Talkin' HEPS XC, 2009!

Week 4:

Princeton women are currently #7 in the country, according to USTFCCCA.org. They dropped 2 spots since the last poll, due to the performances of Florida State and Colorado at Pre-Nats.

Harvard women (1) is the only other Ivy squad that received any votes in both the men and women polls.

Columbia received votes in the men's poll, 32nd behind Minn.

gmen wrote:

Columbia received votes in the men's poll, 32nd behind Minn.

That's correct: Columbia received 15 points, putting them in 32nd place. Sorry for the original oversight.

Also, the corrected times for Heps are posted on Hepstrack.com. Brett Hoover was able to confirm the 11:15/12:15/1pm times from an official.

Cool clip of the Columbia boys on Workout Wednesday..

Loved Coach Wood's quote in the cab at the end of the workout. The one about the "mutual respect and some disdain" at Heps. Pretty accurate assessment too, with the Ivy AD's only caring about Heps.

Who among fans is going to make it to Heps next Friday? How many of you actively take photos with your phone and email them to people? Hepstrack.com would like to try and get candid and action photos from the races from fans. Check out the details at the link below:

http://hepstrack.com/2009/10/19/help-us-at-heps/

Is VCP still torn up with construction? Will the start be like last year?

VCP is worse than last year. The entire field is closed, with no end to the construction in sight. I imagine the races will need to start on the cinder path parallel to Broadway, as have the NYRR events.

The course definately will have a different feel to it this year. Everyone will start off pretty close to where they did last year in the corner by the tennis courts. You run straight towards the entrance to the woods but stay on the flats and do a full loop of the flats and then after the loop you enter into the freshman loop and then into the back hills.

Once you get out of the back hill an come down the steep hill after the bridge you take a left (where you would normally go right and go around the flats). You go about 600 meters on the flats then go back into the woods to do Cemetary. From this point its the same as always-Descend cemetary down onto the flats and down the long finishing straight on the flats.

Arguably harder course now with not having as much recovery in between the back hills and cemetary but I suppose we shall see.

*definitely

*Cemetery

New Course wrote:

The course definately will have a different feel to it this year. Everyone will start off pretty close to where they did last year in the corner by the tennis courts. You run straight towards the entrance to the woods but stay on the flats and do a full loop of the flats and then after the loop you enter into the freshman loop and then into the back hills.

Once you get out of the back hill an come down the steep hill after the bridge you take a left (where you would normally go right and go around the flats). You go about 600 meters on the flats then go back into the woods to do Cemetary. From this point its the same as always-Descend cemetary down onto the flats and down the long finishing straight on the flats.

Thanks very much! I had wondered how the course would be reconfigured.

Anybody know how long the repairs are projected to continue? Seems like the Mike ("Get it done") Bloomberg administration is dropping the ball on this one...

so what are people's prediction for individuals?

You can't redshirt a year in the Ivys, right? What do people do if they're injured for a year and go to grad school? Do people use that year? What is the history behind it? Anybody doing it now/next year?

uw wrote:

*definitely

*Cemetery

STFU. What do you hope to accomplish by correcting me? I was trying to provide everyone with info and wrote something quickly.

statsguy wrote:

You can't redshirt a year in the Ivys, right? What do people do if they're injured for a year and go to grad school? Do people use that year? What is the history behind it? Anybody doing it now/next year?

I'm pretty sure an extra undergrad year is available at Ivies in case of injury--you'd probably have to petition for it--but that grad school is not. Maybe someone who knows (rather than speculates) will give us better info.

Bear in mind that Ivy grad schools attract tons of outstanding people who might have a season/year of unused eligibility from their previous DI. The Ivies decided not to get into that whole mess, so no grad-student eligibility for anyone, IIRC. Instead, a fair number of Ivy grads with remaining eligibility go to OTHER grad schools, e.g. Michael Maag from Princeton to Oregon.

Anyone know what happened to Princeton's Christy Johnson?

I would have to think they should be ranked second or third in the country if they had her. Still injured? Is she still even on the team? There's no mention of her anywhere in Princeton's stuff.

Ivydel wrote:

Anyone know what happened to Princeton's Christy Johnson?

I would have to think they should be ranked second or third in the country if they had her. Still injured? Is she still even on the team? There's no mention of her anywhere in Princeton's stuff.

Unfortunately she is still injured, related to her hip stress fracture. As you say to be ranked as high as they are with a missing All-American is remarkable.

I know that at Harvard, you get 4 years and that is it. I had to redshirt one year, and was told by Coach Turner at the end of my undegrad there that you only get four years to compete, and you can't compete as a grad student at Harvard. I was able to run my last outdoor season as a grad student at another D1 school but in a different conference (UMass, as a part of the Atlantic 10 conference). Yeah, that was a culture shock.

Thanks, Tigerfan.

Poor Christy. She needs to get together with Stanford's Anne St. Geme so they can eat ice cream together and braid each others' hair. Two smart, talented runners held in limbo by injuries while the college clock just ticks away.