NCAA xc is imbalanced because of scholarship rules and super teams. Some teams use scholarships for track and not xc, others load up xc only. NCAA should allot three scholarships dedicated to xc only, that way more teams could build a great top five. They could also break up some of the super teams by signing top recruits, and save good runners from being lost on the bench of a top team.
A more competitive league would produce more upsets, more excitement and would grow the sport around the country.
Wouldn’t it be cool if Parker could teleport over to Flagstaff sometimes and some track folks to Florida to intermingle training?
Or better, teleport some altitude to Florida, along with some distance pros to train with and elevate her track chops. Time flies, the candle is burning, and more talent can be revealed.
I think he turned out just fine going to NAU lol. Why you triggered by NAU success? Did you get rejected by Mike Smith in the recruiting process? Or just tired of losing to NAU?
I think people who irrationally rip on certain programs were probably never even remotely close to good enough to be rejected in the recruiting process and most likely never raced against top teams.
Wouldn’t it be cool if Parker could teleport over to Flagstaff sometimes and some track folks to Florida to intermingle training?
Or better, teleport some altitude to Florida, along with some distance pros to train with and elevate her track chops. Time flies, the candle is burning, and more talent can be revealed.
I realize ya’ll are thinking my last two posts are ‘cray cray’, and that is fine. My point is simply this: the NAU distance training program is a working machine, and ‘at altitude’ is the cherry-on-top.
Now, no offense to Coach Solinsky, but there is strength in the numbers, together pulling and pushing the boat in synch. And Parker Valby is a special talent that is still a bit raw, and having the experiential numbers surrounding her could have some good stuff rub off.
I just don’t want to see the best years of her physicality get fluttered away. She should be thinking Oly Cycle, m’kay?
I counted them pretty much out, even knowing that Mike Smith always has them ready on race day. And look what happened. Despite Charles Hicks having a tremendous race and beating a 13:11 guy, Ky Robinson was back a bit, not enough to matter too much, and Cole Sprout, who was up there for quite a while, ends up way, way back, while Stanford had multiple guys with bad races compared to Regionals and Pac-12. Now, Brody Hasty was a 4:01/8:03 guy in high school, or something like that, so Mike Smith didn't exactly get a mediocre recruit. But Prosser only ran 8:59 up in Alaska and he was never a top seven guy until this year, and he had an incredible season and race. Maybe Kang Nyoak will be the next guy to move into the top seven. Colin Sahlman is likely to move way, way up next year. 27th at Regionals indicates that he's a possible top 20, certainly 30, guy at nationals next year. They bring in Aaron Sahlman, who as a junior was within 10-15 seconds of Colin in xc, and he may contribute. Aidan Barnhill is another guy who could move up, and there are others. Maybe they'll get another top recruit this year. Never count them out even if Stanford has five potential top ten guys in the next couple years.
I mentioned in another thread, but Hasty often has these underwhelming races (relative to his talent coming into NAU) during the regular season, but he always comes around on time, particularly late in the NCAA meet. Nice to see Barnhill get some love. He’s a local kid that has tons of talent and work ethic, and I’m excited to see him keep developing.
What does that mean Barnhill is a local kid. He’s from South Eastern PA, not Flagstaff.
Honestly it is way easier to build a dominant track program at the bigger schools starting with distance guys. For starters, you can have perfectly capable sprinters with just football players who are already on a full ride. Distance guys if you have the right ones can run a respectable 1600-10k giving you a wide range in events. Maybe throw a little money at jumps and throws but it makes way more sense to start financially with distance guys. NAU doesn’t have the luxury of a great football team unfortunately but if they had SEC speed on campus I think we would be looking at the program as even more dominant than it is.
Just totally wrong. Top sprinters can compete in four events at a single championship meet (see Abby Steiner). No distance runner is doing 1500, Steeple, 5k, 10k at a single meet (or even in a single season usually) like you are describing.
