ODAC, SAA, USA South Preview
Photo Credit: Kyle Lauff
Hey y’all!
Welcome to the D3 Glory Days South Region Conference Meet Preview! After a fun inter-regional weekend with some great performances, we are on the cusp of everyone’s favorite time of the year: championship season. As a wise man once told me--it’s time to #GTTD—get them times down!
Though traditionally one of the weaker regions in the nation, the South has several quality programs that often fly under the radar. The regional realignment has brought a new era for the former South/Southeast Region. On balance, I see the changes of regional realignment generally making life harder for teams in the South. One automatic qualifier for a region that typically has struggled to earn at-large bids is not great, nor is the loss of regional contenders Berea and Centre, both of whom are now in an already strong Great Lakes Region.
But there are a number of teams with interesting stories in the South. Emory’s men and women continue to be fixtures in the regional and national polls. Lynchburg is in the middle of a resurgence on both the men’s and women’s side and are a candidate to potentially surprise some folks in the post-season.
This preview will focus on the three conferences that are made up of primarily teams in the South: the ODAC, the USA South, and the SAA. For each of these conferences I will give my analysis of the team and individual competitions and ultimately my picks for each title on the men’s and women’s side. Of course, there are teams from the South who are contending on the national scene who are not in any of these conferences, most notably Emory and Christopher Newport. I will give my take on how they stack up in their respective conferences after the conference previews.
Happy reading, feel free to disagree with me, and most importantly, here’s to the glory days.
ODAC
Men’s Preview:
Over the latter half of the 2010’s, the ODAC Championship meet has been about as close to a foregone conclusion as you could get; Washington & Lee has won an impressive 5 conference titles in a row and look to be as good as ever. After a strong showing at Rowan which included a defeat of regional rival Christopher Newport, W&L has continued to be a fixture in the South Region, ranked 3rd in the most recent regional rankings. But with all due respect to W&L… this is Lynchburg’s title to lose.
D3 Glory Days #17 Lynchburg looks primed to capture its first men’s ODAC Cross Country title since 2012. The 2021 squad is led by a big 3 of Max Sparks (24:27 program 8k record at Louisville this year and 5k All-American), Frank Csorba (1st at Rowan Inter-Regional Meet and 10k All-American) and Sam Llaneza (1500 All-American). After a solid showing at Louisville and a 2nd place finish at Rowan, the Hornets are projected by LAACTiC to easily outpace the Generals of W&L at the ODAC meet.
Any of the top three Lynchburg men would be a good choice for the individual title. Sparks and Csorba are certainly contenders but I’m going to go a different direction here. The ODAC championship meet is at Bridgewater this year which has traditionally been a pancake-flat loop course. I predict Llaneza’s 1500 All American speed wins in the end. Sparks and Csorba have both had big races this year; I predict ODACs is Sam Llaneza time.
My Picks:
Men’s Individual Champion: Sam Llaneza, Lynchburg
Men’s Team Champion: Lynchburg
Women’s Preview:
The battle for the women’s team title has similar themes to the men’s but with perhaps a less foregone conclusion. Looking back to the last conference meet held in 2019, W&L won handily with a dominant 20 points. This year is a different story; D3 Glory Days #29 Lynchburg’s women have put themselves in a position to overtake W&L for an ODAC title. But make no mistake; this will be a tight race.
Lynchburg and W&L are currently ranked 2nd and 3rd in the South regional rankings, respectively. They have one matchup this season at the Virginia Tech Alumni invitational in September where both teams seemed to run their full squads and Lynchburg squeaked out a narrow victory 115-118. Stephanie Burnett, Kelsey Lagunas and Alison Dell currently own the top 3 times over 6k in the conference so far this year and would seem to hold a slim advantage over W&L going into the conference meet. LAACTiC predicts a tight victory for the Hornets; I am inclined to agree, but would also not be shocked to see W&L come out on top.
