Minnesotans do better when they leave the state. Joe Klecker, Isaac Basten, Emily Covert.
I think the Hasz twins would have something to say about that.
Anecdotally, look how some past runners improved in their one grad transfer year. Matt Welch, Wayde Ha
ll, vastly improved after years of mediocrity at Minnesota. Throw Jaret Carpenter and Acer Iverson as guys who left the state and did well. Obviously Minnesota works for some (Basten, Wilkinson, Obsa Ali…steeple U?) but for most it seems like they never make the next step
Basten from Wisconsin wasn't fast enough to get a spot but goes to Minnesota and becomes Big 10 Champ and AA. Eli Krahn from Minnesota was much faster in HS. He went to Princeton and is a nonfactor.
I personally think that the locker room incident from 2020 has caused a deterioration of the team from the inside, the guys just don’t seem to have the brotherly trust that they used to have in each other.
Shane Streich is another guy who underperformed relative to his obvious talent at the U.
The verdict on this program since the mid-90s is that Plasencia, and now Hopkins, can't get the best talent and can't develop the talent they do get. Vicious cycle. Hopkins is better than Plas in that she's not self absorbed and not autistic, but the training is really a hodge podge and so are the results.
Someone mentioned the Hasz twins. They were nowhere this spring. Only guys that ran well were the male steeplers. Kohut regressed. Hoeft (who caught one and won Big 10 indoors) is in the wrong event and has not progressed.
There's no reason this program shouldn't be duking it out with Wisconsin every year. Weather sucks both places, but Minnesota has better facilities and Mpls is a great running town.
It’s pretty cold up there and I don’t recall Minnesota being good at any sport.
My guess is that this thread was started by an enthusiastic gopher freshman or a gopher fan/coach with their head in the sand. The program will struggle with the reduction of men’s indoor track and field. They are going to do everything they can to get rid of men’s outdoor track again too. On top of that, Plasencia got some dudes in his day. Not everyone panned out (no one has a 100% success rate) but I just do not see the Hassan Meads, Obsa Alis, Ben Blankenships, etc. going to Minnesota with the current staff and set up. So keep clapping for “one of the largest freshman classes”.
Minnesotans do better when they leave the state. Joe Klecker, Isaac Basten, Emily Covert.
I think the Hasz twins would have something to say about that.
They were dominant in the state of Minnesota through high school and 5th and 9th at NXN nationals, they ran in college about what you would expect them to do, maybe not even as well as what they did in high school.
Their final season only one qualified for nationals and was 22nd as super super seniors. Emily Covert as mentioned, was what, 4th place at NCAAs?
Basten from Wisconsin wasn't fast enough to get a spot but goes to Minnesota and becomes Big 10 Champ and AA. Eli Krahn from Minnesota was much faster in HS. He went to Princeton and is a nonfactor.
Krahn got the freshman 1600 record in HS and was injured so much after that. He never qualified for NXN. He went out too hard at NXR 2015 and finished behind Hopkins’s 5th man.
He didn’t even run his freshman year at Princeton. At that time I thought his running career was over. But he did PR in the mile while there. And he scored for Princeton at nationals 2018. So he did do some good things there.
Basten was actually a football player before switching to CC his senior year. My guess is he was just getting used to racing longer and longer distances.
Times for 5K (XC) / 3200 / 1600 / 800 PPs Owen Lindseth - 15:47 / 9:23 / 4:17 / 1:58 Shane Griepetrong - 15:12 / 9:04 / 4:11 / 1:58 Jakob McCleary - 15:48 / 10:54 in 2018 (no 3200s after that) / 4:16 / 1:53 Finn McCormick - 15:47 / 9:21 / 4:21 / 2:00.42 Daniel Vanacker - 15:26 / 9:09 / 4:10 / 1:54 Griffin Ward - 15:27 / 9:07 / 4:14 / 2:13 800 in 2019 (no 800s since then) Tanner Klumph - 15:40 / 9:19 / 4:16 / 2:00
These are mildly impressive times at best that will require tons of development for these athletes to compete to score at conference meets. Bold move to start a thread over a B1G school getting recruits that low level. Would be a huge flex if you were at a school in the America East or similar lower level conferences.
Fun fact about the UMN: In 2016, Patrick Roos, Khalid Hussein, Matt Wilkinson and Seth Eliason were all top 4 in the Lake Conference and section 6aa and they all ran for the UMN. Roos already quit the team in 2019. And he was a state champion in 2016.
Shane Streich is another guy who underperformed relative to his obvious talent at the U.
The verdict on this program since the mid-90s is that Plasencia, and now Hopkins, can't get the best talent and can't develop the talent they do get. Vicious cycle. Hopkins is better than Plas in that she's not self absorbed and not autistic, but the training is really a hodge podge and so are the results.
Someone mentioned the Hasz twins. They were nowhere this spring. Only guys that ran well were the male steeplers. Kohut regressed. Hoeft (who caught one and won Big 10 indoors) is in the wrong event and has not progressed.
There's no reason this program shouldn't be duking it out with Wisconsin every year. Weather sucks both places, but Minnesota has better facilities and Mpls is a great running town.
Madison is a far more prestigious school than Minnesota. It pains me to compliment Wisconsin but it's true. The two schools may seem similar geographically but they're on two different level.
That's the U's biggest downfall. The better schools get the better talent and Minnesota is firmly middle of the pack. Obviously there are expectations that can create a running niche (NAU) but top guys want to join programs that have the best coaches, facilities, locations, etc.
