Will Stanford Even Make It To Nationals this Year?

bro ran 3:35 and a 20 year old sophomore and his brother ran 27:50 as a sophomore. That’s damn good !

Maybe not, but I think there are more favorable ways to contextualize it. Per Lacctic, he’s 41st. Among Americans to graduate in the class of 2023 or later, he’s ranked second, only behind Rocky Hansen.

Zegarski, Hough, Coleman, and Corrigan (lol) are also listed as juniors, but are all at least class of ‘22, if not older

Thought Noonan was injured but I'll take a top 50 finish at ACC's, needs solid consistent development and he could develop into a real threat. Random but another freshman that Gavenas kid, I didn't think he'd ever be this successful. 2nd at Heps as a freshman is cool, Harvard got a good recruit. These hs studs aren't burning out as much as we think they are, look even Connor Burns is doing great. Only one's who are performing bad are the one's who went to Duke and other confused programs with money.

Ricardo Santos is not good and developing anyone. Stanford could win with a good coach

They just had a lot of misses . Gavin Sherry has been injured for 4 years. Bergen never really developed. The young’s are solid but not superstars. And some of their recruits are good runners but not guys you expect to be 13:15 guys…

what is going to kill them is they aren’t bringing in 1 year portal guys that are already all American caliber. a team like Arkansas will bring in 3 Kenyans and a grad transfer when the need them.

This not really a shock. Stanford wins the directors cup for best overall sports program pretty much every year. Just like track, they also have plenty of Olympians in the other non revenue sports.

The NIL era and transfer portal have just messed up the system a bit. It's hard academically to transfer to Stanford, so they miss out in that arena.

By the way it seems like at least a majority of Stanfords men’s team is currently injured or has been at some point this season, definitely doesn’t help the nationals chances

I posted a detailed account of who has not developed on the team but it was either deleted or never appeared. The upshot was that they have gotten a lot of amazing recruits, yet quite a few have not developed. They have at least four 8:30s 2M high school guys on the roster, counting Lex's 7:57 3k converted, plus Leo (8:38), Patrick Koon (8:34), and an 8:39, maybe Bergeron or Bell. Then they have a whole bunch of 8:40s and low 8:50s guys, so the cupboard is stocked. The sophomore class looked really good in xc last year but is thinner this year. Bargan, Bergeron, Bell, Grievous, Koon, plus the Youngs next year should make a very strong lineup in xc. The roster is only 17 for xc now, so you have to hit more than you miss and get health. They are hurt by the loss of at least one top five xc guy, in Lex's injury. Take out a 27:50 guy and that's a hole in the roster. The Sherry twins didn't develop. Zane Bergen does have a 3:39 but has not been the contributor they thought he'd become. Obviously, Santos was good enough to develop Hicks and Robinson to incredibly high levels, but the lack of contributors in the tens and twenties has killed them, and that's either on Santos for not developing them or on the athletes for concentrating on other things in college, which is understandable at that school. The great coaches like Lananna have the pull to get them to go fully into the sport.

Only 17? That is plenty to get 5 good runners...

Santos is an average coach, and Cole Sprout was a terrible captain/leader and they're still feeling the affects of that. Sprout soft/ mentally weak and very inconsistent. The Young's need to take leadership of this team and bring some younger runners with them, it's now or never. How you can you be such a good 1500m runner and fail to execute any other distance or xc? Also mentally weak, whereas your twin brother's best distance is 10k?

Huh, I never knew that.

So if you are cheering for the team, should you say "Go Cardinal!" or "Go Cardinals!"?

Seems odd to go singular, or to be named after a color. But there are some other nuances in college sports.

Well, I can think only of one. Ohio State that insists on being called THE Ohio State, but that's just because they are @ssholes who put attendance stickers on their football helmets.

Crimson Tide

Orange

Golden Hurricane

Santos is a good coach and has been for a long time.

Stanford used to dominate at a lot of sports but the new NCAA isn’t for them. In the Vin days they would literally sign 8 kids from footlocker every year and maybe 2-3 would pan out. But that was pre internet! The game has changed. 13:35 might win you nationals.

The whole directors cup thing is overblown as well. Stanford offers (at least use to offer) almost every ncaa sport. Men’s gymnastics has like 12 teams nationally. They also don’t own recruiting anymore. Stanford lost some of its luster in the last 10-15 years with the whole tech bro scene.

Last point, Stanford does not care about winning like it used to. Half their campus is depressed!!!! Student welfare is a major priority, I know for a fact coaches have been instructed to not push too hard. Let the kids have balance, don’t add more to their load.

remember that soccer goalie? That was a big deal.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like the Stanford team will be going to nationals this year. But Leo finished 3rd at regionals and has almost certainly qualified for nationals as an individual. I’m rooting for him individually, hopefully he gets a top 10 finish.

possible if it’s tactical but i see more 20s to 30s for him

He wouldn't score for the to teams.

Oh yeah - what has Koon been doing this season? He had a pretty good freshman season but then didn't run outdoor according to his athletic.net page and hasn't raced at all this year.

They will not make it. I think Leo Young will qualify though individually