News Roundup

There's precious little of it this time of year...

USATF's national convention kicked off. Conventions are generally boring affairs where nothing happens but self-congratulation and schmoozing, and USATF is no exception. They did, however, unveil their new logo:
Blech. I'm still going to wear the old stuff. Their website has also had a makeover, but still no search function. Couldn't they just go down to the local junior high and have some 13-year-old install it for them?

Said Aouita, now a sports analyst for Al Jazeera, comments that Said Saif Shaheen could be a champion at many different distances. I agree--but I was totally unaware that Al Jazeera has sports coverage. Maybe the English-language version will get me live Golden League coverage.

The big European meetings are considering banning Marion Jones. Didn't they talk this way once before and then chicken out?

And finally, and most importantly to me, the IOC called Chicago's bid "more intriguing" than LA's. They cautioned that America's current status as a rogue state harms either bid, however. I don't buy it--it all comes down to cash, and US television puts more in the pot than anyone. Come 2016, it will have been 20 years since the Summer games were in the same general time zone as the USA, and by the time the votes come down W and co. will be out of power. Only Mexico or South America could beat Chicago.

Wariner, Richards win Owens Awards

Jeremy Wariner and Sanya Richards were named Jesse Owens Awards winners (outstanding male & female athletes) by USA Track & Field this morning. They are both coached by Clyde Hart, who was yesterday named coach of the year.

These were both no-brainers, as each was undefeated in the 400 and ran some impressive times; you can read the lengthy details in the USATF press release. What you won't get is a realistic understanding of just how fast Richards was this year.

Her American Record of 48.70 puts her 7th on the all-time list with the 16th-best mark of all time. On its face, that doesn't sound like a hugely impressive. But let's be realistic about why almost all the top marks are more than 20 years old--anti-doping rules were barely enforced prior to the 1990s, and today's athletes are essentially competing under a completely different set of rules. If we eliminate pre-1991 marks, as well as those of athletes who have taken a "doping vacation", then the all-time list looks much different:

48.25 Marie-José Pérec FRA Atlanta 29.07.1996
48.63 Cathy Freeman AUS Atlanta 29.07.1996
48.70 Sanya Richards USA Athínai 16.09.2006
48.83 Marie-José Pérec FRA Barcelona 05.08.1992
48.89 Ana Guevara MEX Saint-Denis 27.08.2003
48.92 Sanya Richards USA Zürich 19.08.2005
49.05 Olga Bryzgina UKR Barcelona 05.08.1992
49.05 Sanya Richards USA London 28.07.2006
49.07 Tonique Williams-Darling BAH Berlin 12.09.2004
49.10 Falilat Ogunkoya NGR Atlanta 29.07.1996
49.11 Ana Guevara MEX Zürich 15.08.2003
49.11 Cathy Freeman AUS Sydney 25.09.2000
49.13 Marie-José Pérec FRA Tokyo 27.08.1991
49.15 Tonique Williams-Darling BAH Saint-Denis 23.07.2004
49.16 Ana Guevara MEX Zürich 16.08.2002
49.18 Marie-José Pérec FRA Monaco 10.08.1996
49.19 Marie-José Pérec FRA Atlanta 28.07.1996
49.25 Ana Guevara MEX Monaco 19.07.2002
49.25 Sanya Richards USA Stuttgart 10.09.2006
49.25 Tonique Williams-Darling BAH Roma 02.07.2004
49.27 Sanya Richards USA Indianapolis 24.06.2006
49.28 Marie-José Pérec FRA Göteborg 08.08.1995
49.28 Pauline Davis-Thompson BAH Atlanta 29.07.1996
49.28 Sanya Richards USA Carson 25.06.2005
49.29 Charity Opara NGR Roma 14.07.1998
49.30 Lorraine Fenton JAM Monaco 19.07.2002
49.30 Tonique Williams-Darling BAH Zürich 19.08.2005
49.31 Sanya Richards USA Roma 14.07.2006
49.32 Marie-José Pérec FRA Frankfurt 29.06.1991
49.34 Ana Guevara MEX Eugene 24.05.2003
49.34 Ana Guevara MEX Monaco 14.09.2003
49.35 Falilat Ogunkoya NGR Monaco 10.08.1996
49.39 Cathy Freeman AUS Oslo 04.07.1997
49.40 Jearl Miles-Clark USA Indianapolis 14.06.1997
49.41 Tonique Williams-Darling BAH Athínai 24.08.2004
49.43 Lorraine Fenton JAM Saint-Denis 27.08.2003
49.45 Marie-José Pérec FRA Lausanne 03.07.1996
49.47 Marie-José Pérec FRA Paris 28.06.1996
49.48 Cathy Freeman AUS Bruxelles 23.08.1996
49.48 Cathy Freeman AUS Monaco 18.08.2000
49.48 Falilat Ogunkoya NGR Monaco 16.08.1997
49.48 Marie-José Pérec FRA Barcelona 03.08.1992
49.49 Olga Zaytseva RUS Tula 16.07.2006
49.50 Marie-José Pérec FRA Nice 15.07.1992

