NAIA XC/TF 2024-25

Three titles in three years is awful.

Was the third one girls indoor last year they all blend together. I only remember the two. He struck gold year one. I really don't understand why he was letting his program be used like a junior college. Don't think he's great at development but that made the biggest impact to where the kids didn't really respect their time there or how good the NAIA was.

The sprints program massively underachieved this year as well. They had a ridiculous class that in my opinion way underperformed

I said year two.

They won both titles a year ago and Sowder was doing podcasts saying “we’re not going anywhere, we’re going to win all 6 titles, we’re raising the bar for naia, etc.”

All this guy seems to do is pull in talent and it’s a roll of the dice to see if they improve at all.

Usually if they get any better they leave after a year or two it seems.

Half of the guys who they post as commitments never even seem to end up running there and they lose everything this season. Who’s even going to be there for xc?

What in the world happened to Donte Sol?

He barely qualified for indoor and placed 16th there. He didn’t even make outdoor nationals individually.

Zero All-Americans for a guy who two years ago was a national champ, then went d2 and was an All-American.

Roderick Soto ran on some good relays, but was a full second off his PR in the 400 (his main event).

What happened to Shevchenko outdoor? What happened with Caleb Rigney this entire season? That guy was a 4:13 miler a year ago!

Some Cumberlands guy was on here comparing Andrew Yeary to Payton Mauldin, and he only ran 1:56 this season and didn’t compete outdoor.

Andrew Barker was a part of some solid relays a year ago for them as a freshman, then he just disappeared off the face of the earth midway through this indoor season.

Noah McClellan finally had a breakout season this indoor, and now it seems like he’s injured.

Trost was the favorite to win the indoor 1k and choked in the final, then couldn’t qualify for outdoor nationals.

Victor Carpeggiani can’t seem to stay healthy for a full season.

Bartosz Trojnar and Ishak Mekideche have been huge disappointments.

Vaccari once again fell apart at nationals.

What happened to their heptathlete? She was second in heptathlon indoor and a top seed coming into outdoor nationals then she just didn’t finish all of her events at nationals.

Even in racewalk Bennett underperforms at every national meet. One of the Durant sisters hasn’t raced in like a year, and the other regressed significantly. Dillan Melchiore just started racewalk last year and somehow got worse with a year of experience.

If you run good at Cumberlands you leave. It seems like the only people who stay are people who are injured and never get a chance to get out. Mysteriously people just disappear, don’t check in, and run horrible at nationals. Great team management/culture.

Forgot to even mention the Salt Lake City CC guy they brought in who raced like one time.

What resources do they have that others do not? All top programs have scholarships do they not? They have more is overrated in my book.

Did they underperform outdoor absolutely compared to indoor. No conversation is needed on that.

Changing gears what has happened to Indiana Tech Mens and Womens team? They are awful now!

Southeastern is another program that underperforms. Located in Florida with athletic support and go look at results. They stink and won a title a few years ago. Guess it goes to show how hard it actually is to win.

I believe it’s called graduation.

They have never been heavy with the international athletes. Makes it hard when you need a year or two to develop HS athletes.

Look at the majority of the top teams…

International heavy with multiple athletes over the age of 25 that are “freshman”

This has been discussed SO MANY TIMES.

Cumberlands tuition is almost nothing. They have a massive online enrollment which allows them to spend a lot on their in person students. They compete well in just about every sport. That clearly takes a lot of funding.

Their academic requirements are extremely low and they have also have the money to offer scholarships to cover their already very low tuition.

Aside from British Columbia, who else has comparable resources to Cumberlands? Don’t just say “all the top teams” give me an actual answer.

Indiana Tech- Roark left and is building Huntington

Southeastern- Dodson is a masters coach to his wife instead of a college coach.

College of Idaho literally doesn’t have a track. They get access from two high schools. They also recruit almost entirely from the PNW.

Johnson University is recently reinstating their team! They are looking for recruits!

This is the reality for a lot of NAIA programs. Actually a surprising number of good ones too.

Cumberlands and BC are huge outliers, even in comparison to other top teams.

Of the top 5 teams. I think William Cary is the only one that fits that description. I Don't know much about Madonna however.

Marian won indoor with basically 0 internationals.

Same with coi and Taylor in xc.

The teams that stay at the top of the naia are the ones that are elite at development.

So you think BC and Cumberlands are only two schools at the NAIA max scholarships? Top talent cost money American or international especially now with transfer rules. The point with Ind Tech is this year was the worst year in Doug's era. So what happened because graduation wasn't a problem over the last 15 years for him.

Dude you just ignore every point anyone else anyone brings up. I’m sure a handful of other top teams do have good scholarship opportunities for their athletes. You’re ignoring everything else.

open.spotify.com

Building Championship Programs: Insights from University of the Cumberlands AD, Chris Kraftick / Ep 292

Airey Bros.'s Radio ?? Episode

Open link

He says every team has had a massive improvement in facilities in the past few years. He says it compares well to d1 and d2 teams facilities.

They have the third highest enrollment of any school in Kentucky and having money that no other NAIA school, aside from maybe UBC has.

He points out that because of their financial situation, they’re able to be competitive in every sport and come in with the intention of winning, while other NAIA schools just use athletics to boost enrollment.

He says what sets them apart the most is that they have cheap tuition along with good scholarships (NOT JUST GOOD SCHOLARSHIPS ITS MOSTLY THE CHEAP TUITION). He specifically says their total price is less than half of what most other private NAIA schools are and then they’re able to offer lots of scholarships after that.

He says other ADs joke that because their financial situation is so good that when coaches ask him for something he rarely ever has to say no

He says when he brings a coaching candidate in and shows them the facilities and tells them about the resources they’re shocked and say “we have to win”.

Sowder can chase whatever recruits he wants, go to whatever meets he wants, and buy whatever he wants for the program. He gets recruits there and they see facilities that look like they’re d1/d2 quality. Don’t try to tell me Marian, Taylor, or CoI can do the same.

I don’t blame Sowder for taking advantage of a good situation, I’m just not impressed with what he does given the resources.

Of course none of this is news to you because you work at Cumberlands.