NCAA Mens Teams - The College Rundown Week 4

Opportunities to preview Regional and National Championship courses will make it a big weekend for DI, DII, and DIII schools set to compete this weekend.

Division I | Division II | Division III

The Division II Ranks

The Lock Haven Invitational will steal the spotlight this weekend, with countless PSAC schools set to face off for the first time this season while other DII teams such as Shippensburg, West Chester, and Jefferson opt for the low-key Dickinson Long-Short Invitational.

Lock Haven Invitational:

There are a lot of things to keep in mind while looking at the Lock Haven Invitational. The most important is how the nine PSAC schools stack up against one another and how they will fair against out-of-state Atlantic Region competition.  

Expect to see a lot of Slippery Rock green in the lead packs. Graduate student Joseph Cintavey is a likely candidate to be Slippery Rock's frontman and the top performing PSAC runner. Cintavey finished 2nd at last weekend's RMU Invitational in 24:27.1 for 8k, earning PSAC Athlete of the Week Honors. Ethan Brentham, Troy Hart, and Devon Navaroli are other noteworthy Slippery Rocks runners who will be in the mix on Saturday.

Lock Haven and Kutztown are other teams to pay attention to. Lock Haven is the deeper squad, with front runners Morgan Gavitt and Chris Hine leading the charge backed up by an army of other men. However, Kutztown shouldn't be overlooked with the likes of Andrew Diehl, Jack Hollar, and Mason English. These similarly matched squads could shape up for an exciting showdown on Saturday.

Landon Boyle (East Stroudsburg) and Caleb Mandel (Gannon) are solid individuals.

We should also note that out-of-state teams, Atlantic Region No.1 Charleston and Atlantic Region No.3 Davis and Elkins (Rankings via USTFCCCA Coaches' Poll), are set to toe the line Saturday. The Lock Haven Invitational can potentially cause the most Atlantic Region rank changes out of any other regular season meet this year.

Dickinson Long-Short Invitational:

Meanwhile, in south central PA, Shippensburg, West Chester, and Jefferson will attend the Dickinson Long-Short Invitational, a meet in which two races are run, a 4k and 8k. The team's top three runners in each race will be counted and combined to make a six-man score.

It will be interesting to see what distances each team assigns their athletes to at this unique meet.