SEC Championship Preview

Men's Preview

Teams

Unlike last year, the race for the SEC title is not very complicated. The Ole Miss men should run away with their second consecutive conference title. With top competitors like Alabama and Arkansas not looking as strong as they have in year’s past, the Rebels have the inside track to the top podium this year. The real race will be for runner-up and then after that, it will be a battle to see who can earn 4th.

Ole Miss have been impressive this regular season, starting off with their 2nd place run at the Joe Piane Invitational. Behind their strong top five, the Rebels beat teams such as NC State, Purdue, and Notre Dame. They backed up their performance with a 5th place showing at Pre-Nationals, running behind Washington and Iona.

Like last year, Waleed Suliman has been a consistent low-stick while teammates Farah Abdulkarim and Cade Bethmann have done well to support their junior leader. Mario Garcia Romo and Parker Scott have been solid contributors and have kept Ole Miss’ top five spread impressively low. It wouldn’t be surprising to see all five of these runners within the top 10 at SEC’s en route to a dominating win.

The most interesting team coming into SEC’s is the Alabama Crimson Tide, mainly because we have yet to see them at full strength. Vincent Kiprop and Gilbert Kigen were dominant at the Joe Piane Invitational and will be the favorites to finish 1-2 at SEC's, but the rest of their lineup was not up to par. We did, however see Noel Rotich recently make his season debut as he finished 12th at the Princeton Cross Country Invitational. Additionally, James Brinyark seems to have bounced back after his Joe Piane race to finish 33rd in the same race.

Admittedly, the rest of the lineup is still a little shaky as we have yet to see Eliud Kipsang race this year. For the Crimson Tide to have any hope of qualifying for NCAA's this year, they will need to see some massive improvements from their 3-4-5 men. With a chance to pick up a Kolas point against Arkansas and build some momentum going into a strong South region, Alabama needs to capitalize on this moment. If Rotich can support Kiprop and Kigen, then they should have enough to beat Arkansas.

In what appears to be a rebuilding year, Arkansas has been led by Matt Young at both the Chili Pepper Festival and Pre-Nationals. The junior from Oklahoma ran well at Pre-Nationals, earning a 30th place finish and leading the Razorbacks to a 13th place finish. The rest of the roster was far behind in Terre Haute. Carter Persyn was 89th while Jayce Turner and Preston Cates finished 97th and 100th, respectively.

Without Gilbert Boit, who appears to be redshirting this season, the Razorbacks will struggle to compete at SEC’s like they are accustomed to. This is still a team that will likely qualify for NCAA's out of the South Central region, but in order to beat Alabama, they will need to pack up their entire top five in front of the Crimson Tide’s #4 runner. Even then, it might not be enough as Alabama will have a substantial lead through their first three runners. For freshmen Jayce Turner and Myles Richter, this will be a good opportunity for them to gain some postseason experience. How well they adapt to the race situation could be the difference between Arkansas finishing 2nd or 3rd.

Behind these three squads are a host of teams who could lock down the 4th spot. The Arturo Barrios Invitational gave us a good look at a few of these teams as Texas A&M beat Florida and Tennessee by over 25 points. Led by Eric Casarez, the Aggies go six strong in their depth and should be the favorites to finish 4th.

The Kentucky Wildcats could spoil the party, though. Led by Brennan Fields who was 43rd at Pre-Nationals, Kentucky admittedly struggled in that meet, but they have a lot of talent returning from a team that finished 3rd at SEC's last year. Texas A&M’s current form and momentum gives them the edge, but the Wildcats will be right on their tail.

Individuals

The Crimson Tide duo will take the race out hard and likely lead wire-to-wire; they are clearly the class of the field. The race for 3rd will be an interesting matchup between Ole Miss’ top three and Arkansas’ Matt Young. I give the edge to Suliman, but Young may be able to compete with Bethmann and Abdulkarim. Either way, the Ole Miss pack should dominate the top 10.

A few names to keep an eye out for in the front pack: Eric Casarez of Texas A&M, Stephen Jones of Mississippi State, and Thomas George of Missouri.

