What to watch for at the Wisconsin Nuttycomb Invitational:

Women’s race:

Isaac Wood: “The truth is that between NC State, Florida, NAU and even Colorado, you’re going to see four teams really battle it out upfront. This will be a good test of NC State’s mid-level depth from their fourth runner back. Where are they at? Are they battle-ready? Maybe this is the test that they need to get there.

Obviously, this meet has ramifications for scoring Kolas points but for the best teams here, it doesn’t really matter. This is a chance for the coaches to see who has the stuff when it actually matters. It will be curious to see what kind of team tactics there are and what the coaches decide to do.

Does Florida’s Will Palmer just let Amelia Mazza-Downie, Flomena Asekol and Parker Valby rip right from the gun or do they play more of a team race and bring those 4-5-6 girls along? What does NC State’s pack look like? Colorado and NAU are always going to run smart.

Those four teams really make it interesting. It’s going to be fun. I could see four teams in that 40 to 60-point range in a meet this big. It could be like NC State-Florida-Colorado-NAU and all of their runners make up the top 30.”

Men’s race:

Isaac Wood: “This is not an exaggeration – although, I’ve been known to exaggerate…If you’re top 20 at Wisconsin then you’re probably making the NCAA Championships. About half of that top 20 are going to get top two in their respective region and then the next 10 are going to get enough points to go to Natties. That’s unbelievable how much power the Nuttycomb Invitational has in determining who goes to Nationals. I’m stunned looking at these fields. All you have to be is within the Top 20 and you’ll feel pretty good about yourself.

I’m curious about what NAU is thinking here. They have nothing to prove. They have their top guys on their entries so they’re taking them to the meet. I don’t know who will actually race. I do think it’s their race to win or lose and they can dictate what happens. Do they run Nico Young? Do they run Aaron Las Heras? Do they tempo it and let Young, Las Heras and Drew Bosley run together? Do they bring in Theo Quax, Santiago Gomez-Prosser and Brodey Hastey? Right now, they’re looking at putting six or seven guys in the Top 25 of this thing.

This is a dress rehearsal for NCAAs. You’re missing Oklahoma State, Arkansas, Oregon, Virginia and a few other key programs that could be in the Top 10-15 teams but this may even be a better meet than NCAAs. Some of those schools that come out of some regions may not even be a top 30-level program, if they weren’t in a region that they could get through. I don’t know if that’s necessarily 100% because I haven’t examined it super closely but you could make a point that this is race as competitive as what NCAAs will look like.

For North Carolina and Syracuse, you want to see how your spread looks at this meet. Where’s my 1-through-5 spread? Especially for North Carolina because they have a significant low stick in Parker Wolfe. He will be a single-digit finisher in this race so how far back from your 1-through-5 with him? Syracuse is the opposite. They’ve had a pretty good spread but can they get a low stick? It’s about trying to figure out that ‘compression’ for your 1-through-5. If you’re Syracuse, you want to move it up closer to the front. If you’re North Carolina, you want that fifth guy to move closer to Wolfe.”

What to watch for at Pre-Nats:

Women’s race:

Isaac Wood: “Arkansas is the favorite. They probably have three of the top 10 women in that race with Isabel Van Camp, Paityn Noe and Sydney Thorvaldson. It’s hard to think that team isn’t going to win. You can never count out a Diljeet Taylor-led BYU women’s team. They’re going to have two women in that top 10 as well with Aubrey Frentheway and Lexy Halladay-Lowry. Between those two teams, that will be a fun battle.

I like Virginia, especially on their home course. Margot Appleton has shown that she’s really gifted. Jenny Schilling and Camryn Menninger behind her make up a very solid top three.

But in some regard, I see Arkansas and BYU putting their 4-5 before Virginia’s No. 3. That makes me think that Arkansas and BYU are the teams to beat here.

A sleeper is probably Oregon. We’re not really sure where they’re at. They did get beat by BYU at the Bill Dellinger Invitational to open up the season but Oregon kind of gets started later. Their school year starts later so it feels like they get a bit of a later start and then come on strong. This will be a good checkpoint race to see where Oregon is at on the women’s side.”

Men’s race:

Isaac Wood: “This will be the Arkansas show as well. I think there will be some Tennessee mixed in there. Montana State and Oregon will be in there.

The question is: Will coach Jerry Schumacher pull the redshirts off some of their freshmen? If he doesn’t, that’s fine and that’s his prerogative. I believe he’s thinking about their long-term development. But, these are guys who maybe could have signed pro contracts out of high school. We’ll see what he decides to do. If I’m Oregon – which I’m not – I think I would use those dudes while I have them. Give yourself a chance to be a podium team. With all those guys running in uniform and at the level that they can be, that’s not a crazy statement to make.