The Church is involved in numerous humanitarian efforts helping others not of their faith. My brother and sister in law are on a second senior mission in Europe working humanitarian projects in that area. They did the same in Chile a couple of years ago. There are lots of things going on.
You're forgetting the secret sauce my guy. Shout out to Keyyan at Own It fitness if you're reading this. Small gym in the south of Provo that is basically kept alive through the frisbee players in the area. Keyyan is the best, most invested trainer I've ever seen. Just take a look at Joe Merrill and Devon Terry their freshman year and compare it to now. They've stacked on lean muscle for 4-5 years now and it shows.
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People get caught up in the culture war drama, but it’s the first two. Altitude based programs win the majority of national titles across levels. Three of the top four HS programs on the boys side (Herriman, AF, Niwot) are at altitude. Last year, Colorado had 1-3 on the girls side. DII, the national title history is all Adams State, Western, and Mines. People thought the dingus with the ponytail was a genius up in Boulder, despite all his questionable behavior. Don’t forget the dynasty that just ended at the middle-tier university at 7000 feet in AZ. Altitude is legal doping. BYU’s success is exactly what you should expect from a major university located at altitude.
Imagine when they start recruiting Kenyans on top of all this success
BYU gets the bad rap of hoarding their athletes longer than other schools because the Mormon mission thing but the reality is that those are the rules and nothing actually prevents other schools from doing the same. Their top 7 graduated HS:
2017, 2018, 2018, 2019, 2019, 2020, 2020
25, 24, 24, 23, 23, 22, 22
Actually, BYU's first guy just turned 26 in October.
No other university has a pool of runners to draw from as byu. If you are a mormon kid and want to run post HS you want to go to byu. Even the kids that don’t make it to byu go to byu jr and get developed there. If they succeed, they move up. If not, they stay at byu jr. byu has dozens and dozens of D1 runners waiting in the wings. There are plenty of universities they could run for but they won’t. They would rather go 5 years with the dream of running for byu (and not) then go to another respectable university and run for a great D1 program.
This times 10!!!!* Coupled with the other primary factors many have noted already (culture, coaching, living at altitude, etc…)
*their “b” team would Natty qualify most years. “c” team would be a bubble team many years. their club team would be at the top of most D1 conferences. Their isn’t a single program (at the D1 level) with the team depth they have or on their club team.
Altitude based programs win the majority of national titles across levels.
Not true of NCAA D1 until recent years.
Men: 1938-2000: 0 altitude winners in 62 years 2001-2012: 3 altitude winners in 12 years 2013-present: 10 altitude winners in 12 years Total: 13 altitude winners in 86 years
Women: 1981-1996: 0 altitude winners in 16 years 1997-2004: 5 altitude winners in 8 years 2005-2017: 0 altitude winners in 13 years 2018-present: 3 altitude winners in 7 years Total: 8 altitude winners in 44 years
To answer the OPs question, BYU is coached by Ed Eyestone. Except for perhaps Alberto Salazar, Eyestone has more credentials as a very successful athlete than any other coach, professional or collegiate, ever. He's been there, done that at every level.
Shalane Flanagan’s ‘08 silver medal and NY marathon win would disagree with this.
Coming from an LDS collegiate runner who didn’t go to BYU…
1. The 2 year mission obviously helps. While I was walking a ton on my mission, and it was hard work, my body did benefit from not running for 2 years. At least once I lost the 15-20 pounds that I gained. However, missions aren’t much of a priority for the women. I don’t know if any of the top 7 for the women’s team served a mission.
2. Clean living, good influences, good routines, good families, altitude, great coaches, supportive spouses. All help.
3. they have gotten really good athletes recently. Multiple NXN champions, plus running some times with Mantz, Young, etc helps as well.
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