If last weekend wasn’t crazy enough, the NCAA cross country season revs up again this weekend, and Flotrack will be covering three huge meets across the country. First up will be the Notre Dame Invite on Friday, followed by the Washington XC Invitational in Seattle and the Paul Short Run, both on Saturday. Paul Short will be streaming LIVE on Flo, and you can catch all the action right here!

Watch Paul Short LIVE Starting at 10:00am EDT Saturday!

Saucony Flo50 Rankings

Paul Short Invitational

Teams: Adams State, Alabama, Allegheny (M), American Int’l, American, Army, Bates College (M), Brown, California University (PA) (M), Canisius (M), Columbia (M), Cornell, Davidson (M), East Carolina, Florida State (W), Franklin Pierce (M), Georgetown, Harvard, Iona, James Madison (W), Johns Hopkins, La Salle, Lehigh, Lock Haven (M), Longwood (W), Maryland (W) Mississippi State, Monmouth, Navy (W), Queens (W), Quinnipiac (W), Rider (M), Roger Williams (M), Shippensburg, Saint Josephs (M), St. Lawrence, South Carolina (W), Stonehill, U at Buffalo, UMBC, University At Albany, University of Connecticut, University of Guelph, University of Massachusetts, University Of Miami, University of Pennsylvania, University of San Diego, Villanova University, Williams College, Yale

What to watch for: On the men’s side, Saucony Flo50 No. 8 Villanova will be running a split squad that includes three of their top five, Jordan Williamsz, Robert Denault, and Sam McEntee. Aussies Williamsz and McEntee both earned All American honors last year. Williamsz finished fifth in the 1500m last spring at the NCAA outdoor championships and McEntee earned a first team All-American honor (27th) in cross country last year. Denault will also be one to watch after breaking four minutes in the mile twice last spring and earning a second-place finish in the 1500m at the Big East championships. Adams State will travel from Alamosa, Colo. to take on Div. 1 competition in the Gold race. The defending NCAA Div. 2 champions will be returning 2013 NCAA champ Tabor Stevens and All Americans Kevin Batt and Kyle Masterson. Top 60 NCAA finishers Julian Florez and Chandler Reid will be returning as well to contribute to the Grizzly squad. In the individual race, Mississippi State’s Damian Roszko will compete after a ninth-place finish at the Commodore Classic in Nashville Sept. 13, and an individual title in August at the Brooks Memphis Twilight Meet. The 3:39 1500m runner will be one to watch in the top pack on Saturday. 

In the women’s race, Saucony Flo50 No. 3 Georgetown will be competing after a second-place finish at the Battle in Beantown. Led by Katrina Coogan’s fourth-place individual finish, their 28-second spread between the 1-5 runners showed some serious depth and should translate well in Bethlehem. No. 5 Florida State will look to continue their winning streak after placing five in the top nine at Virginia Tech. Senior Colleen Quigley (#6 in Saucony Flo50) was named ACC Women’s Cross Country Performer of the Week after leading the Seminoles with an individual title at Virginia Tech on Friday. The All American covered the 6k course in 21:09 to help edge out North Carolina for the team title. Adams State will also look to contend with Div. 1 talent Saturday as the 2013 NCAA Div. 2 runner-up. In the individual race, Saucony Flo50 No. 4 Kate Avery of Iona is looking to debut after finishing fourth in the 10k at the Commonwealth Games this summer. 

Predictions:  On the men’s side, Villanova will easily take the team title and Sam McEntee will lead in the individual race. In the women’s field, we’ll see Georgetown and Florida State battle for team titles, but given Georgetown’s strong showing in Boston, we think the Hoyas are primed to take home the win. Iona’s Kate Avery has not made her debut yet, which means she will be fresh and ready to take the individual race. 

Notre Dame Invite: 

Teams- BYU, Butler, Colorado State, Eastern Kentucky, Florida State (M), Michigan (M), N.C. State, New Mexico, Notre Dame, Tulsa, Penn, Ohio State (W) Princeton (W), Grand Valley State

What To Watch For: The men’s individual battle in South Bend is shaping up to be a showcase of the country’s top dark horses. Among them will be Indiana State’s John Mascari, 32nd in Terre Haute last season, and an athlete we believe can be in the top-10 at NCAAs this season. He currently sits at #18 in our Saucony Flo50 and could move into the top-10 with a victory on Friday. 

Looking to challenge Mascari will be, amongst others, Adam Bitchell of New Mexico, Mason Ferlic of Michigan, and Nate Jewkes of Southern Utah. Bitchell will make his 2014 XC debut on Friday after his long track season concluded in August with the Commonwealth Games 10k. The senior from Wales was 61st at NCAA XC last season. 

Mason Ferlic has moved up to #11 in the Saucony Flo50 after his victory at the Big Ten Preview. Ferlic was 22nd in Terre Haute last year, and he leads a Michigan squad that should challenge Indiana and Wisconsin for the Big Ten title. 