The only other athlete who ran sub-49.50 five times in one season was Marie-José Pérec in1996; Pérec's average was 49.11 to Richards' 49.12. Statistically, Richards had the best season in a decade.

How Insulting

A self-described fantasy sports addict said he got started with track:

It's the only track-and-field fantasy league that I've ever heard about, and there's probably a reason for that.

That hurts twice. My fantasy league will get an upgrade next year, in order to make it a bit more like an NFL fantasy league (those in the league will have to make a personnel decision every week).

Upcoming TV Listings

This is what I've got at the moment.

Sunday, December 3
CSTV, 5 PM
NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships

Thursday, December 7
Fox Sports Net, 3 PM
NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships

Sunday, December 10
ESPN Classic, 7 AM
Who's #1? Best Female Athletes

CBS, 9 AM
Las Vegas Marathon

Monday, December 11
ESPN Classic, 4:30 PM
Jim Thorpe All American

Thursday, December 21
ESPN Classic, 2:30 AM
1977 Superstars

Saturday, December 30
CBS, 1 PM
NCAA Fall Championships

National Track & Field Hall of Fame

New inductees were announced today. Dan O'Brien, Kevin Young, Lynn Jennings, Rex Cawley, Ben Eastman, Matt McGrath, Bill Neider, and Ollan Cassell.

Lynn Jennings is a bit of a stretch for selection, but all of the other athletes are definitely deserving. I'm actually rather shocked that it took McGrath so long to get in, as he's one of the greatest hammer-throwers of all time (the linked Wikipedia article was written by yours truly).

Cassell...well, the voters are a political body. His athletic career was good but not Hall-of-Fame worthy. He was the man in charge of track in the USA from 1970 to 1997; when he came in, track was one of the nation's most popular sports and when he left it was all but dead. Everything that David Stern has been, Cassell was not. You don't belong in a Hall of Fame when you've been compared to J. Edgar Hoover. Looks like it's a George Tenet-style honor: "Hey, you royally screwed up! Here's your Presidential Medal of Freedom!"

I've Made It!

You used to be "big time" when you made it in the page of Track & Field News. In the age of the internet, this is just as good. E. Garry Hill, editor-in-chief at the mag, posted this humble blog at the T&FN message boards and said that I know my stuff. He could easily have trashed me, especially considering that I'm often less than complimentary to him and T&FN (and also that I'm really just one of millions of bigmouths on the internet).

I fear that any movement towards mainstream status might compromise my willingness to say exactly what's on my mind. (You tend not to have any shame when you think no one is reading.) Bill Hayward had a sign up in his office that said something to the effect of "Live every day so that you can look a man in the eye and tell him to go to hell!" and I intend to live by that creed.

Weekend Report, Part 2

On Sunday, a college teammate and I drove out to Terre Haute for the NCAA Division I Championships. I’ve been to this meet three times now, and it’s still a little weird to see a city where a cross-country meet is the center of attention. The facility is great—a permanent XC course in the middle of a huge field. Various extra loops make it possible to create virtually any distance you want. The opening straightaway is 1000 meters long, reducing the need to sprint from the start for strategic purposes (more on that later).

The women were up first. Kipyego of Texas Tech was favored; she took it out hard and never came back to the pack. Team favorites Stanford won. Not a particularly interesting race.

Then there was the men's race. These guys were really charged up: and you would have been, too, if you knew what was coming.

To recap, Wisconsin was the prohibitive favorites, and individuals expected to compete for the win were Chris Solinsky, Martin Fagan and Josh McDougal, with yours truly calling Josh Rohatinsky "a real threat to win".