Casarez is coming off an impressive 6th place performance at Arturo Barrios where he finished right behind MTSU’s Hillary Kimaiyo. After winning the UAB Blazer Classic, Jones has the momentum and the talent to run with this top group and possibly earn a top 10 finish.

George was 12th at SEC's last year and is coming off a solid run at Nuttycombe that saw him finish 73rd.

Men's Predictions

Team

1. Ole Miss

2. Alabama

3. Arkansas

4. Texas A&M

5. Kentucky

6. Florida

7. Tennessee

8. Vanderbilt

9. Georgia

10. Missouri

11. Mississippi State

12. LSU

13. Auburn

Individuals

1. Vincent Kiprop (Alabama)

2. Gilbert Kigen (Alabama)

3. Waleed Suliman (Ole Miss)

4. Farah Abdulkarim (Ole Miss)

5. Cade Bethmann (Ole Miss)

6. Matt Young (Arkansas)

7. Mario Garcia Romo (Ole Miss)

8. Parker Scott (Ole Miss)

9. Thomas George (Missouri)

10. Eric Casarez (Texas A&M)

11. Stephen Jones (Miss State)

12. Noel Rotich (Alabama)

13. Brennan Fields (Kentucky)

14. Sam Bowers (Georgia)

15. Alex Crigger (Tennessee)

16. Nick Lanning (Vanderbilt)

17. Colin Schaefer (Florida)

18. Eric Coston (LSU)

19. Carter Persyn (Arkansas)

20. Jayce Turner (Arkansas)

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Women's Preview

Teams

In a lot of ways, the women’s race mirrors the men’s. There is a clear favorite as well as top contender for the runner-up position. The race for 3rd, though, could be a doozy.

After a dominating performance at SEC’s in 2018, it should be much of the same this year for the Razorbacks. The rest of the conference around them has changed up, so it will be a tight race for 3rd, but Arkansas, our number one team in the country, looks like a lock to take home yet another SEC title.

Let’s take quick look at the best team in the country.

Arkansas could conceivably score even less than the 24 points they scored last year with Taylor Werner leading the way. Werner, Katie Izzo, Devin Clark, and Carina Viljoen have formed a potent top four with Lauren Gregory closing the gap as she regains her 2018 form. The Razorbacks could rest one or two of their top five and still win the title. The end of the world notwithstanding, Arkansas will dominate the field to pick up yet another conference championship title.

The Ole Miss women started out the season strong, showing off some impressive depth at the Commodore Classic. With the possibility of adding some front-runners to the team, the Rebels looked like they could be a top 20 team this year.

Alas, that has not happened, and consequently the team has finished 10th at both Joe Piane and Pre-Nationals. Still, this is a team with a strong top five that can pack up and run together at SEC's. Madeleine King, Victoria Simmons, Anna Elkin, Skyler Boogerd, and Lisa Vogelgesang should all be within the top 25 and land the Rebels a runner-up finish.

Now for the intriguing and dramatic part of the race. The run for 3rd.

Florida, Missouri, Georgia, Texas A&M, and Tennessee all have a chance at earning a moral victory. Ole Miss is the favorite for 2nd, but these teams could all make the most of their opportunity if the Rebels slip up.

The fact that we are not sure if Florida can finish 3rd is surprising considering how highly we thought of the Gators coming into the season. After a 2nd place run at SEC's and a 16th place finish at NCAA's last year, it seemed like Jessica Pascoe and Florida were headed for another great season.

Pascoe has been a stud like she was last year, but the rest of the roster hasn’t run as well as they did 365 days ago. Their last race at Arturo Barrios was representative of their season. Pascoe won, but the rest of the top five finished 22nd, 31st, 36th, and 37th which pushed the Gators back to 3rd, narrowly edging out Texas A&M.

For Florida to take down the rest of their competition for the team bronze, they will need at least two of their top five to step up and give Pascoe more support. They were able to do it last year, so it will be interesting to see if Coach Solinsky’s squad can pull off another top three SEC finish.

The team that has flown under the radar despite solid races all year is the women of Tennessee. The Volunteers most recently finished 3rd at the Penn State National Open behind Penn State and Georgia Tech, but were ahead of Princeton and Penn. This performance wasn’t surprising as a few weeks earlier, they had finished 4th at Paul Short, beating Georgetown in the process.

