Ivy Cross Country Heps 2022

Wow Brown men’s team is really REALLY bad. I am an outside observer of this whole “heps” thing.

Has Brown always been this bad? They could barely get their guys under 27!

Exactly. Impressive run by Iverson but he obviously cannot hold a candle to other top runners of the past. VCP is significantly easier and now they all are running using supershoes. Iverson doesn't break 24:20 under equal conditions as the previous generations.

When I was coaching I was surprised at how much Vanny was cleaned up. It used to be treacherous. I remember one race in the early eighties there was an abandoned car at the bottom of cemetery, and it was smoking. It’s good they made it safer, but that course at times was hazardous.

I'm not much of an expert, but will say something on the women's side to fill the void on this thread. The three tiers of women's programs (Harvard, Princeton, then Columbia, Penn, Dartmouth, then Yale, Brown, Cornell), played out as expected.

Maia Ramsden's individual win was no surprise, after her 10th place finish in the 1500 at NCAA's last year outdoors. Victoria Patterson of Columbia (transfer from Duke) was second. Phoebe Anderson, who is a star at Columbia, was fifth, which was a good performance because she has been sick - she must be feeling better now. Maeve Stiles of Penn was third, don't know much about her, except that she is a 2020 high school grad but is a freshman in XC. 4th was Corinne Robitaille of Dartmouth, best finish for a Dartmouth runner since 2015 or 2016.

So back to the team finishes. I thought Harvard would win but Princeton put up a good fight, with Fiona Max doing much better than she had in earlier races this year and placing in a pack with Lester and Loveys.

Penn over Columbia might be a bit surprising when you think about the star power at Columbia, but Columbia was missing one of its top 3 runners due to injury. You have to hand it to Penn. Dartmouth (5th) has gotten a lot better. Their depth is good and they are fairly young.

The poster above asked about Yale (6th, way behind Dartmouth but way ahead of Cornell and Brown). They lost their two stars from last year, including Delay. They actually did OK given their rebuilding situation.

boom. called it.

Brown's men's team is usually better than this.

Even over the past decade, when Brown finished 8th at Heps XC more often than not, they would regularly bounce back to beat all of the other Ivies, except Columbia and/or Dartmouth, in the Northeast Regional race a few weeks later.

Indoors and outdoors, the middle distance athletes (500m - Mile) were highly competitive on the track. The Men's DMR finished one place outside of All-American honors at 2018 NCAA Indoors. Martin Martinez broke 4:00 for the mile and 8:00 for 3K during the same season.

The program is currently at a nadir, however, due to the fact that the administration attempted to cut Men's Track / XC in 2020. The school only reversed this decision because its announcement came during a wave of nationwide BLM / civil rights demonstrations and therefore drew widespread condemnation, as Track is one of the most diverse teams at Brown.

In 2021, the AD sacked longtime head Track / XC coach Tim Springfield. Springfield's assistant, Kurt Benninger (Molly Huddle's husband), took over, but he has not enjoyed much success so far. I can't speak directly to Benninger's training program, but I suspect the problem is a lack of raw talent on the roster.

Brown's administration crippled a program that was already struggling to compete against Princeton and Harvard for quality recruits. Who would sign up to run for a program that might get cut - again - at any moment? Brown's recruiting pipeline will run dry for the foreseeable future.

The current squad is comprised of NESCAC-calibre athletes who would have been unrecruited walk-ons at Brown in years past. You need better raw materials to finish mid-table or higher in the Ivy League.

Princeton peaks at Heps. Harvard seems to be more suited for regionals and national 10ks. If you look at the rosters, Princeton has more mid d guys and Harvard leans more to true distance guys.

Princeton also has an easier Region to compete in than Harvard. The Mid-Atlantic barely advances more than 2 teams out of it (usually just the auto team berths), while the Northeast can snag in an additional team or two based on the Kolas points AND there are more strong programs to contend with (Syracuse, Iona, Providence). So Princeton typically peaks for HepsXC, coasts through Regionals to advance at Nationals, and is just present. This seems to be their MO for awhile now.

Agree. At the NE regionals last year Blanks was 2nd and Iverson 5th. They should be favorites for 1 and 2 for the next two years at NE regionals. Monte should also be in the mix next year at Heps.

I mean yes, the mid atlantic and northeast regions are both generally weak, but I don't think it really matters that princeton has an "easier region" than Harvard when they are 3-0 against the crimson this year, and would be a safe top 2 in the northeast region every single year, just as they are in the mid atlantic. Given that Harvard has only seen recent success, the mid Atlantic top 3 of Georgetown, Villanova, and Princeton are much historically stronger than the Northeast Cuse, Harvard, Iona.

Thanks for the summary/recap!

Peak at HEPS vs peak at regionals is a real thing, especially for teams on the margin. It will be interesting to compare relative performance and see if strategies paid off.