Looking ahead again to the 2024 cross country season…I feel confident that we have 3 potential all-Americans - in Hartman, Stephens, and now Fiona Smith. With Hartman really making big improvements recently, both her and Stephens could be top 20. And between Gapes, Rauber, and Napoleon I think you would have at least 2 who could finish in the 45-60 range.

The x-factor could be Michalak. If she could also be AA and finish in the 25-35 range, I think the team is a lock for the podium and could even compete with NAU for the title - with, say, a top 5 of Stephens, Hartman, Smith, Michalak, and Gapes finishing 10/15/25/30/45 and scoring around 90-95 points.

Of course, this is a fairly optimistic view and not accounting for potential injuries. Another x-factor is Rauber. She has the talent to be All-American, but just needs to be healthy and put it all together (the 19:58 she ran at the 2022 ACCs at the UVa course was good enough to finish 27th at the NCAAs last fall).

3rd commitment for class of 2025 for the women already in. Alexa Dow from British Columbia

PB's 2:06/4:18 800/1500 doesn't seem to have run a ton of XC outside of races within BC and i have no idea how competitive those are. But she was placing 1st or 2nd in most of them.

https://instagr.am/p/C5WwL1WP1ht

This commitment furthers my point about focusing recruiting on the athletes with middle distance talent. I love this approach. Someone can always run more miles to get better at a 6k. Hard to teach natural speed.

Engelhardt 4:31 to break Tuohy's 1 mile record

Interview with Grace Hartman released today on Stride Report:

I've been checking Amina Maatoug's Instagram for the past several (~4-5) days and specifically checking who she follows. Just this morning I noticed that she is now following the official NC State XC and T&F account. Thos who use Instagram will know that whoever you follow with your own account will be shown at the top when checking the followers of another account. I made specific note to look for the Wolfpack account the previous times and am sure she was not following the previous days, before I found it today. I also just followed some other official T&F accounts (Florida, Oregon, NAU) to check and see if Anima is following any of those, and she is not.

GuerrillaPack said:

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I've been checking Amina Maatoug's Instagram for the past several (~4-5) days and specifically checking who she follows. Just this morning I noticed that she is now following the official NC State XC and T&F account. Thos who use Instagram will know that whoever you follow with your own account will be shown at the top when checking the followers of another account. I made specific note to look for the Wolfpack account the previous times and am sure she was not following the previous days, before I found it today. I also just followed some other official T&F accounts (Florida, Oregon, NAU) to check and see if Anima is following any of those, and she is not.

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*Amina

Actually, I guess it's only been the last 3 days, just felt like 4 or 5. Anyway, for those that don't know Maatoug supposedly entered the transfer portal 3 days ago and listed as "no contact" meaning she doesn't want schools to contact her.

If the Wolfpack were to add Amina, those who were ready to hand NAU the 2024 XC title may have to revise their predictions. If that were to occur, I would say we would be the favorites to 4-peat.

GuerrillaPack said:

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If the Wolfpack were to add Amina, those who were ready to hand NAU the 2024 XC title may have to revise their predictions. If that were to occur, I would say we would be the favorites to 4-peat.

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Thanks GP for the info. What's her background? Thanks

byrd77pack said:

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GuerrillaPack said:

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If the Wolfpack were to add Amina, those who were ready to hand NAU the 2024 XC title may have to revise their predictions. If that were to occur, I would say we would be the favorites to 4-peat.

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Thanks GP for the info. What's her background? Thanks

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She finished 9th at the 2023 NCAA XC Championships and 28th at the 2022 NCAA XC Championships. Just ran a 15:37 PR in the outdoor 5k at the Raleigh Relays a month ago, and finished 5th at the 2023 NCAA Outdoor championships in the 5k.

Here's her profile: https://www.tfrrs.org/athletes/8257176/Duke/Amina_Maatoug.html

GuerrillaPack said:

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byrd77pack said:

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GuerrillaPack said:

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If the Wolfpack were to add Amina, those who were ready to hand NAU the 2024 XC title may have to revise their predictions. If that were to occur, I would say we would be the favorites to 4-peat.

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Thank you so much! Hopefully we get her!!

Thanks GP for the info. What's her background? Thanks

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She finished 9th at the 2023 NCAA XC Championships and 28th at the 2022 NCAA XC Championships. Just ran a 15:37 PR in the outdoor 5k at the Raleigh Relays a month ago, and finished 5th at the 2023 NCAA Outdoor championships in the 5k.

Here's her profile: https://www.tfrrs.org/athletes/8257176/Duke/Amina_Maatoug.html

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Interesting find. That would be a hell of a coup.

Could definitely mean something. Generally speaking instagram is used for communication and i dont see that we are following her back, but she's the level of recruit that she would probably be speaking directly with Laurie Henes and not with Chad Pearson.

Now that you bring up instagram i do see that our team account has recently started following Kenzie Doyle who has run 15:27 and 33:21 this year at Umass-Lowell. I haven't heard about her being publicly in the portal but you never know since that does appear to be a mutual follow.

jadawson said:

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Could definitely mean something. Generally speaking instagram is used for communication and i dont see that we are following her back, but she's the level of recruit that she would probably be speaking directly with Laurie Henes and not with Chad Pearson.

Now that you bring up instagram i do see that our team account has recently started following Kenzie Doyle who has run 15:27 and 33:21 this year at Umass-Lowell. I haven't heard about her being publicly in the portal but you never know since that does appear to be a mutual follow.

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I noticed that too and have been monitoring it.

We also have an interesting "mutual follow situation" happening right now with an international runner at uni in England.

Kenzie Doyle is now reported to be in the transfer portal. She should have 1 year XC eligibility and maybe more than that in Track

rbtrackfan said:

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Kenzie Doyle is now reported to be in the transfer portal. She should have 1 year XC eligibility and maybe more than that in Track

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It looks like she has one year left in all seasons.

https://instagr.am/p/C6rYwMiPFUj

Kenzie Doyle to Providence

Saw this on the Let's Run forums. Per an article a from a few weeks ago, Amina Maatoug is out for the rest of the outdoor season with a fractured foot.

https://www.dukechronicle.com/article/2024/04/duke-track-and-field-wake-forest-invitational-acc-amina-maatoug-katie-hamilton-beck-wittstadt-wilbourn

Quote:

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April 21, 2024

For Wilbourn, winning gold for the women's team won't require much more than this "fine-tuning" and an avoidance of bad luck. The Blue Devil women suffered a sizable loss with distance star Amina Maatoug out for the rest of the season thanks to a fractured foot but it is a deficit they can make up for in crunch time with depth on the field as well as on the sprints team.

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