Etrain Team Power Rankings: #18 Tulsa Golden Hurricanes


18. Tulsa Golden Hurricanes
Flotrack’s #18: Washington Huskies
Coach: Steve Gulley
Notable Departures: Tim Rackers, Danny Thater, Adam Palamer
Notable Additions:
Luke Traynor (transfer), Braydon Rennie  (Canada) Jay Ort (Canada), Stuart McNutt
Projected Scoring Five: Marc Scott (SR) [ET#22], Ben Preisner (SO), Luke Traynot (JR), Elijah Silva (SO), Braydon Rennie (FR)
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I have a bit of a soft spot for the Tulsa Hurricanes after I robbed Marc Scott of a better ranking in the Top 50 List. What I like about Tulsa, is that they have a history of recruiting excellent talent and improving that talent every year. 2015 is no different. Coach Gulley has brought in overseas athletes this fall to make up for the seniors they lost as well as build on their depth.

Much like Colorado St. and Furman, Tulsa entered last season with many people unsure of what to expect from them. After a quick ‘B-team’ duel meet against Oklahoma, the real action would start at the Notre Dame Invite for the Hurricanes. The top squad would go out against a stacked and deep field looking to make a good first impression on the 2015 season. Unfortunately, the first-race rust would hold Tulsa back. The Hurricanes would finish a decent 10th overall (7 points away from 9th), but failed to make an impact. Although Scott finished in a solid 29th place, a top 10 finish would’ve been appropriate for a man of his caliber.  The next stop on the schedule would be Pre-Nats where the competition would be much stronger than Notre Dame. Many would dismiss Tulsa from their predictions considering their unexciting ND performance. That, however, would turn out to be a poor decision as Tulsa shocked the nation by beating Colorado St. on the tiebreaker and placing 5th overall in an dominant field. Scott would hold his own in a star-studded field and place 11th. His teammate Tim Rackers snagged 34th. The rest of the scoring five took up spots throughout 71st and 82nd place putting the team score a bit higher than it should’ve been. Nonetheless, it was a great performance and deserved to be applauded. The Golden Hurricanes would eventually walk in to AAC’s and cruise through the competition taking the top three spots and defeating runner-up Cincinnati by 63 points. Conferences was just the warm-up to the big showdown. With Oklahoma State losing big names to graduation, and Tulsa on the rise, could the Hurricanes actually take the Midwest regional title? Many thought it could be done, but alas, Tulsa was out matched by OKST and settled for a second place finish 14 points behind the Pokes. Although they didn’t get the title, Tulsa had to be happy considering they had never had a top-two team finish since 1997*. Tulsa would enter 2014 NCAA’s making it their 4th straight visit. But this time, they would have the comfort of an auto-bid. Having made school history, Tulsa stepped to the line with a bit more confidence. Tulsa could very well fight for a top-10 spot and establish themselves as a power-program. That plan, however, did not go as planned as the Golden Hurricanes got caught in the mass waves of talent. Scott continued to shine and grabbed 14th overall. But only his teammate Tim Rackers cracked the top 100 while their 5th man hurt their score with his 220th place finish. Overall, Tulsa grabbed 25th with the next three teams in front of them all within 6 points. It wasn’t a pretty day for the Golden Hurricanes.

*1997 was the earliest year I could find online results for. Tulsa’s most recent runner-up or title finish could’ve been earlier than 1997 making their 2014 performance that much more impressive.  

