Her 2024 Season Fitness Estimate was after 2024 Natty’s. The algorithm appropriately indicates the Adidas XC Challenge effort displayed a huge jump in 5k fitness.
When you click on Individual Results for that race, Putnam has a green arrow with the number 9 beside it; I’m not sure what that means.
Sadie Engelhardt is on a new Running Effect podcast and she seems to expect to race soon, and recently did a tempo with Bethany Michalak (recently ran well in their opener) so she must be pretty reasonably fit.
I took in the Adidas XC race this afternoon/evening. Of the the big names, only Gapes, Putnam, and Michalak ran, but all three looked strong in hot weather and without any real competition. Gapes won with a time of 16:01 over 5K, which I believe bests any other NC State runner at this meet in the last few years if not longer. I was hoping to see Brooke Rauber run but she did not compete, nor of course did Napoleon, Hartman or Sadie Englehardt. But throw in Hartman and a strong season from just one of those others that did not toe the line and you've almost certainly got a podium team at the least.
Looking at the results... how bad are the NC State men? Good lord how far the mighty have fallen.
No Hartman listed for NC St on Friday - no surprise. No Rauber, Templier or Armitage - not sure how to take that. Freshmen Engelhardt and Scheffler listed as unattached.
No Hartman listed for NC St on Friday - no surprise. No Rauber, Templier or Armitage - not sure how to take that. Freshmen Engelhardt and Scheffler listed as unattached.
Do we actually know if Grace has resumed training following the plantar fasciitis problem which forced her out of USAs last month?
Well I have not personally seen her running but she just posted on IG on Sunday I believe on the importance of the rest day. And on Saturday this post where she said (referring to her shoes) "They made it through many long weeks of training, and today’s long run finally did them in."
I took in the Adidas XC race this afternoon/evening. Of the the big names, only Gapes, Putnam, and Michalak ran, but all three looked strong in hot weather and without any real competition. Gapes won with a time of 16:01 over 5K, which I believe bests any other NC State runner at this meet in the last few years if not longer. I was hoping to see Brooke Rauber run but she did not compete, nor of course did Napoleon, Hartman or Sadie Englehardt. But throw in Hartman and a strong season from just one of those others that did not toe the line and you've almost certainly got a podium team at the least.
Looking at the results... how bad are the NC State men? Good lord how far the mighty have fallen.
its pretty bad. They missed nationals last year and their #1 transferred to UVA, their #2 graduated, and #6 transferred to Villanova off that team. They didn't run a full lineup (not that it would have mattered against UNC of course) at Adidas, Noah Valyo ran unattached and finished 1 second back of the large UNC group. Kevin Antczak was a 13:39 guy last winter and didn't run. Wesley Larson was their #5 off last years team and didn't run.
Coach Geiger from all accounts is a very nice person, but its gotta be hard to recruit 18 year olds to run for a guy who's best successes were all before these kids were alive. They brought in Ryan Hill as an assistant and the last recruiting class was arguably their best since covid so maybe having around the one guy (no offense to Andrew Colley) who these kids might have heard of as a pro will help recruiting going forward.
I took in the Adidas XC race this afternoon/evening. Of the the big names, only Gapes, Putnam, and Michalak ran, but all three looked strong in hot weather and without any real competition. Gapes won with a time of 16:01 over 5K, which I believe bests any other NC State runner at this meet in the last few years if not longer. I was hoping to see Brooke Rauber run but she did not compete, nor of course did Napoleon, Hartman or Sadie Englehardt. But throw in Hartman and a strong season from just one of those others that did not toe the line and you've almost certainly got a podium team at the least.
Looking at the results... how bad are the NC State men? Good lord how far the mighty have fallen.
Looking at the results... how bad are the NC State men? Good lord how far the mighty have fallen.
were they ever really good?
if the standard is the women's program then no. But if its just "good" then yes from the late 80's through the late 2000's or early 2010's they were a very strong program. Made the podium with 3rd in 1999, 8 other top 10 finishes. 32 All american performances. 15 ACC titles between between 1986 and 2011 and 8 2nd's in that 25 year stretch. Never finished worse than 3rd. They finished 11th in the country as recently as 2018 and 2022. Its just kind of fallen off a cliff the last couple of years.
Do we actually know if Grace has resumed training following the plantar fasciitis problem which forced her out of USAs last month?
Well I have not personally seen her running but she just posted on IG on Sunday I believe on the importance of the rest day. And on Saturday this post where she said (referring to her shoes) "They made it through many long weeks of training, and today’s long run finally did them in."
Well I have not personally seen her running but she just posted on IG on Sunday I believe on the importance of the rest day. And on Saturday this post where she said (referring to her shoes) "They made it through many long weeks of training, and today’s long run finally did them in."
Well I have not personally seen her running but she just posted on IG on Sunday I believe on the importance of the rest day. And on Saturday this post where she said (referring to her shoes) "They made it through many long weeks of training, and today’s long run finally did them in."
Entries are online for the race in Chicago this week. Still no Hartman or Napoleon which might not be the worst thing of course. Engelhardt and Scheffler listed for "NC State" and Rauber as well this week. There are "unattached" entries but none for NC State. Seems like a good sign for the fitness of Scheffler and Engelhardt. Similar cast for UNC as in Cary a week or so ago, Blade and Schipperen of Fl State, and some of the top WA runners are entered. I wonder if Gapes will run, and if so how hard?
Entries are online for the race in Chicago this week. Still no Hartman or Napoleon which might not be the worst thing of course. Engelhardt and Scheffler listed for "NC State" and Rauber as well this week. There are "unattached" entries but none for NC State. Seems like a good sign for the fitness of Scheffler and Engelhardt. Similar cast for UNC as in Cary a week or so ago, Blade and Schipperen of Fl State, and some of the top WA runners are entered. I wonder if Gapes will run, and if so how hard?
Solid advice for young women and girls. Especially the bone density.
I hope a lot are able to listen. Many young athletes do get good guidance from parents and coaches, but it means so much to have that reinforced by someone who has been there recently and is currently succeeding at a high-level.
Angelina Napoleon is on the latest Citius Mag podcast on Spotify. She lets out she barely skipped a beat in training once she came back to US, and did a 4:09 1500 time trial before Tokyo sometime.
Calling it now, NCState’s podium fortunes this season pivot on Napoleon; as Napoleon goes, so goes NCState. 😎
They can still podium. Perhaps Napoleon is the difference between a championship team and 2nd & 3rd, but not podium.
Last year Gapes & Hartman were among the best low sticks in the country. They will be better this year. The additions of Templier & Armitage was big and Putnam looks to have improved. Rauber will hopefully be healthy and there's the Michalak who looks to be in decent form. One of the new freshmen may step up and one of the returners may have a big improvement. They look pretty solid if Napoleon were excluded and outstanding with her.