Just looked up Clinger's age on World Athletics. Knew he was old, but didn't realize the guy is 26 (10/9/1998). Seems a little outrageous for him to still be competing against 20 year-old kids in college. To put it in perspective, Cook is 22 as a senior (born in 2002) and Birnbaum is 19 (born in 2005).
What about all the older Kenyans that are also running in the NCAA? I'm sure there are some other foreigners that are older as well.
Just looked up Clinger's age on World Athletics. Knew he was old, but didn't realize the guy is 26 (10/9/1998). Seems a little outrageous for him to still be competing against 20 year-old kids in college. To put it in perspective, Cook is 22 as a senior (born in 2002) and Birnbaum is 19 (born in 2005).
What about all the older Kenyans that are also running in the NCAA? I'm sure there are some other foreigners that are older as well.
There are freshmen this year older than Clinger. They will be over 30 by the time they graduate.
Just looked up Clinger's age on World Athletics. Knew he was old, but didn't realize the guy is 26 (10/9/1998). Seems a little outrageous for him to still be competing against 20 year-old kids in college. To put it in perspective, Cook is 22 as a senior (born in 2002) and Birnbaum is 19 (born in 2005).
Rescore the meet without Clinger then if it'll make you feel better.
Yeah, they’d still rampage just with the 24 years olds!
Actually, they got really lucky. They beat Montana St and Gonzaga very narrowly so they gives them at large points, and Gonzaga is on the bubble. This also gives them more time for some of these guys to peak at the right part of the season
BYU's lineup is something else, going down through their scorers, you get:
Class of 2017, 2018, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2021, and one 2024.
For Oregon, you start with two freshmen redshirts from the class of 2023 (Echohawk and Birnbaum) and a freshman unattached from 2024 (Fast Horse with a great debut). So, they may not be blazing new territory in xc yet but at least they are still young. BYU gets the two year mission plus the redshirt and then occasional medical redshirts, and the older guys get the covid year added, which is absurd.
BYU has freshmen who should be seniors. Crazy. If not for the sudden influx of 28-30 year old Kenyans this would have to be the focus of the NCAA to police xc age in a better way.
Oregon is one of the worst performing schools in XC relative to the talent that keeps showing up year after year.
Here's their record at Nationals the past 10 editions: solid team with King Ches leading the charge in 2013-2016, but the trend has been cascading down since.
Vin and Andy Powell could do something despite their track focus. Jerry has done nothing so far. Burns isn't even racing. He ran sub-4 as a junior and a short-lived 5000m hs record as a senior. Birnbaum was a 3:38ish guy in high school. Fast Horse is off to an excellent start but running unattached.
Has Jerry ever had success coaching college athletes?
come one now. Jerry deserves to be called out for how Oregon is performing right now but lets not act like the Wisconsin Men weren't incredible in XC while he was there.
Exactly. That was what I was hoping someone would remember.
I think it's a ridiculous tragedy, but I would say wait until the end of the season. Unlike last year, they probably have the KOLAs points to advance to nationals, they're definitely putting more guys in uniforms, and the men's team is doing more competitions than last year, so he's at least being somewhat corrective of his mistakes.
I wouldn't be surprised if Elliott Cook got top 25 at nationals considering his kicking ability, consistency and his superb spring campaign. Evan Bishop, and Evan Burke are seasoned, they have a very good Spanish guy, for all we know Simeon Birnbaum is holding back, reading all these posts and using it as fuel. Harrison Reinhardt is still a killer. Burns hasn't run. They also have two or three sophomores who are adding to scoring.
They haven't lived up to any of their potential yet and I'd love to pile on bc it's kind of a juicy story, but the story's not over
TBF Oregon was only running a few of their top 7 guys.
HOWEVER, the really bad news is they were pretty far back from BYU's 7TH MAN. For a supposed "national power" legacy program, this is horrifically concerning.
What's somehow worse is that they have exactly ONE potential at-large point going into their conference meet (Texas). Only 3 teams in the Big10 are ranked, so they are looking likely to have AT MOST 4 points (assuming they upset the 3 teams ranked ahead of them) going into the West Regional - which, like last year, is historically weak. They are going to have a tough time qualifying for nationals.
Jerry is really screwing the pooch here.
The middle of October and "only running a few of their top 7 guys"? Makes me think of the word "injuries".
The story is over. Burns 100% has another stressy cooked up by chef jerry himself. The ducks will get crushed at Big Tens and be lucky to make nationals. Yes, Elliot Cook and Simeon Birnbaum will be phenomenal granted they're healthy, but the team falls pretty short after that.
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