Will the college kids be toast/burnt out by the time Oly Trials?

Heck, will Purrier be toast by the trials?

The majority of college coaches who have athletes just qualify for the Trials won’t care as long as they get their points at the NCAAs. Remember who coaches answer to—the athletic directors, and ADs really don’t give a rip about the Trials.

To me it seems less that they are done for the Trials but done for the Games themselves.

Yes, they probably will bomb. But if not for their college training, almost none would have run these crazy times. Also, that's the price of doing business. College coaches should not be expected to concern themselves with things beyond what they were hired to do and what the kids agreed to do by accepting admission and scholarship $$.

Good post.

off balance wrote:

Heck, will Purrier be toast by the trials?

I doubt it. She is strength oriented and she has raced a healthy amount (not too much nor too little). However, she does kind of have a history of not performing as well in championship compared to rest of season. She got smoked by the bowerman babes (Houlihan, Schweizer, and Quigley) in the 3k at the 2020 indoor champs after she set the american indoor mile record. I'm unsure of her tactical ability in the mid distance events as we often see her perform at her best only in honest races where she leads from front or has a rabbit to get her in through a fast time. She has yet to prove that she can effectively navigate a tactical race with drastic changes in speed/paces so if she decides to do the 1500 at trials that'd be her biggest obstacle.

I would love to see some people do a deep dive into this issue with stats. I've never formed an opinion on it; here's yalls' chance!

Maybe, but I wouldn’t put them all the same boat. For example Nuguse ran XC and only 2 1500’s and a 5k so far while some of the Oregon guys ran a full indoor season and have been much more active on the track

runningmanic2 wrote:

We've seen it plenty of times in the past and you have to admit, the NCAA/collegiate season takes a lot out of these athletes. Many people banking on these athletes (Laird, Nuguse, Hocker, Teare, etc) making the team when in fact many of them will probably be very tired and burnt out by the time the olympic trials comes and there competing against very seasoned vets who will be fresh. Example in 2019, Sha'Carri Richardson bombed in both 100 and 200 by the time the nationals came after dominated the ncaa season and setting the 100 NCAA record.

Yeah, but many have been really successful after their NCAA season. Examples: Centro, Holloway, Hoppel, Briana McNeal, etc.

Has Nuguse really raced enough to be burnt out already?

You don't have to race a lot to be toast, there is a training component as well. How long can you train hard and stay on top of it?

Everyone has already said it, but college runners need to focus on the NCCA events, not the trials.

I know this seems strange to some of you.

Clayton and Coleman would like a word with you.

I think Sha Carri is a bad example, she had like 50+ races, I don't think she was burnt out I think she was under trained.If you have that many races it becomes harder to train with the intensity you need to maintain your fitness.

In many cases athletes failing to make a team is due to their training scedule not being designed for them to succeed after NCAA'S.It could also be that an event is just deep that year and the athlete isn't fast enough that year.

There have been top tier collegiate athletes who have failed to make teams, but plenty have made teams and medaled at championships like Holloway, Coleman, and Degrasse.

Luv2Run wrote:

To me it seems less that they are done for the Trials but done for the Games themselves.

Right.

The Trials are right after NCAA, so they should be fine.

They actually have the advantage of being sharper.

But the Olympics are another 6 or so weeks later.

That’s a long peak to hold.

That said, Centro got a World medal in 2011 after a full college season.

No They will be Razor Sharp for the Trials, If the coaches plan the peak for NCAA (Which they should) It will hold over until the Trials (Note Peaks are for about 4-6 Weeks, some can hold for 8 weeks.

Some of them will yeah. Hard to get excited about Athing My just yet given how her 2019 season went

Hardloper wrote:

Some of them will yeah. Hard to get excited about Athing My just yet given how her 2019 season went

2019 Her Junior Year in High School?

Mu will make the team EASY

douglas burke wrote:

Hardloper wrote:

Some of them will yeah. Hard to get excited about Athing My just yet given how her 2019 season went

2019 Her Junior Year in High School?

Mu will make the team EASY

This is what people said about Donovan Brazier in 2016 his freshman year at Texas A&M where he destroyed the collegiate 800 record then went on and bombed at the trials. No one is ever an easy guarantee to make the team especially the collegians.