Make Highland Permanent. wrote:
I ran at St. Olaf yesterday. The built a road through the middle of their course. That will be a nightmare to run over in spikes. I don't think Chunko can argue it is a better course than Highland Park now.
Oles, updates on the course? Is this your excuse for getting crushed by your alumni? Will this be fixed for your invitational? Will you have an accurately measured 8K course this year?
Looks like while half the conference is arguing about whether Olaf putting in a handicapable accessible path for the big chonk to follow his runners is good for the school, Mo out there putting in a ~150 mile week with a few 4:40ish miles and maybe 3-4 17 milers @ sub 6 pace. Plus he hasn’t even gotten in his second Sunday run.
The race featured arguably two of the top MIAC runners in recent memory not named Bati or Wilkinson in Bocovich and Kelly, both who enjoyed extra years at top D1 & D2 programs at altitude. Of course they crushed the current team. Skemp was also an All-American last Fall and ran 14:25/30:08. He also is living in Boulder and by all accounts training really hard. La Crosse is probably the only team in the country that can match that alumni team. If Bocovich runs all out, his 28:25 10K is pretty far ahead all D3 runners. Kosche was a borderline national level talent that had the poor luck of a coaching change mid-career and Lerdall is a 2:21 marathoner that also qualified individually for nationals. It's possible to think the alumni would have tallied a perfect score if Brenk, or even an Ian Curtis or David Lynn had showed up. Congrats to the Oles on having so many alumni show up. Some of our current MIAC teams can barely field a full team of current athletes.
As previously stated, Power/Chunko or whatever you go by these days gets off Letsrun and go for a run.
Meanwhile in auggieland wrote:
Looks like while half the conference is arguing about whether Olaf putting in a handicapable accessible path for the big chonk to follow his runners is good for the school, Mo out there putting in a ~150 mile week with a few 4:40ish miles and maybe 3-4 17 milers @ sub 6 pace. Plus he hasn’t even gotten in his second Sunday run.
Wild. While Chunko is busy telling recruits that his athletes got crushed by mere D2 All-Americans and a D1 Regional qualifier, Mo is training with literal Olympians and actual professionals. I love how he keeps pushing to see what he can accomplish and kudos to the Augsburg coach for giving him that flexibility. I legit think he'll win Nationals by over a minute and beat every MIACer by three minutes.
Meanwhile in auggieland wrote:
Looks like while half the conference is arguing about whether Olaf putting in a handicapable accessible path for the big chonk to follow his runners is good for the school, Mo out there putting in a ~150 mile week with a few 4:40ish miles and maybe 3-4 17 milers @ sub 6 pace. Plus he hasn’t even gotten in his second Sunday run.
There are a lot of very good runners in the MIAC who were patting themselves on the back for hitting a lifetime mileage PR of exactly half that! Go Mo!
Looking forward to seeing Mo open his season at Hamline this weekend.
Other storylines of interest -
Carleton & Ole women taking on their first 6K. Will a young and talented Gustavus squad close the gap? Can Mac challenge the Gusties?
For the men -
Will we see Roy, St. Peter, or Edwards open? How does Big John Ihrke's fitness translate to the 8K? How fast can Travis Brown run and will he make the Big Three, the Big Four?
I like Stencel to top Brauer for third, but I think Gabe edges them both for second.
It will be interesting to see the top freshman in his first 8K and the Carl freshmen always take a bit to adjust to the distance, but I'll choose Fitererer of Mac over teammate Connole. Riga will be a difference maker for Gustavus though.
BREAKING NEWS
Carleton Knights fall victim to the terrifying D2s and NAIAs at the Gage McSpadden Invitational with a 5th place finish in a 6 team field. Travis Brown defeats Nichols and Lyness with a terrifying 6k of 19 minutes and 33 seconds. Torte Torstenson and Roy are nowhere to be seen. Was this race a workout? Do we really think Gabe will beat Brauer or Stencel if he cannot even beat his own underclassmen? Stay tuned for the Hamline Invitational to see more.
