NAIA school. School has great facilities and really cares about their athletes. Ben Welch is a fantastic coach. He recruited me as an undergrad (I ultimately decided to go D1) and then I competed against them when I transferred to another school in the CCC as a grad student. Fantastic boys on and off the track. Some of the kindest, hardest-working guys in the college ranks. They just ran for 3rd at the Linfield George Oja meet (only losing to Portland and Eastern Washington). Top 5 was all faster than 25:05 for 8K.
Crazy good program. They recruit solid guys and turn them into phenomenal athletes!
Isaac Updike ran for them and he's pretty freaking good in the steeple!
D2 is really overlooked for some great programs that develop talent. Some good ones include Colorado School of Mines, Colorado Christian, and Northwest Missouri State. Grand Valley State and Adams State also develop a lot of talent, however, they have very high rates of runners burning out and getting injured all the time before quitting.
I find myself recommending D2 programs more and more these days, especially programs that are finishing top 3-4 in their conferences. The MIAA has a ton of great programs...NW Missouri, Pitt State, Missouri Southern, and Washburn all develop kids nicely and have good facilities. In the same part of the country, SBU has a good reputation as well. Truman women have shown a lot of growth over the past few years but have a new coach with more of a sprint focus. I think their old coach went to UCM, so curious if he will turn around things there.
SBU has a great coach and program, and is stable. Coach really cares about the athletes. Women are pretty consistently near the top of their conference.
Wingate took a guy who was running 4:07* and got him running 3:32. Another from 4:05 to 3:39. The list goes on but you get the idea. Large steady improvements across the board.
omg the grammar police on an anonymous message board. ...lol. contribute absolutely nothing to the conversation. go back to your basement, your mom wants her lotion back
omg the grammar police on an anonymous message board. ...lol. contribute absolutely nothing to the conversation. go back to your basement, your mom wants her lotion back
I ran for Lee University we have had some really big progressions. These are only the all-americans. A lot of success stories of 9:40-9:50 guys going sub 14:30 and 5:20 women going sub 17:00
Christian Noble - 4:10/9:04 to 3:36.00, 7:50, 13:24 Roberto Fajardo - 1:54/4:02 1500m to 1:49, 3:40 national runner-up Thomas Kelton - 4:30/9:58 to 8:49 3k steeple all-american Edimo Ninteretse - 10:24 3200m to 7:57/13:59 one year to go Stephen Clark - 4:25/9:54 to 8:47 in the SC all-american two years to go
Celine Ritter - 4:41 1500m to 4:11 Aria Hawkins - 2:24/5:42 to 4:15 in the 1500m one year to go Toni Moore - 11:15/18:52 to 10:30/16:36 Estella Clemons - 2:18/5:19 to 4:24 1500m all-american and 20:39 for 6k in just a year. 4 years to go. Lily Hare - 2:22/5:18 to 2:10, 4:24 all-american
I ran for Lee University we have had some really big progressions. These are only the all-americans. A lot of success stories of 9:40-9:50 guys going sub 14:30 and 5:20 women going sub 17:00
Christian Noble - 4:10/9:04 to 3:36.00, 7:50, 13:24
Roberto Fajardo - 1:54/4:02 1500m to 1:49, 3:40 national runner-up
Thomas Kelton - 4:30/9:58 to 8:49 3k steeple all-american
Edimo Ninteretse - 10:24 3200m to 7:57/13:59 one year to go
Stephen Clark - 4:25/9:54 to 8:47 in the SC all-american two years to go
Celine Ritter - 4:41 1500m to 4:11
Aria Hawkins - 2:24/5:42 to 4:15 in the 1500m one year to go
Toni Moore - 11:15 3k/18:52 to 10:30/16:36
Estella Clemons - 2:18/5:19 to 4:24 1500m all-american and 20:39 for 6k in just a year. 4 years to go.
Hartman 4:46 high school mile to one of fastest college 5k/10k runners ever in 3 years
Napoleon 2:03 800 to world championship finalist steeple in 2 years.
This is the great illusion.
Yes, Henes has developed some nice runners including Hartman and Napoleon. Add on Bush and Gapes recently too.
But ...
Napoleon was the overall Gatorade Player of the Year for entire US T&F in her senior year for her high school record in steeplechase.
Hartman was a 2 time winner of the Ohio Gatorade xc award.
Most coaches would be ecstatic to have these type of recruits to start their development!
Gatorade winners are all over the place at NC State. Rauber NY, Scheffler OH, Quarzo PA, Michalak CO, Shea MA, Wisniewski OR (2x), Engelhardt CA (3x)and Stephens MD (a recent transfer out) were all also winners of their home state Gatorade award.
NC State does pretty well on recruiting front, AND also develops runners well too.
Hartman really wasn't a "blue chipper" in high school. She came a bit late to running, around her freshman year of high school, IIRC. It was obvious that the natural talent was there but she needed someone to nurture it and Henes has done a good ob with that. She is also mentally strong and pushes herself. Huge amount of natural talent, though.
Lang before Hartman at NCS was Dominique Clairmonte. Clairmonte had a great junior season and was the ACC champion in XC and helped the Wolfpack to a 2nd place finish at the NCAA championships.
What is up with Wisniewski? She hasn't run this fall, even as unattached.
I ran for Lee University we have had some really big progressions. These are only the all-americans. A lot of success stories of 9:40-9:50 guys going sub 14:30 and 5:20 women going sub 17:00
Christian Noble - 4:10/9:04 to 3:36.00, 7:50, 13:24
Roberto Fajardo - 1:54/4:02 1500m to 1:49, 3:40 national runner-up
Thomas Kelton - 4:30/9:58 to 8:49 3k steeple all-american
Edimo Ninteretse - 10:24 3200m to 7:57/13:59 one year to go
Stephen Clark - 4:25/9:54 to 8:47 in the SC all-american two years to go
Celine Ritter - 4:41 1500m to 4:11
Aria Hawkins - 2:24/5:42 to 4:15 in the 1500m one year to go
Toni Moore - 11:15 3k/18:52 to 10:30/16:36
Estella Clemons - 2:18/5:19 to 4:24 1500m all-american and 20:39 for 6k in just a year. 4 years to go.
Lily Hare - 2:22/5:18 to 2:10, 4:24 all-american
Is Lee a school that has mandatory chapel? I am not criticizing but am just curious.
Malone in Canton, Ohio is a school with mandatory chapel also. At one time Malone did a great job developing runners and had one of the best programs in Ohio. They're still decent but have fallen off quite a bit. The drop off seemed to coincide with the retirement of Jack Hazen who was the coach at Malone for 50+ years.
I haven't looked to see if North Central was mentioned here. Like Malone, they fell off a bit after their coach, the late Al Carius, who also coached for 50+ years, retired. They're still a decent program but a shadow of what they once were.
I don't think most people understand development as simply improving. not going from nothing to NCAA champ. There is no school or program with the capability to consistently do that. it is 95% potential and 5% coaching/environment. Whether is just finally unlocked or just something in the brain clicks.
agreed, but we were just looking to find some "gems" out there that are maybe overlooked by students. There's a few schools we know of, because we have personal connections, so we were just hoping to add others to the mix. I also know really good (athletic) schools where they've taken state champs, and the kids never raced in college. I don't always know the whole story, of course.
They turned a 3:51/8:25 guy (15/3k) into a national champ and 3:33 runner at 22 years old. The coach has since left for UofT, but he still coaches Max and I believe Lucia Stafford as well.