Nico Young IS NOT a 5k Runner (Does not make NCAAs in 5k)

The Original Poster wrote:

I think a lot of the altitude guys struggled in the humidity. NAU, BYU and Colorado each only got one guy through in the long distance races.

At least for BYU that’s not true. One in the 10k, one in the 5k, two in the steeple.

I just looked it up and you are correct. I know D3 and JUCO get the extra year and assumed all levels would. Oh well.

So racing experience at different levels in the US or internationally does not matter? If you are not a coach, you should get into it like now. I'm sure athletes would flock to your team.

Now that Nico Young’s running career is officially over according to LRC, what is he going to do with the rest of his days? His athletes bio says he is studying exercise phys, what kind of job can you get with that?

dustdevil wrote:

SDSU Aztec wrote:

There is no learning curve. Either you can keep up or you can't. If a runner has something left, he's going to have a strong finish.

So racing experience at different levels in the US or internationally does not matter? If you are not a coach, you should get into it like now. I'm sure athletes would flock to your team.

Young didn't have enough left at the end of his race to qualify. What does that have to do with experience? You can believe he should have pushed the pace earlier but that's hardly rocket science.

A lot of runners have have done very well in their debut marathon. Why wasn't a learning curve needed?

It has nothing to do with experience or closing speed. He was cooked and wasn’t the only one. Plenty of solid runners struggled. He isn’t a god like some think and isn’t immune to bad races.

A lot of runners have have done very well in their debut marathon. Why wasn't a learning curve needed?[/quote]

I think there are a couple of reasons why this is true. The first is that the marathon is a lot less tactical than a championship 5k. That's not to say that you go into a marathon without a plan, but there is a lot less reacting to other what other guys are doing. Sure you don't know exactly where the big moves are going to come and you have to go with them when they do, but someone who is fit enough to run 2:10 for the most part, isn't going to have to deviate too far from the paces that need to be run to achieve 2:10. On the other hand, lots of good runners blow up in the marathon trials where it does tend to get more tactical early on.

Second, for most people, they debut in the marathon after years of competitive racing. So even though it is their marathon debut, they have years of racing experience where they have run in tactical races at distances other than the marathon, like tactical 5k's that may or may not have turned out all that well. In fact, the pattern of not turning out well could have been the factor that put them in the marathon in the first place.

SDSU Aztec wrote:

dustdevil wrote:

So racing experience at different levels in the US or internationally does not matter? If you are not a coach, you should get into it like now. I'm sure athletes would flock to your team.

Young didn't have enough left at the end of his race to qualify. What does that have to do with experience? You can believe he should have pushed the pace earlier but that's hardly rocket science.

A lot of runners have have done very well in their debut marathon. Why wasn't a learning curve needed?

Many people have also 'effed up their first marathon so that's where experience is needed. You can't compare that to a bunch of high level college kids on a very similar level of potential trying to run as close to the rail to try and run a shorter distance in what is essentially an elimination round. NY has shown he is an excellent time trialer. When he set the 3000m high school record he jumped into last place and got dragged along to the record. Or when he went 13:24 earlier in the year...very much the same thing. Well now he has to learn to race under various conditions. Rupp followed the same path. There was a time when everyone thought he was never going to win an NCAA title. That of course evolved to being the favorite to every single race he was in.

You people making declarations about this super stud true freshman runner are out of your minds. People have bad races. You can't declare today that he's not a 5,000 meter runner.

Everyone? I always thought Rupp was going to be a great runner.

Again, Young wasn't strong enough to qualify and the weather might have had an effect. Having more experience wouldn't changed that.

Did you run competitive track? There is no mental approach that's going to overcome fitness and talent.

In regard to Young needing to getting pulled to fast times, he still won NXN wire to wire.

The real question is was Nico wearing the super shoes? From watching the video he’s wearing white spikes with 3 stripes. I know he wore the orange dragonfly with 3 stripes painted over it when he ran the 5k record. I can’t tell if those are dragonfly’s or real adidas spikes from yesterday’s race.

The kid ran a sub 13:30 a month ago, leave him alone. Remember he is a true freshman competing in collegiate races for the first time. He had an off day, big deal. He’s got plenty of time

raging clue wrote:

The kid ran a sub 13:30 a month ago, leave him alone. Remember he is a true freshman competing in collegiate races for the first time. He had an off day, big deal. He’s got plenty of time

And he still has the Olympic Trials in a few weeks.

I swear man...every single day smh

***freshman, 18 year old runs 13:24 5k***

letsrun: "he's not even that good. jakob was faster"

Young and Mike Smith shouldn't waste their time with the Oly Trials.. that's championship racing and Nico is not suited for championship racing. Shut it down and get ready for XC. Next year there will be full teams and you won't have a COVID asterisk next to your performance.

LLBEAN66 wrote:

And he still has the Olympic Trials in a few weeks.

I think Nico should be more concerned with this 12 yr old looking to kick his a$$.

I don't know if this has been mentioned somewhere else in the post, but looking at the startling lists for the 5000 heats, you knew there would be some very fast runners that unfortunately wouldn't advance. Nico was one of them. So were Lalo Herrera of Colorado and Brandon Garnica of BYU, who had times of 13:24 and 13:26 this season. I'm surprised all 3 of these guys didn't qualify for NCAA's, but it's foolish to say that any of them are bad 5k runners--I mean they're all at or right above the Olympic Trials standard. Lalo has 3:38 speed, so it's not just a case of Nico not having the turnover to advance. In these tactical races, anything can happen. So if anything, I'd say they messed up their tactics yesterday. But, not a good 5k runner?? Nico is historically good for his age.

blackbeards candles wrote:

The Original Poster wrote:

I think a lot of the altitude guys struggled in the humidity. NAU, BYU and Colorado each only got one guy through in the long distance races.

At least for BYU that’s not true. One in the 10k, one in the 5k, two in the steeple.

Yep, I missed Clinger. Was not including steeple as a long distance race though.

The Original Poster wrote:

blackbeards candles wrote:

At least for BYU that’s not true. One in the 10k, one in the 5k, two in the steeple.

Yep, I missed Clinger. Was not including steeple as a long distance race though.

NAU has two also. Nur and Grijalva.

Colorado men had a bad meet. only 1 men qualify for NCAAs and he is a 6th year senior. Colorado / BYU women did very well though so i don't agree with the altitude argument.