D III CENTRAL REGION

SJU not having a solid frontrunner is going to kill them. I will say a 25th place for the Johnnies. That is all.

...as well as Grinnell.

yeah, St Johns and Grinnell are going to get eaten up. There top guy will be about 100 place. No matter what way you look at it, even an outstanding race wouldnt put them in the top 15.

I think 100th is maybe a stretch. Perhaps Hunter can get that. I don't think Reich can though.

St. Olaf and Nebraska Wesleyan ought to do okay teamwise, but I don't think either will be able to make the top 10. Maybe 9th or 10th at the best if they all run well.

Our individuals are so solid this year. They have all been sub-25:10 at least I'm pretty sure. McKay, Chenoweth, Gleason, and Greeno I think will all get all-American, as well as Ruon if it isn't cold (his trouble with cold weather racing seem to be well-documented.) Actually if it's decent weather I reckon he'll be well inside the top 20 at worst. The other individuals could definitely be in the hunt for AA with a good race.

last year, north central's #1 guy finished 102nd (scoring 75), and they finished 16th as a team. of course, they had a 7-second spread. augie was just ahead of them with their #1 scoring 63 and a 14-second spread. allegheny didn't have anyone in the top sixty overall, and they finished seventh (30-second spread).

the moral is that you can finish in a decent team position without a front runner if you don't lose your fifth guy out the back end. st. john's and grinnell could certainly pull something like that off... after the weirdness of the region meet, who knows what the hell will happen?

I'm the say guy who said SJU would qualify for Nationals and I'm gonna say that they finish better than they did last year. I think they had a front runner then.

Big dorks wrote:

I'm the say guy who said SJU would qualify for Nationals and I'm gonna say that they finish better than they did last year. I think they had a front runner then.

Haha, just a bit of a front runner, yes.

A few pictures of the Central Region meet, lots of Coe but plenty of others as well.

http://sdcc-thephotos.smugmug.com/gallery/6585492_U2KET

those are great; thanks for posting.

i have never seen that many stocking hats and tights in a meet, and i've never seen anybody wearing a long-sleeve shirt instead of a jersey at a college meet. it must have been ridiculously cold. also, i have yet to see anyone run a good race in tights.

Fear the Oatbag!

Coe is goofy. Bringing stuffed animals to a college awards ceremony. I wasn\'t a big fan of that. But good luck to all that made it to Nats. Go Olaf and St Johns

113 wrote:

those are great; thanks for posting.

i have never seen that many stocking hats and tights in a meet, and i've never seen anybody wearing a long-sleeve shirt instead of a jersey at a college meet. it must have been ridiculously cold. also, i have yet to see anyone run a good race in tights.

Thanks 113, there would have been more but the cold was wreaking havoc with my camera battery.

With winds and temps both in the 20's, and a wet, muddy, and slick course, I thought the times were very good. Wartburg's long sleeve shirts were new to me too, but a good idea for the conditions, and not much different than a shirt under the singlet really. Maybe the start of a new trend.

As for Coe being goofy, I won't argue with that. Everyone has there own good luck charm(s). I once saw a 6 foot tall plastic Santa brought up for a team award ceremony. What you can't argue with is the rebirth of Coe College distance running. 3rd in the IIAC, 11th at regionals, and three All-Region spots, O'Neil and Schroeder on the men's side, and Schnell for the women, all school bests.

wow... obsessed much

biggie biggie wrote:

Coe is goofy. Bringing stuffed animals to a college awards ceremony. I wasn't a big fan of that.

Hobbes, Wobbes, Scott, Brian, Eliud, Ashes, Regina, Rhiannon, Jimi, and Kipchoge be fittin' to eat you if you don't quit yer whining.

November 21, 2008

FEATURE NEWS: Grinnell College Runner Has to Decide: Rhodes Interview or Cross-Country Race?

By Amby Burfoot

As a college cross-country runner, you could do worse than having Henry Reich as a teammate. A lot worse. Consider the possibilities. With his stellar academic record, including a double major in math and physics, the Grinnell College (Grinnell, Iowa) senior could give you a hand with those nasty homework assignments. When things get slow on a weekend, he could reach for one of the seven instruments he plays, and lift everyone's spirits with a rousing tune. (See Youtube video.)

