Fantasy Cross Country Week 5: Stop, Hackett Time

Same story, different week, slightly different order. Team Hackett ran away with Week 5 using impressive performances at Rim Rock and a fast course in Arnold to his advantage. Victor Mugeche was the fastest of the week once again and demolished the field at Rim Rock with his 15:27. Kevin Koester of Hillsboro is turning out to be a late round steal for Hackett as he turned in another stellar race this weekend, going 16:00 for the win at Ed White Warrior Invite. Tom Seitzer and Blake Selm both ran the tough course at Rim Rock well also, coming across the line in 16:03 and 16:25 respectively. With four under 16:30 and Christian Baker at 16:57, Team Hackett beat out Team Wang by 35 points. Oaklee Hauschild, Wang's #1, was #2 on the week behind his teammate. Peter Campbell and Keifer Dooley both came up big for Wang at 2 and 3 and Andrew Connor's 16:42 and Nicholas Ondr's 17:16 did not drag him down too much as he was able to secure 2nd. What's truly incredible is that Team Wang still finished 2nd and had two sub-16:20s on his bench in Nassim Oufattole and Matyas Csiki-fejer, who he thought were running at Hancock and not Rim Rock. Team Farber benefited from a 15 second 1-5 split to grab 3rd and Team Szabo was back for a 4th place finish, led by 3 sub-16:30s from Harrison Brown, Ben Stasney, and Ethan Hutchinson. 

It was a rough week for Team Deeken this week. Ryan Riddle was not only my only sub-16:00, but also my only sub-17:00. Tough courses took their toll on most of my boys from Rim Rock to Griak to Hermitage and on. As a result, I was 7th on the week. With a number of runners travelling to Chile Pepper and Capital City (relatively fast last year), I'm hoping to make a push back into the Top 4 overall. I'm sitting 5th at the moment, but very close to 3rd still. Team Wang and Hackett are way out in front and don't appear to be slowing down anytime soon..

Updated Rosters (italicized athletes are new additions):