Pick Ten: NCAA Regional Meets

The end of the 2012 Down the Backstretch fantasy contests is upon us.  The Pick Ten competition comes to a close this week with a contest featuring the Division I and Division III Regional races.  Next week, the Yes/No game will reach its conclusion for 2012 with questions regarding the collegiate National Cross Country Meets.

Entering the final weekend, the Pick Ten contest is tight.  Here are the current leaders:

Rich Cowles - 169

Mike Henderson - 161

Mitch VanBruggen - 160

Jesse Schoen - 155

Toby Hatlevig - 154

Heather Jelen - 152

The University of Minnesota Gophers will run in the Midwest Regional on Friday while the Wisconsin Badgers compete in the Great Lakes Regional on the same day.  Over in Division III, the MIAC teams are all heading to Northfield where St. Olaf will host the Central Regional on Saturday.

Pick Ten has a simple concept: predict the finish place for each of 10 Minnesota athletes at this weekends competitions. 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 Laura Docherty to place first in the Midwest Regional race, and she places first, you get 10 points. If you pick Docherty to place first and she finishes second, you get zero points. If you pick Docherty to finish third in the race and she places first, second or third, you get 8 points by the scoring system above, since she placed at least as high as you predicted.

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...8th. Send your predictions by 11:30 A.M. CST on Friday, November 9th to DtBFantasy [AT] gmail [DOT] com. Make sure your full name is in the e-mail. 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.

We'll announce the winner of this week's contest and compile results of all of the year's Pick Ten contests to name a grand champion for 2012.

Pick 10 ... NCAA Regional Races:

Rob Finnerty - University of Wisconsin:
University of Minnesota Men:
Laura Docherty - University of Minnesota:
University of Minnesota Women:
Taylor Berg - St. Thomas:
Gustavus Adolphus Women:
Carleton Women:
Micheale Tesema - Augsburg:
Zach Haskins - Bethel:
St. Olaf Men:

Here is some information to help you with your picks:

• 2012 Big Ten Championships (Men/Women)
• 2012 MIAC Championships (Men/Women)
• 2011 Division I Midwest Regional (Men/Women)
• 2011 Division I Great Lakes Regional (Men)
• 2011 Division III Central Regional (Men/Women)
• Current Division I Regional team rankings
• Current Division III Regional team rankings

Good luck!

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