Decathlon?! Easy! Two distance athletes combined to run 19 races over 3 days to lead their team to the NAIA title

This is a fair and well thought out response. I do think it could be argued that claiming the NAIA indoor team title may be more important to the girls than qualifying for the trials, but it would not be my preference!

Here’s to hoping that they recover well and keep progressing. Also - agreed on Kearney. She also was very strong in winning the 5000m with a solo 16:21.

My state has a 3 event limit. I think these limits are obnoxious. If you’re whining become one or two kids have enough range to beat your whole team, get better.

Happens at NAIA nationals, and its conference meets, all.the.time.

This "problem" (bc I don't think it is one, but whatever) has defined the NAIA for a couple years now. You get these studs who literally sweep their conference meets scoring 40-50 points, go to the national meets and do the same. All while competing against athletes who literally haul ass-and-a-half to barely qualify. I heard many coaches call the NAIA a "d2ish equivalent", when I believe it is one of the leagues, if not THE league, with the largest disparities in athlete levels at the National stage.

Best example I can think of, using well-recognized athletes, is Hannah Helker (now Field) her 2012-2015 seasons, who was in a league of her own (and could've very well quintupled at Nationals and be top-2 in all races). And quoting OP's "decathlon!? easy!" I wanna remind yall that Akela Jones literally showed up at outdoor nationals one year, jumped winning height in the HJ and was done, took 4 jumps TOTAL between the triple and long jump and won, and won the hurdles. The following year she won D1 Nationals in the heptathlon with enough points to compete in Rio.

It is a privilege to see that kind of level at NAIA nationals, but some years there clearly is too big a range of level for their most important meets.

Solid post. I don’t necessarily view it as a “problem” either and thought the results were pretty cool. I do understand the concerns with such a taxing schedule, but believe the girls will be able to recover without issue. Cool tidbit about Akela; she was incredible.

IndoorSznn wrote:

My state has a 3 event limit. I think these limits are obnoxious. If you’re whining become one or two kids have enough range to beat your whole team, get better.

I’m not whining. I thought that the quintuples that led to the team win was cool. Hence, the thread. I’m thinking maybe this wasn’t a response to me?

The larger question is why the 600m, 800m, and 1000m are all being contested in the same meet. It's basically the same race run 3 times.

Sounds to me like some superior NAIA distance athletes did an interval workout that resulted in a national title. As you mentioned, their PR’s are significantly better than what they did at nationals, and they seemed to never stop running. I suspect their upcoming outdoor season will show that this was a hard training block towards some long term goals.

Kearney’s 9:16 was impressive...from the prelim. Why don’t you question the logic in that when she is contesting a trials/finals 3k/5K double and yet question multiple measured efforts over shorter distances? Kearney raced16,000m on the weekend VS Dirr with 15200m of open racing plus 2000m of relay finals. Similar total. One emphasized national records, the other team points and national title. Good weekends by both.

How to ruin an athletes career 101. shame on those coaches

streak wrote:

Ridiculous and not a team win. That you had to qualify it with “it’s just NAIA and the times pale” shows these athletes were used to do something that won’t advance their running careers. Their coaches should have encouraged them to run 1-2 events, show an impressive time, and prop themselves up rather than the Huntington coaches. Stoffel has beaten her coach Lauren Johnson in a race this season, and I doubt Lauren would run herself into the ground in a trials year.

What would you rather look back and remember:

1) Dominating a national championship and running fast times later

2) Kinda dominating a national championship and running fast times later

Tough choice...

I had no idea that it was legal to run relays with only two athletes.

With those 800 and 3K PRs, it is bizarre that Stoffel hasn't run the mile seriously this year.

Farmer Ted wrote:

Not just small school divisions.

Wendy Brown (Woodside) won the California state meet all by herself in 1984. Wins in all three jumps (including beating Gail Devers in the long jump) and second in the 100HH (behind Devers who set the national record in the race). National record in the TJ, also under the previous national record in the 100HH, state meet records in the LJ and HJ. And her marks would still be exceptional today.

