NCAA XC Countdown: #2 NAU Men and Providence Women

Sep 4, 2013 by Isaac Wood

For the next month, The Wood Report will be counting down projected team finishes in this year's NCAA Cross Country Championships in Terre Haute, IN. Make sure to stay up-to-date with The Wood Report throughout the season. You should follow Isaac Wood on Twitter, too.

View the full NCAA Top 31 Countdown HERE.

#2 Providence
Head Coach: Ray Treacy (30th Season)

2012 National Finish- 2nd

Key Returners from 2012

Sarah Collins (So., 9:26 Open 3k, 16:19 5k, 10th NCAA XC '12)
Emily Sisson (Sr., 9:06 Open 3k, 15:34 5k, 33:02 10k, 15th NCAA XC '12)
Laura Nagel (Sr., 9:24 Open 3k, 15:50 5k, 33:46 10k, 35th NCAA XC '12)
Erin Murphy (Sr., 16:32 5k, 35:46 10k)
Grace Thek (Sr., 9:43 Open 3k, 16:54 5k)

Impact Recruits/Transfers

Ashley Erba (Fr., 4:55 1600m, 10:24 3200m, 16:18 5k)
Jillian Fanning (Fr., 4:35 1500m, 9:43 3000m, 4 X NXN Qualifier- 28th '09, 6th '10, 4th '11, 21st '12)
Keelin Hollowood (Fr., 4:33 1500m, 6:43 2k Steeple, 5 X NXN Qualifier- 40th '08, 25th '09, 55th '10, 28th '11, 48th '12)
Catarina Rocha (Fr., 4:49 1 Mile, 10:26 2 Mile, 3 X FL Finalist- 31st '10, 7th '11, 2nd '12)

Season Preview

After a very surprising (to some) second place finish at NCAAs in Louisville last year, and spent the first few moments following the race thinking they won, Coach Ray Treacy and his Providence team bring back their three headed monster to lead them in the 2013 season.

That three headed monster includes Sarah Collins, Emily Sisson and Laura Nagel, all of them All-Americans from NCAAs XC 2012. With those three returning alone, the Friars look like an easy podium team if they have some OK girls to back them up in the no. 4-5 spot. What makes them even scarier is their recruiting class, that could be considered the best in the country.

The most talented girl on the team, especially on the track, is Emily Sisson. Her breakout track season this past spring, where she ran 33:02 for 10k at the Big East Championships (who does that at a conference meet?) is a good indication of where her progression is at and what she is capable this upcoming season. If she can roll with the momentum from track she is a top-10 individual at NCAAs.

The no. 1 returner for Providence from 2012 on the xc course is Sarah Collins of Ireland. Her 10th place finish at NCAAs XC last season was big-time for the Friars and her and Sisson up front are a very scary duo, not including Nagel. Collins was the front runner for Providence at every meet in 2012 and will not be relenting that position to Sisson any time soon. That is the beauty of having two outstanding runners pushing each other up front, they make one another better.

Not to forget the third member of the Friars 1-2-3, Laura Nagel also returns from her All-American performance in Louisville. Nagel actually has better track PRs than Collins does and is, like Sisson, coming off of a very good track season this spring. All of this is good news for Providence because Nagel is a potential top-20 individual finisher at NCAAs.

With three girls potentially placing in the top-20 at Nats, Providence seems like a shoo-in for at least a podium finish if not better. It only gets scarier for everyone else in the country with the recruiting class that Coach Treacy pulled in.

What makes the Providence recruiting class so good is the amount of girls with high-level quality cross country running experience in high school. Every single one of the athletes listed above in the recruit section, were big-time prep runners.

Ashley Erba was dominant on the track, especially for 5k. Her NBON 5k championship in 2012 was no joke and if she's healthy she's a very good no. 4-5 runner in the Providence pack.

Jillian Fanning and Keelin Hollowood can be thrown into the same mix as very experienced high school runners. Combined these girls competed in nine Nike Cross National Champioship races. Both have similar track PRs, but Fanning was a little bit better in every NXN that they ran. The real question with these two (and with their whole class potentially) is their upside. Fayetteville-Manlius (where Fanning went) and Saratoga Springs (where Hollwood went) are both known for being high mileage schools that get a lot out of their kids in high school.

The good news is that both of these girls are very talented, and Fanning's sister still continued to improve in college at Albany after going through the same program. Fanning also did improve every year but last year (the mudder year) and that is a good indication of where her ceiling is. It will be interesting to see where Hollowood ends up in the Friar depth chart, but the experience that she has gained from all of those championship level teams is definitely not going to hurt her.

Last but definitely not least on the recruiting side is Foot Locker 2012 runner-up Catarina Rocha. While improving all three of her Foot Locker Finals races since 2010, her upside is seemingly very high and is instant offense for the Friars if she stays healthy. Rocha has been one of the most consistent cross country runners in high school over the past three years. Providence can plug in just about any of these new freshman girls and they will be just fine.

