Will the UMD Women Win the NSIC?

The Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference kicks off the championship portion of the collegiate cross country season this weekend (the Big Ten, MIAC, and others will follow suit next weekend). The NSIC meet will be held on Saturday in Bemidji and features prohibitive favorites in 3 of the 4 contests.

In the individual races, Morgan Place of the University of Minnesota - Duluth and James Krasja of Minnesota State, Mankato finished in the top 10 in the nation in 2008 and return to defend their NSIC titles. In team competition, the Mankato men seem to be the team to beat. The defending conference champions placed 8th at Nationals in 2008 and return many of their top runners.

This week's Yes/No question, however, looks at the NSIC competition without a strong favorite: the women’s team battle between #10 in the nation Augustana and #12 UMD.

Yes/No: Will UMD win the women’s team title at the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Meet on Saturday?

UMD and Augustana women have only competed against each other once and were separated by only seven points. At the Griak meet on September 26, UMD won with 78 points and Augustana finished 3rd with 85 points in the Maroon II race. In the 2008 NSIC Meet, these two teams dominated the front of the race with 8 of the top 9 individuals coming from Augustana or UMD. After the NSIC meet, the squads will move on to Regionals at Wayne State on November 7.

To play our game, simply type "yes" or "no" into the subject line of an e-mail and send it to us at DtBFantasy [AT] gmail [DOT] com before 11:00 A.M. CDT, Saturday, October 24th. Please put your answer in the subject line of the e-mail and make sure your full name appears somewhere in the e-mail. We will continue to offer a bonus for participants making their debut in Yes/No - a correct answer will be worth two points for any first-time players.

My answer: No

Last week’s Yes/No question was: Will the top 5 Gophers women finish among the top 60 in the White Race at Pre-NCAA's on Saturday? The correct answer was Yes. Nikki Swenson was the fifth runner and ended up in 58th place (3/10s of second away from not finishing the top 60). Nine contestants answered correctly this week. Chad Bjugan moved into sole possession of 2nd place.

You can find all of DtB's contest results and leaderboards at DtB Fantasy Corner.

Good luck and thanks for playing Yes/No on DtB!