arealrunningboi wrote:
Hear me out. Nico Young has had a tremendous NCAA career. Numerous All American honors, all kinds of XC team titles, and fantastic PRs, but wasn’t that always going to be the case with Nico? One of the greatest HS runners of all time, and while a great college career is never a given, it was all but certain that Nico would do this at the next level. When he took 4th his Freshman year (albeit a COVID year) the only logical next step for was for him to win an individual title. Yet he failed to advance out of track regionals and came a disappointing 11th the following year in cross. Since then he has taken 2nd and now 6th in cross and has come no higher than 3rd indoors or outdoors on the track. Mike Smith is believed by many to be one of the best coaches in the world, and I do think he’s tremendous, but has he underachieved with Nico? Or has it simply been a case of there always being a couple guys better than him.
Nico has had an incredible career (as you rightly acknowledge). Ran great today, too. But Mike Smith has been true to his word. In his interviews, he says he tells every recruit: You don't come here to win individual titles. If that's your goal, this probably isn't the place for you. This is about winning team titles. (Not an exact quote), but he's delivered on that promise, that goal, 3 times out of 4 in Nico's era. Pretty darn good. I can only assume Nico is pretty happy with that. I'm also sure you're right that he would ALSO like to win an individual title. Will be interesting to see if Nico comes back for a fifth year.