Nobody took it out hard, and there was a large lead group here approaching 2k:
At 5k they still haven't dropped anyone, with all the major players in the group:and the announcer said Wisconsin had a three-point lead over Stanford.

After this, the group started to break up a bit but my camera acted freaky and I'm not really sure what was when. Josh Rohatinsky led Indiana native Nef Araria in a late-race surge, then pulled away to win it.Told ya so.

Solinsky had been at the front up through 7k or so, but then he "cratered" and finished 75th. This led us to suspect Wisconsin might not have won. We couldn't wait for official word, though, as my friend had to cross two states to pick up his kids from the babysitter. Just as we got to his car we heard a roar and could only make out the words "Wisconsin second" over the PA. We thought maybe Arkansas or Iona might have pulled it off. At a gas station we were told Colorado pulled off the stunning upset.

By my calculations (which may not match those announced at the meet), at 5k Wisconsin led, followed by Stanford, Arkansas, Colorado, and Iona. At 8k, Wisconsin still led but Colorado was closing fast, then Arkansas, Iona and Stanford. While Solinsky’s implosion certainly hurt Wisconsin, the Badgers would only have won if he’d been first or second overall.

Colorado won with a very simple strategy: run the first part within your abilities, then go get everyone else who didn’t. Their women did this in an even more spectacular fashion, going from seventh at halfway to second at the finish. Peter Tegen is a very smart man, but his statement that the "men in the race need to start out pretty good to make an impact at the end of the race" is not only self-contradictory but exposed as poor strategy to boot. Wetmore's not a genius, he just learned from Arthur Lydiard to keep his head out of his ass.

Weekend Report, Part 1

The first meet of my weekend was the NCAA Division III Championships, hosted by Wilmington College and held in West Chester OH on Saturday. If you know anything about the area, it’s an appropriate place for a competition that's by and large for children of privilege (who apparently don’t mind looking silly).
While the day was clear and sunny, the course was tremendously muddy as it had taken in five inches of rain in the previous week. Early on, Heidelberg’s Scott Lash led just like he did at the OAC meet. Then he faded, just like at the OAC meet (down to 33rd).

Pre-race favorite Macharia Yuot moved into the lead pack by 3 miles (he's obscured but right behind the leaders.
Yuot pulled away for a relatively easy win, his first national XC championship (to go with his five track titles). The next day he took sixth in the Philadelphia Marathon in 2:25:39. Heavily favored Calvin easily won the team title.

The women’s race was next. The pre-race favorites, including defending champ Hailey Harren, were in position at the mile mark. But by halfway, Sarah Zerzan of Williamette took the lead and steadily pulled away for the victory, considered a slight upset. The centers of D-III XC are the northeast and upper midwest; as a westerner her undefeated season flew under the radar a bit. The team competition was tremendously close—Middlebury 144, Amherst 145, Calvin 149. The #1-ranked team going into the meet, SUNY Geneseo, tanked all the way to 9th.

Then I drove up to the Columbus area and watched this little football game. Darn, I wish I'd played the lottery.

Suspensions

Big news: an athlete failed a dope test at the World Athletics Final. That means it's at least a top-8-in-the-world athlete in his/her event. Exactly who it is "will be announced shortly".

Strange news: The IAAF suspended the entire nation of Algeria. Well, not exactly, but they suspended the nation's governing body, which has the same effect. Apparently, an Algerian government minister kicked out the federation's officers and replaced the whole lot. The IAAF found this unacceptable. I can't seem to find much in the way of detail on the story, but it smacks of the "Heckuva job, Brownie" type of politics. To put this in perspective, the only other times the IAAF has gone to this length was South Africa during the apartheid years and Afghanistan during the Taliban years.

Also, I have some NCAA XC previews up on my Trackshark blog.

Anti-Doping News

Yet more problems. Scroll down to "Sports".

NCAA Division I qualifiers

They've just been announced. Eddie Kipchoge missed qualifying by one spot, which he lost in the last 50 yards.

You can argue about it here.

Great Lakes Regional Race Report

The women were up first.
The pre-race favorite would have to have been #3 Michigan (the Big Ten champs), followed closely by #5 Wisconsin (Big Ten runners-up) with #11 Michigan State (4th at Big Ten) in the mix as well. Also worth noting were #28 Butler (Horizon League champs) and Notre Dame (3rd at the Big East).

