What happened to the University of Guelph womens program?

Varsity women were encouraged to lose weight to help with peak performance several years ago at the University of Guelph. Stress fractures and other health issues followed; what was once a dynasty xc program has fallen apart, lots of talented athletes careers ruined.

The program has won 12 of the last 13 national cross country titles.

moving that goal post wrote:

The main issues that I've heard have been the number of distance women unable to stay healthy. In terms of whether they have received good coaching during their time in Guelph, their own lack of progression and injuries would be a lot more relevant than whether the indoor track team earned a medal, thanks in part to contributions from other event groups that are coached by other coaches.

But, this seems to be a common trend when the issue of what's happening to the distance women in Guelph comes up. Responses essentially conveying messages along the lines of 'the men won so don't worry about the distance women', or 'the indoor track team is doing well so don't worry about the distance women'. Fact based posts, like the link to the 2016 list of recruits, get ignored.

Exactly this.

Apparently one of the University of Guelph coaches has to step away for a while. Heard he is just one of several that has crossed a line with girls on the varsity team.

Mainland wrote:

Varsity women were encouraged to lose weight to help with peak performance several years ago at the University of Guelph. Stress fractures and other health issues followed; what was once a dynasty xc program has fallen apart, lots of talented athletes careers ruined.

Well, this is news to me. I was on the championship team during the "peak dynasty years" and it was never suggested that I lose weight, nor was my body composition ever commented upon by coaching or medical staff. I was one of the "heftier" women as well.

The philosophy was (and likely still is) that it was better to be slightly above ideal race weight than risk implosion, and that if you're training and eating correctly your body will find its own balance. Efforts such as working with RDs, sports medicine doctors, physiologists were made to ensure that athletes were educated on these matters. Bloods were done 3x per year, and included checking various hormone profiles (which would indicate to some degree under-eating), with follow-up if abnormal results were found.

That said, there were certainly athletes (both male and female) that suffered from disordered eating or who suffered from having a poor energy balance. Some of this is on the coaches/staff (more serious interventions, targeted education for specific athletes needed), but to a certain extent it is difficult to help someone who refuses help. It's not always as simple as kicking someone off the team, as this can cause deterioration due to cut social ties/feeling of losing control/removal of activities that are enjoyed. This is a difficult situation for a collegiate team to manage, and one that every team faces - not just Guelph.

I think some criticism of current practices may be fair, but based on my experience the staff/coaches at Guelph did make a genuine (though perhaps imperfect) effort to combat issues related to disordered eating/overtraining. I doubt that much has changed since I was there, and would posit that this is not the reason for the women's team's decline. Eating disorders are difficult to treat and it does a disservice to patients to point fingers at different groups/athletes. There needs to be a culture shift in endurance sport and more education for things to truly change.

Upnorthy wrote:

Apparently one of the University of Guelph coaches has to step away for a while. Heard he is just one of several that has crossed a line with girls on the varsity team.

Didn't go to Guelph but this rumour has persisted for years. I wonder how much truth there is to it.

not a gryph wrote:

Upnorthy wrote:

Apparently one of the University of Guelph coaches has to step away for a while. Heard he is just one of several that has crossed a line with girls on the varsity team.

Didn't go to Guelph but this rumour has persisted for years. I wonder how much truth there is to it.

The most recent incidents are related to an assistant coach, likely a different coach then the one you heard previous stories about years ago.

What do you posit is the reason for the precipitous decline of the women's cross country team at the University of Guelph?

Well since we're throwing stones... Why not name names? I hadn't heard anything about an assistant leaving. Although I had heard about body composition measurements being made on essentially the entire team. You can colour this as "preventative" all you like, but as soon as you start quantifying that stuff, it becomes a slippery slope (i.e. one could quickly Google what Hillary Stellingwerff's body fat percent was, and think "I need to be that skinny in order to run that fast")

Truthfully, I'm not sure if that topic will come up as the podcast I'm doing focuses a lot more on the culture of the program, however, and I will only speak on what I've seen, Dave, at least since I've arrived in Guelph, has shown himself to be very committed to keeping his athletes healthy. Body comp numbers are taken, but to be fair, there are a lot of studies being conducted with the team, as the group is closely tied to Dr. Burr's (and others) lab. That being said, it might find it's way into an episode as I know it's something Dave is quite adamant about.

While I'm here, the second episode of the podcast came out yesterday! You can take a gander at it below, big focus on recruitment on this one:

http://citiusmag.com/something-in-the-water-recruitment/

I hate to drop names but what ever happened to Madeleine Youngblut and Heather Petrick?

They were killing it not too long ago but haven’t heard about either of them recently.

Both Yungblunt and Petrick are perma-injured. DST may say he takes keeping his athletes healthy very seriously, but the proof (as they say) is in the pudding when it comes to the womens team. Across the board, Lalonde seems to be the only one who has survived that program and remained healthy.

Where’d they go?? wrote:

I hate to drop names but what ever happened to Madeleine Youngblut and Heather Petrick?

They were killing it not too long ago but haven’t heard about either of them recently.

Katrina Allison ran 32-something for 10000m and hasn't been near that level for 2 plus years, similar to Petrick and Yungblut.

Lalonde was part of a women's steeple group of at least 4 talented women, everyone else quit.

Q for lady gryph wrote:

What do you posit is the reason for the precipitous decline of the women's cross country team at the University of Guelph?

Lady gryph your post suggests you might be legit and honest, so I'll ask this again.

Thanks for posting-i competed in the old OUAA league in cross-country in the early 90's and trust me, Guelph was pretty bad...the results speak for themselves for Guelph since DST came from Kingston in '96? and turned them into a perennial powerhouse for both men and women's cross...if someone had told me 25 years ago how many titles Guelph would win in the future I would have fell off my chair...

You are right. DST and his coaching staff have a great program. To be sure many very good runners will attend Guelph and for any number of reasons become injured or leave the sport. The Guelph program is a top level program. Not everybody who goes there will be able to handle the intensity and density of the training. Those who can thrive in this competitive environment form their many championship winning teams year after year. They do a lot of things right at Guelph.

Where’d they go?? wrote:

I hate to drop names but what ever happened to Madeleine Youngblut and Heather Petrick?

They were killing it not too long ago but haven’t heard about either of them recently.

Looks like they ate too many TimBits

Porkie wrote:

Where’d they go?? wrote:

I hate to drop names but what ever happened to Madeleine Youngblut and Heather Petrick?

They were killing it not too long ago but haven’t heard about either of them recently.

Looks like they ate too many TimBits

Sounds like you have no clue about the health issues many of the women at u of Guelph have gone through. It's pathetic to read so many comments here, even Rochus the podcaster, that are so dismissive of the alarming situation in Guelph. These young women put their trust in these coaches; they and their bodies are not disposable objects.

At the time of his induction, his teams had captured 19 CIS Track and Field Championships and five Cross-Country Championships for a total of 24 national titles. Under Fairall, the Lancers had added an additional 43 Ontario University Championships (36 in track and field and seven in cross-country). In 2012, Fairall’s Lancers had won 19 of the past 20 provincial championships in men’s track and field and four of the past five championships in women’s track and field.