First off, the Ole alumni might be the best alumni team in the country. Name me a better squad of Alumni at the moment, I'll wait. This is what teams should be recruiting on, the ability to progress, even after college. Most runners just quit following their time running due to burn out and a feeling of over training. Having a group that can come back like this an put up some impressive times on a relatively difficult course is a testament to the system that St. Olaf runs (I'll be the first to tell y'all about this). What I also want to put out there is that comparison between where St. Olaf was last year and this year is almost identical. All of y'all who hate on the Ole's and their program gotta start doing something about the run they're on. Also, how bout y'all cowards use your real names. Shows how soft y'all are...
Andrew Skemp wrote:
First off, the Ole alumni might be the best alumni team in the country. Name me a better squad of Alumni at the moment, I'll wait.
BYU. Newbury Park.
Sorry but Stout alumni wipe. Perfect scoring the meet and then some.
My early thoughts:
Carleton looks bad. Not Hamline bad, but definitely not good.
How is this Ole team ranked #6 in the nation? Is it a down year for the ages? ...maybe everybody sucks.
Mac is usually a pretty good team...in September.
The Johnnies and Gusties don't look terrible.
I see Hamline held off Crown in Moorhead last week, so it should be a good year. Also, 6k my ass.
Chat GPT means cat fart wrote:
Heard two interesting things in regards to Chunko.
He has a new conduct clause in his contract that if he or his team do anything the new AD doesn’t find to represent St. Olaf well is grounds for immediate dismissal. That is very broad and not good for someone with his past issues. So no more fighting spectators or shouting matches with other coaches or any of the numerous borderline inappropriate Ole traditions.
Two, due to poor spending habits on extravagant meals, branded hats, a ridiculous amount of signage, trips to Boston with two athletes, the strength coach now must approve all purchases above $25.
Did confirm this is truth this weekend. Talked to the strength coach who looked like he wanted to be anywhere but on a cross country course. Said he’s the athletic director in charge of all aspects of men’s cross country. He didn’t know about the complaints about Power on these threads but said the programs need to rein in spending and better represent the college in the MIAC and community. Anyone who want to share more can find info his contact info on the Ole Strength website. Pretty funny that even the Ole admin finds Power so annoying they made the weightlifting coach his new boss.
Cooked MIAC Runner wrote:
My early thoughts:
Carleton looks bad. Not Hamline bad, but definitely not good.
How is this Ole team ranked #6 in the nation? Is it a down year for the ages? ...maybe everybody sucks.
Mac is usually a pretty good team...in September.
The Johnnies and Gusties don't look terrible.
I see Hamline held off Crown in Moorhead last week, so it should be a good year. Also, 6k my ass.
What makes you think that Carleton looks bad? No Roy and Gabe never races hard early. Indy is healthy and he is a huge difference maker.
The Oles women’s a coach does the rankings. That’s why both teams are ranked so high despite graduating several all-time greats. I believe the Carleton team will win another national championship with these freshmen
Why is it that everyone is hung up on rankings before anyone has even run an 8k? Run more mileage
This Carleton women’s class is good enough to win the MIAC by themselves. Gonna to be really fun to see Donna work with them the next few years. The real question is whether they can improve enough to win a natty on their home course next year.
Dumbo Chunko wrote:
What makes you think that Carleton looks bad? No Roy and Gabe never races hard early. Indy is healthy and he is a huge difference maker.
Hmm...maybe the fact that I started wondering if the men would beat the women for a 6k. It is an excellent strategy to not race hard. Keep that up. Indy Schmindy...who cares.
A lot of Carl trolls in the chat. Maybe worry more about looking like a real team for a 6k race.
Trolling off races where Oles & Carls clearly tempoed or worked out is a bit absurd.
But here's a better questions for debate - Would the Oles/Carls teams be better if the women's coach was in charge of the men's team? The Ole women's approach seems much more grounded in the scientific process, while Dave has the quirkiness that connects with Carls.
A more interesting trade would be Ricks for Chunko. Could either find success with either team? I think Rick’s can thrive anywhere. Don’t know Chunko as well. Oles, what do you think?
Carls, do you still let air out of Power’s tires when you run by his house? I thought that was funniest thing HBo did.
Seems very smarty of Carleton to prep for the Regionals/Nationals back to back gauntlet by racing today and at Olaf next week. Seeing the conference course will be a huge advantage for them.