Here at the mile mark, no one has broken out yet. At about 2 1/4 miles, we're still looking at a tight group.I noticed a lot of red (Wisconsin) and green (Michigan State) but very little blue (Michigan).

At the finish, Nicole Edwards of Michigan takes first by a good ten seconds:But when the final scores were added up, it came out Michigan State 63, Wisconsin 66, Michigan 89. Next were Butler (111) and Notre Dame (116). Michigan will almost assuredly get an at-large bid to the NCAA meet; we'll have to wait and see about the next two.

The men came up next.
As far as teams go, #1 Wisconsin, the Big Ten champs, were an overwhelming favorite. They appear next to unbeatable at the NCAA championship, so they were clearly the class of the field. Other contenders included #11 Michigan (Big Ten runners-up), #18 Notre Dame (3rd at Big East), #27 Michigan State (4th at Big Ten), #29 Butler (Horizon champs), and unranked Eastern Michigan (MAC champs). On the individual front, there was a big question mark in host BGSU's Eddie Kipchoge; he won the All-Ohio championship but ran a terrible race at the MAC championship. I will admit that as a BGSU XC alumni I was not an impartial observer here.

As the runners head up The Hill for the first time (about 1 1/2 miles), we can see Kipchoge is going for it:with everyone else grouped up behind:At about 2 1/4 miles, Kipchoge still leads, but the gap has narrowed.
Coming back around to The Hill for the second time, Kip has met a man they call Riggy, and the race is on.At the finish, victory goes to EMU's Corey Nowitzke.Wisconsin's Chris Solinsky and teammate Stuart Eagin appear to jog in for 5th and 6th.Kipchoge holds on for 14th, which might get him to nationals (depending on the nuber of qualifying teams).
Speaking of teams, Wisconsin won easily with 52 points while not even taking the race seriously. Notre Dame ran a great race to get second (104 pts), followed by Butler (107), Michigan State (113) and Eastern Michigan (137). Michigan was all the way back in seventh.

Results

Regional Course Preview

This Saturday the NCAA Great Lakes Regional will be held on the campus of The Bowling Green State University. The men's race (10k) begins at 11:00 AM, with the women (6k) at 12:15.


The course is named for Mel Brodt, the long-time track and cross country coach at BGSU. The course is not the same one I ran on some fifteen years ago, nor is it the one in use for the last few years (due to campus construction). All but the final 200 or so yards is on the campus golf course.

Men's 10k course map Women's 6k course map


The Factors
Bowling Green and the surrounding area is, without hyperbole, one of the flattest places in America. One might assume that the XC course here is easy. Well, you know what happens when you assume.This is The Hill, so called because it's the only one anywhere in or near BG. It's much bigger than most people think it is because they rarely see it up close. The women will run up this once, the men twice. But that's not what makes this course difficult.

These are Bowling Green's wind turbines. We have enough wind here to light up Las Vegas. It is a major factor in any race held in these parts in the fall, winter or spring.

The weather forecast calls for a good amount of rain, which will turn the course into mud. The golf course does not drain well because BG is smack-dab in the middle of what was once the Great Black Swamp. Under steady rain, the swamp tries to reclaim the land.

The Course
The start:

The course narrows after about 250 yards and crosses a bridge:

After the bottom part of the loop shown on the course map, the runners will cross another bridge, this time over a small bit of pavement:

Now the runners head around the pond (the weird shape on the map with the black box in it):
and up The Hill:
then descending the hill, going back around the pond, and going by the start line. The men do another whole loop. Both men and women conclude the course by going around the baseball field and back next to the roadway:
They make a sharp right-hand turn, likely to have a large mud-hole in the middle:
and then it's less than 200 yards to the finish:

Fan Info
A few days back I gave a rundown about the town.

Parking is $10. If you're an XC fan, you're probably a cheapskate and don't want to pay that much. Free options require hoofing it, though. Try BG's Carter Park or side streets off of Wooster Street (the main drag); to get to the course, walk towards and then past the football stadium.

For best viewing, the spry spectator will probably run from the start to the 1 mile mark, back to the start area (and repeat for the men's race), and then head to the finish.

The less active spectator should bring some binoculars and walk to the top of The Hill. You can see most of the course from there:
and it's right by the finish, too:

Hope to see you there!

Does This Count?

