Good point. I can see how the desire to close the gap, along with the pressure of carrying the hopes of all the distance running fans in the country on your shoulders, can influence them pushing up to and past their limits.
As much as we justifiably criticize Al Sal, I give him credit for taking the long-term big picture gradual development approach with Rupp. That approach allowed Galen to make steady incremental progress that resulted in medals, records, and wins, while staying healthy.
Hopefully Fisher and Jerry are taking notes on what works and doesn’t. They’re doing great so far. The key will be sustained progress.
Yes, a good reminder that Fisher is turning out to be one of the (rare) ones who rises to the very front pack of world class distance running. But sure is a small club.
People can be deceived by people they know really well. It happens all the time. Humans are very good at hiding their sins. Derricks opinion of her matters little compared to a positive test.
Indeed. A college teammate of mine admitted to a "minor" doping transgression (no advantage, but still a violation). This person was a sociopath and very manipulative, and so most people, including most of my other teammates thought they were a fantastic person. A few people like myself saw through it, or were victimized by this person (bullied, had stuff stolen etc.), but people didn't want to hear what they didn't want to hear about someone they perceive to be good and honest, and who is nice to them.
I've not told too many people about it because I figure it would just be used against me/no one would believe me (no physical evidence + athlete "seems like a good person" impression, would probably deny having told me about it). I suspect similar with Shelby... when people like Derrick or other teammates stand up for her, I feel that their defence is sincerely felt, but that like many people they have been charmed and/or don't want to believe what's in front of their eyes.
Jonathan Gault has conducted a great interview with Derrick who has hung up his super shoes.Read it here:https://www.letsrun.com/news/2022/08/the-exit-interview-chris-derrick-retires-from-professional-running/
Good point. I can see how the desire to close the gap, along with the pressure of carrying the hopes of all the distance running fans in the country on your shoulders, can influence them pushing up to and past their limits.
As much as we justifiably criticize Al Sal, I give him credit for taking the long-term big picture gradual development approach with Rupp. That approach allowed Galen to make steady incremental progress that resulted in medals, records, and wins, while staying healthy.
Hopefully Fisher and Jerry are taking notes on what works and doesn’t. They’re doing great so far. The key will be sustained progress.
Yes, a good reminder that Fisher is turning out to be one of the (rare) ones who rises to the very front pack of world class distance running. But sure is a small club.
And I don’t mean to imply that you have to rise to Fisher’s level to have had a successful and/or satisfying pro career.
"Derrick looked completely relaxed as he came down the finish straight. As he broke the tape, he held up three fingers with his right hand, then made a circle with his index finger and thumb around his right eye. When asked about the gesture after the race, he said it was the "three goggles" sign sometimes flashed by NBA players after they hit three-point shots." (After winning his third straight USA XC title)
Arcadia was fast for many years before that, and why Derrick targeted it for a 5km attempt.
Solinsky ran under 8:50 there as a junior, Webb vs Hall vs Jeffersons in 2000, the list goes on.
I've received a lot of responses on this point so perhaps I'm overstating the impact. There have always been some fast times that have been run at Arcadia.
However the depth was nowhere near what it became. Look at it this way - there was only one year from 1999-2009 with more than 8 sub-9's. From 2010 to now the fewest there have been in any year is 10. Here are the results by year: (omitting for space)
What's weird is the year immediately after him (2009) had only 3. That was a stacked field, so I suspect something affected it like the race getting out slow.
If you adjust for overall improvements in high school performance, does that make things any different? In fact I'd think that a meet like Arcadia would be bumped up more than the average meet if the top high schoolers get better, because it draws top performers more than the John Q Doe Invitational in Nowheresville, Tennessee.
I wanted to talk about the Houlihan case. When the news broke about Shelby’s suspension broke, you wrote a pretty strong, impassioned defense of her on Instagram. Do you still stand by that?
I do.
You wrote at the time, “I’d like to think that the way BTC and its members have conducted themselves over the years has earned us the respect of our peers, the benefit of the doubt.” In my experience on social media and on our messageboards, and talking to people in person at meets, I’d say the majority of people – maybe the significant majority – don’t believe her. They think she cheated. Has that been your experience? And have you been surprised at all in the way the public reaction has reacted to this case?
I think that if something like that were happen to me, I would honestly be suicidal.
