25. Illinois Fighting Illini
24. Villanova Wildcats
23. Eastern Michigan Eagles
22. Iowa State Cyclones
21. Oklahoma State Cowboys
20. Tulsa Golden Hurricanes
19. Michigan State Spartans
18. Boise State Broncos
17. Washington State Cougars
16. Indiana Hoosiers
15. Washington Huskies
14. Eastern Kentucky Colonials
13. BYU Cougars
12. Wisconsin Badgers
11. Furman Paladins
10. Virginia Cavaliers
9. Colorado State Rams
8. Norther Arizona Lumberjacks
7. Arkansas Razorbacks
6. Colorado Buffaloes
5. Iona Gaels
4. Stanford Cardinals
3. Georgetown Hoyas
4. Stanford Cardinals
Flotrack’s #4: Arkansas Razorbacks
Flotrack's Ranking of Stanford: 1st
Coach: Chris Miltenberg
Flotrack's Ranking of Stanford: 1st
Coach: Chris Miltenberg
Notable Departures: Jim Rosa, Joe Rosa
Notable Additions: Alek Parsons, Thomas Ratcliffe, Isaac Cortes
Projected Scoring Five: Sean McGorty (SR) [ET#5], Grant Fisher (SO) [ET#6], Garrett Sweatt (SR), Jack Keelan (JR), Alex Ostberg (FR)
Projected Scoring Five: Sean McGorty (SR) [ET#5], Grant Fisher (SO) [ET#6], Garrett Sweatt (SR), Jack Keelan (JR), Alex Ostberg (FR)
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You're probably thinking...
"What? How?"
"Well that's just stupid"
"No way, Flotrack has them ranked 1st"
This is where it gets interesting.
Stanford is one of the very few powerhouse programs that can compete with teams like Oregon and Colorado every single year. Whatever Coach Milt's training plan is, it's working. Their legacy and program history is probably the reason why we won't see them ranked outside the top 10 for years to come.
In 2015, Stanford was often paired with Syracuse as a team who could potentially upset the defending national champs, Colorado. The Rosa's were returning at full health, Sean McGorty was emerging as one of the best individuals in the nation, and Grant Fisher was a young star with a bright future ahead.
Stanford was a difficult team to figure out as we rarely saw the squad running their best seven guys in the same race. McGorty and Fisher ran at the Stanford Invite, but neither ran at the Washington Invite (neither did Jim Rosa). Things got really interesting at Wisconsin when Stanford once again didn't run their best team and placed 20th overall. No one really knew what Stanford's plan was.
But when PAC-12's came around, the Cardinals were done playing around. Stanford came out with a dominating performance and put five in the top 20. Colorado was the only team to outmatch Stanford. Regionals became a tactical affair, but Stanford handled it easily as they got the second auto-qualifying spot out of the West region. Stanford was certainly in position to pull that upset.
Unfortunately, we never did get to see that upset. The Cardinals did well, but Joe Rosa struggled in his final collegiate cross country appearance which essentially put Stanford back to 3rd in the team results.
Now it's 2016 and in many people's minds, Stanford should theoretically be competing for a national title. However, Stanford loses two huge names from their scoring squad (the Rosa twins). Those two have been a staple of the Stanford program for so long and now they are gone. Without any big transfers or another Grant Fisher recruit, the void will be a pretty big one to fill.
McGorty and Fisher, based on the Etrain rankings, make up the best 1-2 punch in the nation. They will consistently get them points within the top-10 and will essentially be the reason why Stanford has a shot at the national title at all. Trying to describe just how valuable these two are is very difficult.
The third and fourth spots will go to guys who have been around the Stanford distance program for quite some time. Garrett Sweatt and Jack Keelan are two Stanford talents that have been solid place holders in the past. Both have some impressive 5k/10k PR's and plenty of big-meet experience.
Sweatt has shown a bit more promise during cross country with his 25th place finish at Wisconsin and 7th place finish at Washington. Keelan has also shown off his talent (4th at Washington), but is far less consistent in doing so. These two will be great scorers, but they simply need to perform better and score lower if they even want to think of threatening the NCAA favorite.
There are, of course, other exciting guys to fill the shoes that the Rosa twins left. One of them will be filled by redshirt freshman Alex Ostberg who is an unknown talent that so many people have forgotten about. As the 2015 season began, Ostberg was thought as the best recruit in the nation aside from Fisher. With a year of base training under his legs, Ostberg is going to be scary good and a reliable scorer. That's not a prediction, it's a fact.
If we look into the depth of Stanford, it's certainly not as crowded as it used to be, but it's still talented. 2014 XC All-American Sam Wharton has had multiple breakout races, but is just as inconsistent as Keelan. Steven Fahy is a rising sophomore who impressed us on the track with his steeplechase performances, but his youth is still a concern. It's not perfect, but there is some support there if Stanford needs it.