In a barely-related-to-track news story, former SNL writer Alan Zweibel won the Thurber Award (outstanding humor writing) for his novel The Other Shulman, a book about midlife crisis, suburban hell, and the New York City Marathon. He beat better-known nominees Kinky Friedman and Bill Scheft.

In a more-related-to-track story, Jim Ryun today faces the first serious threat to his congressional seat (KS-02). All three major players in the prediction game (Cook Political Report, CQ Politics, and the Rothenberg Political Report) rate the race as a toss-up. For a conservative Republican to be in danger of losing in one of the reddest states, he had to have shot himself in the foot; a good summary can be found here.

Welcome to BG!

The NCAA Division I Great Lakes Regional Championships will be held on the campus of The Bowling Green State University this Saturday, November 11. For all athletes, coaches, supporters, fans, press, and other hangers-on, I'd like to welcome you to my little town. I came here in 1989 and loved it so much I never left. The city has a population of about 30,000 with roughly half of it being college students, so it's your basic self-contained college town. The University is located at the far east end of town, while the "Downtown" area is about two miles west of I-75 (which makes it maybe 1/2 a mile away from the edge of campus).

In the coming days I'll post information on the race site itself. Right now I'll give you the rundown on the basic travel info from a local's perspective. (I assume you already have your lodging taken care of.)

Food
If you're looking for Italian food for a pre-race dinner, pickings in this town are slim. (I'm a bit snooty when it comes to Italian, as I married into an Apulian family.) Your best bet is DeBenedetto's. While mostly a delivery/carry-out operation, there is dine-in space available. You may also want to consider the Spaghetti Warehouse in Toledo (about 30 minutes away) or Biaggi's in suburban Perrysburg (15 minutes).

Toledo is my hometown, and it's one of America's most ethnically diverse mid-sized cities and packed with interesting eateries. The most famous is Tony Packo's Cafe (Hungarian), while my personal favorite is The Beirut (Lebanese). For other options, browse through The City Paper, Toledo's alt-weekly. Bowling Green is pretty much completely devoid of ethnic food; two notable exceptions are Naslada (Bulgarian), located in the food court of the Woodland Mall, and the Lebanese carry-out only convenience store called the South Side Six (I suggest the South Side Super Falafel sandwich).

Being a college town, pizza is BG's specialty. I think the most important part of a pizza is its crust, and Pisanello's (map) is far and away the leader in that category. Campus Pollyeye's (map) has superior sauce, but in my eyes the best thing they offer is their breadsticks (available stuffed or plain, with various dipping sauce options). Myles' Pizza (map) is good, but you better have a cast-iron stomach. You have never seen a pizza with toppings as thick as theirs.

The other best eateries in town:
Sushi - Uraku is good.
"Mexican" - El Zarape is your standard family-run Mexican-American restaurant and a very nice place.
Chinese - The China is neither bad (it's clean and reliable) nor good (unexciting). Don't go for Chinese in BG!
Soul Food - Ebony's. You wouldn't expect a town as white as this to have soul food, but the times they are a-changin'. Runs on CPT, so call ahead (419-353-3131). Definitely worth the wait.
Pub grub / steaks - Trotter's Tavern. Food service is slow but it's very good. The brown jug sirloin is the best steak in a 25-mile radius. Also the only bar in town that caters to true adults.
Diner - The Corner Grill (map). The epitome of an all-night greasy spoon. If a politician was going to stop in BG and try to convince us he's "ordinary folk", he'd eat here.
Coffee House - Grounds For Thought. There are other good coffee spots in town, but none better. Open 6 AM to midnight, it's THE BG hangout for everyone (old people & bigwigs in the morning, middle class in the afternoon, freaks and hairies at night).

Nightlife
I'm not much of a bar peson, so I haven't been in most of these places in a decade or more--I'm just going on reputation and memory. All the good bars are downtown. There are others, the "townie bars", but I wouldn't walk in to one of them without the protection of at least a tire iron.
Sports Bars - Ziggy Zoomba's, Downtown, BW-3, Jed's Barbeque and Brew (The last two have good food.)
Dance Bars - Sky Bar, Uptown
Places to catch some live music - Howard's Club H, Kamikaze's
General hangouts - Brewster's Pour House, Junction, Brathaus Nate & Wally's Fishbowl

Attractions / Things to Do
If you're like me and a bit of a homebody, there's not a lot for out-of-towners to do. The beautiful old downtown theater went out of business a few years back, but the mall does have a five-screen multiplex.

