2021 Ivy League XC predictions...?

Princeton with 9 ahead of Harvard's 4 and 10 ahead of Harvard's 5th. The team scores make it look close but make no mistake, this was a BEAT DOWN. Princeton with 9 of the top 15.

Oh, and one other thing:

BEST HEPS TEAM SCORES - MEN

19, Penn (1971)

21, Harvard (1969)

23, Dartmouth (1994)

25, Princeton (1982)

25, Dartmouth (1988)

25, Dartmouth (1991)

25, Princeton (1997)

26, Princeton (2012)

27, Navy (1966)

27, Harvard (1968)

27, Princeton (1981)

27, Dartmouth (1987)

28, Princeton (2017)

28, Princeton (2021)

29, Penn (1973)

30, Army (1965)

30, Dartmouth (2005)

30, Princeton (2014)

30, Princeton (2018)

Princeton could have sat out their top five runners today and still would have beaten every other Ivy except Harvard. How are they that much better than everyone else right now?

depth4days wrote:

How are they that much better than everyone else right now?

They have *very* good coaching and they recruit exceptionally well: Not meant to be nasty, but it's a fact that they're able to admit some applicants who would be rejected by the other Ivies. This historically has been true of other PU teams as well, not just t&f/xc.

That said, let me repeat: THEY HAVE *VERY* GOOD COACHING. Getting the recruits is one thing; preparing them to compete successfully at the D1/Ivy collegiate level is something else.

Princeton admission standards are the same or harder than any other Ivy. Merber didn’t get good enough SAT scores to get into Princeton.

Conor McCullough. 'Nuff said.

4th place for Columbia. Not too bad considering 8 of their 10 guys are freshmen

Got into Princeton in the 90s with 1250.

Impressive display today. Let's see if they can keep it going for a few more weeks.

Who is Kevin Berry? I have never heard of him before this year.

Walk on SR from NJ

Any credentials? Isn't everyone in the Ivy League a walk on? No scholarships.

duydiyf wrote:

Any credentials? Isn't everyone in the Ivy League a walk on? No scholarships.

depends how you define walk-on

no, they don't get scholarships, but fast people are recruited and are admitted with lower academic qualifications than non-athletes.

go green wrote:

duydiyf wrote:

Any credentials? Isn't everyone in the Ivy League a walk on? No scholarships.

depends how you define walk-on

no, they don't get scholarships, but fast people are recruited and are admitted with lower academic qualifications than non-athletes.

It's my understanding that each Ivy program has a certain number of "supported" slots to offer recruits, which basically guarantee admission in exchange for early decision applications. Each school has different criteria for these and each has a different amount, but I think it would be safe to say that the faster you are, the more exceptions a program will make. Some more than others. Also factor in a school's ability to offer financial aid (Harvard, Yale and Princeton have the most generous financial aid packages).

duydiyf wrote:

Who is Kevin Berry? I have never heard of him before this year.

According to TFRRS, Kevin hadn't really scored on the conference level before Saturday (53rd and 65th in previous HepsXC; cannot find indoor or outdoor Heps results for him).

The Ivy League shared some interview shorts with the winning individuals and coaches on Twitter. I thought the coaches' interviews were interesting. All four of the interviews are in the Twitter thread.

https://twitter.com/IvyLeague/status/1454825699047579655

Carbon Plate In My Head wrote:

go green wrote:

depends how you define walk-on

no, they don't get scholarships, but fast people are recruited and are admitted with lower academic qualifications than non-athletes.

It's my understanding that each Ivy program has a certain number of "supported" slots to offer recruits, which basically guarantee admission in exchange for early decision applications. Each school has different criteria for these and each has a different amount, but I think it would be safe to say that the faster you are, the more exceptions a program will make. Some more than others. Also factor in a school's ability to offer financial aid (Harvard, Yale and Princeton have the most generous financial aid packages).

I’m a Princeton alum. You have it right, except the signing agreement happens even in advance of the normal time line for an ED application being submitted and accepted.

wegevgevervevevevqds wrote:

Got into Princeton in the 90s with 1250.

Yes, thank you.

Around the turn of the century I shared a test-prep course (for LSAT) with a Princeton student-athlete. She was a *really* nice person, and just as dumb as a sack of hammers. Terrific tennis player, though, I learned.

Look, as far as I know this kind of accommodation occurs at all the Ivies. They just vary in their frequency: In recent years Yale has been known to make few of these "exceptions," at least in our sport; and Princeton (not the only one, by the way) allows more.

A point made above is still true, though: Princeton has really good coaches! And *on average* their student-athletes have fine academic credentials from high school.

From a few years back, but regarding admissions slots.

Princeton had 32 for XC/T&F

Harvard had 21

Both top tier academically, but if you are a distance runner where would you rather train? Seems like a no brainer in that respect.

Ivyguy wrote:

wegevgevervevevevqds wrote:

Got into Princeton in the 90s with 1250.

Yes, thank you.

Around the turn of the century I shared a test-prep course (for LSAT) with a Princeton student-athlete. She was a *really* nice person, and just as dumb as a sack of hammers. Terrific tennis player, though, I learned.

Look, as far as I know this kind of accommodation occurs at all the Ivies. They just vary in their frequency: In recent years Yale has been known to make few of these "exceptions," at least in our sport; and Princeton (not the only one, by the way) allows more.

A point made above is still true, though: Princeton has really good coaches! And *on average* their student-athletes have fine academic credentials from high school.

Back when I attended PU in the early 80s, the xc team had academic credentials in HS. and subsequently during their college years, that exceeded the average for the school overall. Distance running and high academic performance seem to go hand in hand. The hockey team….that was a different story.