-Chris Derrick Talking about the Shelby Houlihan Doping Positive
I’ve generally tried to avoid reading about [it], which maybe makes me not a particularly good teammate. I just find it extremely hard to hear people say those things. And I don’t blame anyone for saying it because I’m sure I would think the same thing and in that sense, I’m not surprised. I used to read LetsRun, I know how people think, and I certainly know how it looks and how I would think if I didn’t know her and I can’t blame anyone for that. I really do strongly believe in her and I absolutely believe in the team and Jerry and their integrity. I just find it very, very hard to think about. I think that if something like that were happen to me, I would honestly be suicidal.
I think one of the things that I carried with me when I was really struggling with running is that idea – which seems pretty naive, I guess – that the choices, in terms of how I carry myself and doing things the right way, that at least, would last. That people would know that. And I guess her whole situation has made me think that’s all extremely tenuous and you actually don’t control what anyone thinks about you. Obviously, you can’t control whether people think you’re good or not, but also if you’re honest or anything like that.
Part of the problem too is I’ve read the internet too much. I know how people think and argue and I can’t even tell them that they’re wrong all the time. I can’t be like, “Sometimes you’re right and sometimes you’re wrong and this time I think you’re wrong.” That’s not convincing. You want totalizing answers. And I know that I’ve heard stuff from behind the scenes from some people in power who I think have a lot of legitimacy that would have privy information that they think that she is innocent and I wish that some of those people would speak more loudly. But it’s not for me to say.
I can’t blame anyone for thinking what they think. The world kind of sucks sometimes so I’m not going to tell you that it’s all roses and rainbows. It just makes me extremely, extremely sad.
Chris Derrick sounds ridiculous. A Stanford education and that is the result? A man who has such limited analytical powers that he comes across as someone who cannot reason with lucidity. You would be suicidal? What a foolish thing to say. Why would you be suicidal? This guy makes no sense. He is either extraordinarily naive or he is playing dumb.
So if someone says something you don't agree with then they are ridiculous 😂
BTC is the best in the country at developing distance track athletes. If I want to be the best 5k-10k steeple athlete I would want to be a member of BTC and be coached by Jerry.
Cross and Marathon does not fit in with what they are best at. I understand that Amy and Shalane had success in the Marathon but they are the exception not the rule. Jerry has a well oiled machine and the Marathon and Cross does not fit in.
Chris is a great Cross runner with the skill set to be an excellent marathoner. The problem is that he is also a great teammate and that was not the focus of this team.
How many marathoners are currently on the roster? They had zero finishers in the 2020 marathon trials and have had nothing since and no one working toward that.
This is false. BTC does not do a good job at “developing” runners. That would mean that the members of BTC all consistently show improvements over time. All of the runners came into the program as already-talented and fast. Chris Derrick came into the program as a nationally ranked runner. BTC actually destroys runners’ careers. They all 100% plateau
First of all, Derrick came across as nothing more than an apologist for Shelby. The rest was window dressing. Secondly, suicide is an extremely serious subject, as are mental health issues, and to conflate this serious subject with someone who decided to take PEDs to perform better in athletics and then was busted shows a shallow perspective. Why would the person be suicidal? Do they feel such shame in being exposed as a cheater? Maybe think about that before you cheat. Plus Shelby can still have a life. It strikes me as hollow and superficial as when OJ was in the Bronco after killing his wife and he said he had a gun and was possibly going to kill himself. Derrick plays the fool well. So do you.
I completely agree here. Derrick's reply was so lukewarm. He couldn't say, "Yeah, all the burrito stuff is totally ridiculous." No, he's gonna run circles around logic and talk about suicide. I'm not impressed and BTC is still pathetic regarding the whole Shelby thing because they are all obviously full of ****.
I'm not going to blame him for believing her. She's clearly guilty, but she's also adamant that she didn't do it and her coach, the leader of that team is firmly behind her. It doesn't surprise me that the rest of the group falls into line - it's more than their contracts are worth to come out strongly against it, or in Derrick's case, any hopes of a future relationship with Nike or BTC.
But unlike Jon Gault, I don't see this steadfast support as evidence of her innocence. Circling the wagons like this happens all the time in doping cases. Doping in cycling was known about for decades before it became an issue, everyone knows about omerta. With all these doping stories, they fall apart slowly, then all at once. The question now is: would it really surprise anyone if another BTC athlete got popped for doping? The honest answer is "no." That's the long-term effect of this case.