Is the Oregon dynasty done already?

Here's what I don't get, and maybe someone here can shed some light: why did the Oregon men fall apart? Their 5 were right in the front pack through about 5k, but they just disintegrated. Even Puskedra was out of the front pack by 8k. Have they peaked too early, or what?

transplant wrote:

zero gravity treadmills, tutors, world class facilities, and all of nike's support gets trumped by a bunch of guys who log sick mileage in Forest Park.

Do you mean they do have zero gravity threadmills? If so, that is a pretty expensive piece of equipment. And how does portland having zero gravity threadmills support your argument? It seems to hurt it if anything.

He means that Oregon has Alter-G treadmills, tutors, world class facilities, and Nike's support, while Portland just logs mileage.

Oregon has Nike's support? Can you explain this? Is this moral support? Free meals perhaps? Bus passes? It can't be facilities, because you list world class facilities seperately. So aside from facilities, what exactly is Nikes support? More specifically, what do you mean by "all of Nike's support? Like if I saw a runner and he said he had all of Sweden's support, how exactly is this support manifested and how does that make him a better runner than say a portland runner?

The Betrayed wrote:

Oregon has Nike's support? Can you explain this? Is this moral support? Free meals perhaps? Bus passes? It can't be facilities, because you list world class facilities seperately. So aside from facilities, what exactly is Nikes support? More specifically, what do you mean by "all of Nike's support? Like if I saw a runner and he said he had all of Sweden's support, how exactly is this support manifested and how does that make him a better runner than say a portland runner?

Drugs. Recreational and performance enhancing.

Stupid.

could be that they have an obscene amounts of gear, ect. And a lot of those facilities are the result of...Nike related money. Nike matched donations from employees for a while to UO, has a large sponsorship contact, ect. Are you serious about questioning the degree to which Oregon is supported financially by Nike?

What dynasty?

NIKE is the dynasty.

OSU Ducks wrote:

Oregon is a track school? You must be joking

They have been about distance running since Steve Prefontaine spent his college years there.

Why do you think Martin Smith got fired after he led a team to a Pac 10 track championship? To much balance and not even distance running.

Pay attention to what Vin has been saying all XC season...

This years focus is on TRACK.

They host the NCAA's.

And their scholarships are more diced and spread across all track and field events, with a middle and distance running emphasis, and also a multi-events and throws emphasis.

Oregon has Oly gold medalists in sprints, throws and middle distance. None in Long Distance.

While Oregon is known for distance because of Prefontaine, Dellinger, Salazar, McChesney and others...They also had Mac Wilkins, sprinters, milers etc., from the 50's and 60's.

transplant wrote:

props to portland for beating the most well funded college cross country team in the history of the sport. zero gravity treadmills, tutors, world class facilities, and all of nike's support gets trumped by a bunch of guys who log sick mileage in Forest Park.

These are tired, and inaccurate, criticisms.

Most major programs have Alter-Gs by now.

Every school has tutors.

There are nice facilities at a lot of places.

What Portland has that UO doesn't is a coach who gives a shit about coaching and actually shows up to practice. If a bunch of naive HS kids didn't buy into Lananna's lies the Ducks would not be on a plane to Terre Haute. Left to his own devices, Andy Powell couldn't coach his way out of a paper bag much less the West Region.

A few programs have alter g treadmills or underwater treadmills. I'm not sure on the exhaustive list, but it certainly isn't even the entire top ten-at least in current rankings. A couple of football schools like Nebraska might have underwater treadmills, but those are mostly for the football teams.

Certainly a few of the schools in the top ten/twenty have academic tutors. But UO also benefits from fairly low academic standards. Not that this is unique to the top ten, but certainly a benefit.

However, I doubt ANY program has the total facilities/support to completely match Oregon. The conditioning/strength program is one of-if not the-best in the NCAA. There is a brand new student athlete center. There is a beautiful track only facility. Ect. It may not be much compared to the spending on football facilities but I don't believe any cross country program can fully compare.

Now, the specific part about Portland is true. Portland does not have specific tutoring, they don't have an on campus track, they certainly don't have anything in the way of strength and conditioning, they don't have alter g treadmills or underwater treadmills. They have facilities that are inferior to a good number of high schools (mine included).

For such a school to beat Oregon is impressive. Oregon has a massive recruiting advantage and every conceivable advantage money can buy (which is many though of course there are limits). However, at least for today that doesn't seem to be enough for the Ducks.

