There are 14 teams in Big 10, only 9 men's teams recorded a score at the Big10s. Should Iowa have had 2 guys walk the course?

Always nice to hear from random people who know more than a coach who is getting paid $200k to make these decisions. Iowa scored 10 points at the 2020 B10 Indoor Meet scoring in 3k, 5k, and DMR. Why would you not expect similar results this year?

Disappointing for Hawkeyes. No argument. When their Wrestling team wins the national title it's a team title. They also send individuals but the wrestling team goal is to win team titles. Best program for any sport in the country no argument (20 national titles in 21 years) so maybe they should use that mentality.

Joey Woody is the Director of Track & Cross Country. I am sure that he did exactly what you just described. He made a decision that will be the most beneficial to the Track & Cross Country Team.

saved bell wrote:

Always nice to hear from random people who know more than a coach who is getting paid $200k to make these decisions. Iowa scored 10 points at the 2020 B10 Indoor Meet scoring in 3k, 5k, and DMR. Why would you not expect similar results this year?

A coach that didn't field a team for the conference xc meet shouldn't be paid a nickel. He should be fired.

Another Letsrun poster who earns nothing to coach. Woody will earn a nice fat bonus after the Big Ten Indoor Meet. Employees perform in accordance with the objectives laid out by their boss. If your boss gave you the objective of selling more widgets this year and not to focus on selling any gadgets, you woukd focus on selling widgets because that is what your boss instructed you to do. Actually, you seem like someone who would say that your boss was wrong and you would focus on gadgets anyway.

saved bell wrote:

Always nice to hear from random people who know more than a coach who is getting paid $200k to make these decisions. Iowa scored 10 points at the 2020 B10 Indoor Meet scoring in 3k, 5k, and DMR. Why would you not expect similar results this year?

Actually the poster is correct. Iowa likely won’t score in the distance events at big ten indoors. Scorers from last year have graduated. Women’s distance team is terrible and won’t score a point. Head coach has put all his chips in the indoor basket in the hope he gets a point or 2...

Two guys ran 4:06 and 4:08 in first meet of season. Run thise guys fresh while other teams run their B team or tired guys and they will score well. They won the DMR 3 years ago when it appeared they had no chance.

Taco John wrote:

Former Iowa Great wrote:

The purpose was to position themselves to win indoor and outdoor conference track meets. Running 1 XC meet in January in the middle of a good track season makes no sense for a distance runner unless you are a 10k guy or will win the meet or qualify for nationals.

This, obviously. The only guys who would run xc at the end of January on a team that's loaded for indoor and outdoor track are either the underclassmen who aren't developed enough to potentially score in the 5000m or below or the upperclassmen aiming to run the 10K at outdoor Big 10s.

I have a feeling Heps runs a little differently than a P5 conference if the OP's response would fly there.

I get that Iowa is focused on indoor track as they should be. But how hard is it to find 5 runners? Was there a Covid outbreak of something?

The vast majority of runners on decent to poor xc teams runners have zero chance of scoring at a power converence like the Big 10. I easily went to TFRRS and found 5 Iowa guys who have zero chance of scoring at Big 10s.

251 King, Aidan FR-1 8:33.39 Larry Wieczorek Invitational Jan 22, 2021

371 Roberts, Jeff SR-4 8:41.62 Hawkeye Border Battle Jan 9, 2021

486 Pendergast, Jack FR-1 8:48.85 Larry Wieczorek Invitational Jan 22, 2021

70 Trattner, Nick SO-2 14:53.76 Husker Triangular Jan 16, 2021

103 Smith, Spencer JR-3 15:08.35 Husker Triangular Jan 16, 2021

Plus there are 2-3 other 820/1420 types who I don't think are scoring but i can imagine why teh coach thinks they have some tiny chance of doing it. So unless there was a Covid outbreak, they should have had a team score, unless they purposely didn't want to record a team score which disappoints me. I get that our sport is weird. Some teams focus on track. Others on xc, but to me when the meet starts, a team should be tryig to maximize it's place. .

saved bell wrote:

Always nice to hear from random people who know more than a coach who is getting paid $200k to make these decisions. Iowa scored 10 points at the 2020 B10 Indoor Meet scoring in 3k, 5k, and DMR. Why would you not expect similar results this year?

