Is Rohatinsky the first person over 30 years old to win NCAAs?

Yes the SUU kid (Jess Baumgartner) went on a mission. We have many athletes on our team who go on missions. Believe me as a coach this is no advantage. In fact we have to redshirt kids the first year they are home just to get them close to the level they were at as freshman. We also have to recruit athletes to replace them when they leave for two years. If we had all the kids who ran for us the last two years with our current team we would have been a top ten team in the country this year. Kids on missions (most anyway) do not get the opportunity to train let alone run. When they come home 2 miles is a difficult run. There is a huge adjustment that has to be made, first running everyday all through high school and their first year of college and then not running at all, then back to trying to get to the level they were before they left.

Tell me where the advantage is in that.

Coach murray, congrats by the way on a AWESOME season! our team up here has a lot of respect for your program and your guys. We are glad we are able to run against you guys during the season and it will be great to continue to run against you guys in the next 6- 8 years when all of our guys on both squads are coming back from missions, all of us freshmen here are going on missions right after track, two just got their calls and are leaveing before indoor. so it'll be great when everyone comes back having really experienced squads in 3-4 years from now. you guys still have the upper hand on us, but we'll always enjoy competing with you guys and build our squad as much as possible. either way, yesterday was a great day for utah running. jesson has shown what a great program you have and if your whole squad was there would have suprised many with a top 15-20 finish.

we'll see you guys in track!!!

Rohatinsky was 2 time footlocker west regional champ and qualified 3 times and finished in the top 5 twice. Ran 29 minutes for 10k as a freshmen. Even if he didn't go on a mission, he would have still been right there for the win. Its not like the only reason he won is because hes older. He was capable of winning last year and just had a bad race the year before that. He was going to be good no matter what.

Don't act like it can't help to have the extra years of physical maturity, even if those two years (which came three years ago) were spent without regular running.

I dont think its a big help. He was always good and would have been in contention for a title or titles had he gone the normal 4 or 5 years.

It probably helps more than it hurts in most cases, especially if it came three or more years ago. Take a great athlete and let him age a couple more years while losing no eligibility and have him walking and biking everyday during those two years with no hard workouts or races. Why do people complain about over-aged foreigners?

Japanese Style Development wrote:

Don't act like it can't help to have the extra years of physical maturity, even if those two years (which came three years ago) were spent without regular running.

Right, but it doesn't help if you struggle when you get back and just give up. There are plenty of people who just disappear after coming back. Sure, it does help a few here or there, but you have no idea beforehand if it actually will be a benefit.

It seems to me like a big gamble athletically. For a large number, they never get back and just move on to other things. For some, they get back to a "normal" progression as if they had never left. For a lucky few, it turns out to be an advantage. Obviously, athletics is not the primary reason for going on a mission, hence the exemption from the NCAA.

Remember, EVERYONE has the opportunity to do this. If you really think that it's that much of a slam dunk advantage, then do it yourself.

I didn't say that it's a "slam dunk advantage", I was simply countering all those claiming that it's a slam dunk disadvantage. If having a couple of extra years of physical maturity isn't considered an advantage, on the surface and in a vacuum, then I'm talking to crazed fanatics.

I never knew about the option until it was too late, anyway, otherwise I might have done that.

My 25 year old brother is so much more mature and stronger than me, 22 . . . uhh no. No one hits puberty during those ages. I felt a difference between 18 and 20, but nothing in the last 2 years, more to come . . .

1) Not a significant difference in physical maturity.

Age Weighted times for 22 year olds and 25 year olds do not vary by more than one or two seconds, and if you want to argue otherwise than you better also take your complaints to those who make the statistics.

2) Josh did not have much opportunity to train while he was gone and came back slower than when he left. No developement as a runner.

And a correction. The BYU site says he went to Uruguay. All of my friends who have gone on south american missions ended up severly malnourished.

Stop crying. Boohoo everyone is disappointed because neither mcdougal nor solinsky won.

How about the guy Gaylord Rupp taking a year off just to train before enrolling in school at Oregon? Assuming a redshirt year, he could be 24 his final x-country year. Old men running in college ain't that unusual.

Frankly, I think it is the mental maturity that is the biggest advantage. Two years in a foreign country, learning the language, following a schedule, wearing a suit, and trying to convince someone to convert will make anyone grow up real quick.

I sure as heck had never faced anything like that in college.

Straw man.

Your brother doesn't necessarily have anything to do with you, from a performance standpoint.

Uruguay, hmm. Two years of sleeping at high altitude = EPO advantage.

I'm not disappointed, just shocked at the huge sense of denial from the BYU fans, but then considering that they might also be LDS..........

shit wrote:

in this old interview he says he didn't run at all on his mission and also he talks about how he doesn't run on sundays.

http://www.mensracing.com/athletes/interviews/joshrohatinsky.html

What day was NCAA's on?

Monday dumbass

You guys are just bitter. If you wanted to take time off then there are a hundred ways you can so you can't say that Mormons are privileged or something. And what people have been saying about missions is absolutely right. I have known many, many mormons who went on missions and they all have gained weight over the time that they were there. You don't get 2 years to do extra training for cross. You get two years to get rusty, slow, and fat. If that is an advantage then you're psycho. And if you're so OCD over that then why are'nt you going crazy about things that are much more blatant, like IONA or Texas Tech who buy africans to win their trophies rather than recruit and develop their own. Don't you think that there are bigger issues than Mormon missions?

Yep you're ignorant but then you're also probably LDS.

I didn't realize what a class act J.R. was until watching the flocasts of the pre-race conf.

4,549 feet (1,387 meters)= provo utah

The highest point in Uruguay is the Cerro Catedral at 514 metres (1,686 ft).

No altitude advantage there.

I don't think he is advantaged in anyway for taking off two years to bike and walk around (with very minimal running). Its like having an injury for two years. You don't hop back from a two year injury advantaged b/c you biked and walked around alot and ran just a little. I also don't think he was disadvantaged in anyway going into the championship race, since he's had 3 years to train since he's been back. His first year back, maybe. But after three years he's trained enough to have gotten over that. He doesn't deserve the win because of something superhuman he did by coming back from a mission and racing three years later, and he definitely doesnt deserve to have his championship diminished because of an advantage in physical maturity. He was one of the many top runners out there, and won the race. He had a good day.

there are 24 hours in a day i do not believe that he was not allowed to run at all i mean they are mormons not hitler jeeeeeeeeeeez.