LSU isn't doing anything different than so many other schools, so I am not hating on them specifically for it. But still pretty bold to put out a feature video on the subject. I love the coach's comment - "Sure he's a fast ahh Kenyan from the cradle of distance running excellence, but he's also old enough he's practically an assistant coach!"
the whole "taking the track world by storm" is such a weird way to go with this story, as if he's some diamond in the rough walk-on who came out of nowhere. he's essentially a professional runner with almost a decade of training and experience on his rivals.
the LSU coach comes off as delusional to promote this as if somehow his great coaching has even the slightest thing to do why he's succeeding.
I was very surprised to see this video posted at all in the first place. It almost seems as if they are attempting to make is age seem as an obstacle to overcome. Ruto walked onto campus fully developed with professional experience, at the age of peak male performance.
A little research would show that he has not exceeded at LSU at all. Emedy Ruto recently finished 74th at the SEC Cross Country Championships. A pretty embarrassing result for a 29 year old who has run 3:36 over 1500 at altitude.
LSU isn't doing anything different than so many other schools, so I am not hating on them specifically for it. But still pretty bold to put out a feature video on the subject. I love the coach's comment - "Sure he's a fast ahh Kenyan from the cradle of distance running excellence, but he's also old enough he's practically an assistant coach!"
He's a 1500m runner, so xc for him is just good off-season training. I think that the UTEP 800m guys, Saruni and Korir, were last at xc regionals or nationals one year. They still did well in track (and all this is with the doping). LSU has done very well with their female 800m runner, Michaela Rose, who is even an excellent xc runner, but the men's results do not tend to be good at the distances.
Also, on a personal note, this guy is a great teammate and I would say that I often found Kenyan runners to be very nice, even to guys like me who were way, way slower.
The coach is doing this to try and normalize his new tactics. This logic would make sense to most people who don't run, particularly old athletic department heads. Pretty gross.
LSU isn't doing anything different than so many other schools, so I am not hating on them specifically for it. But still pretty bold to put out a feature video on the subject. I love the coach's comment - "Sure he's a fast ahh Kenyan from the cradle of distance running excellence, but he's also old enough he's practically an assistant coach!"
He's a 1500m runner, so xc for him is just good off-season training. I think that the UTEP 800m guys, Saruni and Korir, were last at xc regionals or nationals one year. They still did well in track (and all this is with the doping). LSU has done very well with their female 800m runner, Michaela Rose, who is even an excellent xc runner, but the men's results do not tend to be good at the distances.
Also, on a personal note, this guy is a great teammate and I would say that I often found Kenyan runners to be very nice, even to guys like me who were way, way slower.
And yet, 1500 specialists Gary Martin, Simeon Birnbaum, and Ethan Strand all excelled at their conference XC championships.
Those guys are obviously better coached and probably more suited to 1500/5000 than 800/1500. This guy is also better at 1500m than the other guys so far. 3:36 at altitude is worth a few seconds better at sea level.
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