Pick 10: Big Ten and MIAC Championships

The cross country season is winding down. With it, the DtB fantasy contests are nearing their yearly conclusion as well. This week will mark the end of the big contest - Pick Ten - in 2010. There will be another month of Yes/No questions with some bonus questions thrown in just to make it interesting.

This weekend will crown conference champions in both the Big Ten and the MIAC. The Gophers will travel to Wisconsin for the Big Ten Championship on Sunday. The MIAC is held annually at Como Park Golf Course and will be run Saturday afternoon.

Pick Ten has a simple concept: predict the finish place for each of 10 Minnesota athletes/teams at their conference meets. You will score points for each athlete who scores at or above the finish place you predict for them, following the 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 scoring system.

For example: If you pick Ben Blankenship to place first in the Big Ten, and he places first, you get 10 points. If you pick Blankenship to place first and he finishes second, you get zero points. If you pick Blankenship to finish third in the race and he places first, second or third, you get 6 points, since you that's the place you picked him for.

To play Pick Ten, cut and paste the list of names/events below into an e-mail and add your place predictions -- 1st or 2nd or 3rd...10th. Send your predictions by 2:15 P.M. CST on Saturday, October 30th to DtBFantasy [AT] gmail [DOT] com. Make sure your full name is in the e-mail. We'll announce the winner of this Pick Ten contest next week as well as crown a grand champion for the year. As with our Yes/No contests, we don't offer any prizes, so no one needs to fear running afoul of NCAA or other anti-gambling regulations.

Pick 10 ... Big Ten and MIAC Championships:

University of Minnesota Women:

University of Minnesota Men:

Ben Blankenship (University of Minnesota):

Stephanie Price (University of Minnesota):

Missa Varpness (University of Minnesota):

St. Olaf Men:

Carleton Women:

Devin Monson (Hamline):

Tom Sederquist (Concordia):

Taylor Berg (St. Thomas):

To Help You Make Your Picks ...

The Gopher men finished third at Big Tens last year. Currently, there are three nationally ranked teams from the Big Ten - Wisconsin, Indiana and Penn State. The Gophers were ranked at various times during the season but are not in the top thirty at present. The Gopher women also placed third at Big Tens last year. They are currently ranked nineteenth in the nation after a strong showing at Pre-Nationals. Other ranked teams in the conference include Michigan State - sixteenth, Michigan - twenty-first, Indiana - twenty-ninth and Iowa - thirtieth.

Ben Blankenship has finished twenty sixth (2008) and eighteenth (2009) in his two Big Ten Cross Country meets. Blankenship finished tenth at the Griak invitational and was the 2010 Big Ten Mile Champion on the track. Stephanie Price had a solid cross country season in 2009 but has really taken a major leap this year. She was second at the Griak Invitational and sixth at Pre-Nationals. Price was eighteenth at Big Tens in 2009. Missa Varpness is a redshirt freshman from Montevideo and is competing in her first Big Ten Championship. She was twenty eighth at the Griak Invitational and thirtieth at Pre-Nationals.

St. Olaf men finished second at MIAC in 2009. They are ranked seventh in the region behind Hamline (first), St. Johns (third) and ahead of St. Thomas (ninth). Carleton women are the defending MIAC champs. There are six MIAC women's teams ranked in the top ten in the regional poll. They include St. Olaf (second), Carleton (fifth), St. Thomas (sixth), Bethel (seventh), Gustavus (eighth) and St. Benedict (tenth).

Devin Monson finished sixth at MIAC last year as a sophomore and was second among the non-seniors. Tom Sederquist has never finished in the top thirty at the MIAC championship but figures to change that in a big way this year. He has won three meets this year including the Griak Invitational and was second at Pre-Nationals. Taylor Berg finished nineteenth as a freshman at MIAC in 2009. Berg has won three meets this year and was the third MIAC finisher at Griak.

Good luck!

The fantasy contest question from last week was: "Yes/No: Will Michelle Frey run faster than 2:40:00 at the Casablanca International Marathon?" The answer was no. Frey ran 2:42:31 and placed fifth. Gregg Robertson answered correctly and is now tied with Lori Anne Peterson for first place with twenty six points.

The 2010 Pick Ten standings are as follows: Mike Henderson leads with 163 points, followed closely by Jesse Schoen with 160. Mitch VanBruggen is third with 150 points.

For full standings of both contests, please visit DtB Fantasy Corner.