Will Anyone Beat The Badgers In 2005 ?

anthony ford

In no way did I disrespect Colorado - I am not in denial about them out-performing the Badgers. However, I stand by my claim that EVERYTHING fell into place for them last November. If that had not been the case, they would have gotten second, okay? It is difficult to have that happen two years in a row.

There are a lot of 8:50 two-milers (as 17/18 yr olds) running NCAA xc, and I don\'t think all of them were in the top 8 or whatever that Schoolmeester and Vaughn were - the point is that they will be hard pressed to duplicate that performance again this year, just because it is hard and not all of the factors that control the outcome can be controlled by them. That\'s all I meant.

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GET OVER IT. Colorado WON NCAAs last year. You can bitch about it all you want, but the Wisconsin came in second. Maybe CUs top runners did so well at nationals was because they busted their balls all season and ran tough at nationals.

andyroo wrote:

In no way did I disrespect Colorado - I am not in denial about them out-performing the Badgers. However, I stand by my claim that EVERYTHING fell into place for them last November. If that had not been the case, they would have gotten second, okay? It is difficult to have that happen two years in a row.

There are a lot of 8:50 two-milers (as 17/18 yr olds) running NCAA xc, and I don't think all of them were in the top 8 or whatever that Schoolmeester and Vaughn were - the point is that they will be hard pressed to duplicate that performance again this year, just because it is hard and not all of the factors that control the outcome can be controlled by them. That's all I meant.

Fine. To make one of my points more clear, what I was trying to say is that I don't think Vaughn and Schoolmeester's performances last year should be viewed as flukes!

Vaughn, in particular, should be viewed as one of the favorites for ANY race he competes in for the rest of his NCAA career! With the year he had in 2004-05 I think he has proven himself to be one of the elite top five to ten runners in the NCAA, not one who shouldn't be expected to reach that level again. I mean hell, the guy ran 13:37 last year and, again has barely been running for 4 years. That's all.

yeah right. say all you want. the badgers blew their chances to win a championship last year. it will be the hogs for three years on. colorado won't be top 5.

Also, the Buffs always run better at XC compared to track. There are no less than 3 other schools that have more depth at the distances during outdoor track. CU has a great tradition of 30:30 type 10,000 meter guys going All-American at Cross. If they win again it will be an upset. They are always the underdogs, even as the defending Champions.

If you think Vaughn and Schoomeester have less talent than other guys in the NCAA you haven't done your research.

Brent Vaughn ran one of the best HS 3200m performances EVER when he ran a 9:06 at ALTITUDE to win the Colorado State title, after only beginning running his junior year.

Vaughn also finished right on the heels of Solinsky in the Arcadia 2-mile. He has plenty of talent, and only gets better as the distances get longer.

Schoolmeester was a terror in HS. He won everything, ran 9:18 at altitude all-alone to set a 3A HS record, and won the State title I think 3 times in a row in XC. Ran in the low 15's several times at altitude on tough courses, which is almost unheard of in CO with the exception of Adam Goucher, John McGuire, etc.

Yeah, Arkansas is stacked. They easily have the potential/talent to win. I am going with the Razorbacks.

yes.

Goodness, settle down! What a bunch of fanatics. First of all, I don't need to get over anything, I never had a problem in the first place. I gave CU props for winning last year, they earned it, and deserved it - UW did not deserve to win with the way they raced. That, though, has nothing to do with my posts. CU had everything fall into place - that is extremely difficult to do once, let alone multiple times.

As for Schoomeester and Vaughn, they ran perfect races last year. I am not criticizing their talent - I am pointing out that their is a wealth of talent out there that is similar to theirs. They are not head and shoulders above anybody. Flippin' Teg and Spiker were both top 10 as redshirt freshmen (I believe) - and they collectively made it back to the top 10 once (again, I'm going off of memory - I think Teg was 8th the next year, maybe not).

You know, a very strong argument can be made that the Badger's top three of Solinsky, Withrow and Bairu are all better than Vaughn and Schoolmeester. Bairu won last year, so he's got that, not to mention a low 28 10k. Solinsky was better than both in high school, and has a national championship, which neither of the CU boys have. And Withrow won one of the most competitive Footlocker races ever (with high-end talent) and was the US senior team's top finisher at Worlds.

Seriously, stop telling me to "get over" things that I don't have a problem with, and stop telling me that CU should be the favorite.

Tecnically, Vaughn and Schoolmeester both have national titles...national TEAM titles.

the hogs will skin the badgers bald!

I'll grant you that Solinsky has a individual title, but Vaughn got the better of him head to head last year 3 races to 2 I believe. Vaughn beat him at NC's xc, an indoor 5000 at U of Wash, and at NC's outdoor 5000. Solinsky got Brent at NC's indoor 5000 and at either the Stanford Invite or Cardinal Invite 5000, I can't remember which one.

Now, I am not claiming Brent is better - I am merely stating that they are both considered top 5-10 in NC's with it hard to distinguish who IS truly better. Yet Solinsky, and others, tend to get more props on here then Vaughn, which I think is unfounded!

"Solinsky was better than both in high school."

Yeah, that was high school. And Schoolmeester was a ONE second behind him at Arcadia. Since one second is such a big difference, right?

UWs top 3 might be better on paper, but last November they weren't. CU rocked them (well obviously not Bairu).

I agree with all recent posts, ARKANSAS in 2005.

Pfifer is a very good runner, but this is cross country and he is not going to touch Withrow. Didn't withrow beat the great Ritz at Worlds last year, yeah I think he did. Pfifer is not even gonna be in the top 20. I know Flame wound't post about Pfifer beating people, Flame is better than that.

IONA has imported a load of foreign runners who may turn out to be really good.Consider them a dark horse to win.

First off, when Solinsky beat Schoolmeester in 2002, he was a junior and Schoolmeester was a senior. Solinsky beat Vaughn by 2.4 seconds at Arcadia in 2003, and furthermore, those are track races and Solinsky was clearly a better xc runner then either. This whole thing is rediculous. I'm done talking about last year because there is no point and apparently if I have an opinion about the Badgers being good this year, it is meaningless because CU ran better at Nationals last year.

gibb - I agree with you that the CU boys don't get much respect, and that's a shame, they are very talented. All I meant was that it is hard, for anybody, to repeatedly perform at the top of their game at National meets - it's even harder to improve when you are so far up at the top. I could see either Vaughn or Schoolmeester (if they are healthy) in the top 10 again - they are certainly talented enough. But there are tons of other guys that are good enough to be top 10 also, and for some of those guys that it didn't work out for last year, maybe it will this year.

I think Arkanas is going to win the title. They have a great team and the best coach in NCAA History.