kibitzer wrote:
No real dog in the fight, but aren't these conference championships meant to pit equally competitive teams against one another?
Not sure that this answers your question, but I was told that only three teams (of the sixteen at Heps) even entered the max-allowed 36 athletes. But it certainly seems strange to me that a Harvard, for instance--which certainly seems to have well-supported teams, and is not a small college--couldn't field a full squad. As much as anything, I think the Cornell and Princeton men's coaches have a genuine grasp--not just intellectual knowledge but a real gut feel--that every event in the meet offers the same number of points, so they mostly try to get contenders in every event. [/quote]
Speaking of Harvard, where was Cotton? He should have been entered in the 1500, based on some comments I read earlier in this string about his 1500 performance this season. Puzzling. They always start with tons of recruits, then the rosters get decimated through attrition. Their top distance recruit last year left for Stanford after only a year. If you compare their announcement of their recruiting class in a given year, and check what's left after a couple of years, it's amazing how many athletes leave the program.