NAIA 2023

For fun- New coaches in crossroads next fall are IWU (R. Nyce or L. Miller), Marian, Goshen, Spring Arbor (maybe if Burke leaves for>), Taylor (Burke or Niedeck) and Huntington (continuing the IT connection- voyles).

I don’t think there’s any way Nyce takes over at IWU. If Neideck and Burke are planning on leaving they’re both more qualified than Nyce and probably also apply for that job and get it. IWU’s job opening says it wasn’t someone with 3+ years of head coaching experience and Landon Miller has not yet been a head coach.

Quinn isn’t retiring from Taylor for a few more years from what I’ve heard so that opening isn’t happening.

The application for the IWU job is closed now so you’re right on the fact we probably will start hearing more about that soon.

Some notable performances tonight…

IWU: Pohl 14:20, Covington 30:05, Wakeman 30:13, Fullerton 30:18, Neideck 30:33, Wasnich 31:07 (that’s some serious depth).

GVSU: Camden Kohn (spring arbor) 14:25, Ben Hardy (Aquinas) 14:29, Ed Frey (Aquinas) 14:37.

Drake 4x8: Kansas Wesleyan (7:35), Cornerstone (7:37), Dakota State (7:37), Dordt (7:41 without Mauldin)

Beine from St. Mary was also impressive in the 10k with a 30:33.

Not coming to the crossroads league my guy. Get real info before you start making crap up - Landon Miller

You have no idea what you're talking about, are you even around the crossroads league? The IWU job is between Josh and another young coach not around the crossroads league.

Rustin will not be the IWU coach but he has a shot at replacing Holman. Burke might move into one of the open spots or leave the cross roads entirely but who knows.

I've got to give Rustin Nyce some credit for his ability to recruit. Even though they have got a lot of talent just from bringing in Kenyans, he's brought in some really good talent from within the US as well.

I'd be really excited to see what Nyce could bring in with a bigger budget and nicer campus somewhere like Marian or Huntington.

Burke has done a great job developing talent at Spring Arbor as well. I'd really like to see him finish out his time with some of the guys he's brought in, they should be really good the next few years.

I also think that it would take a lot for Burke to leave Spring Arbor. He's a Spring Arbor alum, along with his wife who also works at Spring Arbor.

He probably has a pretty strong connection to SAU and he's done a good job of elevating the program since he's arrived.

Impressive 4x8 at drake even with a lot of tripping at 700m of the 1st leg and top anchor splits were very impressive. And Dordt not having maudlin and still going 7:41 is a good sign for them.

Mauldin just had a DNS in the 800 after Dordt got DQed in the 4x100.

There's definitely a possibility that Mauldin just wants to run the 400 later as the conditions should be a little bit better.

Right now Mauldin still hasn't run a fast 800 by the standards we have for him, he is only currently ranked 3rd and the only meet Dordt has left on their schedule is the GPAC conference meet where I doubt he would run very fast due to doubling.

Last year Dordt did end up running in two meets after GPAC so that might be a possibility again this year if they decide they want to do that. They don't have quite as many standards as I expected so far.

Mauldin's still ranked 1st in the 400, so this even furthers the possibility that he decides to run the 400 over the 800.

Cumberlands should have another solid opportunity to run fast tomorrow at EKU.

1500-Asslouj

800-Carpeggiani, Santorum

5k-Bendsen

Kipkurui DNSed a 5k last week and isn't running again this week. Possibly injured?

Hauke Trost also has not run since indoors that I've noticed which definitely hurts their 4x8 chances.

Based on how well Santorum, Asslouj, and Bendsen have run the past few weeks I'd imagine they're gone next year.

Those 1500s for Bendsen and Asslouj show some serious range. All three of those guys are now showing that they'd be able to run in multiple events (brings value for teams at conference) and even be solid DMR legs for D1/D2 teams. We haven't seen anything over 1500m from Santorum lately but I'd assume he could still bring value to some higher level teams in XC. He was barely top 30 at nationals in XC, but at that point in time he was only able to run 4:06 in the mile so it's safe to assume that he's taken a big step up since then.

He has an A standard in the 800 which is all that matters. Whether he’s a 1:51 on the qualifier list or a 1:49 doesn’t really matter. We all know what he can do.

I do think there’s a good chance that we might see him in the 400 instead of the 800 at Nationals this year though. It seems more wide open and he’s been racing a lot more 200’s and even a 100 than he has in years past.

Dordt does have less qualifiers than one would expect but keep in mind that the weather in the Midwest has been less than ideal and they haven’t traveled much to get into races with good conditions and competition. A lot will likely change in the next couple weeks with conference and last chance meets.

yeah I have to agree that he's likely favoring the 400 for nationals. I don't doubt his ability to be a contender for the 800 as well, but imo you need to race a good number of 800s before you run your best one. it just takes some reps getting used to the rhythm and forcing yourself into serious pain at the end. during indoor he ran an 800 or 600 pretty much weekly, so far he's only run 1 800m race, favoring shorter sprints and relays.

I for the most part agree with you but it's not like a 10k where all that matters is that you've made the list.

Heat draws 100% matter for the 800 and that's solely based on seed time. As good as Mauldin is he'd want to avoid Long in the prelim to save energy especially since he'll also be running the 4x8 and 4x4, and potentially even a 4x1 now.

Like I was saying Dordt onlyhas a conference meet left on their schedule currently. No last chance meet. Since they're looking to win their conference meet I don't think many guys would be running just one event. I'm guessing Dordt ends up signing up for a last chance meet after conference.

Well if anyone disagreed…

46.38 in the 400 from mauldin.

Looking more and more like the 400 is the focus

Relax, friend.

Something else of note this weekend...

Evert Silva just ran a 30:50 10k at SAC. Racing an 800 and 1500 tomorrow.

Next week OKC has Arkansas Twilight on their schedule. I'm guessing we'll see Silva run a 5k there.

My guess is he's now going to do the least possible to win conference and qualify in each event.

It looks like he's going to be qualified and have the option to run every event. Based on how aggressively OKC has used their athletes at nationals since Frezzer Legesse I think it is a legitimate possibility (maybe not likely) that we see Silva run three individual events and even an outside shot of a 4x8.

*since Frezzer legesse arrived,

Dordt ran a 3:09 4x4 with Mauldin anchoring in 45.2.

Hannah Antkoviak (ONU) ran a 56.2 in the 400m hurdles.

The 600 national champs are running well.

Evert Silva only ran 1:56 today and wasn't able to get a win out of the slow heat. If the plan for him was to run the 800 at nationals he'll have to go for another attempt at it.

He definitely ran that 30:50 with the intention of it being an A standard and running the 10k at nationals so we have to assume he's going to run that.

I'd think he's looking at a 10k, 5k, 1500 triple. I don't think he wins all three and I also seriously doubt he runs a 4x8.

Normal years I'd feel pretty good about him being able to coast his way through each race both prelim and final but this year is an exception.

Davies and Kipkurui should be able to push him pretty hard in the 10k but even with a 1500 prelim earlier on in the day he should be able to close that out for a win.

The 1500 final would be his 4th race and I think there's a pretty good shot Santorum gets him there depending on how fresh he is himself.

The 5k should also be pretty close between him and Asslouj too. All depends on how fast his first 5 races of the weekend go out. If he has to run a 3:40 to compete with Santorum and a fast 10k before I think Asslouj gets him. These Cumberlands guys also don't play around in the prelims for the most part.