As Scott already noted, Tara Erdmann is a scratch. Stephanie Pezzullo and Jen Rhines are also scratches.

Kevin, on , said:

Are you referring to Erdmann? If so, then yes. Katie at USATF told me in an email just before she posted my preview.

Chris Nickinson, on , said:

Yeah he does. He's had such an up and down past few years, dealing with injuries. When he's healthy, he's still among the best in the U.S. As you heard in the call, while he's not going to be setting 5k and 10k PRs any more, he can certainly compete from the 10k on up with nearly anyone in the U.S. if he's got some good training under his belt and still feels he can PR from 12k on up.

If he doesn't do NYC or Chicago, I wonder if he's consider doing Twin Cities. He could win the race, thus increasing his USARC point total (probably putting him in the lead heading into the .US champs, and he's have over a month to recover in between races. In my mind, that's really the only way he can get ahead of Teg at this point in the standings. It wouldn't surprise me if Mo Trafeh did Twin Cities either, assuming he's healthy!

Abdi sounded ready to go after this morning's conference call.

I just learned this morning that Tara Erdmann has withdrawn from Monday's race with some inflammation issues.

Kevin, on , said:

The absence of those two will change things, for sure.

I agree that Williams is the likely favorite now. Pritz would have had to be in her PR shape to (which is what I was guessing) to beat Alisha at her best this year.

I'm with Scott on the women's race, and I hope to see a good race, but this could finally be Alisha Williams' shining moment. If she's as fit as she was at the 15k, she could run away with it.

It's disappointing that we won't see a rematch between Teg and Puskedra, but instead, we'll see a matchup of the last two champions if Abdi shows up. That being said, Teg's winning time was 1:42 faster than Abdi's, but that, I think, is mostly due to Puskedra's torrid early pace. I'm looking forward to how the gentlemen's race unfolds, and am also quite curious to see how USARC newcomer, Aron Rono (27:31 10k), fares.

Update on scratches: no Puskedra or Pritz.

Chris Nickinson, on , said:

Chris, I have to disagree on Pritz. Alisha Williams (15:09 for 5k) was running insanely well before she got hurt. If she's back running 100%, in my mind she's the favorite, with Mattie Suver a close second. Suver, with a top three finish, can either tie or pass Bawcom atop of the USARC standings. Tara Erdmann is the wild card. She could come up big and win, but she has VERY little road experience.

Teg can really put some ground between himself and the rest of the USARC if he comes up with a top 2-3 finish. With Trafeh and True not scheduled to run, that means Biwott is his closest rival in the rankings and he sits 15 points behind Teg. I am excited to see Hartmann race, as he rarely does anymore except his marathons. Solinsky was on the race start list a week ago, but is no longer. Don't count out Puskedra either. Last year he challenged Teg (and led) for most of the race.

The men's race has some big names. It'll be interesting to see how Teg is responding to marathon training. Lots of big names in there to pick up the pieces if he can't defend his title.

The women's race looks wide open without a dominant athlete like Janet Bawcom in there. Molly Pritz might be the class of the field if she's back to on top of her game.