NCAA XC Team Qualifying Reactions

We knew that there would be a lot to talk about following the NCAA's team selections for the cross country national meet. That, however, didn't leave us any less excited to breakdown and analyze the 31 men's teams and 31 women's teams that will be going to Stillwater, Oklahoma.

Here are a few instant reactions that we had for certain teams that did (or did not) get selected to the NCAA XC Championships...

IMPORTANT NOTE: It is possible that certain teams may have opted not to declare for consideration to the NCAA XC Championships. That could explain why certain programs were left out of the cross country national meet.

This was probably one of the more stunning announcements. It's not necessarily a shock that Texas and Georgia failed to qualify, but seeing Georgetown and Villanova get into the national meet certainly surprised a lot of us at TSR.

In the fall, the Texas men finished 3rd at the BIG 12 XC Championships and the Georgia men finished 3rd at the SEC XC Championships. As for Georgetown and Villanova, they finished 2nd and 3rd, respectively, at the BIG East XC Championships this past Friday with Butler pulling away for a relatively comfortable victory.

The Texas men were in a BIG 12 conference with two teams that are both in the podium conversation. Sure, the Longhorns weren't really all that close to either Oklahoma State or Iowa State, but they didn't necessarily do anything to hurt their stock.

It's a very similar story for the Georgia men. They won the FSU Invitational over Georgia Tech and Florida State and then went to the SEC XC Championships where they lost to Arkansas and Ole Miss. On paper, the Razorbacks are a podium team while the Rebels are likely on a similar level as Butler, give or take a few spots.

So what is the argument for Georgetown and Villanova? If conference performances hold the most weight, then couldn't you argue that the 3rd place conference finishes from Georgia and Texas were better than the 3rd place conference finish that we saw from Villanova?

Sure, Georgetown is a bit more understandable since they were 2nd in their conference, but it's not like the Hoyas or the Wildcats did anything during the regular season to boost their stock over the Bulldogs or Longhorns.

Am I saying that Georgetown and Villanova don't deserve to qualify for the national meet? No, that's not what I'm getting at. I'm just surprised that they, specifically Villanova, were chosen over Texas and Georgia.

Now, in fairness to the selection committee, it is very possible that a team like Texas opted not to declare for the NCAA XC Championships and are instead focusing on the indoor national meet. Still, that would be a bit surprising when you consider that their DMR features only two members from their cross country lineup.

This was another somewhat surprising announcement. It's not a total stunner that the Ole Miss women qualified for the national meet. They were listed as a potential qualifying team in a few projections and if they weren't listed in that top-31, then they were one of the first teams in the "Just Missed" category.

However, if the Rebels were going to qualify for the national meet, then the Notre Dame women were surely going to qualify as well...right?

Wrong.

Despite the Fighting Irish taking down Ole Miss at the Louisville Classic back in the fall, the women from South Bend were left at home.

This is a tricky decision to reconcile, but the Rebels did finish 3rd at the SEC XC Championships while Notre Dame faltered 6th, losing on a tie-breaker to North Carolina. That's likely the main difference that put the Rebels into the national meet. It also didn't help that the Fighting Irish placed 8th at the FSU Winter XC Classic, a finish that failed to put them ahead of any recently announced national qualifying teams.

As for the UNC Tar Heels, they simply did enough this season to earn a bid. They beat a non-varsity NC State team in the fall and held off a Notre Dame squad at the ACC XC Championships. If the Fighting Irish weren't able to qualify, but the Rebels were, then it was only right that the Tar Heels got a qualifying nod.

This shouldn't come as too much of a surprise, but it is an interesting development. The NCAA selection committee could have chosen to ignore Oregon State's 4th place finish at the PAC-12 XC Championships and settled with having only three teams qualify out of that conference. That, in turn, would have made San Francisco's win over the Beavers relatively less impactful and it could have potentially left the Dons at home.

Instead, Oregon State got the nod which likely helped San Francisco's case and essentially gave them a spot on the line in Stillwater, Oklahoma. It also helped Portland's argument, but we felt relatively confident that they were going to get in anyways.

However, there is one interesting caveat that we have to consider.

The Oregon men were also the 4th place team at the PAC-12 XC Championships and had a very similar regular season compared to the Oregon State women. On paper, those two teams weren't dramatically different and the top of the PAC-12 wasn't drastically more competitive on the women's side than it was on the men's side.

So why was Oregon State selected but the Oregon men were not? Sure, you could argue that the Ducks didn't field a varsity lineup, but the NCAA selection committee specifically stated that they weren't differentiating between "A" teams and "B" teams.

The Ducks were also ranked in the top-20 of the latest coaches' poll. In fact, they were ranked higher than the Oregon State women were.

I'm not necessarily saying that this year's Oregon squad was actually good enough to qualify for the NCAA XC Championships. However, based on the logic used with selecting the Oregon State women, it was a (somewhat minor) surprise to see the Oregon men left out of the national meet.

