High School Phenom Cybulski chooses UCLA

ucla is a much better school than the others mentioned (UOregon, SLO, ASU, UCSB)... so why is everyone surprised that he chooses to go there?

Nevermind that guy John Rankin. Or Ben Aragon, or Erik Emilsson or Jesse Strutzel & others. Yeah, the coach sucks.

Maybe he wants to go to UCLA and isn't making all his decisions based on running. No, too far fetched...

I'm not gonna name runners that didnt do much while at UCLA that were great in HS, that's just not nice cause its not their fault. But I will name runners who left the program.

Ashley Allen

Alejandro Barrientos

Raquel Barrientos

Carolyn Shea

Alison Costello

Emily Haigh

Mary Maleta

Natalie White

Courtney Marsh

Lindsay delaMontaigne

Micky Cobrin

Matt Stollenwerk

Mohammed Qazi

Carey Matthews

Puneet Mahan

Reggie Oronoz

Chad Galbreath

...just to name a few

And there are at least as many runners they stayed and didnt get anywhere near their potential, all u have to do i go to the roster pages, look at what they did in HS, look at what they are doing now.

Wyco Loco wrote:

Nevermind that guy John Rankin. Or Ben Aragon, or Erik Emilsson or Jesse Strutzel & others. Yeah, the coach sucks.

Who among these athletes does Peterson currently coach?

zero

didnt coach Strutzel or meb. caldwell did an interview on trackshark where she said they dont give a $% about xc. rankin was a freak who would have been good anywhere like d3 guys that run sub 4. aragon never ran good in xc or at the end of a season, really only ran one good indoor race. emilson had one good year his 4th year out of 5, the other 4 he ran slower than when he was in hs including his last year. go to oregon kids, revive track and field please!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Why is there so much anger and resenment towards a program, that to my knowledge, hasn't committed any insidious or heinous crimes against humanity? I can't believe people think it is in some way unfair or unjust that UCLA was able to recruit a top flight athlete, such as Michael, over other top programs. The old adage holds true, don't judge a book by its cover. It's all about substance and circumstance. We should respect the young man's decision to attend UCLA rather than belittle his choice endlessly on the internet.

My name is Michael Stember, and I train under Peterson. Bejing or bust!!! And believe me, I am going to school Webb in the Olympic Trials prelims again!!

you guys are aware that there is more to choosing a school than just the running program correct? i see too many guys going to school just to run when too many of them wont run after college. its all gonna burn, running is somethin you must keep in perspective.

Why is there so much anger and resenment towards a program, that to my knowledge, hasn't committed any insidious or heinous crimes against humanity?

Answer: it should be a great program. Socal is the heartland of great distance running in the U.S. You do NOT have to train on concrete at UCLA. It is a great academic school. It does not have any major recruiting competition in LA area.

Yet, with all its advantages, the team sucks bad. The coach is not friendly. I have no idea how he does with Xs and Os, but he strikes me as unfriendly and full of crap.

Hope Mike C. is going there to concentrate on academics more than running. If not, bad decision.

i had a friend get into ucla and not slo. they are actually pretty equal. ucsb is not far behind. asu and oregon are though.

All you uptight a**holes hafta get over the fact that Peterson likes to toss back a few cold ones now and then. So what if he goes up to a meet and goes out drinkin' with his buds? The guys an adult! Get a sense of humor! In the 70s if your coach called you drunk it would be funny. Everyone is so politically correct now!

I talked to Peterson at a HS meet back in the day, as I was half-decent and had an interest in going to UCLA.

He was a total asshole and said he was "busy" even though he wasn't doing anything.

Could be a money thing, too.

UCLA Running sucks!!!!!what a stupid dumb ass. there goes his running career!

If you're serious about athletics, you should absolutely seleect your school based on its running program. Unless you're looking into a highly specialized field, most any acredited university will have good programs and having a degree from anyqhere automatically puts you in the top quarter of the US work force. Where you went to school is not nearly as important as a) the skills you have to offer and b) who you know.

lets be real wrote:

MICKEY COBRIN and CRAIG HALL went to UCLA

He'll get to train on the CEMENT year round

he will get to SEE the BACK of pac 10 competition

he will get a TERRIBLE coach compared to stanford or oregon

yes HE is a HE!

there are lots of good looking girls

I am MYSTIFIED.

I don't know what you have against Mickey Cobrin, although it is true he wasn't running well at UCLA and had surgery over the summer and has now transfered to Arkansas and is starting to run there come track.

nothing against cobrin, stating people that ucla ruined among tons of others.