The Return of the NC State Juggernaut!

I think some athletes, like Rohatinsky and Chamberlain have been putting in hard efforts in their meets.

And of course Jane, Napoleon Michalak, etc.

I chose my words carefully to say NC State is currently the favorite over BYU. But is there another team wanting to make this more than just a two-horse race? Is a shocking upset in the making? Is that possible?

Simple. In lacctic, you can check each athlete’s progress over the years. After you check through several athletes on the same team, you could tell if they are benefiting from the team’s training and management or not.

Well then Putman and Rauber’s descent this season would seem to counteract your original claim.

Not sure Putman and Rauber are descending. Putman had a nice improvement in outdoor track that has carried over to xc. Rauber has not proven to be a star, but she is consistent and has finished 50th at nats. She is certainly dependable if healthy in the 5-7 slots. Top 50 would really help.

On rebuild, the key for Henes was that she managed to use the Tuohy&Chmiel (and E Henes) years to build something lasting.

They have become both a desired landing spot for transfers: Steelman, Hays, Tyynismaa, Seymour, Templier etc, and for more top 5 high school kids Rauber, Michalak, Shea, Engelhardt, Stephens etc. They even now attract Internationals like Gapes, Dow and Martinez looking for a US program.

It's hard to hold that spot as a leading distance team, we'll see if they can keep it up.

Thanks. I was referring to their TiC descents over this season. But I really wasn’t seriously trying to draw much of a conclusion from that on their training, one way or another.

Thanks also for your input on their build. I thought the Michalak recruit, per the video, was interesting. It seems Colorado and California should be fertile ground for top recruits, and I didn’t initially understand why the choice of NC State instead of an altitude school, e.g., CU.

Each runner is different. Putman’s 2025 TiC is 15:50, a 45 seconds improvement over 2024. For Rauber, her progression is mostly flat (16:07 in 2022, injury out in 2023, 15:55 in 2024, and 16:05 so far this year). But in 2024 she managed a great turnaround at the regionals and nationals. Too early to tell if she can do it again this year, but she has been training in the same group as Michalak and Engelhardt, so her fitness is there. Time to sharpen the sword.

Maybe some of them are facing the precipice of overtraining, and Henes needs to be careful now to not blunt their sword.

The early NC State recruiting success was from Ohio, NY and PA, plus obviously Carolina in state.

Henes is from Ohio and keeps good ties there. NY and PA kids see Raleigh as warm weather that's not too warm. Gets you to a P4 ACC experience, great college town with Duke and NC State right nearby, close enough for visits by car/train.

As NC State has become a "hot" program, they can now recruit nationally. Engelhardt CA, Michalak CO, Shea MA, Stephens MD.

Personally, I agree with you on altitude. Henes can, however, say look "we have a great team atmosphere, we do altitude in summer, and it has worked for us."

Kids are buying this pitch.

If Hartman gets a break from Regionals, why not look further down the lineup as well (where huge points can get pasted), to keep something in the tank for Natty’s the following week?

But this isn’t the Coach’s first rodeo.

Sadie Engelhardt is a better 1500/1600/miler than XC..saw her run Footlocker nat. in SD a couple of years ago, and she looked like she was dying. Got like 12th? out of 40. Shes 2nd in mile to Jane H. Sadie faster hs miles than Katelyn t

Many of those BYU runners are from altitude in Utah and Idaho like Jane.. but more importantly, their parents were mostly top NCAA runners or volleyball players- so they inherited height, athleticism, work ethic in sports

Was Katelyn Tuohy considered a decent cross country runner? Tuohy ran a spring of collegiate track before returning in the fall to run 20:08 at Nuttycombe, a time Sadie Englehardt bested by 8 seconds last week.

That’s the point. BYU inherits many gifted runners, while NC State trains runners to improve and succeed. NC State doesn’t have the fame, the resources, and the geographical advantage. The only thing they can do is to work hard and show up in big races. They have done well in both aspects in recent years.

Your post is on topic to this thread. As others have said, by its proximity, NC State not only pulls top non-Mormon talent from the Eastern Seaboard, they also have the cultural reputation in cross country on the female side, to draw top talent from across the country.

Englehardt was a blue chip recruit, voted Gotorade’s National Track and Field Player of the Year (video attached):

https://www.vcstar.com/story/sports/high-school/cross-country/2024/10/13/engelhardt-sets-woodward-park-course-record-to-win-clovis-invite/75659062007/

What a load of crap. Nearly every student at BYU is Mormon, including their XC teams. Mormons constitute about 2% of the US population. They have a very small pool of athletes to recruit from. 98% of the nation is nearly unrecruitable. Recruiting is infinity easier at a place like NC State than it is at BYU.

Not many students look at the restrictions imposed by the university and think, "Oh joy! I want to go there! That place sounds like so much fun!" Non-Mormon athletes like Jenna Hutchins are rare; they choose to live under the same university restrictions as all students.