By: Garrett Zatlin
Reminder of the list so far...
#06 Mississippi Rebels
6. Mississippi
Rebels
Flotrack’s #6:
Villanova Wildcats
Coach: Connie
Price-Smith
Notable Departures: Daniel
Bulmer
Notable Additions: MJ Erb (transfer), Ryan Manahan (transfer), Craig Engels (spring transfer), Ryan Walling (transfer-no XC eligibility)
Notable Additions: MJ Erb (transfer), Ryan Manahan (transfer), Craig Engels (spring transfer), Ryan Walling (transfer-no XC eligibility)
Projected Scoring
Five: MJ Erb (JR) [ET#32],
Wesley Gallagher (SR) [ET#48], Sean
Tobin (JR), Robert Domanic (JR), Trevor Gilley (JR)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Finally! I have been extremely eager to discuss this team.
I’ve been keeping track of their offseason transfers and they went from a team
on the verge of making NCAA’s, to now the biggest sleeper pick in the nation. There
is a lot to discuss about this team so let’s jump into it.
The Rebels were a team very few paid attention to last
season. They had some decent pieces, but there was a lot of work to do. The
Rebels started their season at the Memphis XC invite with the B-team toeing the
line. Even so, Mississippi would still sneak out the win over some smaller
schools. The Commodore Classic was no different, except this time the B-team
would drop to 3rd overall. No matter though, we were still waiting
for the top men to come out and show what Mississippi truly had. That race
would be the Louisville Classic where top guys like Gallagher (a transfer from
Northeastern), Domanic, and Tobin would make their debut. Schrobilgen was the
top D1 finisher while Louisville and Southern Indiana each packed two guys
ahead of Gallagher who took the seventh spot. Gallagher was a nice low stick
for a team that took 22nd (Domanic), 26th (Tobin), 30th
(Bulmer), and 31st (Robertson). Overall, Ole Miss would finish 2nd
behind a very strong Wisconsin squad. Missouri would end up 12 points behind
the Rebels. It was nice shakeout race with some encouraging results, but the
pack would need to close the gap between them and Gallagher if they wanted to
continue improving. So what better way to test that pack running than at the
deepest invitational of the year? Ole Miss took a trip to Pre-Nats where they
would face some of the best teams in the nation. The gun went off and the
Rebels went after it. The Irishman, Sean Tobin surprised the team with a 48th
place finish while Gallagher and Domanic placed 55th and 61st.
The pack was there and the top three were solid, but the fourth and fifth men
were both inexperienced freshmen who failed to stick to those three. The
freshmen ended up placing 81st (Caldwell) and 118th (Robertson).
The team score took a hit from the freshmen, but the Rebels still grabbed a top
10 spot. Ole Miss tied at 363 points with Penn State and won out on the tie-breaker
to place 8th. Just like the Louisville Classic, the signs were
encouraging, but there would definitely need to be improvements. Finally it was
the postseason and SEC’s was the first step towards Terre Haute. While most of
the field was pretty calm, Akransas would be the only team in the way of
Mississippi and the conference title. Sure enough, that would be the case with
the Razorbacks outdueling the Rebels. Mississippi put three in the top 10, but
the Razorbacks one-upped them by placing four of their guys in the top 10. Arkansas
would take the title at 54 points and Ole Miss was six points behind. It seemed
like Mississippi kept coming a bit short of the goals they had. That needed to
change if they wanted to make their first ever NCAA appearance in school
history. South regionals wouldn’t be much easier than SEC as they would have to
face top-ranked FSU. However, with the Seminoles missing #1 man Glen Yarham,
the Rebels had a shot at the regional title. Ole Miss entered Tallahassee with
something to prove. They wanted to do more than just get to NCAA’s. The race
started and Ty McCormack of Auburn ran hard to get the individual title. The
guys behind him included one FSU runner and three Mississippi runners. Gallagher,
Tobin, and Domanic took spots 3, 4, and 5. They also added 19th and
24th to the score, which secured the title at 52 total points and
blew out FSU who placed second and totaled 94 points. Ole Miss was finally
going to NCAA’s. They now had confidence and a top three that seemed to be entering
the prime of their season. Although, the last two scorers would need to
improve, all the right signs were there for a good nationals performance. When
Ole Miss entered Terre Haute, they planed for more than just a ‘good’
performance. The team strapped on their spikes and we’re ready to surprise. The
Rebels attacked the course looking to move up as much as they could.
Unfortunately, top man Sean Tobin would end up with a broken foot during the race
and fail to finish. That injury hurt Mississippi substantially. The loss of
Tobin caused a breakdown in the pack. Gallagher was 80th while Domanic
was 112th. The back three scorers failed to make up any ground for
Tobin and finished 203rd, 207th, and 211th.
Mississippi left Terre Haute with a broken foot and a 29th place
team finish. It wasn’t how they planned their first NCAA experience to be.
I remember watching all the transfer news this summer and I
was just so shocked about all of the switches to Mississippi. What was it about
this program that attracted some of the best out there? It’s a question I’m
still trying to figure out. This season will be a good one for the Rebels who
return their entire scoring five from last season. Gallagher, Tobin, and
Domanic were extremely consistent last year, however, the team lacked a
reliable fourth and fifth man. This offseason, the Rebels addressed that issue and
got a huge pick up in former Syracuse All-American runner, MJ Erb. This is a
huge addition mainly due to the lack of true low-stick Ole Miss struggled with
last season. His NCAA’s experience plays a huge part in dropping the team score
for Mississippi. Hopefully, Erb will be able to bring Gallagher, Tobin, and
Domanic with him during the big races and continue to lower the score. What’s
even better is that I truly believe that these four can all greatly improve. They
showed that they were strong runners, but none of them placed better than 48th
at Pre-Nats or nationals. There’s clearly room for improvement, but with more
experience and much stronger training partners, I believe they can do it. The
only issue I have with this team is the fifth man. Trevor Gilley is consistent
but wasn’t all that close to the pack of three last season. Engels and Manahan
are outstanding on the track with great Mile/800 speed. However, neither have
had an impact during XC. If they can somehow translate that to the dirt paths,
then maybe they can contend to be scorers. The other potential 5th
men are Taylor Caldwell and Mark Robertson who struggled as freshmen on the big
stage. It’s easy to say that their experience will only help them improve, but
that’s not a sure-fire thing. There is a lot of questions around the 5th
man of this team. However, if new coach Connie Price-Smith can create chemistry
among all her new recruits and transfers, then that fifth man spot will be
very, very difficult to get. If everything goes right, this team could go from
barely making nationals to a podium threat.
No comments:
Post a Comment