In the individual battle, it will be a battle of trios between Lynchburg and W&L. Lynchburg has Burnett, Lagunas and Dell while W&L has their own trio of Avery Schiffman, Carolyn Todd and Parker Hawk. My pick to break the tape is Stephanie Burnett. A senior, Burnett took 4th at the 2019 ODAC meet and is the top returner in the conference this season. I see her ascending to the top spot in her final ODAC meet.
Women’s Individual Champion: Stephanie Burnett, Lynchburg
Women’s Team Champion: Lynchburg
USA South
Men’s Preview:
The regional realignment this past year in D3 XC brought with it a number of consequences; one perhaps negative consequence for the South Region was the loss of Berea College to the Great Lakes Region. Berea has been a national qualifier in 2018 and 2019 and added a high-quality program to what has traditionally been a relatively weak South Region. However, despite the move to the Great Lakes Region, the Mountaineers remain in the USA South Conference (which is primarily made up of teams in the South Region) and also remain the favorite to win the conference they perfect-scored in 2019.
While Berea is not as deep as in years past, they have a deadly 1-2 punch in Luke Wilson and Avery Fair that will be hard to beat in what has traditionally been the weakest conference in the South. Keep an eye on Southern Virginia and Covenant to provide potential challenges, but I don’t see Berea giving up their crown this year.
The individual battle should provide some drama that the USA South hasn’t seen in a number of years. Dylan May (24:56) of Southern Virginia has run under 25 minutes and currently owns the top time in the conference. Luke Wilson of Berea is not far behind having run 25:04 at Louisville while Drew Topoly of Methodist has run 25:12, setting up what would seem to be a fun 3-way battler for the individual title. My ultimate pick is Luke Wilson of Berea, the defending 5k/10k USA South Champion, but a potential dark horse is his teammate Avery Fair. Fair is more of a middle-distance runner, and his speed should be on display on a flat course in Rocky Mount, NC.
Men’s Individual Champion: Luke Wilson, Berea
Men’s Team Champion: Berea
Women’s Preview:
In the women’s team battle, conference newcomer Southern Virginia looks primed to capture the team title having beaten contenders Piedmont and Covenant head-to-head at Louisville. The Knights have maintained a regional ranking while no other USA South teams have been ranked and LAACTiC predicts a comfortable victory for Southern Virginia. Led by Bayleigh Redd, the Knights have a strong pack that should push them over the top.
Much like on the men’s side, the women’s individual battle in the USA South should provide some more intrigue than the team competition. Val Angel of Piedmont, runner up in the 5k at the 2021 conference championships, holds two of the top 5 times (#1 and #3) over 6k in the conference this season; however, Redd has the #2 and #5 fastest 6k times. Not to be counted out are the Covenant duo of Claire Mackes, USA South 1500 meter champion in 2021, and Sarah Kate Lippard, USA South 800 meter champion in 2021. Ultimately, my pick is Val Angel; while Redd should provide a challenge, when the two raced head-to-head at Louisville, Angel beat Redd by nearly 20 seconds. However, keep an eye on those Covenant mid-distance runners to potentially play spoiler on a quick course at N.C. Wesleyan.
Women’s Individual Champion: Val Angel, Piedmont
Women’s Team Champion: Southern Virginia
SAA
Men’s Preview:
On the men’s side, it would look to be a two-horse race for the team championship between Rhodes and Berry. At first glance, Berry would seem to be a heavy favorite. They are ranked 4th in the region to Rhodes’ 8th and hold a decisive head-to-head victory at Louisville. However, Rhodes is not to be counted out. LAACTiC actually favors Rhodes against Berry by the slimmest of margins, suggesting that we may need to consider that at a smaller meet Rhodes may be able to produce a better score to counter Berry. Both teams have a solid 1-2 punch: Brent Hazelwood and Jared Briant of Rhodes and Cameron Bensley and Bradshaw Lathbury of Berry. All presume to be low sticks at the conference meet setting up a battle for the conference title that will surely be decided by runners 3-5 for both teams.
