No. 4 Stanford
Stanford: Rebuilding the Machine (full episode)
Region: 3rd at West Region
Conference: 1st at Pac-12s
2016 NCAAs: 2nd
How They Will Win: Like Justyn Knight for Syracuse, Grant Fisher as top runner gives Stanford a huge advantage; he is almost guaranteed to score only one or two points. The Cardinal may hope for a slow early pace, as that's what helped them prevent Colorado from capturing their seventh straight Pac-12 conference championship title. A big difference between Stanford's race at Wisconsin -- where they were a respectable fourth behind NAU, Portland and Syracuse -- and their title win at Pac-12s was Steven Fahy. The junior was the No. 6 man at Nuttycombe in 65th place -- seven seconds and 20 places behind Tai Dinger, Alek Parsons and true freshman Callum Bolger, and 50 places behind No. 2 man Alex Ostberg. At Pac-12s, Fahy had a career-best performance at conference for third overall between Fisher and Ostberg, a placement he repeated as the Cardinal's top man at the West Regional.
Ostberg is a top-40 level talent this season and if Fahy can run the full 10K with his teammate, the Cardinal will be in a good spot. Sam Wharton has either been an All-American or very close in two of the last three years (39th in 2014, 41st in 2016), so count on the senior to step up for his final collegiate cross country race, as should fifth-year Jack Keelan, an All-American on the track last indoor season.
Conference: 1st at Pac-12s
2016 NCAAs: 2nd
How They Will Win: Like Justyn Knight for Syracuse, Grant Fisher as top runner gives Stanford a huge advantage; he is almost guaranteed to score only one or two points. The Cardinal may hope for a slow early pace, as that's what helped them prevent Colorado from capturing their seventh straight Pac-12 conference championship title. A big difference between Stanford's race at Wisconsin -- where they were a respectable fourth behind NAU, Portland and Syracuse -- and their title win at Pac-12s was Steven Fahy. The junior was the No. 6 man at Nuttycombe in 65th place -- seven seconds and 20 places behind Tai Dinger, Alek Parsons and true freshman Callum Bolger, and 50 places behind No. 2 man Alex Ostberg. At Pac-12s, Fahy had a career-best performance at conference for third overall between Fisher and Ostberg, a placement he repeated as the Cardinal's top man at the West Regional.
Ostberg is a top-40 level talent this season and if Fahy can run the full 10K with his teammate, the Cardinal will be in a good spot. Sam Wharton has either been an All-American or very close in two of the last three years (39th in 2014, 41st in 2016), so count on the senior to step up for his final collegiate cross country race, as should fifth-year Jack Keelan, an All-American on the track last indoor season.