In the LRC preview of US indoors Shane Streich is described as a "a middling 800 runner during his five years at the University of Minnesota " But the picture in the same preview is him in a Lipscomb (Nashville, TN) kit. School websites seem inaccurate. Anyone willing to give a brief recap?
I asked this question on a separate thread but duplicated it here
In the LRC preview of US indoors Shane Streich is described as a "a middling 800 runner during his five years at the University of Minnesota " But the picture in the same preview is him in a Lipscomb (Nashville, TN) kit. School websites seem inaccurate. Anyone willing to give a brief recap?
I asked this question on a separate thread but duplicated it here
Shane's story is everywhere at the moment. Really not hard to find if you do a simple Google search. He did five years at Minnesota and a sixth year at Lipscomb.
It is popular to bash Jerry for not participating in Indoor Nationals but why? The excuse that is bad for the sport can be used for every competition. Why was the Trials of Miles cross-country series not better represented? Is that bad for the sport of professional cross? It was to many. After all it was the only PRO Cross meets in the US and it was largely ignored. So maybe Pro Cross is not important to some. Hugely popular in other parts of the World. What about the Ekiden that was in Michigan? Is any team that didn’t show up considered bad for the sport? The argument of “but it’s a National Championship” is a weak argument. There are many road NATIONAL championships that are ignored by many Pros.
Face the facts. Indoor track is mainly a college sport.
Trials of Miles? Ekiden? You're being intentional obtuse if you feel those events hold water when compared to the USA Indoor National Champs. No one is getting contract bonuses for winning those events, they certainly are for being a US Champ.
As for "There are many road national championships"...... that's EXACTLY why no one cares about them. 5k/10k/15k/half... They DO care about the Olympic marathon trials, however.
Is indoor significantly less important than outdoor? Absolutely. But, it's certainly more important than all of the events you mentioned.
It is popular to bash Jerry for not participating in Indoor Nationals but why? The excuse that is bad for the sport can be used for every competition. Why was the Trials of Miles cross-country series not better represented? Is that bad for the sport of professional cross? It was to many. After all it was the only PRO Cross meets in the US and it was largely ignored. So maybe Pro Cross is not important to some. Hugely popular in other parts of the World. What about the Ekiden that was in Michigan? Is any team that didn’t show up considered bad for the sport? The argument of “but it’s a National Championship” is a weak argument. There are many road NATIONAL championships that are ignored by many Pros.
Face the facts. Indoor track is mainly a college sport.
Yeah, there are many road race championships that get skipped. Easy to justify skipping the 15k champs when the 10mile is next month. But there is only one indoor national championships.
It is popular to bash Jerry for not participating in Indoor Nationals but why? The excuse that is bad for the sport can be used for every competition. Why was the Trials of Miles cross-country series not better represented? Is that bad for the sport of professional cross? It was to many. After all it was the only PRO Cross meets in the US and it was largely ignored. So maybe Pro Cross is not important to some. Hugely popular in other parts of the World. What about the Ekiden that was in Michigan? Is any team that didn’t show up considered bad for the sport? The argument of “but it’s a National Championship” is a weak argument. There are many road NATIONAL championships that are ignored by many Pros.
Face the facts. Indoor track is mainly a college sport.
Trials of Miles? Ekiden? You're being intentional obtuse if you feel those events hold water when compared to the USA Indoor National Champs. No one is getting contract bonuses for winning those events, they certainly are for being a US Champ.
As for "There are many road national championships"...... that's EXACTLY why no one cares about them. 5k/10k/15k/half... They DO care about the Olympic marathon trials, however.
Is indoor significantly less important than outdoor? Absolutely. But, it's certainly more important than all of the events you mentioned.
As someone that was born and raised in Europe in the 80s I thought there was no running more important than Cross-Country. Once I moved to Japan I realized I was wrong and that the Ekiden is a phenomenon that is more important than any other type of distance running. It is amazing how slow USA is to catch on to the rest of the World. indoor track has no chance of ever equallying either Cross-Country or Ekiden globally. BTC is well aware and very astute to ignore a regional sport.
As someone that was born and raised in Europe in the 80s I thought there was no running more important than Cross-Country. Once I moved to Japan I realized I was wrong and that the Ekiden is a phenomenon that is more important than any other type of distance running. It is amazing how slow USA is to catch on to the rest of the World. indoor track has no chance of ever equallying either Cross-Country or Ekiden globally. BTC is well aware and very astute to ignore a regional sport.
That’s a ridiculous comment—Ekiden is far, far more regionally specific than indoor track.
While BTC's 10k is interesting, they deserve heavy criticism for skipping USAs and Worlds.
Excited to watch the athletes that actually show up.
On our Friday 15 podcast tonight, we said if they go for the AR in the 10k, it's a get out jail card. All is absolved. But we need it announced ahead of time. LIke 1 week.
