Lex and Leo Young -- Great Weekend!

Peach Pit wrote:

I was very happy to see Lex and Leo Young having a great weekend at ACCs. As sophomores, Lex came 2nd behind Parker Wolfe in the 10k, and Leo was 3rd being Ethan Strand and Garret MacQuiddy (?) (and ahead of Rocky Hansen).

Like many, I have been slightly worried (or hopefully optimistic, depending on your pov) at their college progression, but things have really come together this season for them. Lex's 27:48 as a 20 year old is particularly great for his age, and Leo ran a tactically superb race for his 3rd place at ACCs. With their talent level, I think so long as they're healthy and making consistent progress, they'll be at the top of the NCAA by their senior year.

They may be progressing slower than Nico, but they're not at altitude, and they're at Stanford, not NAU (no Mike Smith!). Grant Fisher was a 13:32 guy at Stanford, and in his first three years after going pro he went 13:11-13:02-12:46. Not to say we should expect that of the twins, just saying the idea that their ceiling is lower than Nico's because they haven't run as fast at the same age is disregarding environmental factors. In HS when they had the same school, coach, and living conditions, the twins were faster.

Peach Pit wrote:

I was very happy to see Lex and Leo Young having a great weekend at ACCs. As sophomores, Lex came 2nd behind Parker Wolfe in the 10k, and Leo was 3rd being Ethan Strand and Garret MacQuiddy (?) (and ahead of Rocky Hansen).

Like many, I have been slightly worried (or hopefully optimistic, depending on your pov) at their college progression, but things have really come together this season for them. Lex's 27:48 as a 20 year old is particularly great for his age, and Leo ran a tactically superb race for his 3rd place at ACCs. With their talent level, I think so long as they're healthy and making consistent progress, they'll be at the top of the NCAA by their senior year.

They may be progressing slower than Nico, but they're not at altitude, and they're at Stanford, not NAU (no Mike Smith!). Grant Fisher was a 13:32 guy at Stanford, and in his first three years after going pro he went 13:11-13:02-12:46. Not to say we should expect that of the twins, just saying the idea that their ceiling is lower than Nico's because they haven't run as fast at the same age is disregarding environmental factors. In HS when they had the same school, coach, and living conditions, the twins were faster.

Peach Pit wrote:

Kickers usually win wrote:

Even when they start training at altitude, there’s likely to be a less than a 10% chance they ever close the gap on Nico. You don’t seem to appreciate just how good he is.

You might be right, I just don't want to limit them, while also not heaping expectations on them because of their brother's success. Maybe they'll turn out to be All-Americans and call it quits to pursue something else. Maybe they'll make Fisher-esque jumps after going pro (I noticed striking similarities after listening to Mike Scannell talk about Fisher's HS training).

I've heard phenoms (Tuohy for one) talk about the stress that was put on them to be the greatest ever when they were just kids (particularly on these boards, since everyone knows kids check from time to time), and idk if anyone was more hyped/followed than the NP kids, so I try to keep pressure off of them.

I appreciate how good Nico is, that's why the only person I compared him to is Grant Fisher lol. He's incredible now, but if you compare their HS results, the twins were better. It wasn't until Nico spent 8 months at altitude training under Mike Smith at a school much easier than Stanford that he jumped to the level of one of the best in the NCAA. I'm just saying no one knows the kind of jump they'll make after finishing school, so we shouldn't put expectations on it.

academics aren't the issue wrote:

Peach Pit wrote:

You might be right, I just don't want to limit them, while also not heaping expectations on them because of their brother's success. Maybe they'll turn out to be All-Americans and call it quits to pursue something else. Maybe they'll make Fisher-esque jumps after going pro (I noticed striking similarities after listening to Mike Scannell talk about Fisher's HS training).

I've heard phenoms (Tuohy for one) talk about the stress that was put on them to be the greatest ever when they were just kids (particularly on these boards, since everyone knows kids check from time to time), and idk if anyone was more hyped/followed than the NP kids, so I try to keep pressure off of them.

I appreciate how good Nico is, that's why the only person I compared him to is Grant Fisher lol. He's incredible now, but if you compare their HS results, the twins were better. It wasn't until Nico spent 8 months at altitude training under Mike Smith at a school much easier than Stanford that he jumped to the level of one of the best in the NCAA. I'm just saying no one knows the kind of jump they'll make after finishing school, so we shouldn't put expectations on it.

Blanks ran 12:59, 7:29, and won 2 NCAA XC titles while at sea level Harvard. Other strong academic schools at sea level with good programs and/or good individual performances (splitting hairs about prestige is pointless here) are Duke (1:46 800 from a freshman; 3:38), Cornell (2 1500 runners at 3:36-37), Princeton (1:46, 3:37), etc. Hell, even D3 MIT - a school that'll have a larger academic workload than Stanford - had a runner at 1:46, 3:55 a couple years back.

They're just not as talented as Nico is

Peach Pit wrote:

Kickers usually win wrote:

Even when they start training at altitude, there’s likely to be a less than a 10% chance they ever close the gap on Nico. You don’t seem to appreciate just how good he is.

You might be right, I just don't want to limit them, while also not heaping expectations on them because of their brother's success. Maybe they'll turn out to be All-Americans and call it quits to pursue something else. Maybe they'll make Fisher-esque jumps after going pro (I noticed striking similarities after listening to Mike Scannell talk about Fisher's HS training).

I've heard phenoms (Tuohy for one) talk about the stress that was put on them to be the greatest ever when they were just kids (particularly on these boards, since everyone knows kids check from time to time), and idk if anyone was more hyped/followed than the NP kids, so I try to keep pressure off of them.

I appreciate how good Nico is, that's why the only person I compared him to is Grant Fisher lol. He's incredible now, but if you compare their HS results, the twins were better. It wasn't until Nico spent 8 months at altitude training under Mike Smith at a school much easier than Stanford that he jumped to the level of one of the best in the NCAA. I'm just saying no one knows the kind of jump they'll make after finishing school, so we shouldn't put expectations on it.