INSANE times at Patriot League Championships

was anyone there? wrote:

FormerXC wrote:

I have some old contacts at BU, and can speak to the inaccuracy of your post.

Their XC program is not "fully funded." In fact, funding has been reduced significantly this year, with much less scholarship availability and equipment. Very few of the current XC men and women joined the team at BU with scholarship offers. Some of them may have been awarded scholarships after winning PL last year, but this is a pretty standard practice for D1 programs.

The TTC has been off-limits since Covid-19 safety protocols were enacted, so BU's athletes haven't been able to use their facilities for about a year. XC training and races are not conducted indoors or on a track anyways (except possible interval workouts), so these facilities serve no advantage. In a race setting, sure, they run faster times on their indoor track than on flat tracks, but so do their competition who shares the same racing surface.

If you check the news or hear through word of mouth, the city of Boston is extremely strict with its mask mandate, as is BU, so these athletes have been training in masks since last spring, which is a major disadvantage. I read that they are still unable to meet in groups larger than 9 for practice. I have also heard that most of BU's normal routes are not usable due to concerns about social distancing. It may be an "amazing city," but I don't see how a city campus is advantageous over other locations, particularly during a pandemic.

Regarding international athletes and fifth years, all you need to do to disprove yourself is look at their roster. On the women's side, there are only 2 international students (Cyprus and Sweden), and only 1 competed at PL this year. The women have no 5th years this season. On the men's side, there are 4 international students (3 Canadian, 1 Australian), with 2 competing at PL. There is only one 5th year on the men's side, and I believe they were an injury redshirt (haven't confirmed this). There were no 5th years on either side last year.

Instead of making excuses for why your team didn't win, think about how much work you put in, then realize BU's women must have done even more work to be able to win PL twice in a row. There should be more mutual respect along with the competitive rivalries. Don't tear down a highly-competitive school without at least making sure your statements hold water. There are so many factors and so much time that goes into creating a winning team. To dismiss a victory as unfair based on shoddy evidence is disrespectful to the women who worked hard for that win. IMO, every team in the PL competed impressively well, especially given the unusual circumstances of this past year.

TL/DR:

Your claims are false, stop making lame excuses, move on.

Aztec the moronic lives up to their name.

I think the implication was that Boston has a massive recruiting advantage. Which is true. If their coach were to take full advantage of all their resources they have then they could be better. For example, why is UMASS Lowell better than Boston U? Lowell is a terrible place to live, bad academics, no indoor track, and they've only been Division 1 for 4 years. But Lowell got an individual male auto-qualified for NCAAs and an at large male and female qualified.

FormerXC wrote:

I have some old contacts at BU, and can speak to the inaccuracy of your post.

Their XC program is not "fully funded." In fact, funding has been reduced significantly this year, with much less scholarship availability and equipment. Very few of the current XC men and women joined the team at BU with scholarship offers. Some of them may have been awarded scholarships after winning PL last year, but this is a pretty standard practice for D1 programs.

The TTC has been off-limits since Covid-19 safety protocols were enacted, so BU's athletes haven't been able to use their facilities for about a year. XC training and races are not conducted indoors or on a track anyways (except possible interval workouts), so these facilities serve no advantage. In a race setting, sure, they run faster times on their indoor track than on flat tracks, but so do their competition who shares the same racing surface.

If you check the news or hear through word of mouth, the city of Boston is extremely strict with its mask mandate, as is BU, so these athletes have been training in masks since last spring, which is a major disadvantage. I read that they are still unable to meet in groups larger than 9 for practice. I have also heard that most of BU's normal routes are not usable due to concerns about social distancing. It may be an "amazing city," but I don't see how a city campus is advantageous over other locations, particularly during a pandemic.

Regarding international athletes and fifth years, all you need to do to disprove yourself is look at their roster. On the women's side, there are only 2 international students (Cyprus and Sweden), and only 1 competed at PL this year. The women have no 5th years this season. On the men's side, there are 4 international students (3 Canadian, 1 Australian), with 2 competing at PL. There is only one 5th year on the men's side, and I believe they were an injury redshirt (haven't confirmed this). There were no 5th years on either side last year.

Instead of making excuses for why your team didn't win, think about how much work you put in, then realize BU's women must have done even more work to be able to win PL twice in a row. There should be more mutual respect along with the competitive rivalries. Don't tear down a highly-competitive school without at least making sure your statements hold water. There are so many factors and so much time that goes into creating a winning team. To dismiss a victory as unfair based on shoddy evidence is disrespectful to the women who worked hard for that win. IMO, every team in the PL competed impressively well, especially given the unusual circumstances of this past year.

