MIAC 2025 XC

Five MIAC men and two MIAC women make the 800m led by Big John! Cole sits in a great spot in 13th. The mile scratched so deep that Gabe almost made it despite not racing last chance!

I find it hilarious that Chunko now has to be assistant for someone he told what to do for years. I bet that guy can’t wait to tell Chunko to shut up and say I have better ways to do things.

I wonder if the money being diverted will negatively impact the distance program? The Oles didn’t go to a meet more than a few hours away and as a result Turlington didn’t qualify in the 3K and they only ran one productive relay. I’ve been told that’s because the strength coach didn’t approve travel. I’m fairly certain Turlington is undefeated this Indoor season. What kind of prep is that for a Cross Country All-America.

Will the strength coach allocate resources if they get a top hurdler or sprinter that should compete in warm weather? Hopefully the new coach can have a say in how the money is spent and create a model like St. John’s which is both much more balanced and more consistently competitive.

Chunko posted about some washed Ole marathoner and hasn’t even announced the national qualifiers. I’ll never understand this guy’s priorities or lack of social media game.

"Just saw someone else succeed, and let me tell you what, i'm MISERABLE as usual!"

I spoke with John Waters, the Ole Assistant Athletic Director for Sports Performance, this weekend. He seems very excited about the change. He said it is not a reflection of poor performance on Power's part, in fact, he has "done a good job." He thinks not having to worry about extra details during track will allow Power to "lean into" being at the top of the cross country hierarchy and bringing in new blood will allow the Oles to get over the hump in Track. He said, "we're at St. Olaf to build champs, aren't we?"

He's very high on Antone and said Power will eventually get over it because at the end of the day he's a professional and will want to win no matter what role he holds in the organization.

Wow, so you're like, really important! That's actually like, really chill. Did you make sure to remind him to bookmark Le Letsrun threads for the premiere unbiased news reporting within the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference?

I love to think that Olaf's a sleeping giant in track, but honestly where are you getting that from? "Power focused entirely on distance" - this sure as hell isn't a Power thing, I ran for Phil my whole career and if we had a well-rounded track powerhouse, that's news to me

I ran for Power and this is stupid.

In recent years, the Oles had Top Ten Event Squads in the Hurdles, Shot Put, Decathlon, and Long Jump. In the last five years, under Power, they have had MIAC Champs in Long Jump, Triple Jump, Shot Put, and High Jump. They haven't finished lower than 3rd since 2019. So that's about as good as you can get in the MIAC. I think all the guys generally liked him and thought he supported all event groups well. They also liked Antone and so does Power. They coached together before and I can remember how excited Power was to hire him. This will be good for both programs and keeps a good coach at Olaf. Antone does a lot for the women's team, so hopefully they figure out how manage without him, but I think all the coaches work really well together. If Power is upset, it's probably because he has a boss that says dumb things to him or random message board posters. The Ole admin has never liked the cross country or track programs.

Saw Chunko walk into Reunion tonight with his lady and I have to apologize for doubting his game. While he’s a Northfield 4.5, that tall blonde cougar was easily a Northfield 12. And at least a 8 on either campus. Good on you sir.

His gf is weirdly short. So not her. Does Olaf have a morality clause? Cuz he’s definitely stepping out on her.

Stride Report has a similar thought. That can't help recruiting when a national publication notes that either the coach is too lazy or the school is too cheap to take a runner of that caliber to race somewhere competitive.

While he hasn’t run in the same caliber of fields as some of the other guys in this race have, it’s worth noting that Kevin Turlington has not lost an individual race longer than a mile throughout this indoor track season.

Isn't it a good thing that he hasn't lost....

There was a huge stink about Olaf splitting up their team to three meets literally one month ago, and for Power taking his XC team to the Northeast last fall. Does that sound like a team who is struggling with budgets? (To also now pay another assistant a head coach salary, instead of the women's coach taking over for the men like the "rumor has it" chuds kept saying?)

Meanwhile before Xc conf you applauded Nick Larson for taking Mo Bati to WASECA to run a 4K race with not a soul for competition. Muh "What kind of prep is that for a Cross Country All-America"

Supposedly, and I’ve heard this directly from Oles, the school is trying to rein in spending. I’m not sure if the promotion is going to be that much more money for the assistant, but it’s possible they want someone who doesn’t spend as much in the long run. Which is why they want a smaller team too. They weren’t sure they would be able to go out east for XC and as a result had a small home meet instead of traveling the rest of the squad somewhere this weekend.

The team felt the reason they didn’t race in California last year was due to the AD tightening the budget. That likely kept Andrew Skemp and Turlington from qualifying in the 10K. In the past, Power took athletes to Boston and California, but not recently. Skemp can probably say more, but from my understanding the AD’s don’t think they need to travel like that to race fast and didn’t want to spend the money. And they also don’t like hiring pacers, but I know Power has paid out of his own pocket for that before. Or at least he did for Bocovich and Kelly at St. Thomas.

And Mo is different, he was a 26 year old semi pro with a family. Larson could have told him you’re running versus the Minnesota running club and he would have done the same thing he always does. Not traveling probably worked best for his work and family life anyway.

The Ole AD's are basketball coaches and strength coaches. If Chunko can't wise up and play their game we'll see a new head XC coach too. The AD wants to be competitive in the conference. Unless he can win Nationals they don't care. The AD hates split squad meets because they cost money and would never do that in basketball. The strength coach/AD is carrying out her orders, but also appears to not like Power. An interesting combo for sure.

I've seen him with the short one at Carbone's before. I also thought she was out of his league. The best description a teammate had was that she looks like she votes Republican but makes good cookies.

While it’s probably exciting for some of you incels to contemplate what sort of game the Ole coach has in juggling Northfield soccer moms, I’d rather talk about recruiting.

Milesplit posted about Bethel signing a 1:55 guy. Seems like a big deal for Milesplit to share Bethel recruiting news. This gives Victor a high level training partner. And that will help in their national recruiting too.

Speaking of Mo, he had his official pro debut last weekend at the Gate River 15K. Looks like he finished 17th overall. That sounds more fun than running tiny circles indoor.

Do you think a Milesplit social media post is prolific than the having an Olympic coach? I think that's the biggest win in recruiting.