For weeks leading up to the NIRCA championship series it seemed that November 10th would be the coronation for a dominant Iowa State team. Favored a year ago they stumbled at the finish to place second in the country but with all seven runners back how could ISU lose in 2012? And they haven’t yet. Results from the last two weeks however show us that Saturday’s race is going to be more of a battle than we previously anticipated and maybe the best team race NIRCA fans have ever seen!

No one doubts that the University of Virginia is among the best women’s programs in NIRCA. It’s an elite distinction and shared with the likes of Michigan Ann Arbor, Illinois, Oregon, and Penn State. These schools have dominated the national scene since NIRCA’s inception in 2006. But the Wolverines, Illini, Ducks, and Nittany Lions all have something that the Cavaliers don’t - a national title. On Saturday in Hershey, UVA hopes to get that monkey off its back and add the only missing piece to an impressive resume that includes five regional titles, numerous invitational wins, and individual all-americans.

Oregon was supposed to win big. Central Connecticut State was an unknown. Indiana was, well…impressive! And so we close out the 2012 NIRCA Regional season with our final men’s rankings before the always anticipated Nationals predictions next week.

After three weekends of racing, NIRCA’s nine regional championships are in the books for 2012. While there weren’t any major surprises in the Great Lakes, Northeast, Pacific Northwest and Gulf Central, there is some more clarity for our nationals preview coming next week. But for this week, here’s a look at the results and our final regular season rankings.

A year ago the Mid Atlantic, Great Plains, and Southwest Regional team titles were all decided by six points or less (one on a tie breaker). But those hoping for nail-biting repeats in 2012 were let down as defending champions created some distance en route to the crowns this time around.

Teams from four different NIRCA regions took to the course on Saturday in search of championship honors and previewing what we may see in Hershey on November 10th. The performances also shook up this week's rankings.

Our week 5 rankings are out a little bit later this week so we can not only wrap up last weekend’s competitions but also preview some blockbuster regional championships taking place this Saturday.

First, how our NIRCA clubs performed last week…

The second annual HEPS invitational featured our top Ivy League clubs as well as some of our mid atlantic talent outside of the Ivy. The University of Delaware turned in a strong performance with seven in the top fourteen of the race lead by Chris Warren (25:43), Josh Hayman (25:50), and Collin Zeffer (25:54). The Blue Hens tallied 39 points, well ahead of regional foes Princeton (69) and Penn (70). The Maryland duo of Ty Stump and Craig Morgans finished 1-2 at HEPS in 25:19 and 25:24 respectively.

If there is any doubt that Michigan should be on top of our week 5 rankings, the women of MRun quickly put that to rest with their results at the Spartan Invitational in East Lansing on Sunday. Michigan cruised to yet another tea victory scoring 38 points and clearly not at full strength for this meet, with virus top runners sitting out. Michelle Lapin led the charge with her third place finish in 19:40 on the 5k course. All scoring five finished in the top 12 and under 20:45, as the Wolverines out-distanced big ten rival Ohio State (55) and Michigan State (56) for the title. 

After debuting at #1 in our season preview rankings, Iowa State did not disappoint in their first showing with the NIRCA target square on their backs. The Cyclones ran to a runner-up finish at the Dan Huston Invitational which featured some very tough NCAA Division 2 schools. Mason Frank led the way with a 25:14 as all scoring five were within 62 seconds of one another. With Regionals just a few weeks away, ISU continues to look very strong and very deep.

With NIRCA’s championship season just around the corner, it was a relatively light weekend of racing among our women’s clubs. Our number one club from last week, Michigan Ann Arbor was off, but 2, 3 and 4 were all in action and yielded great results.

Defending national champion Illinois used a tight spread and had three runners under the 25 minute mark last season to run away with the crown. The Illini return another strong group in 2012 lead by Brendan McDonnel (12th at Nationals) who recently navigating the Loyola Lakefront Invitational in 26:11, clocking the second fastest time by a NIRCA male at the event.

Parity wasn’t exactly a word associated with the NIRCA women’s championship over the past six years. Prior to 2011 only three schools laid claim to the title with Penn State and Oregon dominating most of those championships. But 2011 threw our polls and history out the window with Illinois and Virginia’s nail biting 1-2 finish well ahead of the traditional powers. And for the first time in awhile, our women’s preview isn’t as clear cut.