Again. WIthout trying, I found 5 guys who aren't going to score at Big 10s that were eligible to run. Plus there are 2-3 more 8:20 types who aren't going to score as well

it is almost as if you are insinuating that there was a different plot. It is pretty clear what the strategy was. Some guys are going to score at B10 whether individually or on the DMR, some just were not ready to go as freshmen, some are injured, and some were impacted by Covid. Why not criticize the Michigan AD who shut down the entire athletic department even though athletes are tested daily? How much sense does it make to not allow a cross country team to compete outdoor against Big10 runners who all have the same testing protocols but instead, they are allowed to compete at an invitational against teams from multiple conferences.

Bob schul country wrote:

Goes to show that you that most college coaches are terrible at developing a team culture.

The team culture is keeping the team together during track season. Right now it's track season. It's a joke that they moved cross country to the same time of year as track.

There's no distraction of trying to get guys fit to run an 8k cross country race when they'll be running a mile or a 3k or 5k in a few weeks at the Big Ten Indoor championships. If this move of not running the 8k cross country meet lets them be sharp enough to squeak out a couple points than normal in the distance events then it's worth it, because after all it is indoor track season.

Even if they did put a full team, they'd probably finish 6th at best, big whoop. Their indoor track team will likely be top 3 at the big ten championships, and any additional points the distance crew can get will be huge in making that happen. They don't currently have any athletes who are predicted to be all-american in cross country or all-big ten for cross country, so why waste an effort out there? It's better to put them in position to possibly score extra points on a DMR or squeak out a point in a mile/3k/5k

Former Iowa Great wrote:

The purpose was to position themselves to win indoor and outdoor conference track meets. Running 1 XC meet in January in the middle of a good track season makes no sense for a distance runner unless you are a 10k guy or will win the meet or qualify for nationals.

Nobody is suggesting that teams should be optimizing January training for XC or peaking for this meet, but any coach that can't easily figure out how to include one hard 8k effort in a track training cycle is incompetent.

800 dude wrote:

Nobody is suggesting that teams should be optimizing January training for XC or peaking for this meet, but any coach that can't easily figure out how to include one hard 8k effort in a track training cycle is incompetent.

I think the point is getting 7th in a conference is an accomplishment that nobody cares about. Why spend the money driving another 2 athletes to the meet?

You can tell that nearly every poster is too wrapped up in distance. Joey Woody is a former NCAA champ and world medalist in the hurdles. He is the head coach. He is there to win track championships. Maybe some of the guys who did not run are roommates with 800 runners and they didn't want to add any additional risk of Covid to the guys from staying at a hotel or using a reststop bathroom. Give the coach some credit. The men's track team is the reigning outdoor Big 10 champ and 2nd in indoor.

Boy, you really pay attention to details. Rojo you made some good points in this post.

So happy that Wisco won again.

he a terp wrote:

oldschoollrc wrote:

I don't think Maryland has had men's XC or track for a number of years. Title IX cuts. Look it up.

they cut men's xc and track when i was there. track was actually brought back almost immediately, but they may as well have left it dead.

basically if you can still run a 1:59 800m or a 9:10 3k from your high school days and happen to attend maryland you have an opportunity to put on a jersey and get last place at a D1 invitational

yeah i am very familiar with maryland as a running program, being from the area and knowing some inside info of their team. mens distance track is little to nothing over 800m. 400m coach was an olympian though. women's team cares too much about photos and flashy stuff even though they get embarrassed every year at conference. there's another d1 non state school in the area that would absolutely smoke them

Maryland doesn't get more scholarships for being a state school.

Anybody want to reconsider their opinion that Iowa won't score in distance events? They had a true Frosh run 7:59 today. They have a 4:06 and two at 4:07. They will score in DMR and the 3000.

Former Iowa Great wrote:

Anybody want to reconsider their opinion that Iowa won't score in distance events? They had a true Frosh run 7:59 today. They have a 4:06 and two at 4:07. They will score in DMR and the 3000.

Putting their eggs in the appropriate basket.

XC in Jan-March = nothingburger season. Everyone is going to view this xc season like they do a strike-shortened pro league season.