Stanford men come up huge at NCAAs

not a tree wrote:

I'm not a Stanford fan, but they get so much crap on these boards for underachieving at nationals in the past (maybe deserved).

This year they came in ranked 9th. The whole conversation was about how nobody even had a chance of upsetting CU, the only possible contenders were supposed to be Cuse, Oregon, maybe Okie State or NAU.

For the 9th place team to come in and dominate every team except the historically good Buffs, score under 100 points and come closer than we thought anyone could to stealing the title, that deserves some major props. Lots of other years the whole story of the meet would be about how Stanford came out of nowhere to win the title.

Couldn't agree more. I expected them to be second at the start of the year, but if you told me that Jim Rosa wouldn't run at NCAAs and Joe would only be 33rd, I'd have said they wouldn't be on the podium. Great job by the Cardinal stepping up yesterday.

not a tree wrote:

I'm not a Stanford fan, but they get so much crap on these boards for underachieving at nationals in the past (maybe deserved).

This year they came in ranked 9th. The whole conversation was about how nobody even had a chance of upsetting CU, the only possible contenders were supposed to be Cuse, Oregon, maybe Okie State or NAU.

For the 9th place team to come in and dominate every team except the historically good Buffs, score under 100 points and come closer than we thought anyone could to stealing the title, that deserves some major props. Lots of other years the whole story of the meet would be about how Stanford came out of nowhere to win the title.

Stanford finishing in second is a major achievement given their not having the the talents of Jim Rosa in this one. What he might have meant to the outcome makes for lively discussion. With the runners they have available, and the two amazing freshmen coming into the program next year makes for lively discussion. To all those that feel the need to hack Stanford - go pound salt.

Way to go Stanford! Looking forward to watching you compete in track and cross for years to come. You have put yourselves in position to compete well.

Yeah, well done by the Cardinal. Everyone seems to think that they have choked for like 10 years when really just been a few years in recent history. Sometimes Wisconsin, OSU, Oregon run very well, this year that was not the case. I don't think any program is infallible from a bad nationals performance on occasion, not even the vaulted Buffs.

Less pressure less expectations, Stanford performs well

More pressure greater expectations, Stanford not so well

Portland was the greater achievement

It's well know Stanford gets best recruites each year yet continue to under perform.

I give them a C+

Portland A+

First off. Well done Stanford for getting back to the podium. It's nice to see.

The honest truth is that Stanford performed exactly as they should. The reason people are so rough on Stanford is because they should be on the podium every year, and recently they haven't been anywhere near it.

1) They recruit with ease. Distance running typically doesn't pay well after graduation, so getting a high quality degree from Stanford is a huge draw. That is simply a ridiculous recruiting advantage, and you see that play out year after year

2) Stanford, like the Ivy League, will always give financial support based on family income, and the cutoff is very generous. There have been countless runners that get a large portion of their education paid for without ever seeing a dime from the 12.6 athletic scholarships. This is a extraordinary financial advantage Stanford has. Do State schools have money like that, No they don't. To put it simply, it's easy to get the best recuits when you have a valuable degree, and money to support them. Easy decision.

3) Another reason, is since about 2009 they have underperformed their ranking going in to the Championship. #1 ranking, then 19th place, ouch. Favorites that fail to win will always get the treatment. It's just sports and business in America.

4) Because they always have ridiculous talent, Stanford will always have high expectations. Is that unreasonable? I think not. Stanford is expected to be great because of great talent, so sympathy really isn't something that goes with that territory. I guess that's just the rough reality for Stanford.

The pressure will always be on to perform well, and it's hard to over-achive when recruiting comes so easy. Does anyone every feel sorry for someone who fails after getting all the advantages in life. No, and that's "Merica".

You do have to understand also that when a school is this academically prestigious does not let just any good runner on the roster. They have to be at least some what qualified academically. This is particularly true of recruiting foreign talent from non-English speaking countries. Some athletes can hardly get through a post race interview in English, they aren't going to survive at Stanford (this does not mean they are not smart just because they don't speak English). This seems to be much less of an issue for schools like Ok State, Iona, Oregon etc.

I agree that Portland's performance was more impressive. Stanford gets the best recruits year in / year out.

However, the race the trees ran was really impressive. They get an A.

one thing to note wrote:

You do have to understand also that when a school is this academically prestigious does not let just any good runner on the roster. They have to be at least some what qualified academically. This is particularly true of recruiting foreign talent from non-English speaking countries. Some athletes can hardly get through a post race interview in English, they aren't going to survive at Stanford (this does not mean they are not smart just because they don't speak English). This seems to be much less of an issue for schools like Ok State, Iona, Oregon etc.

sort of

basically true, but keep in mind Stanford has a good football team. So clearly they are perfectly willing to drop standards in a big way for athletes. Last year the Stanford f'ball team was ranked 11th. Please.

it is tempting to compare Stanford to the Ivies, but that is not fair - the ivies have 1) a codified, defined bar for athletes to clear - little fudging allowed and 2) Stanford has athletic scholarships.

The point is, Stanford is no Ivy in sports - Stanford lowers standards to get teams together. The Ivies can lower, but not that far.

also, remember that it's pretty much impossible to flunk out of these high end priivate schools. You just have to do the work and you will pass.

This shows the amount to which Stanford is willing to lower standards for athletes - they have won this award 20 straight years:

The NACDA Learfield Sports Directors' Cup is an award given annually by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics to the colleges and universities in the United States with the most success in collegiate athletics. Points for the NACDA Directors' Cup are based on order of finish in various National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) sponsored championships or, in the case of Division I Football, media-based polls. The award originated in 1993, and was presented to NCAA Division I schools only. In 1995 it was extended to Division II, Division III, and National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) schools as well, each division receiving its own award.

The University of North Carolina won the award in its inaugural year, and since then, Stanford University has won the Division I award for twenty straight years. Williams College has had similar success in Division III, having won the award sixteen times.

Stanford definitely lowers its standards quite a bit for athletes. Athletes have a separate process where they get an application and are admitted on a rolling basis.

Let's not forget that Stanford admitted Eldrick "Tiger" Woods, who allegedly scored in the triple digits on a max-of-1600 SAT. ("Allegedly" because I got that info at third hand, not even second hand.) And yes, good football players can get *somewhat* of a break on admissions.

But all that stuff's pretty much irrelevant to The Sport. The Cardinal's xc and tf teams are crowded with academic heavy hitters. Take a look at their roster sometime and count the STEM majors. Most of their team members are completely legit, academically.

[Full disclosure: I was accepted for undergraduate school--as a nonathlete--at Stanford but did not attend. I can echo what an earlier poster said about a great need-based financial aid package, though.]