Beyond these two teams, another worth mentioning is potential dark horse Oglethorpe. Oglethorpe is actually ranked ahead of Rhodes in the regional rankings, having ascended to the 6th spot in the most recent rankings. The Petrels boast a strong pack but no real frontrunner to contend with the duos from Rhodes and Berry. Regardless, they stand to add some drama to an already intriguing conference meet.
Ultimately, my pick is Berry with frontrunner Bensley to take the team title. Bensley is also my pick for the individual title; I’ve already outlined the duos from Rhodes and Berry as the primary contenders for the individual crown. With a top 20 finish at Louisville and victories over his primary competition, Bensley has shown no reason why he shouldn’t be the favorite to win this conference.
Men’s Individual Champion: Cameron Bensley, Berry
Men’s Team Champion: Berry
Women’s Preview:
The women’s race sees Rhodes once again in the conversation for team champion honors, but their main competition is Centre College, now a member of the Great Lakes Region. LAACTiC predicts a decisive victory for Centre, led by Meghan Owens, a national qualifier in both the 10k and the javelin (!!). Owens is an absolute stud and my pick for the individual title, which should not be close.
However, I am a believer that the team battle could be much closer than LAACTIC predicts. After the low stick of Owens, Centre has a huge drop in talent. Meanwhile, Rhodes boasted a 39 second 1-5 split at Louisville and only lost to Centre by a modest 40 points. In a smaller meet without those bodies between Owens and the Rhodes pack, this team battle could be a lot closer than LAACTIC is predicting. Ultimately, my pick is the Rhodes pack to come through and push the Lynx over the top in the team battle.
Women’s Individual Champion: Meghan Owens, Centre
Women’s Team Champion: Rhodes
The Rest:
To close out this article, I want to focus on other contending teams from the South competing in inter-regional conferences. The most obvious team to discuss here is Emory; as I write, Emory’s men and women are both ranked #1 in the South region and have been for much of the season. In D3 Glory Days national rankings, the men come in at #15 and the women are ranked #22. Emory is a national-caliber program in a region that does not always produce well on the national scene.
I’ll have a lot more to say about Emory in my regional meet preview but suffice to say that both the Emory women and men stand to have a harder road to a conference championship than a regional title given their membership in the interregional UAA, which boasts the likes of the University of Chicago and Washington University. However, led by seniors Spencer Moore and Brett Lucas, Emory had a strong showing at Louisville finishing only 2 points behind D3 Glory Days #7 team, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps. The women, led by the LAACiIC favorite for the UAA individual title Annika Urban, beat D3 Glory Days #8 team MIT. LAACTiC currently projects both squads for a 3rd place finish and if they perform well at UAA’s, the Eagles need to absolutely be on everyone’s radar going into regionals and nationals.
Beyond Emory, Christopher Newport University’s men and women stand to be regional contenders. Much like Emory, the Captains compete in the interregional Coast-to-Coast Conference, which includes teams from California to Virginia. The CNU women are currently ranked 4th in the South and are a program to potentially keep an eye on heading into conference and regionals. They had a strong showing at Rowan, finishing only 7 points behind D3 Glory Days #13 Dickinson—although Dickinson did not seem to run their whole lineup. The Captains are currently projected by LACCTiC for a 2nd place finish to UC Santa Cruz (ranked 5th in the West Region) at the Coast-to-Coast championships.
Meanwhile, CNU’s men had looked strong throughout the season, but after a loss to Washington & Lee at Rowan, the Captains have fallen to 5th in the most recent regional poll while the Generals rose to a 3rd place regional rank. Despite this drop, I still expect the CNU men to be a contender at the regional meet. Traditionally a very strong program in the South, they held their own against national competition at Paul Short earlier in the season and still look to be a team that is solidly top 5 in the region. As of now, LAACTiC predicts a conference championship in the C2C, although they do face stiff competition in UC Santa Cruz, currently ranked 3rd in the West region.