Wisconsin WINS, Okst crumbles, CU almost surprise 2nd

The wind had a huge impact on last year whereas this year there wasn\'t much wind. Remember how many people collapsed last year? It was crazy.

OK State\'s race strategy didn\'t work this time. Both WISCO and OK STATE broke up their pack which is what each needed to do to try and win, but WISCO started out faster than OK State and as the race went on WISCO had to fall back in order for OK STate to catch up and win which didn\'t happen. OK State moved up but WISCO didn\'t move back at all. The WISCO guys stayed to plan and executed. They started out at the top and stayed there.

I think OK State\'s #4 & #5 especially started out too far back to catch anyone in the last part of the race. #4 finished about back about 20 places from last year and #5 was back more than 50 places from last year as well. They just couldn\'t make up all that ground in the 2nd 5k. Colby and German did their job but there was no one for them to pass in the last 2k like last year. #3 for OK State finished almost the same place as last year so he did his job.

The #2 WISCO guy was GLUED to colby and German the entire race. It looked to me he just followed behind and matched their every move while the #1 guy was in the lead pack and Colby and German didn\'t realize it until it was too late to catch up to him.

Hats off to both teams for having great seasons. When is the last time that the predicted #1 and #2 teams actually finished in that order?

Alberthitchcock wrote:

Isn't the point and most of the talk on these forums about American distance running? And developing it? Yes, there's exceptions and so forth.

The best way to develop American distance talent is to race against great people, have someone to target. Having guys like Chelanga and Lawi in the NCAA allow this to happen.

People always seem to say that when you give a scholarship to a foreign athlete you take it away from a potentially supremely talented American who will then give up on running. I disagree. The mega talents are going to love running, if they don't they aren't going to end up doing anything of note. If they connect with a coach they will go there and find a way to make it work monetarily or they will find a situation that works for them whether it is D2 or D3 or NAIA or whatever. If a kid quits running because he couldn't get a scholarship then he was never going to amount to anything of note because he doesn't have the drive.

As for the suggestion that having foreigners on your team means that you somehow aren't a good coach or can't develop talent, that is laughable. As someone has said, foreigners don't just come in as machines that can perform on command. They need solid coaching to continue to develop. Now there are certain schools that I think the coaches don't really attempt to develop talent, they just go get Kenyans, have a good season or two but the Kenyans and others don't really improve while there (a few SEC schools did this a few years back). I don't see this as the case at OK State because there is continued development of foreign talent as well as the domestic talent. Again, not everyone is going to develop but it is that way in every program. For every Richard Medina at CU you have a guy like Matt Tebo. That's running though.

If by coal mine you mean 300-400k house in the suburbs, I'd agree whole heartedly.

"If a kid quits running because he couldn't get a scholarship then he was never going to amount to anything of note because he doesn't have the drive."

THAT IS CRAZY!

The cost of a college education has gone way UP! Some runners cannot continue running because they have to get a JOB to pay for school. Scholarships help keep the runners running. It is almost impossible to work in college(20+ hours a week) and be a NCAA athlete that is successful.

xcrunnerfan wrote:

"If a kid quits running because he couldn't get a scholarship then he was never going to amount to anything of note because he doesn't have the drive."

THAT IS CRAZY!

The cost of a college education has gone way UP! Some runners cannot continue running because they have to get a JOB to pay for school. Scholarships help keep the runners running. It is almost impossible to work in college(20+ hours a week) and be a NCAA athlete that is successful.

If you really care you will find a way. Whether that means taking loans, getting a good work schedule, etc.

Also, if the kid really loved running they would never let that situation happen because they would find a situation that worked from a running perspective, academic perspective and money perspective.

coal mine wrote:

If by coal mine you mean 300-400k house in the suburbs, I'd agree whole heartedly.

Well, Krause is not a high-draft pick recruit -- what we distance runners think of as 'blue collar'.

Mo Ahmed certainly does not come from the uppercrust of 'middle America (or Canada).

Shields has a farm-boy background, I think

I understand you're viewpoint and agree, but sometimes it's not that easy. Some kids don't have a full proof plan "to find a way in payin for school".

One has to remember these are high school kids looking to run in college. Typically, a lot of high schoolers don't understand how little running pays for college, unless you are top 5 in the country. And seeing how so much of the money is gong to foreign talent, it makes it that much harder.

Again, the main point being, it's just a full proof way for a coach to take the easy way out and not develop American talent. That's the topic I'm pointing out. There's a reason OSU has to recruit so many foreigners. Oddly, they are even one of the few schools dedication ALL their scholarships to just distance runners too...

26mi235 wrote:

Not if Darling runs with/ahead of Collins, like most expected

Darling shot his wad trying to hang on to German.