If your hotel room has a VCR or DVD player, you definitely want to check out the Video Spectrum. Home to the broadest selection of movies on America's north coast, from hundreds of snooty foreign films to cult classics like "Jesus Christ, Vampire Hunter". A vestige of a bygone era, it is one of the few "Mom and Pop" independent stores still in business, and their film-student staff will help you find movies that you didn't even know you wanted to watch. A college-town classic! (Get "Running Brave" if you have VCR access, and even the most hopeless runners can dream big!)

Unfortunately, the BGSU Theater Department has no productions scheduled for the weekend, but the College of Musical Arts will have a performance by the Men's Chorus on Saturday night.

If you want to make a weekend out of this (and I have no idea why you would), there really are no tourist attractions in BG. Toledo has one of the nation's best art museums (free admission!) and a pretty good zoo; beyond that you should peruse the City Paper.

Next up: The race course!

Upcoming Meet Schedule

Next weekend, the NCAA Division I Great Lakes Regional will come to the Superfan, on the campus of The Bowling Green State University. I'll put up an overview of the meet, the course, and the town within the next few days.

The following weekend should be a good one. I'll first travel to Voice of America Park in West Chester, OH on Saturday for the NCAA Division III championships. (I could also have gone to the NAIA Championships in Louisville, KY, but it is being held at the exact same time. **sigh**)

Then I'll head up to the Columbus area and hang out with an old college teammate or two. On Sunday we'll go across the midwest to Terre Haute for Monday's NCAA Division I Championships.

After which I'll return home and probably not want to watch another cross-country meet for...oh, a day or two. I'll only have to wait a week for the collegiate indoor season to begin!

New York City Marathon

The New York race holds special meaning to me. The first race I ever remember seeing on TV, when I was 12 years old, was the classic 1983 duel between Rod Dixon and Geoff Smith. For years afterwards I imagined I was Dixon every time I ran through the local city park on a cool fall day. I still do sometimes.

Unfortunately, the traditional live TV coverage has now become a 1-hour afternoon highlight reel. And NBC missed the highlights. Defending champ Jelena Prokopcuka broke away early and was never challenged, so there really wasn' much to show there. But the men's race was really interesting and they completely shortchanged us.

A relative unknown, Brazilian Marilson Gomes dos Santos, took the lead just after 30k. We didn't get to see him in the lead until the 26th mile. They did give us quite a bit of Lance Armstrong coverage; I'll admit I was hoping he'd die and not beat my PR (3:09:05), but he held on for 2:59:36. As if I needed any more motivation to break 3 hours...

Who is Gomes dos Santos? He won the big Sao Silvestre road race last New Year's Eve, beating some big names while doing it. He broke two national track records (5k and 10k) last summer, and has been a top-ten finisher in other major races (World Championships, Chicago, Paris). Ken Young's world rankings put him 5th among race entrants. So he wasn't really an unknown, but not on the announcers' short list.

As far as the World Marathon Majors standings go, New York was almost a non-factor on the men's side. On the women's side, however, Prokopcuka took a strong lead (she was the Boston runner-up earlier this year).

AMC Championships / NAIA Region IX-X Championships

This was at the same site as the OAC meet last week, but the conditions were much better. Cold and breezy but sunny, and the course was dry and firm.

The Men's Race
With Jack Hazen's Malone College juggernaut in attendance, you figure everyone else is running for second. On the men's side, Malone is #5 in the latest NAIA poll with Cedarville at #11. Early on, it was obvious that those two teams were head and shoulders above the rest, with each school's top five runners in the top 15.
Cedarville's freshman Dan Roberts was out front from the get-go and he only extended his lead as the race wore on. In the team competition, it was still up in the air with a mile to go, although most of Malone's runners were a step or two ahead of their Cedarville counterparts.

At the finish, Roberts won easily
while Malone's runners kicked better and Cedarville's fifth man fell off a bit. The favored team came out winners, 29-39, with Shawnee State a distant third.

The Women's Race
Looking at the poll, this was supposed to be a tossup between #5 Cedarville and #6 Malone, whose ranks were swapped the week before. But it was fairly obvious who was going to win by halfway with Cedarville running very well, and they only moved up as the race went along. A 1-2 Cedarville finish was led by Samanth Maat.