He got boxed in in the last lap and was too far back when he got out of it. Racing and positioning come with experience. It’s tough for a young frosh to outrace such a veteran and deep field. With more experience his time will come. Great outdoor season!
Who will be the first across the line at NCAA XC this fall: Colin, Lex, Leo, or Aaron?
Aaron? The way he's going he won't even be at XC nationals this fall, never mind beating the other three.
I thought about excluding him, but figured it was only fair to include him as he was the NXN champ beating both Lex and Leo in that race. That said, my money is on Leo, much like Nico did as a freshman, finishing in the top 10 this fall.
He got boxed in in the last lap and was too far back when he got out of it. Racing and positioning come with experience. It’s tough for a young frosh to outrace such a veteran and deep field. With more experience his time will come. Great outdoor season!
Maybe he lost a little with that, but he didn't finish in 8th place and 2 seconds behind the auto Q because of a box or lack of experience/positioning. The other guys were just stronger/faster than he was in this race. You could see him straining to keep up.
He had a strong freshman outdoor season and has a ton of potential. He should be excited for what he can do next year and doesn't need excuses.
Had some good runs outdoors but shows how tough this level is and how impressive people who excel freshman year are.
Shows how important coaching and development is too.
A decent recruit with 4-5 years of solid development and progression will beat one of the greatest recruits of all time.
The guy right ahead of him, a Junior, was a 4:11 guy in high school.
This is not an insult- just a reminder the different between a 18 year old boy and a 21-22 year old man that has been training at a high level for a few years.
Aaron? The way he's going he won't even be at XC nationals this fall, never mind beating the other three.
I thought about excluding him, but figured it was only fair to include him as he was the NXN champ beating both Lex and Leo in that race. That said, my money is on Leo, much like Nico did as a freshman, finishing in the top 10 this fall.
I remember way back when these boards predicted Colin would be top 10 and that NP could have been top 10 as a team. Lex and Leo may not be a lock to make the top 7.
I thought about excluding him, but figured it was only fair to include him as he was the NXN champ beating both Lex and Leo in that race. That said, my money is on Leo, much like Nico did as a freshman, finishing in the top 10 this fall.
I remember way back when these boards predicted Colin would be top 10 and that NP could have been top 10 as a team. Lex and Leo may not be a lock to make the top 7.
Fair point, but I think Leo has already shown he can handle the longer XC distance in winning US juniors and finishing 16th at World XC. Lex has also already run 13:34 - surely that would be among Stanford’s top 7 returning 5000m PBs?
After NAU grad Grijalva ran 12:52 he stated in his post race interview that he learned to race in NCAA races. For Big S this just part of the learning process. You’re going to have ups and downs.
Success that is expected of him is not too far away.