Mideast Region Preview
The quick left turn after a fast start will be familiar to many runners that ran at Harkness State Park last month. Connecticut College will host the realigned Mideast Regional (RIP New England Region). The line was drawn through the state of Massachusetts leaving the NESCAC split among the new East and the reformed Mideast region. Crashing the old New England Party will be former Atlantic Region front runners, RPI, St. Lawrence and Vassar. All of whom have at least one team in the D3GD Top 32. While the powerhouse of the New England has been split into two regions, the competition will still be strong as there are four ranked men’s and women’s programs lining up on Saturday along with a few teams that have made an appearance in the D3GD Top 32 this year.
Men’s Championship
The storyline leading the Men’s race is if Williams’ frontrunner, Aidan Ryan, would be racing. Aidan confirmed with a “Yes 👍” that he will be racing on Saturday. This is good news for Williams as they’ll look to continue their undefeated season and snag the Mideast big Q to the national meet next weekend.
Under the new qualification model, the remaining national spots will be granted via at-large bids. Other teams in contention for receiving a bid are #12 Middlebury, #24 RPI, #25 Vassar, and unranked Amherst and host, Connecticut College.
The team from Middlebury made a huge jump in the D3GD rankings last week (from #19 all the way to #12), following their impressive 8-point deficit to #2 Williams. While perhaps the only time “impressive” precedes “deficit” and a loss actually moves a team up in the rankings, Middlebury showed their ability to compete with a top-2 team in the country, which plays in their favor when it comes to receiving a bid. With Ryan plugged back in this weekend for Williams, the nation will see how Middlebury’s men truly stack up.
The battle for third will lie in the shuffling between red and black striped RPI jerseys and the signature grey and maroon of Vassar. Very evenly matched, RPI won the season tie-breaker in Vassar matchups last weekend at Liberty League, where they won by a narrow two points. Their first victory over Vassar took place at Connecticut College, which could play to their favor when revisiting this course. However, Vassar can still hold tight to the early-season victory they had over RPI at their home meet in September, and will enter this meet determined to make up the two points they missed at conference.
Skating on the edge of qualification will be unranked Amherst and Connecticut College. Connecticut College was dropped from the D3GD pre-regional rankings following their 7th place finish at NESCACs, a performance that could have been a season anomaly given that the rest of their season had them beating many of the teams they lost to at conference. Perhaps in better conditions and with a home-course advantage they can earn some redemption this weekend.
As NESCAC schools trade off wins against each other throughout the season, it could be beneficial for both Amherst and Conn College. After a slow start to the season, Amherst is beginning to pick up steam and bounced back after the Conn College invite. A tie with Bates at the NESCAC meet could help their resume if they can get into the Top 4, or even Top 5, this weekend. Owen Dailey has been consistent for the Mammoths all year, and if Billy Massey can have a similar performance like he did at Paul Short of being 6 seconds behind Conn College’s Jeffrey Love, then Amherst will be in contention.
Connecticut College initially jumped into the D3GD rankings after a stellar performance at their home invite. Matt Carter and Jeffrey Love have been in the Top 10 in every race this year and may be the best duo in this region outside of Aidan Ryan and Elias Lindgren. The hosts will need them to produce two low sticks if they want a shot at getting to the national meet for the first time since 2002. Those two low sticks provide some wiggle room for their 5th man as they were only 27 points behind RPI at their home invite despite their fifth in 94th place. An added boost will be the return of Chris Verstandig to the lineup. The Camels were without him during NESCACs and it was clear they missed their normal #3 man.
In a region with intense team depth, individual qualifications will go to whoever can break up the packs of aforementioned teams. Trinity’s Travis Martin could be one such athlete, his most notable achievement this season being his eighth place finish at Conn College amidst top athletes from Williams, MIT, and Connecticut College. Martin, however, was absent from NESCAC results two weekends ago, making his presence on the start line this weekend uncertain. If he’s able to show up healthy, he should have a good shot at advancing.
Other names to look out for are Amherst frontrunners Owen Daily and Billy Massey, who could both advance in the event that their team does not, as well as St. Lawrence’s Timothy Boyce, who placed 12th at SUNY G earlier this year. The fate of individuals in this race all depends on how many teams the NCAA decides to advance from this historically competitive region.
Women’s Championship
The team battle in the Women’s race should be a familiar sight as the top teams have seen each other the past two meets. Williams, Middlebury, Amherst, and St. Lawrence will toe the line as the ranked teams in the region. While it’s never certain that ranked teams will get through, teams unranked by D3GD will be looking to make waves of their own and cause an upset along the sea-lined course.
Williams held off the above mentioned teams all year and are not looking to lose their first meet of the season. They come off of a NESCAC victory from two weekends ago and are the favorites this weekend to earn the automatic qualifying spot. They are led by Genna Girard, who covered this same course in a blistering 21:31 at the Conn College Invite, placing second only to Tufts’s Danielle Page.
Look to Girard to lead the way this weekend, but not without a fight, as Middlebury’s Cassie Kearney is sure to go with her after beating Girard head-to-head at NESCAC two weeks ago. Kearney finished right behind Girard earlier this year at Conn College in a time of 21:38. Course PRs for both athletes are almost certain in this battle for regional champion.
Kearney will look to lead the way for #13 Middlebury in the team race for second against Amherst, who comes in ranked #21. Middlebury’s women come off of a third place finish at NESCAC behind #9 Tufts. With the state of Massachusetts split down the middle, Tufts moves to the East Region, opening up a strong shot at second for Middlebury.
Last time on this course this season, however, Amherst trailed the Panthers by just 2 points, indicating they will certainly make a run to upset the team from Vermont. The gap between them at NESCAC is deceitful as Amherst had their first inconsistent performance of the weekend. A bounce-back performance from the Mammoths could help them get back to the National meet as a team for the first time since 2014. Last time out on the Harkness, Sidnie Kulik and Mary Kate McGranahan placed 8th and 11th to lead their to team to a close finish behind Bates and Middlebury. Similar to the Connecticut College on the men’s side, this dynamic duo will be key to the Mammoths’ success.
While we envision 4 teams making it out of the Mideast, the last qualifying bid from this region could go to St. Lawrence if they are able to finish close to the top four. Coming off a standout conference performance in which they put four runners in front of both second place RPI’s third and third place Vassar’s first, this team has a chance to splash onto the national scene by heating up at the right time. Watch out, too, for the team from Mount Holyoke, who has flown somewhat under the radar this season following a DNF at Connecticut College on their official TFRRS results page. They have a very strong top 3 of Lauren Selkin along with their 2019 XC National Qualfying twins, Madeline and Hannah Rieders.
Right there with Mount Holyoke and St. Lawrence will be Smith. They have been consistent all year and have been moving up the past weeks. Their 3rd place finish at NEWMACs just 16 points behind #32 Wellesley could give them confidence heading into regionals.
In the event that only 3 teams are taken from the Mideast look for Mount Holyoke’s Lauren Selkin, who just placed 4th at the NEWMAC meet ahead of fellow Mideast-mate Laurel Kruger of Smith College. They will likely be joined by Liberty League champ Nia Goddard of RPI and Westfield State’s Amy O’Sullivan, winner of the MASCAC championship.