To be fair, the women’s program at Arkansas has had most of their success come from Americans. I can’t really name an instance where the women’s team at a Kenyan, at least in recent years
how about he stops whining and face the reality of distance running; there's faster distance runners in kenya overall. plain and simple. if you cant beat em join em (well in this case, offer them to join in lol)
He has a point but I think the conversation should be more about age than nationality. BYU has a tremendous advantage. So do over-aged Kenyans. It's not a fair competition.
One approach could be a 20-and-under race that is appended to every major meet including NCAAs. This would be for kids who are still in the developmental stage and not ready to take on 25 year olds. It wouldn't mean they couldn't run in the main race but it gives them an option to excel in competition on a level playing field with respect to age. Also gets them used to the increased race distance.
This is classic coach speak. Have you ever heard a coach say “hey we have all of these advantages over the competition!!! Isn’t our set up great?”
No, every coach has an we are against the odds team. We must overcome these other programs with all of these advantages!
What is ole Lance supposed to say? We have a really young team, might get our butts kicked.
but yes Arkansas has an indoor track, outdoor track, amazing XC course, SEC funding, the most recognizable brand in college track, Years of international athletes, funny money like crazy but they might not win the SEC this time
He has a point but I think the conversation should be more about age than nationality. BYU has a tremendous advantage. So do over-aged Kenyans. It's not a fair competition.
One approach could be a 20-and-under race that is appended to every major meet including NCAAs. This would be for kids who are still in the developmental stage and not ready to take on 25 year olds. It wouldn't mean they couldn't run in the main race but it gives them an option to excel in competition on a level playing field with respect to age. Also gets them used to the increased race distance.
Not buying the "tremendous advantage" that BYU has. The women have been historically better than the men, and they don't go on missions. BYU is so good because its runners are top runners coming out of high school, and any age advantage is likely erased by not doing any training for two years. Who in their right mind would stop training and competing for two years in hopes that age alone would make them a better runner?
The NCAA could benefit from tighter age regulations, but let's be realistic; the NCAA is in no position to add any rules or regulations right now...if anything, eligibility rules will only get looser.
Running DI is going to get harder. It will be older and more international. If an athlete is serious about the sport, and wants to be a scholarship level DI runner, they should really consider a gap year or some sort of eligibility stop like a mission where they can train and not burn clock.
If that is not what they want (or it doesn't fit the academic timeline) that is okay too...just go to a smaller DI or DII school and be more traditional. Accept the fact that collegiate athletics at the highest level is only nominally about school. It is virtually professional in most every way.
The NCAA could benefit from tighter age regulations, but let's be realistic; the NCAA is in no position to add any rules or regulations right now...if anything, eligibility rules will only get looser.
Running DI is going to get harder. It will be older and more international. If an athlete is serious about the sport, and wants to be a scholarship level DI runner, they should really consider a gap year or some sort of eligibility stop like a mission where they can train and not burn clock.
If that is not what they want (or it doesn't fit the academic timeline) that is okay too...just go to a smaller DI or DII school and be more traditional. Accept the fact that collegiate athletics at the highest level is only nominally about school. It is virtually professional in most every way.
The NCAA could benefit from tighter age regulations, but let's be realistic; the NCAA is in no position to add any rules or regulations right now...if anything, eligibility rules will only get looser.
Running DI is going to get harder. It will be older and more international. If an athlete is serious about the sport, and wants to be a scholarship level DI runner, they should really consider a gap year or some sort of eligibility stop like a mission where they can train and not burn clock.
If that is not what they want (or it doesn't fit the academic timeline) that is okay too...just go to a smaller DI or DII school and be more traditional. Accept the fact that collegiate athletics at the highest level is only nominally about school. It is virtually professional in most every way.
Maybe I'm just more stubborn that some here but I'm not quite willing to just "accept" the slow death of college distance running, because a small number of coaches insist on using dishonorable tactics to win. These are our schools, our tax money (before you comment "bbbbbut taxes don't fund scholarships HA GOTCHA, Google the term fungible currency and do some reading), our facilities, our Student Visas, and our Olympic pipeline. There are countless avenues to shut down this farce of 28 year old "freshman" pro athletes coming into the NCAA, it just will take a bit of willpower and gumption.
He has a point but I think the conversation should be more about age than nationality. BYU has a tremendous advantage. So do over-aged Kenyans. It's not a fair competition.
One approach could be a 20-and-under race that is appended to every major meet including NCAAs. This would be for kids who are still in the developmental stage and not ready to take on 25 year olds. It wouldn't mean they couldn't run in the main race but it gives them an option to excel in competition on a level playing field with respect to age. Also gets them used to the increased race distance.
Stop overcomplicating the issue. As many have said on this topic, just use a sensible max age of 23.
domonique scott was normal college-aged from South Africa
also we all know there is difference betw an 18 South African and a 24+ year old from Kenya that has been in Kenyan training camp since age 16 but wasnt quite making in terms of making a living.
These schools that recruit the Kenyans pay for it all .... their legal fees and visas, their international flights, spending money then scholarships plus NIL money....
There is a difference between say an 18 yr old Irish freshman and a 24+year old Kenyan freshman
1. I can't think of any Kenyans that have run for the Arkansas women.
2. I think his point was much more about the age than the citizenship.
3. Schools like Arkansas and Oregon will be back on top in a few years when the new rules come into affect and they aren't splitting scholarships between track and xc any more.
He has a point but I think the conversation should be more about age than nationality. BYU has a tremendous advantage. So do over-aged Kenyans. It's not a fair competition.
One approach could be a 20-and-under race that is appended to every major meet including NCAAs. This would be for kids who are still in the developmental stage and not ready to take on 25 year olds. It wouldn't mean they couldn't run in the main race but it gives them an option to excel in competition on a level playing field with respect to age. Also gets them used to the increased race distance.
Not buying the "tremendous advantage" that BYU has. The women have been historically better than the men, and they don't go on missions. BYU is so good because its runners are top runners coming out of high school, and any age advantage is likely erased by not doing any training for two years. Who in their right mind would stop training and competing for two years in hopes that age alone would make them a better runner?
Yeah, that's why the 22 year old BYU freshmen always beat the 26 year old BYU seniors. Those seniors had the redshirt and medical redshirt years to get back in shape, plus the multiple sophomore-junior-senior years to get in shape, yet they still lose to the younger BYU freshmen. Amazing.