HJ - 6'1.25"

LJ - 20'9.75"

TJ - 42-10.5"

100HH - 13.59

Laura Roesler won 22 state titles in N Dakota from 100m-5K XC. I'm not sure if she won the state meet outright, but she swept 100m-800m at least one year. 11.90,24.0,53.5,2:03 PRs (keep in mind the 100-400m events had semis, 800 was a straight final)

SDSU Aztec wrote:

streak wrote:

Ridiculous and not a team win. That you had to qualify it with “it’s just NAIA and the times pale” shows these athletes were used to do something that won’t advance their running careers. Their coaches should have encouraged them to run 1-2 events, show an impressive time, and prop themselves up rather than the Huntington coaches. Stoffel has beaten her coach Lauren Johnson in a race this season, and I doubt Lauren would run herself into the ground in a trials year.

I consider T&F and XC to be individual sports, so the decision as to what races to run should be based on what's best for individual athlete.

XC is completely a team sport, you are not smart thinking otherwise.

Track I agree but for a school to get to put up a national championship banner that's pretty awesome. I'm sure both ladies (along with the other team members who had to compete in relays and the mile) went in gung-ho and were very excited to try to do something so awesome.

How about you think about what your athletes want, huh coach?

im not a dumb dumb wrote:

XC is completely a team sport, you are not smart thinking otherwise.

Track

XC scoring is a "team" of individuals. Track is the same way except the relays which require team members to work together to complete the race. In no other event does your teammate affect your race (unless one is used as a rabbit or pacemaker in a distance race)

Frosty the Bro Man wrote:

The larger question is why the 600m, 800m, and 1000m are all being contested in the same meet. It's basically the same race run 3 times.

Bingo! If the NAIA doesn't like this then they should eliminate the 600m, 1k, and 4x8. The meet is setup to be dominated by a mid-distance school.

I don't blame the women or coaches for doing this one bit. It's a championship meet so you only have to run hard enough to win or get the respective placing. There is plenty of time to run personal records and fast qualifying times at the big outdoor meets the women will attend later this year. Remember, these are not back of the pack runners that were barely scoring points. Each women won >3 titles in addition to the team title. That team championship banner will look good hanging in the gymnasium.

Stoffel raced at the Gladstein Invite in the “fast” section of the women’s mile and ran 4:44ish. She looked really smooth and cutdown the entire race.

elephino wrote:

There have been cases in small high school divisions where one kid won the state meet by themselves. I think there was one in Wisconsin like 15 years ago. Someone can google them up.

Didn't Arkansas win some national championships basically by having one dominant distance runner and one dominant jumper?

I'm pretty sure future Olympic medalist and D3 god Andrew Rock did this.

USC decathlete Ayden Owens did this at the highest state level in PA, which is super impressive.

Wadeline Jonathas scored enough points at the 2018 D3 indoor meet to win the team title by herself.

All of this, by a natural and easy transition, reminds me of Tommy Fulton's weekend at the NAIA outdoor meet, back in 1973:

Wednesday, May 23

7:45 pm 1 mile heats

1. 4:08.3 Tommy Fulton, Texas Southern

2. 4:08.8 Mike Boit, Eastern New Mexico

9:20 pm 880 heats

1. 1:50.2 Tommy Fulton, Texas Southern

10:30pm 3 mile heats

1. 13:58.2 Tommy Fulton, Texas Southern

-------------------------

Thursday, May 24

8:40 pm 880 semi-finals

1. 1:50.2 Tommy Fulton, Texas Southern

9:20 pm 3 mile final

1. 13:33.4 Tommy Fulton, Texas Southern

2. 13:34.2 Rex Maddaford Eastern New Mexico

3. 13:38.2 Phillip Ndoo Eastern New Mexico

-----------------------------

Friday, May 25

7:45 pm 1 Mile final

1. 3:57.8 Tommy Fulton, Texas Southern

2. 3:58.5 Bob Maplestone, Eastern Washington

3. 4:00.3 Mike Boit, Eastern New Mexico

8:45 pm 880 final

1. 1:47.7 Mike Boit, Eastern New Mexico

2. 1:48.8 Tommy Fulton, Texas Southern

9:15 pm 6 mile final

1. 28:42.2 Peter Fredrikkson,

2. 28:55.2 Tommy Fulton, Texas Southern