TL/DR:

Your claims are false, stop making lame excuses, move on.

Aztec the moronic lives up to their name.

aztec the moronic wrote:

FormerXC wrote:

I have some old contacts at BU, and can speak to the inaccuracy of your post.

Their XC program is not "fully funded." In fact, funding has been reduced significantly this year, with much less scholarship availability and equipment. Very few of the current XC men and women joined the team at BU with scholarship offers. Some of them may have been awarded scholarships after winning PL last year, but this is a pretty standard practice for D1 programs.

The TTC has been off-limits since Covid-19 safety protocols were enacted, so BU's athletes haven't been able to use their facilities for about a year. XC training and races are not conducted indoors or on a track anyways (except possible interval workouts), so these facilities serve no advantage. In a race setting, sure, they run faster times on their indoor track than on flat tracks, but so do their competition who shares the same racing surface.

If you check the news or hear through word of mouth, the city of Boston is extremely strict with its mask mandate, as is BU, so these athletes have been training in masks since last spring, which is a major disadvantage. I read that they are still unable to meet in groups larger than 9 for practice. I have also heard that most of BU's normal routes are not usable due to concerns about social distancing. It may be an "amazing city," but I don't see how a city campus is advantageous over other locations, particularly during a pandemic.

Regarding international athletes and fifth years, all you need to do to disprove yourself is look at their roster. On the women's side, there are only 2 international students (Cyprus and Sweden), and only 1 competed at PL this year. The women have no 5th years this season. On the men's side, there are 4 international students (3 Canadian, 1 Australian), with 2 competing at PL. There is only one 5th year on the men's side, and I believe they were an injury redshirt (haven't confirmed this). There were no 5th years on either side last year.

Instead of making excuses for why your team didn't win, think about how much work you put in, then realize BU's women must have done even more work to be able to win PL twice in a row. There should be more mutual respect along with the competitive rivalries. Don't tear down a highly-competitive school without at least making sure your statements hold water. There are so many factors and so much time that goes into creating a winning team. To dismiss a victory as unfair based on shoddy evidence is disrespectful to the women who worked hard for that win. IMO, every team in the PL competed impressively well, especially given the unusual circumstances of this past year.

TL/DR:

Your claims are false, stop making lame excuses, move on.

Aztec the moronic lives up to their name.

They have no business being in the Patriot League. They have 23k undergrads and 33k total. The next closest is AU with 8k undergrads and 13k total. Most Patriot League schools have less than 5k undergrads, including 2 under 3k (Colgate and Lafayette).

I have it on record from a current coach on their staff that they have max scholarships for both the men and the women. They may have some scholarships temporarily taken away due to COVID, but that will affect incoming recruiting classes, not the current team.

The TTC helps draw in recruits and generates a lot of revenue for the program. That solves the two biggest issues any program faces - recruiting and budget. The location in the biggest college town in the nation helps with recruiting too.

They have 3 international women on the current cross country roster plus another middle distance international not on the cross country roster this year but has been on the cross country roster in the past (she ran indoor track for them this winter). They had 5 international women on their cross country roster last year. The men currently have 5 international athletes on their cross country roster. 2 of their top 3 were international on the men's team. Without those two, BU gets 3rd or 4th. 99% of the time international athletes are on full scholarships.

The men's #2 runner is a 5th year senior. So their #1 is an international on full scholarship, their #2 is a 5th year senior likely on scholarship, and their #3 is international on full scholarship.

The women do have 5th years. Their #3 is a 5th year who graduated HS in 2016. They have additional 2 grad student distance runners for track, including the defending 5k champion and former cross country champion. Both men and women will likely have a lot of 5th years over the next few years due to COVID.

This year their men were the biggest beneficiaries of their advantages. Their top 3 were internationals or grad students, all of which on large scholarships. Their #4 was from California likely on scholarship too. Compare that to the team right behind them...Lafayette has 2,500 students, no grad programs or 5th years, no scholarships, no indoor track, smaller staff, smaller roster, smaller budget, no international students, and located in town nobody has heard of. Boston was 2nd with 49 but Lafayette was right behind in 3rd with 73. GET THAT COACH A RAISE.