While BTC's 10k is interesting, they deserve heavy criticism for skipping USAs and Worlds.
Excited to watch the athletes that actually show up.
On our Friday 15 podcast tonight, we said if they go for the AR in the 10k, it's a get out jail card. All is absolved. But we need it announced ahead of time. LIke 1 week.
Why else would Cranny and Fisher run a 10k so soon after their great indoor 5ks?
While BTC's 10k is interesting, they deserve heavy criticism for skipping USAs and Worlds.
Excited to watch the athletes that actually show up.
No, BTC doesn’t deserve criticism. And if so, then perhaps you want to criticize the other 25 or so runners in the 10k to their face.
World Championships are in Serbia. War has been mounting between Russia and the Ukraine for some time and now is reality. Air space will be impacted.
US Championships are very important. Indoors not so much.
Most of the athletes running the 10k in a weeks time would have run the 3k indoors but doing so would probably mean a strategic race, traffic and the possibility of getting tangled up and injured. During an outdoor world championship year, that creates added risk towards the bigger prize.
Many of the athletes running the 10k are looking for WC qualifying times. This will be a fast race. Future 10k races (US championships in May) it is less likely that the pace will align with WC standards, and will be strategic.
The war in Ukraine has nothing to do with this. My wife's relatives in Serbia aren't even thinking of the war, it will not affect them in the slightest. Air travel into Serbia goes nowhere near the Ukraine, unless you are coming from that direction.
I don't think it is BTC's responsibility to go to indoor nationals, but I do think it is bad for the sport that the best people aren't showing up. What this tells me is that USATF is not doing enough to incentivize coming to the meet. They need to recruit better sponsors and make the financial incentive lucrative enough that BTC would show up.
BTC athletes are saving themselves for that coveted 6th place finish at World outdoors in the summer.
Really, except for Moh Ahmed and Courtney Frerichs, the likelihood is that none of the BTC athletes will win a global medal in their careers. They're going to look back and wonder why the pissed away their best races on high school tracks or team time trials. They should run every global event they can, give themselves a chance to get ANY hardware they can get hold of. A career is forged with medals, not time trials. If nothing else, winning is habitual. Getting that first global medal in the board will give them confidence they can get another. Does Grant Fisher really want to look back in 10 years and his greatest achievement is a gutsy 5th place at the Olympics? He's either at his peak or on an upward slope right now, he should go and compete - he's obviously close to 7:30 shape for a 3k, that may even put him in the mix for gold if he can close hard. Imagine what it would do for his confidence to compete well against Jakob or Barega
If anyone has a theory as to why the BTC guys who have the 10,000 standard are running that next week instead of USAs, we'd love to hear it.
I truly don’t understand how you guys are always confused by BTC not showing up to race. The BTC has their own agenda and when they follow through the whole way 7/10 times it ends in medals. Lots of people are skipping USAs, you even said it yourself.
No, BTC doesn’t deserve criticism. And if so, then perhaps you want to criticize the other 25 or so runners in the 10k to their face.
World Championships are in Serbia. War has been mounting between Russia and the Ukraine for some time and now is reality. Air space will be impacted.
US Championships are very important. Indoors not so much.
Most of the athletes running the 10k in a weeks time would have run the 3k indoors but doing so would probably mean a strategic race, traffic and the possibility of getting tangled up and injured. During an outdoor world championship year, that creates added risk towards the bigger prize.
Many of the athletes running the 10k are looking for WC qualifying times. This will be a fast race. Future 10k races (US championships in May) it is less likely that the pace will align with WC standards, and will be strategic.
The war in Ukraine has nothing to do with this. My wife's relatives in Serbia aren't even thinking of the war, it will not affect them in the slightest. Air travel into Serbia goes nowhere near the Ukraine, unless you are coming from that direction.
I don't think it is BTC's responsibility to go to indoor nationals, but I do think it is bad for the sport that the best people aren't showing up. What this tells me is that USATF is not doing enough to incentivize coming to the meet. They need to recruit better sponsors and make the financial incentive lucrative enough that BTC would show up.
And others.
Why the negative focus on BTC?
The athletes racing at US Indoors, in a 10k, road race, up a mountain or where ever when ever can do as they please based on their and their coaches goals for the season. It is their job. should they be in your face about how you should do your job?
Sure BTC has many great athletes, and many other great athletes will make up the fields at both venues. They and their coaches know far better than you and other posters on this thread of what they need to do.
Maybe the Indoor World Championships don’t align well with training blocks and other high profile races in the outdoor season for some athletes.
I have to respect Jerry he sticks to the plan. obviously you could tell when Grant was interviewed after his 12:53 that he wanted to run nationals but he also brought up the 10000 the following week. Bottom line indoors in not that important it is a stepping stone to the outdoor season. And there usually only one opportunity a year for a fast 10000m on the track, so my guess it is being set up for an American Record attempt. He has a shot at it I say 26:41.88 for Grant
