Atlantic Region DIII XC

Actually, re-reading the interview, I think we're getting a 50/50 mix of stuff he actually believes and stuff that he says to get a rise out of people. Look at the last big response he gave. He sounds like a very skillful, letsrun-style troll. I think he may, in fact, be playing a character in some of this interview.

Anyways, back to the running. Go Kosgei.

nate, theres more to life than atlantic region xc. stop posting, you look like an idiot.

I can sympathize with his not calling anybody by their names since at least he is consistent, and his saying he is better than Kosegie is not really arrogant, he doesn't give him much credit granted but if he thinks he didn't run the best race to beat Kosegie, power to him (though I think Kosegie has demonstrated he is going to be really tough to beat and can run fast times). He does really snub Kosegie though when he mentions how he likes great competition and leaves out Kosegie, along with everybody else not from Cortland or Calvin, which is noticeable since he spends a fair portion of the interview talking about how he can really beat him and what not.

As to being humble, acknowledging that your opponents are good is not being PC it is being tactful. In distance running, more than sprinting, boxing, basketball or soccer, there is so much that can happen in the length of a race and so many variables that to have the arrogant attitude people say distance runners need is out of place. Much more of distance running relies on yourself and your ability to react to the competition. Iverson can choke his coach and say he is the best and his team sucks, that doesn't exist with distance running. Justin Gatlin can run his race and win* and say nobody can beat him. But for El Guerrouj to say he is the best ever and nobody can beat him is out of place, even though he was able to beat Legat 19 times without losing before 2004. Steve Ovett was the brash distance runner people think the sport needs but when people think of inspirational runners and ones who got them involved in the sport it is the soft spoken Seb Coe who comes to mind.

That is my 2 cents on the issue and I think a better topic would be to start wondering who from the Atlantic Region is in a position to be in the top 35 Saturday for All-American. Just giving the results a quick skim I would say the region could get up to 10 (the same as last year) if not more.

Latrell Sprewell choked his coach, not Allen Iverson.

P.S. None of the broad generalizations you made comparing other sports to running made sense. Gatlin has more chance of screw up in the 100 since everthing has to be perfect to the hundreth of a second compared to El G in a race under 3:30. Unless distance runners leave it to a kick the fitter, faster person typically prevails. Especially in rabbited races.

Atlantic Region All-Americans:

Shoe-ins-

Kosgei, Hamilton

Abdallah, NYU

Schneider, NYU

Williams, NYU

Nally, Cortland

Dubois, Cortland

Guerriero, TCNJ

Borderline-

Donohoe, SLU

Wager, Cortland

McCarthy, NYU

Popeson, NYU

Epstein, Nazareth

Stenuf, Nazareth

Henry, Cortland

I'm gonna say 11 or 12 AA's for the Atlantic Region this year.

nate lowe wrote:

nate, theres more to life than atlantic region xc. stop posting, you look like an idiot.

If I could run right now, I'd be in here far less. Unfortunately, I can't do what I want to with my running, and I'm still pretty connected to the team, so here I am. Hate to disappoint you...

stank wrote:

Yeah, but it's probably not all that comforting to know that Cortland can sweep his [Woods's] "a" team.

It's pretty boring being right all the time.

My mistake wth the Sprewell/ Iverson mix up. Though I don't think Gatlin has more chance to screw-up than El G. In general sprinters have less oportunity to mess up than distance folk and are less at the mercy of responding to their competitors. A 100m race is broken into 3 sections, and simply because the margin of victory is less does not mean that there is less of a margin of error. Furthermore that margin of error is mostly within one's control and thus a well run race lends itself to more self praise than a distance race would. Just for a few examples I would point to Jim Ryun's tactical blunder early in the 1968 Olympic 1500, the 2000 Olympic Trials 5K when the field let Bob Kennedy go early, the 2004 Olympic Trials Marathon when Sell almost won an Olympic spot. There is of course a swath of other examples which I'm sure will come to mind where distance races have not come to a kick (by which I assume you mean a strategic race and not simply a close finish) and tactics have been the deciding factor in the race.

I'd would move Donahoe, Epstien and Stenuf up into, while not shoe ins, more than borderline candidates for All-American. It would be a massive improvement for Stenuf who finished 29th in the Region last year. It will be interesting to see what the mid-distance runners who improved a lot in XC will do come track.

Predics wrote:

Atlantic Region All-Americans:

Shoe-ins-

Kosgei, Hamilton

Abdallah, NYU

Schneider, NYU

Williams, NYU

Nally, Cortland

Dubois, Cortland

Guerriero, TCNJ

Borderline-

Donohoe, SLU

Wager, Cortland

McCarthy, NYU

Popeson, NYU

Epstein, Nazareth

Stenuf, Nazareth

Henry, Cortland

I'm gonna say 11 or 12 AA's for the Atlantic Region this year.

All the years later, and some people still forget that there is no such thing as a shoe-in. That's why they run the races.

11 or 12 AAs... seriously? you realize there are good people in every region, don't you?

I dont know who you are but I have to ask. Is it boring being self congratulatory tool as well?

stank wrote:

stank wrote:

Yeah, but it's probably not all that comforting to know that Cortland can sweep his [Woods's] "a" team.

It's pretty boring being right all the time.

Yup...our region had 10 last year and I feel that we're stronger this year.

You honestly dont think those guys can finish in the top 35? Almost all of them went sub 25 on a challenging Van Cortlandt course.

We may not get 12 but I dont see why we cant get 10 or 11 with the talent this region has.

Predics wrote:

You honestly dont think those guys can finish in the top 35? Almost all of them went sub 25 on a challenging Van Cortlandt course.

A challenging Van Cortlant Course?? It wasn't even the course that was usually run. Instead the course was said to be easier than the usual course ran. I would not call the course they ran on Saturday that challenging.

[quote]smellyshoes wrote:

I dont know who you are but I have to ask. Is it boring being self congratulatory tool as well?[quote]

No, I highly recommend trying it sometime.

I just wanted to point out to all the people that directly told me I was wrong that in fact it was they who were mistaken. Namely yoyo, nate lowe and sunyac fan.

the van cortlandt course at regionals was easier than the girls will be on friday and saturday night at st. olaf.

The region has some talented runners, but to say the VCP course was challenging is a joke. It is much flatter and faster than the traditional VCP course. Based on my very unscientific back-of-the-napkin figuring, the usual VCP course runs about 20-30 seconds slower than Paul Short (this is based on teams like Princeton and Iona who ran Paul Short and conferences at VCP). Cortland's times were about 10-20 seconds faster at the "new VCP" than Paul Short across the board. So even on the low end, add about 30 seconds to times from this past weekend to get their "equivalent" on the "old VCP" course.

Even then, that would put around 25 runners under 26 minutes. In 2001, a grand total of zero athletes went under 26 minutes at regions. Ithaca even finished in the top-10 at nationals that year (averaging 26:48 at regions), and there were a few All-Americans in that top group. The region is definitely better than in 2001, but I doubt it's improved that much.

in 2001, they also ran the back hills unlike this year.

That was my point.

I was trying to equate this year's times to what they would've been on the traditional VCP course. I then compared those times to the 2001 race which was run on the traditional course.

What it boils down to is this: this year's course is much, much faster/easier/flatter/etc. than the traditional course.

While the course is a little faster, it really boils down to the fact that the region is by far stronger than it was in 2001.

spencerport sucks wrote:

That was my point.

I was trying to equate this year's times to what they would've been on the traditional VCP course. I then compared those times to the 2001 race which was run on the traditional course.

What it boils down to is this: this year's course is much, much faster/easier/flatter/etc. than the traditional course.