For me, this Stanford squad loses too much fire-power up front to be ranked among the top three teams. They have some minor issues with consistency and are still very young at certain spots. There's a lot to fix and they probably know that.You can argue that ranking Stanford at 4th is more for the "shock value", but at the end of the day they just simply don't have the complete team they used to.
This is, of course, Stanford we're talking about. They have a legitimate shot at winning conferences, regionals, and even nationals this year. Coach Milt knows how to train his younger athletes and guys like Keelan and Wharton have to know the expectations and pressure that are on them to perform this season. They'll need to adjust a few things, but if they do fix them then Stanford will go from being a title contender to a title favorite.
You're probably thinking...
"What? How?"
"Well that's just stupid"
"No way, Flotrack has them ranked 1st"
This is where it gets interesting.
Stanford is one of the very few powerhouse programs that can compete with teams like Oregon and Colorado every single year. Whatever Coach Milt's training plan is, it's working. Their legacy and program history is probably the reason why we won't see them ranked outside the top 10 for years to come.
In 2015, Stanford was often paired with Syracuse as a team who could potentially upset the defending national champs, Colorado. The Rosa's were returning at full health, Sean McGorty was emerging as one of the best individuals in the nation, and Grant Fisher was a young star with a bright future ahead.
Stanford was a difficult team to figure out as we rarely saw the squad running their best seven guys in the same race. McGorty and Fisher ran at the Stanford Invite, but neither ran at the Washington Invite (neither did Jim Rosa). Things got really interesting at Wisconsin when Stanford once again didn't run their best team and placed 20th overall. No one really knew what Stanford's plan was.
But when PAC-12's came around, the Cardinals were done playing around. Stanford came out with a dominating performance and put five in the top 20. Colorado was the only team to outmatch Stanford. Regionals became a tactical affair, but Stanford handled it easily as they got the second auto-qualifying spot out of the West region. Stanford was certainly in position to pull that upset.
Unfortunately, we never did get to see that upset. The Cardinals did well, but Joe Rosa struggled in his final collegiate cross country appearance which essentially put Stanford back to 3rd in the team results.
Now it's 2016 and in many people's minds, Stanford should theoretically be competing for a national title. However, Stanford loses two huge names from their scoring squad (the Rosa twins). Those two have been a staple of the Stanford program for so long and now they are gone. Without any big transfers or another Grant Fisher recruit, the void will be a pretty big one to fill.
McGorty and Fisher, based on the Etrain rankings, make up the best 1-2 punch in the nation. They will consistently get them points within the top-10 and will essentially be the reason why Stanford has a shot at the national title at all. Trying to describe just how valuable these two are is very difficult.
The third and fourth spots will go to guys who have been around the Stanford distance program for quite some time. Garrett Sweatt and Jack Keelan are two Stanford talents that have been solid place holders in the past. Both have some impressive 5k/10k PR's and plenty of big-meet experience.
Sweatt has shown a bit more promise during cross country with his 25th place finish at Wisconsin and 7th place finish at Washington. Keelan has also shown off his talent (4th at Washington), but is far less consistent in doing so. These two will be great scorers, but they simply need to perform better and score lower if they even want to think of threatening the NCAA favorite.
There are, of course, other exciting guys to fill the shoes that the Rosa twins left. One of them will be filled by redshirt freshman Alex Ostberg who is an unknown talent that so many people have forgotten about. As the 2015 season began, Ostberg was thought as the best recruit in the nation aside from Fisher. With a year of base training under his legs, Ostberg is going to be scary good and a reliable scorer. That's not a prediction, it's a fact.
If we look into the depth of Stanford, it's certainly not as crowded as it used to be, but it's still talented. 2014 XC All-American Sam Wharton has had multiple breakout races, but is just as inconsistent as Keelan. Steven Fahy is a rising sophomore who impressed us on the track with his steeplechase performances, but his youth is still a concern. It's not perfect, but there is some support there if Stanford needs it.
For me, this Stanford squad loses too much fire-power up front to be ranked among the top three teams. They have some minor issues with consistency and are still very young at certain spots. There's a lot to fix and they probably know that.You can argue that ranking Stanford at 4th is more for the "shock value", but at the end of the day they just simply don't have the complete team they used to.
This is, of course, Stanford we're talking about. They have a legitimate shot at winning conferences, regionals, and even nationals this year. Coach Milt knows how to train his younger athletes and guys like Keelan and Wharton have to know the expectations and pressure that are on them to perform this season. They'll need to adjust a few things, but if they do fix them then Stanford will go from being a title contender to a title favorite.
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