Your A Total Moron wrote:
Lickety Split wrote:
I further announce "Lickety's All-Americans" as reflected below. Props to those who don't train at altitude (A), didn't go on a Mission, & were individual (IND) versus team performers. 35% of the "Real Americans" that attended a college at altitude made "Lickety's All-American" Team .... a data point for future HS athletes & current programs that "Location Matters!" By that I mean, teams at elevation have a better opportunity focusing on middle/long-distance runners & perhaps add a few field eventers like decathlon to compete better in Cross-Country-Indoor-Outdoor hat-trick. I "buckled" by including BYU athletes in this mix ... huge advantage w/age & altitude: their top 5 made "Lickety's All-American" Team.
(1) Grant Fisher .... Stanford
(2) Isai Rodriguez ... OK State
(3) Aaron Templeton ... Furman (IND)
(4) Tyler Day ... NAU (A)
(5) Joe Klecker ... Colorado (A)
(6) John Dressel ... Colorado (A)
(7) Connor Mantz ... BYU (A)/Mission
(8) Ryan Forsyth ... Colorado (A)
(9) Alex Ostberg ... Stanford
(10) Peter Seufer ... Va Tech (IND)
(11) Tanner Anderson ...Washington
(12) Paul Roberts ... Wyoming (A)
(13) Rory Linkletter ... BYU (A)/Mission
(14) Luis Grijalva ... NAU (A)
(15) Connor McMillan ... BYU (A)/Mission
(16) Logan Orndof ... Portland
(17) Ashenafi Hatte ... OK State
(18) Addison Dehaven ... Boise State (A)*
(19) Peter Lomong ... NAU (A)
(20) Alek Parsons ... Stanford
(21) Brad Demarest ... Virginia (IND)
(22) Danny Kilrea ... Notre Dame (IND)
(23) Clayson Shumway ... BYU (A)/Mission
(24) John Aho ... Michigan
(25) Waleed Suliman ... Ole Miss
(26) Thibebu Procter ... Washington
(27) Nick Hauger … Portland
(28) Carson Hume …. Colorado State (A)
(29) Eduardo Herrera … Colorado (A)
(30) Riley Campbell … Boise State (A)*
(31) Andrew Jordan … Iowa State
(32) Kieran Tuntivate … Harvard (IND)
(33) Kyle Mau …. Indiana
(34) Jacob Hesslington … BYU (A)/Mission
(35) Aidan Reed …. Southern Utah (A)
(36) Kyle Mattes … Illinois State (IND)
(37) NICK WAREHAM … Georgetown
(38) Ian Shanklin … NC State
(39) Olin Hacker … Wisconsin
(40) Fred Huxman … Washington
* NOTE: Assumed Boise State athletes had the opportunity for significant altitude training.
Mantz is 22 and would be a red shirt jr, had he not served a mission. Graduated HS in 2015
Linkletter and McMillan didnt even serve missions. Both graduated HS in 2014 and are red shirt seniors
Shumway served an LDS mission and graduated in 2014--Would be a red shirt Sr.
Heslington and McLellend graduated in 2013 and by your ridiculous claim, would be "age cheats"
Young graduated in 2012 and would likewise be an "age cheat"
Lets now look at what BYU would be if the Mission was not a thing.
#1 Mantz -JR- 10th @ 2018 NCAA championships
#2 LInkletter- Sr- 22nd at 2018 NCAA championships
#3 Casey Clinger- So-24th at 2017 NCAA championships (Serving a mission currently)
#4 Connor McMillan-Sr- 24th at 2018 NCAA Championships
#5 Clayson Shumway- Sr- 32nd at 2018 NCAA Championships
#6 Aidan Troutner- Fr- 2017 NXN Champion (Serving a mission currently)
#7 Throw in any other guy that would still have eligibility if they didnt serve a mission and didnt race nationals but would have on any other team in the country (Jacklin, Garnica, Otteson, Weaver, MaKay Johns(on mission right now).
How do you think BYU would have done yesterday is you take this into consideration? well lets see..
-Tyler Day 6th (NAU)
-Conner Mantz 10th (BYU)
-Matthew Baxter 15th (NAU)
-Rory Linkletter 22nd (BYU)
-Luis Grijalva 23rd (NAU)
-Casey Clinger 24th (BYU)--if he didnt make a single improvement from last year, which is unlikely.
-Connor McMillan 25th) (BYU)
-Blaise Ferro 27th (NAU)
-Peter Lomong 30th (NAU)
-Clayson Shumway 33nd (BYU)
NAU 101
BYU 114
(Scores are rough and not taking out individuals)
It looks like the race could have been a lot closer if it wasn't for the "age cheating BYU athletes." Something also to consider is that NAU's 7th man will be going on a two year LDS mission next year and they currently have another runner (Joe Benson) who is on a mission. So are they also age cheats? Do you homework before you come out and accuse.
On another note, runners of the BYU cross country team do not go on missions have an advantage to run PERIOD. They go out to serve Jesus Christ, by helping others come closer to Him. Do you think that would be easy? Do you think it would be easy to leave your family and friends for two years, with only weekly email communication ? Do you think it would be easy learning a new language and living in a foreign land? Do you think it would be easy saving up the money to go serve a mission like this, pushing off your future plans? Do you think it would be easy having people yell at you, in some places beat you up, and because you were just trying to help them? It is extremely difficult to serve a mission. It is also very difficult to go without running for two years and then to just jump into a college caliber of training--something you may not have ever done before, and especially at BYU.
I know you think that you KNOW this is an unfair advantage for BYU and you could continue to think this for all i care, but i have seen countless runners come back from missions, and never be able to ever get back to their JR times in high school. Remember a guy by the name of Brad Nye , for example? That guy ran 403 in HS and after coming back from a mission could never break 410 again.
Besides that point of BYU, i also see a larger issue and that is that you think that you can just throw out the "non-american" runners like they don't count. Was this suppose to be racially inspired? Do you really think that because someone was born in New Zealand, Canada, or Eastern Africa that they all of a sudden dont count? Like they haven't put in the work to compete? Like they aren't as human as an american? These people come to America so they can have a better life and have opportunity to get a quality education, while getting it paid for by working at something they love. It is people like you why we have problems in this country. You seriously need to think before you post something like this.