Nate Jewkes came up huge for his squad at last week’s Roy Griak Invitational. The 5th year senior had been overshadowed by teammate Cam Levins in the past, but scored a stunning victory in Minnesota over All-Americans Craig Lutz and Caleb Rhynard, and led his team to the title over ranked squads Texas, North Carolina and Michigan State. For his efforts, Jewkes has moved up the #24 in the rankings, while SUU has gone from unranked to the #15 team. 

In the team battle, top-25 ranked teams in field are as follows: #13 BYU, #15 Southern Utah, #21 Eastern Kentucky, and #22 Michigan. We expect the ND Invite title to come down to a matter of points, and the winner will earn some valuable Kolas points. 

Prediction: Mascari wins in 24:30, while Michigan scores a nice win over BYU in the team competition. The Wolverines appear to have a solid 1-3 with Ferlic, Tony Smoragiewicz, and Ben Flanagan and should take down the higher ranked Cougars who may be riding past success to their current ranking. 

On the women’s side, the favorite is Katie Borchers of Ohio State, who was 40th at the NCAA XC meet, and ran a smoking 16:35 5k two weeks ago at the Bluegrass Invitational. Not many people have talked about Borchers because she is a middle distance runner in track, but she undoubtably has the range to be a top-15 threat come November. She currently sits at #22 in the Saucony Flo50. 

Princeton’s Megan Curham may pose the biggest threat to Borchers on Friday. Curham was 34th in Terre Haute last year as a freshman, finishing as the second frosh behind only Erin Finn. Curham ran an impressive 16:00 5k on the track last spring which showed that her first XC season was no fluke. Curham has run only one race so far this fall, a 2nd place finish at the Harvard-Yale-Princeton Meet, and Friday will be her first full effort. It should be interesting to see the tactics that Borchers and Curham use, since they have entirely different strengths. 

A name noticeably absent from this preview is Butler’s Mara Olson. She was 26th at NCAA XC in 2013, leading the Bulldogs to a shocking 3rd place finish, and continued her success by running a cool 15:47 in the 5k last spring. However, both Olson and the Bulldogs struggled mightily at Roy Griak last Saturday, as Olson faded over the last 3k to finish 21st and Butler managed only a 14th place finish after they entered the meet ranked #9 in the Flo50. The Bulldogs (and Olson) will have to be better in South Bend lest they plummet out of our rankings. 

Prediction: On a course that is expected to be wet and muddy, Borchers will win in 17:05, with the New Mexico women taking home the team title. 2013 All-American Charlotte Arter should be the Lobos lowest stick, and could even contend up front. A victory in South Bend should bump Joe Franklin’s squad up from their current #20 Flo50 ranking. 

Washington Invitational: 

Teams- Washington, NAU, Indiana, Idaho, Portland, Stanford, UCLA, Utah, Villanova, Oklahoma, Virginia (M), Oregon (W)

What To Watch For:This one’s shaping up to be a dandy in Seattle. 10 ranked squads in the men’s race, and five in the women’s make this the tastiest race so far this season. Here are the storylines. 

The men’s individual race is loaded with returning All-Americans, among them NAU’s top 3 (Futsum, Matt McElroy, and Tyler Byrne). Byrne will make his Lumberjack debut after transferring from Louisville, where he placed 29th in Terre Haute last year.

Does it get better? Yes, it gets better. Stanford is on the entry list, which begs the question- will Jim Rosa make his season debut? His brother Joe and Maksim Korolev finished 1-2 at last weekend’s Stanford Invite, and may sit this one out to prepare for Wisco in two weeks. If Jim runs, we expect him to contend for the win on Saturday as he was 5th at NCAAs last season.  

Other top-20 individual performers from NCAAs in this weekend’s race are Patrick Tiernan (Villanova), Scott Fauble (Portland), Kyle King (Virginia), and Aaron Nelson (Washington). All four of these men will contend up front, and will lead their respective ranked teams on Saturday. 

In the fight for the team title, it will be telling if any team is able to compete with NAU. Portland, Villanova, and Virginia are all top-10 teams, but the Lumberjacks should dominate as they are hot to prove that they are once again contenders for the NCAA title. With #2 Stanford most likely sitting two of their top three, a victory becomes all the more likely. 

Prediction: Guessing the individual winner is tough because we’re not sure who is running from Stanford, but we’ll say that Jim Rosa wins in a close finish with Futsum Zeinasellassie. NAU cleans up in the team race, with Portland taking second. 

The women’s race in Seattle is full of question marks. Will the frosh phenoms, Sarah Baxter and Elise Cranny, make their NCAA debuts? The Stanford and Oregon women are both slated to run, but both teams have been tight-lipped about which individuals will actually race. We’ll see. 

Another question, will Aisling Cuffe make her season debut in Seattle? The senior has yet to race so far this season, and murmurs that she may be dealing with injury have surfaced. If healthy, we expect Cuffe to take the win, but once again, we just don’t know. 

The team battle should come down to three teams- Stanford, Oregon, and Washington. The Ducks were less than impressive at Bill Dellinger, but that was a month ago, and they were not at full strength. If Baxter and Waverly Neer compete, the Ducks will be our favorites to score a victory at U-Dub. 

Prediction: Even if the Ducks are without Baxter, we think they will win on Saturday. With no Cuffe either, Neer scores a victory in her first race in the Oregon uniform.