On paper, this one didn't make much sense. Sure, the Texas women could have not declared for the cross country national meet, but I'm not sure why they would have done that considering that their distance presence at this year's indoor national meet is essentially non-existent.

The Longhorns took down both West Virginia and Oklahoma State at the BIG 12 XC Championships last fall, losing only to Iowa State at that meet. So how are the Texas women not going to the NCAA XC Championships? Both West Virginia and Oklahoma State qualified for the national meet despite losing to Texas at the always more important conference meet.

Sure, the Texas women didn't do anything outside of their conference meet to boost their national qualifying chances, but they didn't do anything to hurt their chances either.

I'm almost inclined to think that the Texas women chose not to declare (I don't know that for sure) as it just seems like it would have been a no-brainer to send the Longhorns to Stillwater, Oklahoma.

Either Texas didn't declare or the selection committee didn't select them. Regardless of the reason, I'm still left scratching my head.

A lot of these qualifying teams that we're talking about in this article were understandably surprising, but seeing the women of Tulsa and Colorado State both make it to the national meet was an absolute shock.

The Tulsa women were the American Conference XC champions earlier this winter. Truthfully, that was about the extent of their season. They raced against the Oklahoma State women in Stillwater, but were trounced by the Cowgirls in convincing fashion.

 The Golden Hurricanes had a respectable squad this year, but they didn't do anything to standout amongst other mid-major conference champions.

It's a slightly different story with the Colorado State women, but we were ultimately left with the same conclusion. The Rams had a solid season, but they didn't beat anyone of note at the Battle Born XC Challenge in Las Vegas and their 3rd place finish at the Mountain West XC Championships also didn't produce a win over any notable teams.

Sure, the Utah State women were a respectable program, but it was hard to look at their seasonal results and say that the Colorado State women had a race that really allowed them to standout amongst all of the other teams in consideration to go to the national meet.

This isn't necessarily to say that Tulsa or Colorado State don't deserve to go to the National Championships. They're both respectable programs and they're better than some people may give them credit for. However, trying to figure out what allowed them to be selected over a few other programs is tough to figure out.

Prior to Friday, if you had told me that the Syracuse men would be going to the NCAA XC Championships and the Michigan men would not be going, I would have told you that you were crazy.

Back in the fall, the Syracuse men struggled at the ACC XC Championships where they placed 6th overall. They also faltered at the FSU Winter XC Classic, finishing 8th overall.

However, the best thing that could have happened to Syracuse was that a top-ranked Power Five team like Michigan was unable to attend their conference meet and instead had to race at a smaller last chance meet. That would be the perfect opportunity for the Orange to boost their stock.

Friday's win over Michigan and Florida State was likely what saved Syracuse's season. Regardless of whether or not you agree with their selection, there was a legitimate argument for Orange to be selected to the national meet and that was exactly what happened.

As for Michigan, this was a tough pill to swallow. If they had competed at the BIG 10 XC Championships, they likely would have finished higher than Purdue and/or Michigan State. In that instance, we wouldn't be talking about how the Wolverines were potentially snubbed from the national meet.

The problem, however, is that Michigan was taken down by a struggling team. That was essentially the only data point that the selection committee could look at. With the Syracuse men already being on the bubble of a national qualifying spot, the arguments in favor of Michigan were difficult to make.

Are the Michigan men a Top 25 team, nationally? Yes, almost certainly, but I don't necessarily blame the committee for making a brutally difficult decision. They worked with the data that they had and made a decision based off of it. This was just a wildly unfortunate scenario for the Wolverines.

Liberty was a team that we had circled in red sharpie coming into today's selection show. They had finished a very respectable 7th place at the FSU Winter XC Classic and cruised to a convincing win at the ASUN Championships.

The Flames may have been one of the last teams selected, but beating Notre Dame and taking home a convincing conference victory almost certainly gave their seasonal resume enough of a boost to earn a spot to the NCAA XC Championships.

In fact, I would argue that with both Liberty and Ole Miss both going to the national meet that the Notre Dame women were probably the first team out from qualifying. Do I know that for sure? No, but based on the seasonal results from last fall and this winter, it's very possible that that was the case.

And how about the Charlotte men? Their win at the CUSA XC Championships was a convincing one and they were a team that had actually just missed earning a spot in our preseason summer rankings. They also went to the Louisville Classic last fall where, despite losing to Ole Miss, they still pulled out a solid finish against top SEC teams like Kentucky and Tennessee.

Neither Kentucky nor Tennessee qualified for the national meet, but they were respectable programs and were making some noise during the fall. With the 49ers earning a win over those programs, it feels like they were able to solidify themselves as more than just another mid-major conference winner.

And apparently, it looks like the selection committee agreed.