Coach Ray Treacy has done a great job of preparing his athletes to run well at the NCAAs and should be no different this year in Terre Haute. If five of these girls can stay healthy and peak at the right time, there is only one team standing in their way of a national championship and that team is going to have to be on their "A" game to hold Providence off, come November.

#2 Northern Arizona
Head Coach: Eric Heins (7th Season)

2012 National Finish- 4th

Key Returners from 2012

Brian Shrader (Sr., 3:43 1500m, 7:59 Open 3k, 14:15 5k, 15th NCAA XC '12)
Futsum Zienasellassie (So., 3:46 1500m, 13:50 5k, 31st NCAA XC '12)
Matt McElroy (Jr., 8:11 Open 3k, 14:08 5k, 66th NCAA XC '12)
Nathan Weitz (So., 3:44 1500m, 80th NCAA XC '12)
Caleb Hoover (Jr., 14:05 5k, 8:44 3k Steeple, 75th NCAA XC '12)
Tim Freriks (Sr., 14:18 5k, 29:31 10k, 94th NCAA XC '11)

Impact Recruits/Transfers

Josh Hardin (Sr., From William and Mary-14:04 5k, 29:29 10k, 140th NCAA XC '10 (Frosh)
Korey Krotzer (RFr., From Ok. St.- 4:09 1600m, 9:01 3200m)
Andy Trouard (Fr., 4:08 1600m, 8:51 3200m, 29th NXN '12)

Season Preview

In 2012, Northern Arizona flew under the radar during the majority of the season and loved every minute of it. In the process of being underrated all season long, the Lumberjacks slowly picked up the pace throughout the year. After dominating the Big Sky Conference meet and surprising Colorado and BYU by winning the Mountain Regional, NAU came back from a tough 10k performance in the Regional to get a podium spot as a team in Louisville.

Coach Eric Heins has done an outstanding job recruiting and developing his athletes in his seven years at the helm in Flagstaff. This year he has a great mix of young talent and veteran athletes that make them one of the top programs in the NCAA.

A lot of the success of the Lumberjacks goes with their leader Brian Shrader. Now that Diego Estrada is gone (granted he didn't run xc last year anyway) Shrader needs to step into that role in full force and take this team to a different level. His 15th individual finish in NCAAs last season was a huge step for him and he should be looking at a similar type of performance this season in Terre Haute. Although he was stricken with injuries during the track season this spring, he should be ready to lead NAU this fall.

The athlete that could improve the most from last season to his is Futsum Zienasellassie (thank you copy and paste for that last name). Had Ed Cheserek not been around during his prep days, Futsum could have been Foot Locker champ at least one year (and challenged Verzbicas another). He is still very untapped and proved that on the track this spring where he ran a very solid 13:50 and qualified for NCAA Outdoors (finished 13th). It will be interesting to watch Ches and Futsum go at it again at NCAAs this season and who ends up beating who. Both of those guys are capable of top-25 performances on the right day.

There were not very many freshman that had as good of a year on the track than Nathan Weitz did this most recent outdoor season. For a freshman (that was pretty unheralded) to come right out of high school and make NCAA Outdoors in the 1500m is pretty impressive. Weitz was solid in cross in 2012 where he finished 80th. Look to see a marked improvement in him as well going forward.

Matt McElroy is a wildcard for NAU. His inability to stay healthy on the track and throughout his career has really hindered his progression. A high school stud, (finished runner-up to Verzbicas at Foot Locker in 2009) McElroy's talent did not just fly away, he just needs to actually be healthy and he is a potential All-American.

With those four athletes alone, NAU is scary good and talented. Add in guys like Caleb Hoover, who had a breakout year on the track (8:44 Steepler) and Tim Freriks (experienced xc guy) and the Lumberjacks have some very good options for no. 5-7 runners.

The quality runners do not stop there in Flagstaff, key transfers like Josh Hardin (from William and Mary) and Korey Krotzer (from Oklahoma State--decided to go to Flagstaff instead of Provo instead) will be ready to make in impact from the minute they wear a NAU uniform. Andy Trouard was a very good prep and any kind of help Coach Heins can get from them is just icing on the cake.

What will be difficult for Northern Arizona is making sure they can get out of the Mountain Regional alive with a controlled effort to prepare themselves for NCAAs. But who am I kidding, they looked great at Regionals in 2012 and still ran out of their minds in Louisville. NAU is loaded with talent and more in the wings waiting to step up into the top seven to boot. Along with Colorado, Northern Arizona has a legitimate shot to win an NCAA title if any of the other top programs have a down day and things work out just like they did in 2012 where they surprised the country with their fourth place finish.