I don't think they got many top recruits this year. Aaron Sahlman seems even more like a speedster than Colin Sahlman and he flamed out this year's race. So next year's recruit class won't be a factor for awhile.
I don't remember seeing most of their current freshman running more than one local meet. Guys like Puffer and one whose name I forget were not superstars like CS but they were still really solid guys. If they progress they could easily be the 30-40th place runners where you can win a championship.
But man off track times Stanford should just keep getting more absurd. And standard hand waving where I have no clue who is eligible and coming back with all the COVID stuff .
I mentioned in another thread, but Hasty often has these underwhelming races (relative to his talent coming into NAU) during the regular season, but he always comes around on time, particularly late in the NCAA meet. Nice to see Barnhill get some love. He’s a local kid that has tons of talent and work ethic, and I’m excited to see him keep developing.
What does that mean Barnhill is a local kid. He’s from South Eastern PA, not Flagstaff.
Sorry, unclear. Local to where I live/coach. Got to see him a lot through middle and high school, and I’d love to see him do well at NAU.
I'd argue they might be even better next year with Young, Bosley, Prosser, and Hasty back in the fold. Plus Sahlman (30:38 on this course is not a bad time for a frosh) and a couple others who develop over the next year and I can see them putting together another championship caliber team.
Agree, they will be in the thick of things again next year. Unless Nico Young has a monster track season and wins several national champs and gets picked up by Nike which is totally possible. Same could be for Bosley. Both have the talent to be pro runners. Then NAU is In trouble next year.
I'd argue they might be even better next year with Young, Bosley, Prosser, and Hasty back in the fold. Plus Sahlman (30:38 on this course is not a bad time for a frosh) and a couple others who develop over the next year and I can see them putting together another championship caliber team.
Aren't Bosley and Hasty graduating? They have eligibility but is it a sure thing they will be back?
I'd argue they might be even better next year with Young, Bosley, Prosser, and Hasty back in the fold. Plus Sahlman (30:38 on this course is not a bad time for a frosh) and a couple others who develop over the next year and I can see them putting together another championship caliber team.
Aren't Bosley and Hasty graduating? They have eligibility but is it a sure thing they will be back?
Good question, but then again that’s the same situation for guys from other teams like Alex Maier from OSU and Casey Clinger of BYU.
How long does NAU's stranglehold on the title last? Honestly it seems hard to compete with now that they're getting so many top recruits in addition to all the other built-in advantages their program has.
as long as they buy foreign talent or change the rules to suit their style. They aren't good in anything else and their runners flame out in the pros.
The thing about dynasties is that the coach has done things that are sustainable over multiple generations of athletes.
Of course environment is a key element but genetics, training plan and individual motivation are the other 3 pillars. But one part that most dont get because most arent part of a dynasty is tradition and all that comes with it. Yes they were 2nd a couple years ago but there were 30 other teams still wishing they were there. If not winning, NAU will always be a contender as long as a good coach cares to keep the program at that level. Degrees, money etc aside, they are racing for trophies and the Stanford fanboys just have to suck it until they get the job done.
That being said, all ships rise because of dynasties. Theres some really good programs and competitions going on across the board. What if Oregon and Arkansas etc were at their peak as well? Only one winner each year. Doesnt mean the others were bad. So many people dont understand how everything has to come together just right in the moment to win. Day earlier, day later maybe a different result.
Celebrate all of their efforts!
Zatopek was always the sun and I was always the shadow. Today, I am the sun!
It'll come in waves. People probably thought the same about UTEP in the 1970's, Arkansas in the early 1990's, and then Oklahoma State/Oregon at a time. Right now it's the popular thing to do to go run at NAU. There will be another program that gets popular at the right time and gets the good recruits. Oklahoma State is actually returning a better top 5 than NAU for next year. And it's harder to do much better than 2nd and 3rd, so there isn't as much ability to improve for NAU. They're fully reliant on their 3rd/4th/7th guys to get better from this year.