Mid take. Everyone knows Northfield loves to use the worst timing company of all time.
Why aren't they doing the Karhu? First they host meets on the same day two miles apart and then they end a significant Ole-Carl tradition. What will Power ruin next?
I love that the same people that were saying the Oles sucked now say they didn’t win by enough.
The Oles have several All-Conference runners that won’t be racing at the Regional. If I were their 8th man I’d transfer to Gustavus or Hamline and be the top dog.
An inside source has mentioned that Bati wont be running for Augsburg this season and that he has transferred to Concordia St. Paul. This could open the competition and give St. Olaf a good chance at wining
Not sure I’m buying this. Bati still odds on favorite to win.
Mid take. Everyone knows Northfield loves to use the worst timing company of all time.
Why aren't they doing the Karhu? First they host meets on the same day two miles apart and then they end a significant Ole-Carl tradition. What will Power ruin next?
I'm surprised how no one is talking about how the Saint Mary's men absolutely sold the last K of Saturday's race. Going from 1st place to 10th place in the final K is a tough look.
Love the Coach of the Year selection. It has long been said that the Oles win despite their coaching. This is just another example of coaching peers saying that explicitly.
Seems I forgot that poorly coached teams generally have 11 all-conference runners. On a serious note, the Scholastica coach deserved Coach of the Year, his team exceeded expectations the most this season. The Oles have been great this year, but so far, they've merely done what was expected of them by everyone except NotKevbot. The real measurement of their success/failure this season will come in a couple weeks at nationals.
A few questions as we move towards regionals: Can the Carls hold off the mid-tier WIAC teams and secure a nationals spot? Can the Oles challenge Whitewater for second? Can the MIAC send 4 individuals to nats? Can Scholastica/Mac/SJU finish as top 10 teams? Discuss.
Not an Ole apologist or a fan for that matter, but I just assumed the only reason the Olaf coach didn't win was success fatigue. I find that awfully silly, but it's a compliment to him. I guess I have a different perspective that we should reward the coach of the team that put forth the best performance of the day. We can all bemoan the fact that Olaf is supposed to be the best team, but putting 11 runners in the top 24 is incredibly impressive, especially after graduating four of their top eight from last season, including one of the best in conference history. Even scoring their second five would have put them in third place. That is a historically dominant performance - not the best ever, but still historically strong.
But saying, oh they are supposed to be good so let's not acknowledge those performances is tantamount to saying let's not score the race because someone's feelings will be hurt. And that is not in any way to diminish the accomplishment's of the Scholastica coach. It's just not at the same level.
I also think we are all at the point of the season where we should become fanboys of every MIAC team. Northfield bias aside, we should be rooting for Carleton and Olaf to finish top ten. We should all be rooting for Mo to win a National title and Kelly to be close behind. We should hope Lloyd decision to spend a fifth year in Collegeville is rewarded with another AA certificate, and Olaf and Carleton making it means Reece McKee qualifies.
This is the first time since 2003 that the coach of the winning team didn’t win COTY. If I’m the Oles, I take this very personally. It is well documented that their cosxh isn’t the most popular on these boards. I’m sure many of the athletes get that from their jealous coaches that can barely field a full team
Something tells me that the coach of a program that successful doesn’t concern himself with what message boards or MIC popularity polls say, but we have not rewarded the best coaching performance. and that’s embarrassing for the MIC.
Scholastica has a grad student as a No. 3 and their No. 5 ran 27:25. 29 Oles finished in front of their No. 5 runner who placed 70 in the MIC btw. 70th!
That’s not outperforming expectations, that’s clinging to desperation to reward anyone that is not Carleton or St. Olaf. Anyone paying attention all year knew the injuries and inexperience of St. John’s and Macalester left them vulnerable St. Scholastica. I worry for the future of the MIC with such a lack of parity.
This is the first time since 2003 that the coach of the winning team didn’t win COTY. If I’m the Oles, I take this very personally. It is well documented that their cosxh isn’t the most popular on these boards. I’m sure many of the athletes get that from their jealous coaches that can barely field a full team
Something tells me that the coach of a program that successful doesn’t concern himself with what message boards or MIC popularity polls say, but we have not rewarded the best coaching performance. and that’s embarrassing for the MIC.
Scholastica has a grad student as a No. 3 and their No. 5 ran 27:25. 29 Oles finished in front of their No. 5 runner who placed 70 in the MIC btw. 70th!
That’s not outperforming expectations, that’s clinging to desperation to reward anyone that is not Carleton or St. Olaf. Anyone paying attention all year knew the injuries and inexperience of St. John’s and Macalester left them vulnerable St. Scholastica. I worry for the future of the MIC with such a lack of parity.
If you are going to give credit to The Olaf coach for the recruiting classes of the prior coaches, how can you discount Scholastica for getting a grad transfer? Getting 3rd with 4 good runners is pretty impressive. I have no idea how good/bad the Olaf coach is but having the most/best talent definitely makes it easier.
Also, looking at the freshman class and a little parity might be coming. St. Mary’s, Concordia, Gustavus, Bethel all brought in some people.
If St. Mary’s can add a couple more next year and keep improving they might have a top five capable team. Gustavus doesn’t look like they graduate anyone, but the Covid year still makes that confusing.
I wonder, will Bati be looking to move to a D1 school if he has a good showing at nationals. Thought he might be a 1 and done at Augsburg, but I think the second year will probably help him. If he stays on, he’s definitely got a chance to be the first 4 time conf. champ.
Also, definitely cheering on all Miac schools at regions. Screw WIAC and their stupid upside down M. Go Knights, Ole’s, Bati, Boone, Dewall, Young and any other runners with a chance to snag a Nationals spot!
First coach of a winning team not to win in 20 years is in itself a historic feat. Great work coach! The Northfield schools will always attract decent runners, so I'm more impressed to see a coach who can grind his way to unprecedented success. Is Chad the only active MIAC that has coached a national XC champion?
A quick TFRRS search shows that his graduates that have moved on to other programs have gotten much faster this year. That probably says something too.
The next few years will shocking as Phil's recruits cycle out. A poorly trained monkey could get those guys to nationals. He has some ok younger guys, but he has relied on seniors the last two years. His freshman class is garbage.
Mac, the Johnnies and Cobbers all have strong freshman classes. I've never seen the man at a State meet or more than an occasional sectional meet and that's starting to show.
Lundin was out in 2019. Bit of a stretch to say he’s influenced recruiting beyond the current seniors. Even so, here’s a quick scoring of the meet sans ole upperclassmen (and their transfer as I’m not sure what his eligibility is):
Carlington 44 Ole Frosh and Soph 89 Mac 102 St School 103 Joonies 104 The Big Wind 170
Not much has been said about the Oles losing the state meet. That should really shakeup things recruiting wise. My dad saw Power at the airport Friday. He clearly didn’t care about not hosting the meet and didn’t bother to attend the meet. I saw their women’s coaching staff. That really says something about their program.