who is dorian ulrey?

marathnr wrote:

If Ulrey had gone to a BCS school, EVERYONE would have already known about him, but since he chose to go to a Missouri Valley Conference school he has flown under the radar and not gained national recognition. That is until Saturday. Most of the people who post on this board will probably forget about him in a day or 2, until the NCAA meet next year.

Go MVC

Because as far as I know, his grades weren't good enough to get into any of the major conference schools in the midwest.

Go MVC and your awesome academic standards!

runna01 wrote:

marathnr wrote:

If Ulrey had gone to a BCS school, EVERYONE would have already known about him, but since he chose to go to a Missouri Valley Conference school he has flown under the radar and not gained national recognition. That is until Saturday. Most of the people who post on this board will probably forget about him in a day or 2, until the NCAA meet next year.

Go MVC

Because as far as I know, his grades weren\'t good enough to get into any of the major conference schools in the midwest.

Go MVC and your awesome academic standards!

This is a ridiculous comment. First, the BCS schools have far looser standards for admission than smaller ones especially when it comes to scholarship athletes. Second, this comment implies that a talented runner would not want to be part of team that had athletes place in the 400, 800, 1500, 4x400, high jump, and decathlon. I\'ll have to look to see major conference schools in the Midwest placed higher than UNI at the National meet?

Dorian ran at an extremely small school in a little town, very far from competition. His coaches had never had anyone like him before. He never ran in any big spots post-season either. The big schools didn't really have him on their radar and UNI swooped in and got him signed before he got below 4:13. He was not pressed in any race over his last two seasons. Every year he PR'ed every meet during the state series for the small school Illinois Class A.

The potential was always there and just waiting to come out.

Dorian is definitely an intelligent kid. He was in almost all the advanced placement classes, as well as being in the top 30 of our class.

Also, look at the size school we went to. 420 kids for 4 grades, we don't attract a large amount of scouts.

Dorian won two straight track titles, as well as being All-State in Cross Country. And that still didn't garner huge schools.

UNI was the place he felt he had the best chance to not only achieve, but to excel on and off the track.

This guy barely has time for a 'normal' college life, as he's kept busy with his hectic schedule of classes and running.

Not only that, he's looking to be going overseas this summer to take in some meets in Europe.

His a driven individual who has not only proved his ability tenfold, but shown that the name of your school doesn't matter.

He's proud to be a Panther, and you should be happy to have witnessed his arrival on the collegiate (and soon world) radar.

Gfdshbdsaaredaf, you are exactly right, and I'll look at the results for you. UNI finished 11th at nationals this year, with 22 points, and Colorado (in 10th) was the only midwest-area school to finish ahead of them (unless you count Texas as midwest, for some reason).

At this year's indoor champs UNI finished 9th, with no midwest-area teams ahead of them.

At 2007 indoors UNI finished 9th as well, with only Michigan finishing ahead.

UNI's repeated national-level success--especially in the multis, long sprints, and mid-distance--has placed them amongst the top tier track programs in the midwest in the past five years. It makes perfect sense for a talent like Ulrey to chose this program, and anyone who suggests it's not a significant program on the national level is sadly uninformed. Runna01, I guess you just haven't been paying attention?

I would like to say there is a big difference between single A and double AA in Illinois track and field. When Dorian Ulrey won the state title in the Class A mile it was the fastest time of the day, single A or double AA. That only happens about once every thirty years or so.

ps: Holmes(class A) may have done it again...I am not sure?

Great Job Dorian Ulrey....Way to represent the small towns of Illinois, you know the one's, the one's without tracks (indoor and out, and if they have a outdoor track it is dirt or cinders), asst coaches, top training facilities, money, and sometime even uniforms! Most of the time track and cross country athletes in small towns have little or no support at all. Most of the time there are only few kids interested in running because most of the energy and money goes towards Basketball, basketball, and Basketball. Did I say Basketball. Usually the basketball coach is the running coach, sort of. He doesnt give a hoot about the race, he just wants the basketball players to stay in shape.

GO Dorian

PS. if Jager would of gotten second the there would of been a hundred or so more posts....nothing against Jager, but Chicago Subs rule the fan base in Illinois.....that's just the way it is.

LetsRunOurMouths wrote:

At 2007 indoors UNI finished 9th as well, with only Michigan finishing ahead.

Fact check needed.

Look's like LetsRunOurMouths is doing just that.

the above poster is correct. If you doubt him, go to www.trackshark.com , click on the results section, indoor track, go to the Ncaa Div 1 championships. There you can also go to the previous season.

2007 In indoors only Wisconsin and Michigan finished ahead of UNI, which finished 9th that year.(of midwest schools)

2008 Indoors- UNI finished 9th again, no midwest schools finished ahead of UNI.

Sorry, that's right, I neglected that Wisconsin won indoors in 07.

Really, though, the point is that we focus a lot on big-name, big-class high-school athletes that go on to big programs and get a lot of exposure. On the men's side UNI has been qualifying 10+ athletes to nationals in indoors and outdoors for many seasons, frequently finishing in the top echelon as a team, and it seems weird to me that so many fans of track don't recognize it. That a UNI miler who has been running so well for a few years finished second at nationals shouldn't be a big surprise for fans who have been paying attention.

It seems like the Christian Goys and Dorian Ulreys of the world will always be big surprises to the people who only scan the results for names that they already recognize.

You can't deny that UNI's had success over the years, but I'm not surprised that they don't get much recognition for it. Outside of track, UNI and Cedar Falls really provide nothing at all. If the only thing someone cares about is track then I suppose it'd be a good fit but if one cares about the social aspects of college, the vibrant community, and the multiple opportunities outside of track and field, they aren't going to find it at UNI.

