Southeast Region Results

Are you serious when you say Richmond doesn't have scholarships? I find that hard to believe given who they beat.

Richmond men XC/T&F have zero athletic scholarships - absolutely none! Way to go guys!

roadrace wrote:

No doubt Watson has a young team, but who quit the team or got kicked off that would have made any difference? This comment is nonsense. The freshman were better than any of the guys on the team last year, other than Adam Cunningham and Evan. People graduated, obviously, but no one was cut or left that would have made an impact on this team.

This is UNC's lineup when they finished 6th last year with 204 points at Regionals. The information is from the regional results last year. Maybe some of the UNC guys can explain what happened to some of these guys.

2009 SE Regional Results

17th- Adam Cunningham- Junior

22nd- Evan Watchempino- Junior

46th- John Curtiss- Junior-

50th- Zach Dawson- Senior

69th- Kyle Milks- Sophomore

169th- Sam Pompei, Junior

171th- Logan Rosenberg, Freshmen

Only three of these guys (Cunningham, Watchempino, and Rosenberg) are listed on the roster for this season.

Maybe some of these years are wrong but if you're on the 6th place team at a big region like the SE region and you have a hotshot young coach, a great recruiting class coming in, why would you quit the team? That makes no sense from the collegiate athletes I have known. The only reason you're not on the team right now is if 1) you graduated 2) you were forced off the team 3) the atmosphere was no longer conducive to being a student/athlete.

Again, in previous posts I've indicated that I like Watson's passion and that UNC men making NCAA's this year was probably a stretch coming into the season, but something seems a little strange given their performance last year and what happened this year at the end. I don't want to resurrect the annual "How many kids are no longer running at UNC" thread but something doesn't add up.

dawson - law school/graduated

pompei- graduated

milks- at school no longer running

curtis- internship for med school no longer running

rosenberg-will run track

again no one was kicked off this team or asked to leave this year. 1 guy decided not to run anymore.

theroster wrote:

dawson - law school/graduated

pompei- graduated

milks- at school no longer running

curtis- internship for med school no longer running

rosenberg-will run track

again no one was kicked off this team or asked to leave this year. 1 guy decided not to run anymore.

Thanks for the info....It's tough being a student/athlete especially if you want to go to medical school like one of the guys listed above. Not to say you have to make a choice on athletics or academics but it's very difficult to be a Division 1 athlete and also do the things necessary to get into a medical school (especially at a tougher academic school like UNC).

I was kicked off...just sayin. Congrats on the 9th place finish!

POD above me

milks wrote:

I was kicked off...just sayin. Congrats on the 9th place finish!

Troll or truth-teller?

The question is not whether or not they got kicked off. Watson's post on here earlier in the year basically acknowledged that they did. If there's anything to debate it would be whether he should have or not, not whether he did.

But that doesn't matter anyways. Way too much is always made about UNC. Congrats to W&M, Duke, NC State, Richmond especially, Louisville, and UVA's top 3 runners!

UVA has really underperformed in XC under Vigilante. Truth.

not running? wrote:

The question is not whether or not they got kicked off. Watson's post on here earlier in the year basically acknowledged that they did. If there's anything to debate it would be whether he should have or not, not whether he did.

But that doesn't matter anyways. Way too much is always made about UNC. Congrats to W&M, Duke, NC State, Richmond especially, Louisville, and UVA's top 3 runners!

Agree completely on the post above. As others have pointed out, Richmond making NCAA's is a great credit to the Taylor's......The fact that W&M has made NCAA's out of this region for umpteen years in a row is great testament to what they have built. UVA making it is not a shock, the shock is that they were 6th in the region with a veteran crew. I wonder if Robbie Andrews will be seen on the cross country course next year or not? 4:00 in the mile would seem to indicate a level of strength that could translate but maybe not.

milks wrote:

I was kicked off...just sayin. Congrats on the 9th place finish!

I wonder if UNC tries to take away this guy's scholarship? As many of you know, athletic scholarships are 1 year deals and have to be renewed annually. How this is handled depends upon the school.

One of the best middle-distance runners this city has ever seen is heading to North Carolina.

Thousand Islands Secondary School track star Kyle Milks has accepted a full scholarship to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, near Durham, a package valued at approximately $200,000.

The scholarship is the culmination of a four-year plan Milks set for himself upon entering high school and realizing his passion for the 800- and 1,500-metre distance events.

"Right when I started in Grade 9 I said I wanted to stay on top of my academics, while also putting myself in a position for a scholarship," Milks, the son of Barb and Bruce Milks, said Wednesday of how he has set a goal and followed it to fruition.

stop recruiting those damn bookworms and maybe kids can focus on running and you can improve!

theroster wrote:

dawson - law school/graduated

pompei- graduated

milks- at school no longer running

curtis- internship for med school no longer running

rosenberg-will run track

again no one was kicked off this team or asked to leave this year. 1 guy decided not to run anymore.

SE runnner wrote:

How about RICHMOND?! Not a dime in scholarship money on the men's side and they're going to nationals. Huge props to those guys for getting it done. I'd bet they're the only team with zero scholarships to make it, AND that they're probably the first team in a decade to do it. For love or money? That's badass

Nothing against Richmond - I think that's sick they made it; congrats to them - but just wanted to point out that Princeton, like all Ivy teams, has no scholarship money and got the win in the Mid-Atlantic region.

UNC probably would have run better if Watchempino hadn't in the words of Pete Watson "F***ED US ALL"

I understand that scholarships are renewed annually, however, unless the athlete violates team rules and/or doesn't qualify academically, generally the scholarship is renewed. Don't have any idea if the new UNC coach did come in and kick off athletes that didn't do anything wrong - besides not running the times he thought they should - however, this was a concern I had when looking at colleges.

I ended up attending an expensive private university and would have had to transfer had my scholarship been revoked. Therefore, before I signed my LOI, I requested a letter be signed by the head coach, the distance coach, and the AD that stated my scholarship would be renewed unless I violated team rules and/or didn't qualify because of academics. As long as I put forth a good faith effort, my scholarship would be renewed regardless of times, injuries, and/or coaching changes. You never really know how your body will respond to D1 training and I worried about injuries. Unfortunately, I did sustain several serious injuries. Although the coach put pressure on me to quit, I kept my scholarship, got healthy, finally ran some decent times, and graduated. My suggestion is to get the terms of the scholarship in writing prior to signing to avoid problems later.

RELee wrote:

UVA has really underperformed in XC under Vigilante. Truth.

They ran well last year. This race was a huge disappointment. I hope it is not a trend. I've posted before I thought Vig was a better mid-distance coach than 5k-10k-XC. Two strong front-runners this year but not much depth. Not sure why they didn't go to Pre-Nats this year. They have done that traditionally and have done well there the past several years.

Look at the difference between Princeton's and Richmond's (men's) current teams, and look at what each did in high school. If anything, it demonstrates the unbelievable coaching ability of Steve Taylor to take kids from where they were to where they are now. I don't think any team going to nats has a coach who can boast of the amount of difference HE/SHE has actually made to the program when it comes to actually making athletes better.

UVA did not really have an optimal lineup. Some top guys who should have been running were injured.