USTFCCCA News & Notes
WEEKEND PREVIEW: Nuttycombe Invitational & Pre-National Invitational
Ready or not: Here it comes.
The biggest weekend of the NCAA Division I Cross Country regular season is upon us.
From The USTFCCCA InfoZone: Meets & Results
By the end of the day on Saturday, each of the top-30 men’s teams and 29 of the top-31 women’s teams in the most recent National Coaches’ Polls will have competed at either the Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational in Madison, Wisconsin, or the Under Armour Pre-National Invitational in Terre Haute, Indiana. The only outliers of the bunch are the women’s teams from Penn and Penn State, who are scheduled to tangle at the Penn State National Open.
2019 Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational |
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Date: Friday, October 18 | Location: Madison, Wisconsin | Host: Wisconsin
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Women’s Championship 6K – 12:20 pm CT | Men’s Championship 8K – 1 pm CT
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Men’s Teams |
Women’s Teams |
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No. 1 Northern Arizona
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No. 1 Arkansas
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No. 5 Stanford
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No. 4 New Mexico
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No. 6 Iowa State
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No. 4 Stanford
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No. 7 Oregon
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No. 6 Utah
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No. 8 Portland
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No. 9 NC State
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No. 10 NC State
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No. 10 Michigan State
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No. 11 Purdue
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No. 11 Boise State*
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No. 12 Syracuse
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No. 13 Wisconsin
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No. 13 Notre Dame
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No. 14 Oregon
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No. 15 Indiana*
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No. 15 Syracuse
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No. 16 Virginia
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No. 16 Notre Dame
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No. 18 Michigan
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No. 18 Furman
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No. 19 Wisconsin
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No. 18 Minnesota
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No. 20 UCLA
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No. 21 Air Force
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No. 22 Utah State
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No. 22 Ohio State
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No. 23 Princeton
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No. 24 Columbia
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No. 25 Eastern Kentucky*
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No. 25 Oregon State
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No. 26 Boise State
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No. 27 Northern Arizona
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No. 28 Tulsa
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No. 28 Georgetown
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No. 30 Wyoming
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No. 29 Iowa State
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Deep doesn’t even begin to describe the fields at the Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational.
A grand total of 40 nationally-ranked teams will toe the starting line of the Thomas Zimmer Championship Cross Country Course, including the top-ranked men from Northern Arizona and the top-ranked women from Arkansas.
The Lumberjacks have become regulars at Nuttycombe by now, having competed at the meet every year since 2011. NAU has been rather successful in Madison, winning its first team title in 2013 and then adding three more to its haul in each of the past three years. The Lumberjacks seem to have gotten stronger with each passing year, lowering its title-winning total from 78 in 2016 to 50 in 2017 and then 46 in 2018.
NAU will have a healthy dose of competition from five other top-10 teams – No. 5 Stanford, No. 6 Iowa State, No. 7 Oregon, No. 8 Portland and No. 10 NC State – as well as just about every team ranked between No. 10 and No. 30, save seven programs who are headed to Indiana. The Lumberjacks faced a tall order at the John McNichols Invitational earlier this season and romped to a 31-51 victory over the then-ranked No. 7 Cardinal.
It won’t be a cakewalk for the Razorbacks either, as they’ll put their first No. 1 ranking in program history to the test with their toughest test yet.
Arkansas will be joined on the starting line five other top-10 teams – No. 4 New Mexico, No. 4 Stanford, No. 6 Utah, No. 9 NC State and No. 10 Michigan State – as well as 14 programs ranked between No. 11 and No. 30.
Keep your eyes on the sixth-ranked Utes. It wasn’t too long ago that Utah upset former No. 1 Colorado at the Joe Piane Invitational, which dramatically shifted the National Coaches’ Poll the following week. This will be a good measuring stick for the upstart Utes to see where they stand on the national landscape in an even bigger meet.
2019 Under Armour Pre-National Invitational |
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Date: Saturday, October 19 | Location: Terre Haute, Indiana | Host: Indiana State
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Women’s Blue Race – 11:00 am ET | Men’s Blue Race – 11:35 am ET
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Men’s Teams |
Women’s Teams |
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No. 2 BYU
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No. 2 BYU
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No. 3 Colorado
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No. 3 Colorado
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No. 4 Washington
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No. 7 Michigan
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No. 8 Ole Miss
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No. 8 Washington
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No. 14 Oklahoma State
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No. 11 Boise State
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No. 15 Indiana
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No. 11 Florida State
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No. 21 Iona
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No. 17 Ole Miss
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No. 25 Eastern Kentucky
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No. 20 Illinois
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No. 27 Arkansas
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No. 26 Boston College
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No. 29 Virginia Tech
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No. 30 Oklahoma State
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No. 30 Florida State
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You can be assured of three things in life: Death, taxes and great racing at the Under Armour Pre-National Invitational hosted by Indiana State.
This year is no different than any other year in the past.
The Men’s Blue Race features three top-5 teams, who are all expected to be rolling out their ‘A’ teams this weekend: No. 2 BYU, No. 3 Colorado and No. 4 Washington. Both the Cougars and the Huskies are eager to put past results behind them when they didn’t have a full squad (BYU at the Bill Dellinger Invitational and Washington at the Coast-to-Coast Battle in Beantown), while the Buffaloes ran roughshod over the competition at the Joe Piane Invitational two weeks ago.
The Women’s Blue Race has four top-10 teams, including No. 2 BYU and No. 3 Colorado. The Cougars have been on the rise ever since receiving a first-place vote in the preseason and destroyed the competition at the Bill Dellinger Invitational, while the Buffaloes held the top spot in the National Coaches’ Poll until the most recent installment following a runner-up finish at the Joe Piane Invitational.
Look out for the men from Ole Miss and the women from Florida State on Saturday. The Rebels showed their strength with a runner-up finish at the Joe Piane Invitational and received their best rank in program history, while the Seminoles have been steadily climbing the national leaderboard, going from No. 20 in the Preseason to No. 11 by Week 4.