Charlotte, NC - November 12, 2011 - After testing weather’s fate five straight years in the north, NIRCA took Nationals to the sunny southern state of North Carolina, and the weather did not disappoint.  Enthusiasm in Charlotte was apparent as a record number of teams streamed in on Friday afternoon for the official course preview.  An apparently flat and fast course had anticipations running high for personal best performances.

Virginia sent a loud and resounding message to the rest of NIRCA on October 29th. The Cavaliers will be a factor in deciding the 2011 national champion and Penn State is vulnerable.

The Mid Atlantic Regional saw UVA hand the Nittany Lions their first loss to a NIRCA school since 2008 with a stunning 26-30 victory. Behind a 1-2-3 finish, Virginia was impressive, as they have been all year with big wins at JMU and in their home invitational. But the 2:06 spread between runners 1-5 at regionals could be a cause for concern in a bigger meet. The good news, that spread gets a lot smaller when you add Anna Gordon, UVA’s #1 who didn’t run at regionals, into to the mix.

If the team race at Nationals is anything like the Regional Championships, we are in store for one entertaining men’s championship.

Four of the six regionals decided their men’s team champion by 6 points or less with Indiana besting Michigan 49-50 at Great Lakes, Iowa State getting by Illinois 33-39 at Great Plains, Cal Poly over USC in the Southwest 35-39, and Delaware taking down Virginia in the Mid Atlantic on a tie-breaker after both clubs scoring five totaled 43 points. Add in the two other regional champions and former NIRCA national champions, North Carolina and Oregon and you can see why this should be one of NIRCA’s most memorable men’s championships.

28 seconds. That is the total amount of time, over the last two championship races, that has separated Clemson grad student Wallace Campbell from a NIRCA national title. But the back-to-back runner-up is once again among the favorites of the 2011 men’s field after a dominating season.

What do you get when the top nine finishers from last year’s national championship aren’t returning?...A wide open championship race in 2011! After years of epic battles featuring names like Mohror, Philbrook, Schnepp, Woods, Belli, and Knight we see a field with a lot of brand new stars on the rise and women who have waited their turn patiently in NIRCA, now ready to take aim at a title.

Iowa State holds Illinois at bay from mid-season to post-regionals, as the teams gear up for the Nationals push. The former midwest still holds the cards on the top teams, but will that be the actual outcome?

MRUN's strong regional performance makes them the favourite over former title winners Penn State and Oregon, with Virginia breaking into the Top 3 following the Regional Championships. Mizzou and Cincinnati round out the Top 10 with a first time showing in the fall season rankings. Will they try to claim the women's title this year or remain at the heels of other teams from across the nation?

Penn State continues to hold the top bid for their fourth National Championship title, with former champions MRUN and Oregon close on their toes. Illinois slingshots into the top 5 and Loyola breaks into the field at 10. The women's field is still open to change, with drops by North Carolina and Wisconsin falling to 6 and 7 in the top 10. Will there be further changes as Regionals loom closer?

The Midwest clubs surge to the top of the mid-season club rankings, as Iowa State takes the top spot ahead of Virginia. UPenn men make jump to the middle point of the rankings, solidly finishing at 5, over former National Champions Oregon and Wisconsin. As the clubs continue to race in the lead up to regionals, what clubs will begin showing their hand prior to the Nationals Championships in Charlotte?

After years of knocking on the door, Michigan Ann-Arbor’s veteran team finally broke through

in 2010, stunning the favorites en route to their first-ever NIRCA team title…and it was a

memorable nationals performance. With five seniors/grad students leading the way a year ago,

the Wolverines will be re-building in 2011 but will still be in the thick of a very competitive

men’s field.

Two-time defending champion Penn State has never finished worse than second at Nationals in

five appearances and hasn’t lost a meet (of any kind…yes NCAA D-III invites included) since

2009. Despite losing three of their top four to graduation, a deep and experienced squad returns

from a team that captured Nationals by 78 points last year and saw all seven runners finish under

24:20. Expect the Nittany Lions to be the team to beat once again.