Coach Eric in Indiana and a Little D1 XC Education

Coach Eric left this morning for the NCAA Pre-Nationals with the University of Pennsylvania cross country team. 34 of the top 39 teams in the country will be there including the TOP EIGHT! They all descend on Terre Haute, IN and it becomes the mecca of NCAA Cross Country for a weekend.

UPenn’s assignment? A race against the biggest guns in Division One cross country. Stanford, Colorado, Notre Dame, Michigan, and Providence (all ranked) are all in their race making it an important one for the Quakers. Generally, if you knock off a seeded team – you gain ‘points’ towards entry into the actual NCAA National meet (not surprisingly held on the same course). There are also plenty of other Ivy League schools in their conference which would give them confidence heading into Heptagonals (Ivy League Championships)

If you don’t know much about the big names in present-day NCAA Division One Cross Country – here are a couple names you should look up and educate yourselves with: Lopez Lomong of Northern Arizona, Bobby Curtis of Villanova, Mohamed Khadroui of Iona College, Josh McDougal of Liberty, Galen Rupp of Oregon, Jess Baumgartner of Southern Utah, Stuart Eagon of Wisconsin (not expected to run this particular meet), and Jacob Korir of Eastern Kentucky. If you click on their names, you can get some more information on them. Definitely read up on Baumgartner who had “humble” high school PRs and Lopez Lomong who has overcome adversity at ALL levels.

Enjoy.

You never know which one will turn out to be the next Steve Prefontaine, Bob Kennedy, or Alan Webb.