If Kulas is able to compete twice, Mich Tech will indeed be tough.
Wayne State has hired Rondell Ruff, U of M grad and former assistant at Army. Solid choice from the appearance of it. They have an updated roster with Lucas Copi AND Eddie Komph listed on it....if so, they'll be a top-5 team.
Heard Flotrack is doing a resurrection series on Spencer Pageau. Any confirmations?
Spuntz is the comeback kid
Komph is going to Saginaw valley state not wayne state!
Obligatory post about "what's up with Windle these days"
Nick Hall blah blah blah
The following post might come off as "douchey" but it's really frustrating when the same things come out of this thread every year. No one ever has concrete evidence on WHY someone or some team will win. Just the simple "they're going to be good this year because I think so". Looking at Running2Win, GVSU's guys are putting in the typical GVSU summer. This is why one of their guys will win (i'm about 95% sure of this....5% of insurance there ;)). They're tougher than most because of how hard they work. Most of them are red-shirted and getting their butts kicked for years before they make an impact, and Jerry runs them hard over the summer and throughout the year. There's no secret as to why they're better and it can be seen objectively if you take the time to look. Tradition is a huge motivator for those guys. Look at other schools in the conference.....multiple teams with individuals or under-developed young kids around the same ability level. Hartman (SVSU) could make an impact in the coming years, but not quite yet as his kids are young and still adjusting/buying into the program, but he's got knowledge of what it takes to compete with GVSU. With coaching changes and transfers I don't see a lot of teams doing anything absolutely huge. Ashland is down and likely will continue to be mediocre over the next few years before the admins decide to give Coach Scott a budget to work with (if they stay in the GLIAC) and he can go find some athletes that can front run (aside from Hall/Knack/maybe Cutler)
Bottom Line: No one is a threat to GVSU. Who cares who wins the individual title? GV has always raced with a team-first mentality and we saw it last year at conference/regionals. They train through and get the meet done. The only thing they care about is NCAA's, so I don't think debating who's going to win individually or team-wise is even worth it at this point. Eddie Kompf is going to SVSU, not sure how none of you guys didn't just go find his social media accounts and see that he's been talking about it regularly.
Before anyone gets super butt-hurt, I don't go to GVSU and I didn't like them when I competed against them, but I definitely respected their team and staff because they grind harder than most.
Bryce Bradley looks like a kid.
Lol jk
Very good post. I agree with it all. GVSU does get more talent than other schools right off the bat but those kids train really hard too. There are many kids on the team than consistently run over 100 miles a week for the majority of the summer. This has been going on for years and years. If their team is already more talented and they train harder than you, it is not likely you'll ever beat them.
BangBangerson wrote:
Obligatory post about "what's up with Windle these days"
Nick Hall blah blah blah
The following post might come off as "douchey" but it's really frustrating when the same things come out of this thread every year. No one ever has concrete evidence on WHY someone or some team will win. Just the simple "they're going to be good this year because I think so". Looking at Running2Win, GVSU's guys are putting in the typical GVSU summer. This is why one of their guys will win (i'm about 95% sure of this....5% of insurance there ;)). They're tougher than most because of how hard they work. Most of them are red-shirted and getting their butts kicked for years before they make an impact, and Jerry runs them hard over the summer and throughout the year. There's no secret as to why they're better and it can be seen objectively if you take the time to look. Tradition is a huge motivator for those guys. Look at other schools in the conference.....multiple teams with individuals or under-developed young kids around the same ability level. Hartman (SVSU) could make an impact in the coming years, but not quite yet as his kids are young and still adjusting/buying into the program, but he's got knowledge of what it takes to compete with GVSU. With coaching changes and transfers I don't see a lot of teams doing anything absolutely huge. Ashland is down and likely will continue to be mediocre over the next few years before the admins decide to give Coach Scott a budget to work with (if they stay in the GLIAC) and he can go find some athletes that can front run (aside from Hall/Knack/maybe Cutler)
Bottom Line: No one is a threat to GVSU. Who cares who wins the individual title? GV has always raced with a team-first mentality and we saw it last year at conference/regionals. They train through and get the meet done. The only thing they care about is NCAA's, so I don't think debating who's going to win individually or team-wise is even worth it at this point. Eddie Kompf is going to SVSU, not sure how none of you guys didn't just go find his social media accounts and see that he's been talking about it regularly.
Before anyone gets super butt-hurt, I don't go to GVSU and I didn't like them when I competed against them, but I definitely respected their team and staff because they grind harder than most.
Glee Hack wrote:
Very good post. I agree with it all. GVSU does get more talent than other schools right off the bat but those kids train really hard too. There are many kids on the team than consistently run over 100 miles a week for the majority of the summer. This has been going on for years and years. If their team is already more talented and they train harder than you, it is not likely you'll ever beat them.