Take a school like Wisconsin for example, you have a great program and all the luxury of a major University. It's no wonder why they get the attention and UNI doesn't.

runna01 wrote:

You can't deny that UNI's had success over the years, but I'm not surprised that they don't get much recognition for it. Outside of track, UNI and Cedar Falls really provide nothing at all. If the only thing someone cares about is track then I suppose it'd be a good fit but if one cares about the social aspects of college, the vibrant community, and the multiple opportunities outside of track and field, they aren't going to find it at UNI.

Take a school like Wisconsin for example, you have a great program and all the luxury of a major University. It's no wonder why they get the attention and UNI doesn't.

you're f***ing kidding me right? cedar falls is 10 times better than madison, believe me. madison might have more going for it socially, but you have to take into perspective the enormous amount of homeless, beggars and poor people lining the streets. this isn't a question of which is a better school (and if i had to choose i would go to UNI) but whether or not UNI should be recognized as a track powerhouse, which they should, they have proven that over and over. not only track, they almost won the football NCAA D1AA championship three years ago and their basketball team has made it to the tourney 3 of the last 4 years. It might not be wisconsin but keep in mind they have 1/4 of the people.

Though I disagreed with runna01 earlier, I have to take his side here. Having spent significant time in both cities, Madison beats the pants off of Cedar Falls in many aspects, and I think that most non-Iowans would agree. Additionally, when you compare the quality of institution on a strictly academic basis, it isn't even close--UW Madison is one of the top 20 public universities in the nation, UNI again isn't even close.

All of this is only marginally relevent, though. From an athletic standpoint, Ulrey was likely a perfect fit for UNI, and probably a horrible fit at UW Madison. In direct comparison to UW Madison, UNI has had objectively better results in the 800/1500/mile at the national level, and I would be surprised to see a small-school, midwest mid distance stud pass over a great setup at a mid-distance powerhouse for what could only have been, at best, a lukewarm interest from a cross country powerhouse like wisconsin. I think the same holds true in comparison to most high-profile midwest programs. Ulrey just wouldn't have been a big deal on the radar for strong distance programs, but at a place like UNI that has a premier mid-distance group, he has obviously thrived.

Ulrey's a stud but for anyone with half a brain, going to UNI over another major conference school is absurd. UNI would get smoked in any major conference championship because the depth of their team is horrible. Their sprinters are awful, they have no throwers to speak of, and their distance squad is completely laughable. They've built a reputation for themselves with their middle distance group which is fine, but it's a formula that will never win them a national championship because they lack a key ingredient which is a good school. I realize they finish higher than most midwest schools at NCAAs but I don't really consider the national championships a real test of how good one's TEAM is, it's more a test of how many studs you have who can score lots of points. Yes, there are exceptions as there always are but take Florida State last year for example, they won the NCAA meet with what? 7 people? That's not a team.

Anyway, I've digressed. Ulrey is a true talent that's blossomed in college and is one of the toughest competitors I've had the chance of watching. I hope he enjoys the rest of his time at a school with a piss poor budget that can't afford anything but lots of jerseys.

Sad, but true. And UNI's distance is a joke. I don't think they've had a team who could beat Luther, Wartburg or Loras (Division III Iowa colleges) in the past five-seven years.

always hate to speculate: But if you take outdoor Big 12 championships, these possibilities are not unlikely at all

UNI at Big 12 Outdoor:

Decathlon- 2nd and 4th(13pts)

High Jump- 3rd and 5th(10pts)

Pole Vault- 6th(3pts)

110h-6th(3pts)

400-3rd, 8th(7pts)

800-2nd,4th(13pts)

1500-2nd(8pts)

Javelin-5th(4pts)

4x400-3rd(6pts)

200-7th(2pts)

4x100-6th(3pts)

Thats 72 points, that has them competing with Texas Tech and Baylor for 5th, 6th, and 7th. I wouldnt consider that getting smoked.

How about Big 10

Decathlon- 1st and 2nd(18pts)

High Jump-1st and 2nd(18pts)

100h-5th(4pts)

200-4th(5pts)

400-1st,7th(12pts)

800-1st,4th(15pts)

1500-1st,(10pts)

Javelin-5th(4pts)

4x100-6th(3pts)

4x400-1st (10pts)

pole vault-6th(3pts)

Thats 102 points in the Big 10 meet, that would put them in third, again not being 'smoked'.

[quote]Interesting topic wrote:

UNI would get smoked in any major conference championship because the depth of their team is horrible. quote]

'Smoked' is a bit extreme -- they might not win any other major conferences (except perhaps the Big Ten) but they have enough quality to definitely be toward the top. Their nine NCAA qualifiers also come from the field/multi events:

http://www.godrakebulldogs.com//pdf5/130860.pdf?SPSID=105353&SPID=12119&DB_OEM_ID=15700

. As with any school they have some weak areas (distance) and their budget, size, & lack of name recognition don't help them any.

Poor piss? wrote:

Sad, but true. And UNI's distance is a joke. I don't think they've had a team who could beat Luther, Wartburg or Loras (Division III Iowa colleges) in the past five-seven years.

Must be a d3 runners at one of those no name schools trying to get attention.

Poor piss? wrote:

Sad, but true. And UNI's distance is a joke. I don't think they've had a team who could beat Luther, Wartburg or Loras (Division III Iowa colleges) in the past five-seven years.

So what! Cant you say the same thing about LSU? They havent had a distance program for years on end. Are they a joke?

UNI finished 11th place scoring in 6 different events. Thats a mark of a very solid team.