When most teams lose three of their top five, they go through a rebuilding process. If you’re the Tulsa Hurricanes, you reload. Marc Scott returns to lead a talented squad back to NCAA’s and avenge their 25th place finish. There is only so much Scott can do in the scoring however. He has already placed so low that the best impact he can have on the scoring is about 10 points better. Ben Preisner returns this season as a sophomore after a great freshman year on the track. The youngster ran 8:53 for the steeplechase last spring which is a great sign considering the success steeplechasers have had during XC. His first year experience is huge and hopefully that experience will correlate to an improved season. Elijah Silva is another rising sophomore that has plenty of potential. With one year under his belt and a 3:47 1500, look for him to make an impact. Yet, the real difference makers will be the men from Canada and Great Britain. Luke Traynor will team up with his fellow countryman, Marc Scott, and look to be the third/fourth man that can close the gap between the top two. The freshman on this squad will probably fill the rest of the varisty and contribute some excellent depth. McNutt had an outstanding XC last fall placing 10th at NXN AND 21st at Footlocker. Clearly, the kid is durable. Jay Ort and Braydon Rennie of Canada are both sub 8:30 3k guys and it’s impossible to think they won’t improve in their first year of collegiate running. The potential with this team is endless. Unfortunately, that’s just what this team is: potential. They need to execute their race plans and stay healthy. If each individual can progress and improve to their expected fitness, then watch for this team to return to NCAA’s even stronger than last season.


When I look at Flotrack’s ranking of Tulsa (28th), I scratch my head and wonder how that could be. I understand the argument that there are of a ton of new guys in a new program, but there is too much depth and potential to think that Tulsa can’t return to the talent level they were at least year. I’m not sure how teams like NAU, Georgetown, and Washington are ahead of this team after losing so many names. 18th may be a bit of a generous ranking, but I believe it’s much more fair than 28th.

9 comments:

  1. Garrett, I admire all the hard work you do on the college xc posts, but I think there is a disconnect between your current audience of PA high school fans and your national college coverage. Personally I don't care about college xc, and by the look of the number of comments not many others do either.

    I think the problem may be that many of us know these runners, and hence aren't drawn to it.

    I'd rather see you abrieviate your college coverage and get back to more local and high school coverage.

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    1. I agree with this person on the sense that the fan base is more PA hs, but I don't think we should be so quick to judge the writer's decisions. Although looking for hs coverage more than anything else, but my best guess is that they're attempting to grow their viewer base. As to whether it works or not, they're dropping some great content as only kids in college and I wish I had the capability that these kids had at such a young age. Best of luck guys.

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    2. I disagree with this. Garrett isn't the writer who covers the PA high school kids on this blog its Jarrett so you should direct this at Jarrett

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    3. All very fair points and you're definitely right when you say what makes this blog run is the PA high school action. No doubt that is the heart and soul of the Etrain brand. However, I am not a high school writer. Very rarely do I write about high school.

      Right now, there isn't exactly any material to talk about considering we're kind of in an awkward lull between the offseason and the actual season. I have talked with the writers and I am more than willing to move my posts to just the NCAA section (which I'll probably end up doing now). I'm sure Train has something cooking. I can understand that these aren't the most exciting for those who don't follow the collegiate scene.

      That said, we have a following for the collegiate scene. If you go on our Twitter page, you'll notice that big names like Anthony Rotich, Craig Lutz, John Mascari, Sam Stabler, and PA alum running in college follow us. The one commenter would be correct in saying that we are trying to expand. We have a very solid collegiate audience.

      With all of that said, I'll be moving the rankings to just the NCAA section so if you're still interested feel free to keep looking there!

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    4. Oakborne and Sharp are coming up and with 17 NCAA teams left to preview at this rate we'll be getting ready for Briarwood before we start talking PA HS again. The college previews are good stuff but PA alumni would be more interesting. But college running is back seat, PA HS is the draw. If you're moving the rankings to the NCAA page maybe just leave a link on the main page so people know its there.

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    5. What would he write about PA alumni at this point in time??? It's September 1st and if any of them are worth writing about at any point of the year, they are probably doing tempo runs with their collegiate team. If that is what you're interested in, go read a running log all summer. I find these rankings quite interesting, and tune in every day to see what team will pop up next, just as I would PA team rankings. Great job, eTrain staff.

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  2. There was once a time when no one wanted to read this site as all. Then, eventually people came on board. As a Sixers fan would say, trust the process. Rock on Zat.

    Of course if you're into this sorta thing .... http://therealtrain.blogspot.com/2015/08/etrain-mailbag-is-like-arnold-back.html

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  3. No Virginia Tech!!!

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