The special case of Angelina Napoleon

She was sick at nationals. Go pack

In comparison, Lexy Halladay Lowry closed her 2024 cross country season with a Season Fitness Estimate of 15:25, although that may have been a wee bit generous considering her lowest TiC of the season was a 15:35 at a fast Wisconsin PreNats, where she ran 19:33. (Napoleon this season ran 19:34 on the same course, but was awarded a generous 15:17 for that performance.)

LHL had an injury of sorts that last cross country season, so she didn’t open indoors until the end of January at BU, where she ran an amazing 14:57 (possessing an 8:35 equivalent.)

Understood, and cumulative fatigue can factor into that happening.

It would be fun to see Napoleon crush a 3000m at the BU Sharon Colyer-Danville on Dec 6. Nonetheless, she may have sights on doing something this summer, so giving the body time to go through a recovery/reset where it can come back stronger might be their call to consider.

NC State has funding. If i'm Henes i'm shutting Napoleon down and telling her they'll fly her to BU as many times as they need in Jan/Feb.

Alternatively, another possibility for consideration is to get cranked up to run the season opener on Dec 6, (to see where she is at), and then forego the rest of indoors completely.

Angelina won’t turn 21 until March. Bright future!

I mention the summer idea, because I thought I heard Henes mention that in a short interview earlier this season. If so, Napoleon may want to run some Diamond League again.

If she was just ill at nats, there is no reason not to run BU on her current xc fitness and then take even a long break. If she gets an indoor q, she could even rest for all indoor and just jump back in for ACC DMR and nats.

Also as noted above Henes has plenty of money, and no pressure to produce track results, so Napoleon could even red shirt indoor.

Funny thing is knowing Napoleon, she will just want to plow through and compete with short breaks for a Thanksgiving and Christmas meal.

Coach Henes may have to protect her from herself.

"Special case" is right. What's in the water in Raleigh that isn't in Gainesville, Huntington, Australia, or Provo?

Napoleon: May 2024 - June 2025: improved 107 points in 13 months (avg 8.2/month)
Tuohy: May 2022 - Feb 2023: improved 63 points in 9 months (avg 7.0/month)
Valby: June 2022 - December 2023: improved 71 points in 18 months (avg 3.9/month)
Wiley: June 2022 - September 2023: improved 76 points in 15 months (avg 5.1/month)
Hull: June 2023 - July 2024: improved 53 points in 13 months (avg. 4.1/month)
Hedengren: March 2024 - June 2025: improved 76 points in 15 months (avg 5.1/month)

The Pack is leading that pack of runners!

LET’S GO WOLFPACK!!! 🐺

What about Hartman, Gapes, and Michalak? Can you summarize their improvement over time?

Michalak is the one of those three that really leveled up over the summer, but it will take a track result to get a firm idea as to how far.

I did a quick check so I could have missed a race or two somewhere but from what I can see for Hartman and Gapes:

Hartman: March 2024 – Feb 2025: improved 55 points in 11 months (avg 5.0/month)

Gapes: March 2023 – April 2024: improved 85 points in 13 months (avg. 7.0/month)

Gapes: April 2024 – March 2025: improved 96 points in 11 months (avg. 8.7/month)

I never looked at Gapes before, but her improvement may be the largest I have ever seen - 181 points in only 24 months from age 19 to age 21 (985 to 1166).

By contrast, Valby only improved 198 points in 59 months from age 16 to age 21 (1004 to 1202).

Maybe she'll want a do-over at USA XC Champs?

Coaching & work ethic

I don't see that. More likely try for a fast 3,000 at BU and then take some time off.

I read in another thread that Hartman wants to run in the USATF XC championships. She’s a hell of a 10k runner but I’m hoping that Henes discourages her from doing that. She lost some conditioning when she was injured and isn’t quite back yet.

Til Sec Kennedy removes it, there's fluoride in the water.

It's actually a nice analysis you did. Gapes & Hartman are definitely the 2 winners in improvement.

What you are of course not including are all the non improvers.

Examples from Tuohy's class: Starliper, Hendrix, Shulz, Walters.

Also: Moreno, Tyynismaa, Rauber, Seymour.

Recently: Shea, Hall, Stephens, Quarzo&Quarzo, Templier.

Like all coaches and programs; running can be brutal as not everything works out.

World XC is huge and she was super pumped to represent USA in Tokyo. The 3000 qualifier can wait until BU Valentine.