short, and 2x XC national qualifier Sydney Smith from Otterbein to all stick their noses in the chase pack.
In the team race, Carnegie Mellon, JCU, and Allegheny will receive a rematch from Paul Short, where Carnegie Mellon came out victorious over both JCU and Allegheny.
Moving farther east still, many east coasters will split between the Connecticut College Invitational and the Rowan Inter-Regional Border Battle. The teams from Williams and MIT will face off at Connecticut as they did in 2019 when Williams won the men’s race over MIT and MIT won the women’s race over Williams.
The rivalry will return as both teams will look to one-up each other in rankings as well as create a threat from afar to Wartburg and Pomona-Pitzer on the men’s side. MIT’s women were without two of their top runners at pre-nats, so their anticipated return could help them repeat their victory over Williams from two years ago.
Adding to the team battle will be Amherst, Bates, and Tufts. These three Women’s programs have either been inside the D3GD rankings or just on the cusp. This could be a season debut for Amherst’s All American, Sophie Wolmer, which will be an added boost to their squad.
Leading the field in the men’s race will likely be Williams’s Aidan Ryan, who won this race in 2019 as well as teammate Elias Lindgren, who won the Williams Purple Valley Invite at the end of September, just ahead of MIT’s Matt Kearney and Andrew Mah, who will also likely park in the front of this race if they want a shot to take down Williams. Look for RPI’s Matthew Lecky, Conn College Duo, Matt Carter and Jeffrey Love to add be in the mix with the black and purple singlets up front.
The women’s field will hold stiff competition in Tufts’s Danielle Page, who earned USTFCCCA National Athlete of the Week for her victory at Purple Valley three weeks ago over Williams’s Genna Girard, who will look for redemption this weekend. Middlebury’s Cassie Kearney, who placed third at Purple Valley, will likely be in the mix as well.
At Rowan, the women’s team of #1-ranked Johns Hopkins will race 6k for the first time this season--a subtle flex that they don’t need to race the full NCAA distance to command the rankings. They will line up against #9 Dickinson and #10 SUNY Geneseo, two pretty evenly-matched teams that will get a chance to compete directly this weekend.
Dickinson’s Isabel Cardi will be a strong favorite to win this race. Cardi was third at the NCAA meet two years ago and back in 2021 with a vengeance. She won the Brown Race at Paul Short two weeks ago with a piping-hot time of 20:54. Frontrunners Ella Baran and Ashley Heidenrich from Johns Hopkins are sure to make a run at the victory as well, especially with a team title to capture. Look for SUNY G’s Kathleen McCarey, who won at home two weeks ago to run up front as well.
In the men’s race, #6-ranked SUNY Geneseo will make a strong case for the win after their big home victory at the start of the month. Don’t count out the team from Haverford to make a strong run, however, as they come off of a 31st place finish in the Gold Race at Louisville, as just one of three Division III schools to compete in this section of the meet behind JCU and Carnegie Mellon.
The clash between SUNY G’s frontrunner Ezra Ruggles and Lynchburg’s Maximillian Sparks is sure to be a great inter-regional match-up. Look for SUNY G teammate Nick Andrews and Johns Hopkins Matthew Kleiman to fall in line.
While most of the top-ten schools are headed to one of the above four meets, several other pop-up meets will take place across the country on Sunday. Lewis & Clarke College will host a competitive inter-regional meet in Oregon, where Kassie Rosenbum will lace up her spikes and look to impress the nation once again. The men & women from UW La Crosse will host their own meet, where the women will look to hold onto or best their current #7 ranking.
This weekend will uncover some big data points as teams travel out of their region to create the matchups everyone has been craving. Upsets are on the menu. Cinderella stories are in the queue. D3GD rankings are on the line.
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