NAU needs a ringer to keep the dynasty alive. Aaron Las Heras (13:38/28:13/26th NCAA xc) to run at NAU this fall.

It is so hard now to advance kids to NCAA final that you better buy or you could be at home. Colorado zero men. Many other big schools have no more than 2 qualifiers and usually 5/6th year transfers. Oklahoma State zero women.

I have no ties to NAU.

I would say that a college coach's job includes recruiting and signing the best athletes available (that also generally fit the academic profile of the institution), developing and improving those athletes (which in cases like this might only be marginally), and competing at the highest level possible with those athletes.

Obviously there are other parts of the job description, but I would call this signing some slam-dunk awesome coaching.

"Buy them?" Really? you should take a long look at the runners Mike Smith has recruited out of high school and turned into XC champions.

also, a ringer? he finished 74th in last years NCAA XC Championships. he wouldn't even have made NAU's travel team.

and by your logic is Laurie Henes also a bad coach because Amaris Tyynismaa transfered there? or any coach that accepts grad transfers - by my calculation, that would include every Div 1 coach in the country.

NAU is stacked holy crap. Is next year's team gonna be Young (2nd 2022 XC), Bosley (3rd), Sahlman (151 lol), Prosser (19th), Las Heras (26th)? Plus they're getting the NXN champ. Is Hasty (25th) coming back? Assuming no one goes pro (and history doesn't repeat itself), it looks like they've got a great shot at getting 4 titles in a row.

How does that compare to Stanford's chances? They massively underperformed last year, but their top guys still have eligibility, and they've got the Youngs coming in with a casual 16th at WJXC and 13:34 5k HS record.

To add on, NAU is probably the most secptible program to being transfered from especially grad transfers. Most of these guys aren't going pro, if they get an opportunity to transfer to a UNC or something and get that name on a degree, it makes alot of sense. The job prospects get alot better.

Mike Smith needs to play the game when he can to cushion the team from the subset of people who transfer away from the program.

it'll be the usual suspects on the podium. NAU, Stanford, plus OKState out for revenge after losing in a tiebreaker - but look out for BYU, they might be the deepest team of them all.

“Buy” seems like language more applicable to the NIL deals in FB and BB. Is there any indication that there has been a single transfer motivated by an NIL deal, let alone this one?

I wouldn’t expect NAU to be the school to lead the way with booster club money for XC NIL deals.

Exactly, people love to start these troll posts. MANY Many schools have bigger success due to grad transfers, UW, NC State (also bringing in Seymour in addition to Tyynismaa), Stanford, etc etc. The key thing I've noticed is no one ever transfers AWAY from NAU. They don't lose top recruits or even walk ons at the rate of many other schools who have kids realize it's not a fit at all and leave before graduating, like OK st , Colorado etc.

They must be doing something right...

and I can assure you Mike Smith didn't reach out to him, it was definitely the other way around. It says a lot about a program that a kid spends 4 years at a top notch power conference team and packs up and moves all the way across the country just to run at a small college for a semester.

I bet Smith gets contacted by more college runners than anyone looking to join his team.

I get your sentiment, and agree, but just a note it's not really a "small" college as there are almost 23,000 students and its an over 800 acre campus. In comparison U of Oregon is almost 300 acres and has almost 19,000 students, and Oklahoma St has almost 25,000 students. So NAU is right in the middle student population wise of those 2 schools

Not a power conference though.

I'd think unless you get a crazy pro contract, you're better off sticking around for your full eligibility at NAU even if you intend to go pro. Especially now with NIL

You get free accommodations at one of the most sought after distance camps in the world and still get to race almost all the same races as everyone else. You also get more visibility if you aren't a super pro winning races all the time.

haha, you're absolutely right. I graduated from NAU in '95 and back then I can assure you it was a small school. I keep forgetting it continues to grow.

I visited Flag in 2010 and got lost walking around the campus.

I don't think it says a lot.

1) Would you rather win an NCAA title or not if you had 1 semester or not?

2) Would you rather go to altitude or not?

And as a bonus, you know you will not have to study at all as you are there for 1 semester and NAU isn't academically challenging.

I believe Hasty graduated and is gone. A team of Young, Bosley, Sahlman, Prosser and Las Heras should be very competitive with OK St, BYU and Stanford. Stanford will be stacked next year and should be the faves.

BYU might be the deepest of them all and OKState has revenge on their mind after last years tiebreaker defeat. But I never bet against Mike Smith.

and yes, while Hasty is gone, the 5 you mentioned are formidable. But don't be surprised if one or even all of the 3 incoming freshman (Aaron Sahlman, Zack Munson, and Clay Shivley) step up and make the travel squad.

Shivley is class of 2024. He won’t be in college this fall. I’m almost certain that the other two will redshirt cross country. I don’t see them contributing as freshman plus Smith likes to take his time with new runners.

You all are forgetting Las Heras' most impressive stat. He finished 22nd at World XC this year. In the senior race.

Have they lost anyone recently to transfer? Seems guys going early pro like Nur and Kessler is bigger concern. Runners seem to like consistency of years altitude and coaching (and winning), so they stay.

I didn't forget, bro.

With N. Young, Bosley, and Las Heras, NAU is looking at 3 in the Top 10 overall...Stanford may be the only other team that could realistically match that feat with the trio of Hicks, Robinson, and Sprout. Clinger and Maier are both Top 10 guys so BYU and OSU would have 1, but it might be a bit of a stretch for either team to get two more in there, especially when you start adding in other Top 10 individuals like Blanks, Kiprop, and Wolfe to the group already listed above.