Reich also runs in the high 25:00s/low 26:00s for 8K; that's going to help your team displace a few runners from the other side. In fact, he's been Grinnell's number one runner all fall, which helped the Pioneers qualify (for the first time in 17 years) for the NCAA Division III Cross Country Nationals in Hanover, Indiana, this Saturday.

Not that Reich and Grinnell are going to make much of a mark in Hanover. The team placed fourth in the Regional meet, with only two teams gaining automatic advancement. Grinnell squeaked in as an "at-large" selection among the 32-team Nationals. Reich himself was 20th at Regionals, with a 26:12 clocking. Longtime coach Will Freeman believes his squad is better than their Regionals result; he points to the team's top 5 sweep in the Midwest Conference. Still, come Nationals on Saturday, these guys are--sorry to say it--going to get buried.

So we could excuse Reich if he had to skip Nationals for a more-important date. Like, for example, a Rhodes Scholarship interview. The Rhodes interviews are being held in Minneapolis on Saturday, at midday, more or less the exact same time as the Nationals in Indiana. Reich has made the early cut; he's been invited to the all-important interview; the 32 winners of this coveted competition will receive three years of advanced education at England's Oxford University, courtesy of Cecil Rhodes's vision and largesse.

The Rhodes Scholars folks are justly proud that they don't simply select the applicants with the highest IQs; they're looking for something more and deeper - something that can only be discerned by a probing interview. From the Rhodes Scholar web site: "Intellectual distinction is a necessary but not a sufficient condition for election to a Rhodes Scholarship. Selection committees are charged to seek excellence in qualities of mind and in qualities of person which, in combination, offer the promise of effective service to the world in the decades ahead. The Rhodes Scholarships, in short, are investments in individuals rather than in project proposals."

The Rhodes people are quirky in another way: They don't make exceptions to their "be there or forget about it" interview requirement. You can't reschedule for another date. The interviews are on Saturday, November 22. Period. This tradition - the inflexible interview date - stretches back for nearly 100 years, and makes allowances for no one.

The list of notable Rhodes Scholars is long and, well, notable. We're talking Bill Clinton, Bill Bradley, various Supreme Court justices, many college presidents, Jack Lovelock (Olympic 1500 meter champ, 1936) and a guy who holds the world record for drinking "a yard glass of beer." Who wouldn't want to join this club?

Reich would like to join. And when he completed all his Rhodes application materials many months ago, he knew that he'd have to show up for the interview in Minneapolis on November 22. Here's what he didn't know, because it was a hazy, far-fetched dream at the time: He didn't know that the Grinnell Pioneers would qualify for the NCAA Championships that weekend. He didn't know that he'd have to make a decision. Rhodes Scholarship? Or cross country race?

To judge from an email letter Reich sent his teammates this week, he has wrestled hard with the choice. He's consulted family, friends, and many from the Grinnell community, including its current president, Russell K. Osgood, a past president, George Drake, who was himself both a Grinnell cross country runner and a Rhodes Scholar, and the coach, Will Freeman. Reich admits he has been "at pain trying to decide between racing at Nationals or going to interview for the Rhodes." In the end, he says, "I have come to the only conclusion that my heart knows is right."

Reich continues: "When I think of all that we have worked for, and all we have accomplished, and all we have sacrificed, I cannot bring myself in good faith to accept that I could be the runner who abandoned his teammates on the eve of their first team appearance at nationals in 17 years.

"That's just it. For me, this is my first and last chance to race at nationals and be part of a team that strives each day, each week, each year, to do more than they have ever done before. It is a once-in-a-lifetime experience for me, and while the Rhodes scholarship may be a life-changing endeavor, it is not an end in itself. There are many other paths I can take to graduate school or England or amazing international life-changing experiences, but there is only one path this weekend, and that path starts and ends with a group of young men at Grinnell College."

By Saturday afternoon, you should be able to find the Division III Cross Country Results online. You'll have to scan down the list pretty damn far to find Henry Reich and the Grinnell College Pioneers. Reich isn't going to win an individual title at Nationals, and he's not going to lead his college to a team victory.

Nor is he going to receive one of this year's Rhodes Scholarships. But you won't ever, for a moment, think that this Reich kid is a loser. Not for a moment. In fact, you'll be thinking that he made a weekend decision that lived up to the Rhodes spirit--he made a personal investment in the individuals on his team.

And whether you're a president, a senator, a scholar or a cross country runner, you can't make a better decision than that.

never mind, just saw the other thread. as you were.