Discussion: The pool we really care about.

Who do you think is going to win each race at the Pig? Who is going to make the team (regardless of whether they are going to Japan or not)?

Here's the current (pre-trials) Team Trails Scoring List, based on the latest USOF rankings. It also shows who's expected to start, and who's expected to DNS. It does not show who may not want to go to WOC. Unfortunately, on the men's side, I think only 2 of the top 6 may be interested in going to WOC '05.

It is a shame that more aren't interested in going to Japan. It is an opportunity to compete against the Europeans on neutral turf.

Here are my guesses.

Sprint:
John F.
Eric B.
Brian M.

Erin O.
Samantha S.
Pavlina B

Medium:
Mikell P.
Eric B.
Brian M.

Erin O.
Pavlina B
Samantha S.

Long:
Mikell P.
Eric B.
Brian M.

Erin O.
Pavlina B
Samantha S.

Wow, I've never beaten Brian three times (or even twice) in one weekend. I'm looking forward to it.

Don't forget there are a lot of Canadians running at the Pig, so a better source for betting information would be the start list. They count in terms of betting on race winners, even if not US-eligible...

I noticed that Brian has been feeding his skiing addiction lately rather than running, so I moved him down a little.

If we are going to put Canadians in the mix, then I would have to put Waddington and Pam James at the top of everything. Katarina Smith (Canadian-ish) should appear in there somewhere.

Looking at the start list, I'm seeing some other names that I should have considered. I'm sure my guesses will probably turn out to be just like my NCAA pool--sucky. It should be a great weekend of racing!