Nico seems to be progressing quite fine at altitude at NAU. I'd give a 0% chance of him transferring to UCLA. Gotta think about the quality of your running life.
UCLA having a chance to be good in Pac 12 is laughable. Last year they would have just been a mid level WCC team, Based on the regional results the would have finished 5th in that conference and barely eeaked out a 9 point win over St. Mary's..... yes yes yes they are decent and have depth in the 1500. But that doesn't always translate to cross country. And before you say "well that was coaching!" that's where those 1500 times came from too.
UCLA having a chance to be good in Pac 12 is laughable. Last year they would have just been a mid level WCC team, Based on the regional results the would have finished 5th in that conference and barely eeaked out a 9 point win over St. Mary's..... yes yes yes they are decent and have depth in the 1500. But that doesn't always translate to cross country. And before you say "well that was coaching!" that's where those 1500 times came from too.
They were 12th at Regional XC last year. They are returning 100% of their top 7 and Salcido did not run XC last year (only one meet).
I can see them top 6 this year. Top 4 is simply too much (Stanford, Washington, Portland and Oregon)
I remember when Salcido actually transferred to Jesuit before junior year so he never got to race varsity until senior year. I heard him say in an interview that Lange is part of the reason why he transferred.
He must be picky about the coaches. I think he’ll really enjoy having Brosnan as a coach.
UCLA having a chance to be good in Pac 12 is laughable. Last year they would have just been a mid level WCC team, Based on the regional results the would have finished 5th in that conference and barely eeaked out a 9 point win over St. Mary's..... yes yes yes they are decent and have depth in the 1500. But that doesn't always translate to cross country. And before you say "well that was coaching!" that's where those 1500 times came from too.
They were 12th at Regional XC last year. They are returning 100% of their top 7 and Salcido did not run XC last year (only one meet).
I can see them top 6 this year. Top 4 is simply too much (Stanford, Washington, Portland and Oregon)
Ya may want to put Gonzaga at the top of that list. With 107 points they return everyone:
They have a couple of 45.0 runners, so the 400m is covered.
if Brosnan can bring a couple of the 3:47/3:48/3:49 guys to sub 3:40 then they have a very good DMR. They have 7 guys who ran between 3:47 and 3:49. It’s as if they were training as a group to run 3:48.
Actually, if we convert mile times (of non seniors) and also consider indoor times
They have:
one guy (McMahon) at 3:43.4
one guy (Peter Herold) at 3:43.7
one guy (Stone) at 3:45.2
one guy (Salcido) at 3:45.3
five guys between 3:47 and 3:49
i can’t see why he could not bring a couple of them to sub 3:40 (or even sub 3:39)
My bigger point here is that he may not have to do that much “recruiting”. He already has a very good base. Number of scholarships may be a red herring. UCLA had great attraction. As someone mentioned, most applicants in the US. 8% more than the #2 university.
Dawson was the 8th fastest senior in the nation (800m). UCLA picked him up. It’s tough to get a top 10.
Salcido was also ranked top 10 at 2 miles in 2021 (4th senior - incl Kessler who went pro), so only Mountain and Wolfe were ranked ahead of him (as eligible seniors).
They already also have 4 or 5 guys on the team who could go sub 4. How many sub 4:03 HS guys does he really need to add every year to have a strong team? Of course getting the Young’s would be nice. He can do a lot with this team.
Best case scenario is they become a very distant 2nd fiddle in the official unofficial California collegiate XC rankings to the powerhouse up the coast in SLO. AbSolute worst case scenario is they start getting get beat by Cal regularly.
Say what? Are you a Cal Poly homer, or is there just a missing sarcasm font?...
I’m not sure why so many here think that Brosnan won’t be successful at ucla. He is the best distance coach in history. All top high school runners will want to be a bruin. He won’t even need to make any recruiting efforts. Kids will need to recruit him.