BangBangerson wrote:Obligatory post about "what's up with Windle these days"
Nick Hall blah blah blah
The following post might come off as "douchey" but it's really frustrating when the same things come out of this thread every year. No one ever has concrete evidence on WHY someone or some team will win. Just the simple "they're going to be good this year because I think so". Looking at Running2Win, GVSU's guys are putting in the typical GVSU summer. This is why one of their guys will win (i'm about 95% sure of this....5% of insurance there ;)). They're tougher than most because of how hard they work. Most of them are red-shirted and getting their butts kicked for years before they make an impact, and Jerry runs them hard over the summer and throughout the year. There's no secret as to why they're better and it can be seen objectively if you take the time to look. Tradition is a huge motivator for those guys. Look at other schools in the conference.....multiple teams with individuals or under-developed young kids around the same ability level. Hartman (SVSU) could make an impact in the coming years, but not quite yet as his kids are young and still adjusting/buying into the program, but he's got knowledge of what it takes to compete with GVSU. With coaching changes and transfers I don't see a lot of teams doing anything absolutely huge. Ashland is down and likely will continue to be mediocre over the next few years before the admins decide to give Coach Scott a budget to work with (if they stay in the GLIAC) and he can go find some athletes that can front run (aside from Hall/Knack/maybe Cutler)
Bottom Line: No one is a threat to GVSU. Who cares who wins the individual title? GV has always raced with a team-first mentality and we saw it last year at conference/regionals. They train through and get the meet done. The only thing they care about is NCAA's, so I don't think debating who's going to win individually or team-wise is even worth it at this point. Eddie Kompf is going to SVSU, not sure how none of you guys didn't just go find his social media accounts and see that he's been talking about it regularly.
Before anyone gets super butt-hurt, I don't go to GVSU and I didn't like them when I competed against them, but I definitely respected their team and staff because they grind harder than most.
This post is potentially thread ending. Love it.
Wow no way! I honestly didn't think GV would be able to find 7 guys and 7 girls of the schools, oh idk, 20,000 plus students, willing to work hard and run fast. If they don't care about individual titles, then go win an NCAA title. But, we all know that won't happen as long as Adams shows up to the meet, hungover or not.
Sincerely, GV H8tER 298
How do you know Adams State was hungover?
How do you know Adams State was hungover?
Of course this pure trolling but... I have some spare time right now.
Based on your comments I can only guess you are either in HS or just out within the last few years. 1) A grown adult probably wouldn't trash talk a bunch of college runners. 2) If you were in the college running scene long enough you would realize school enrollment numbers don't really matter when it comes to college athletics. Most runners that finish in the top 7 for any decent program were either recruited and receiving a scholarship or had contact with the coach prior to joining the team. They don't just show up for xc camp... Any team in the GLIAC is allowed just as many scholarships as GV and GV does not focus solely on distance running when handing out scholarships. As you said, you only need 7 guys. Really, you only need 5. Scan through past GV runners college and HS times and you will find scorers and All-Americans who came to GV with HS 3200m times ranging from 9:10 to over 10:00. It isn't simply a matter of more talent, they do a good job at developing runners of varying levels.
This is a thread about the GLIAC and GV has won the conference on the Men's side 14 consecutive years. So you were criticizing their team focus? Hilarious. GV only qualified for Nationals one time in school history prior to coach Baltes arriving. Since, they have qualified 14 consecutive seasons and continued improving to the point where they have finished runner-up 3 of the last 4 years. So it would idiotic, quite frankly, to suggest that they don't compete extremely well on a national level. They always stress being competitive on a team level and ONLY Adams has done it better in recent history out of the entire division. The Women's team has been THE premiere DII distance program in recent history. I just can't imagine a contributing member of Adams St coming on here to trash talk a another program so I suspect you either don't run for them or aren't high on their depth charts. Probably the first.
EDIT: 13 consecutive conference titles and national appearances.
I would say it is incorrect that GVSU works harder than anyone else over the summer or during the year! And working harder is not indicated solely by the number of miles you run in the summer. If a team is running 70 miles a week over the summer and another is running 110 miles a week, doesn't mean the 110 mile week team is going to be better! GVSU gets a lot of talent, they have numbers which makes them deep and everyone work hard bc they know they have to to be top 7, and then have the resources many other schools do not have.
Although, it should also be noted most of those 'numbers' are walk-ons or on small, partial scholarships. Also, GV started winning conferences before they had the new facilities, Alter G treadmill and trips to California in the spring. All of that came AFTER GV started winning conferences and qualifying for nationals. Certainly other schools in the conference are working as hard as they can but I don't think it can said anyone is working harder than GV. Look at outdoor conferences when GV had a number of top guys out and still scored points from every single mid-D and distance runner they put on the track. More depth? Sure. But they are able to quality performances regardless of talent level. And it isn't because of some secret training philosophy...
You can keep telling yourself that. But I'll say it again. If you're a 9:40 HS 3200 guy and you're running 70 miles per week over the summer and you think you're going to beat a 9:10 GV kid whose running 100 miles a week, you are wrong.
inthewaternow wrote:
I would say it is incorrect that GVSU works harder than anyone else over the summer or during the year! And working harder is not indicated solely by the number of miles you run in the summer. If a team is running 70 miles a week over the summer and another is running 110 miles a week, doesn't mean the 110 mile week team is going to be better! GVSU gets a lot of talent, they have numbers which makes them deep and everyone work hard bc they know they have to to be top 7, and then have the resources many other schools do not have.
Why is it that Grand Valley does not host a cross country meet? Many of the other GLIAC schools host their own invitational near the beginning of the season in which other GLIAC members as well as surrounding community colleges attend.
GV used to host meets at a golf course from around 02-04. It was a good course and they hoster Michigan Intercollegiates, conferences and regionals there. Unfortunately the location was bought by a developer and turned into a housing development. My understanding is the people who run the university golf course do not want xc meets held there. The only other on campus location is the Tower Trails which is mediocre at best for hosting meets. But as you stated, plenty of other schools host meets in the area and conference so is there really a need for GVSU to host a meet. Besides, they usually open at MSU. Perhaps they would rather just train until MSU instead of getting in another early season meet.
You are the man. Dropping knowledge on us all..!