Sydney Seymour has led the way for a team that is one of the favorites to surprise Ole Miss. While they haven’t run in any large meets like Pre-Nationals and Nuttycombe, they have run at a bunch of solid, mid-tier meets which should set them up well for SEC’s. I like this Tennessee team to surprise a few people this weekend and at the South Regional Championships in two weeks.

The other team who could beat Ole Miss is Missouri who is coming off of a strong 20th place showing at Nuttycombe. Sarah Chapman leads the Tigers and is supported by seniors Jordyn Kleve and Melissa Menghini.

Earlier in the season, Mizzou took down Vanderbilt and Georgia at the Commodore Classic, but were beaten soundly by Ole Miss. In a smaller meet like SEC's, the Tigers need to make sure that, just like they did at Nuttycombe, their #4 and #5 runners do not stray too far behind their top three. With Menghini running better at Nuttycombe than she did at Commodore, this is a team that will be much improved since their early season test against the Rebels.

How about Texas A&M who narrowly lost to Florida on their home course? The Lady Aggies, led by seniors Kelsie Warren and Ashley Driscoll, only lost to the Gators by four points and will certainly go into this meet feeling like they can beat them. With their strong top two, the key for A&M is to ensure that their 3-4-5 can close the gap behind their scoring duo. If they can match up with Tennessee and Florida’s #4 and #5 women, then they will have a shot at pulling off the upset. Either way, Warren and Driscoll should at least give the Aggies a chance to finish in the top four.

Next up is Georgia. The Bulldogs came into this season with high hopes of qualifying for NCAA's this year, but the season has not gone to plan so far. They were 4th in the SEC last year right behind Ole Miss, but it will be a struggle for them to repeat last year’s performance.

At Pre-Nationals, Georgia finished 28th with Jessica Drop coming in at 27th. Unfortunately, Samantha Drop DNF’d while the rest of the Bulldogs finished far behind. If we see both Drop sisters at SEC's, then Georgia certainly has a chance to make things interesting, but without both of them, they will struggle to finish in the top six.

Two other teams to watch out for is Vanderbilt and Kentucky who finished 15th and 18th, respectively at Pre-Nationals. Both sides could surprise any of these teams mentioned above if anyone slips up.

Lastly, Alabama has a strong top three and finished one spot behind Kentucky at Pre-Nationals. With an improved performance from their final two scoring women, they are poised to move into the top six.

Individuals

The individual race should be a fun one to watch. Werner is a top five runner in the country, but Pascoe has been dominant so far this year. Add in Auburn’s Joyce Kimeli who has run incredibly well in high-profile meets, and it all points to an all-out battle to determine the top three.

I wouldn’t be surprised to see Arkansas’ top five pack up and dictate the terms of the race. How Ole Miss’ pack responds to Arkansas will be fascinating to witness. If they go out to hard trying to keep up with the Razorbacks, then we could see the Rebels get caught by one of their many challengers. With so many competitive teams, there will be plenty of competition for those All-Conference honors.

Women's Predictions

Teams

1. Arkansas

2. Ole Miss

3. Missouri

4. Tennessee

5. Florida

6. Texas A&M

7. Vanderbilt

8. Alabama

9. Georgia

10. Kentucky

11. LSU

12. Auburn

13. Miss State

14. South Carolina

Individuals

1. Taylor Werner (Arkansas)

2. Jessica Pascoe (Florida)

3. Joyce Kimeli (Auburn)

4. Katie Izzo (Arkansas)

5. Devin Clark (Arkansas)

6. Carina Viljoen (Arkansas)

7. Jessica Drop (Georgia)

8. Lauren Gregory (Arkansas)

9. Mercy Chelangat (Alabama)

10. Madeleine King (Ole Miss)

11. Sydney Seymour (Tennessee)

12. Sarah Chapman (Missouri)

13. Kelsie Warren (Texas A&M)

14. Rebecca Buteau (Alabama)

15. Ashley Driscoll (Texas A&M)

16. Katy Ann-McDonald (LSU)

17. Allison Wilson (Alabama)

18. Grace Jensen (Vanderbilt)

19. Victoria Simmons (Ole Miss)

20. Perri Bockrath (Kentucky)