Well Nike funded Rupp who ran for Oregon...last time I checked his coach was being paid by Nike not the University. Also if you don't think that Phil has final say on about everything the athletic department does, you're out of the loop. Oregon is Phil's pet project and he has his hand in everything that goes on there. So yeah...Oregon is run by Nike.

are you serious...? wrote:

However, I doubt ANY program has the total facilities/support to completely match Oregon. The conditioning/strength program is one of-if not the-best in the NCAA. There is a brand new student athlete center. There is a beautiful track only facility. Ect. It may not be much compared to the spending on football facilities but I don't believe any cross country program can fully compare.

BYU, for one, has indoor and outdoor tracks with mondo super-x. They also have one of the best strength facilities in the nation. Along with Oklahoma State, New Mexico, USC, and some others, they have an Alter-G. And they have the trails and altitude that Oregon doesn't have.

I've been a critic of the inequity created by the ducks over the last few years, so don't think of me as an Oregon fan, but is the advantage they get from nike really a bad thing for the sport. Think about it, you have the biggest sports corporation in the world pumping a shit ton of money into the sport. Even if they are just putting the money into one university (which they aren't) they're still putting money into the sport that has previously not been there. This means more chances for runners to make it big, and more funding with which to do it. We're at the forefront of a distance running renaissance in the United States, and you're a fool if you don't recognize the transformations that have taken place on campus in Eugene as one of the primary contributors to it.

1. Oregon has won two straight NCAA XC titles. What more do you want? 3? 4?! 5?!!

2. The suggestion that a faster 800/1500 runner is so heroic running a good 10k is ridiculous. In the broad spectrum of mammalian potential, humans are endurance animals and the slight change in energy systems, muscle fiber types, etc. should not be enough for AJ Acosta, Matt Centrowitz, et al. to get destroyed at this level. Remember, these are 3:55-4:00 milers in US collegiate distance running. I think they should be able to run 5-flats for 10k on soft grass, don't you? I'm sure they've run close to that in thresholds...

hey stupid! wrote:

Drugs. Recreational and performance enhancing.

Stupid.

Dear Stupid,

Is that your alias? Do you have any link to these claims?

T.B.

transplant wrote:

props to portland for beating the most well funded college cross country team in the history of the sport. zero gravity treadmills, tutors, world class facilities, and all of nike's support gets trumped by a bunch of guys who log sick mileage in Forest Park.

Just like LR's to lay it on a little thick and exaggerate.

Schools that focus solely on XC are better funded. Why?

Because you can't teach talent. And if you have 12 scholarships dedicated to XC, against schools like Oregon who split their scholarships between runners and OTHER track and field athletes (Ashton Eaton et. al., aren't all with out scholarship funds.)

Alan Arkin wrote:

1. Oregon has won two straight NCAA XC titles. What more do you want? 3? 4?! 5?!!

2. The suggestion that a faster 800/1500 runner is so heroic running a good 10k is ridiculous. In the broad spectrum of mammalian potential, humans are endurance animals and the slight change in energy systems, muscle fiber types, etc. should not be enough for AJ Acosta, Matt Centrowitz, et al. to get destroyed at this level. Remember, these are 3:55-4:00 milers in US collegiate distance running. I think they should be able to run 5-flats for 10k on soft grass, don't you? I'm sure they've run close to that in thresholds...

Based on your "wisdom" Centrowitz Sr. would have beaten Salazar in cross country.

NEVER happened.

In fact, all the 5k guys beat the 1500 guys back in the last Duck hey day.

It's interesting Oregon always gets slimed for having "advantages." And certainly they have nice facilities. But how many teams also have anti-g tredmils? I've heard Baylor has them and Nebraska and a few others do as well. How many teams actually have the same advantages? Stop kidding yoursevles. D1 teams on the whole all have great facilities and "amenities".

shizzy wrote:

It's interesting Oregon always gets slimed for having "advantages." And certainly they have nice facilities. But how many teams also have anti-g tredmils? I've heard Baylor has them and Nebraska and a few others do as well. How many teams actually have the same advantages? Stop kidding yoursevles. D1 teams on the whole all have great facilities and "amenities".

What gets me is, why don't these colleges offer up the facilities to local cross country teams in highschool for use?

Would seem only logical for a college coach to offer these things up.