Top five next year pre-season poll...

Yes all of the teams in Utah are getting better by the season, and that is always fun. I have no doubt that UVSC will be right there with everyone else. The mountain region just keeps getting stronger.

Wait, I haven't lived in Utah for awhile now, but is UVSC running D1 now? Man, I need to pay attention

Jeramie wrote:

The scoring he figured was based on the teams splits from regionals one week before. The team did not even run well at regionals, with the number two being third and way off of his normal split from Jess. Also SUU had two of the top three freshman in the region. Both true freshman and not foreigners. With everyone back next year and with who they have signed it will definitely be a team among the best in the country. Just because most of you have not heard of SUU does not make it outlandish that they can be good. As for Coach Houle he is a great distance coach. Turning athletes that a lot of other schools did not want into all-americans like Jess. You may think he is crazy but please reserve your judgement until next November when you see if he speaks the truth.

a couple of the true freshmen will not be back next year due to LDS missions.

CC wrote:

Wait, I haven't lived in Utah for awhile now, but is UVSC running D1 now? Man, I need to pay attention

i go to uvsc (but not on the team) and i think they are d1 BUT they are on some sort of probation right now, and just getting all the sports programs to be competitive at a d1 level. i think the main problem is they are not in a confrerence...

Jeramie wrote:

Yes all of the teams in Utah are getting better by the season, and that is always fun. I have no doubt that UVSC will be right there with everyone else. The mountain region just keeps getting stronger.

So are you really the SUU asst. coach?

One of the first people that you got mad at actually tried to make some excuses for why Houle was way over the top. Houle made himself sound "a bit off the range".

I really would like people to listento it. Then finding out that the altitude adjustment was made part of the record books..... please, that really is funny.

[quote]SUU WEBSITE:

In 1999, Coach Houle led the Thunderbird men to their first-ever NCAA Mountain Division Cross Country Championship, stopping a streak of six-straight titles won by nationally-ranked Colorado, as well as knocking off four other nationally-ranked teams, a feat no other collegiate team in Utah has accomplished to date. The win put the Thunderbirds into the national rankings for the first time ever (#11 overall) and earned them their first-ever berth to the NCAA Championships, where SUU placed 21st overall. Houle’s efforts garnered him NCAA Regional Coach of the Year honors.quote]

Jeramie: Why is SUU dishonest about other Utah Schools winning the regional qualifier? BYU has won it 3 times and WSU has won it twice.

i don't think he's taking away from other utah schools, they just don't say anything about other teams wins.

about the altitude adjustment. i don't know what your beef is. its ncaa regulated and altitude schools can use em cuz running a 15 min 5k up here is the same as around a 1440 at under 1000 feet. just how it is...

tanner wrote:

go to uvsc (but not on the team) and i think they are d1 BUT they are on some sort of probation right now, and just getting all the sports programs to be competitive at a d1 level. i think the main problem is they are not in a confrerence...

UV d1 and all but what happens when you turn d1 you are considered "independent". like tanner said a probationary period to more or less prove that they can compete at the d1 level. the longest school has been independent is like 5 years.. this next year will be uvsc's 5th i believe. as an independent school you do not compete in a conference, and don't run at the ncaa sanctioned regionals and nationals.. but, all the independent schools have come together and run a 'division 1 independent championship meet' at the end of the season, right when all other teams are running their conference meet. they competed at the griak and some other meets against big d1 schools. they'll definatly rising in the future be rising in the future like jermaine said. it'll be tough to catch suu, but a group of the younger guys are focused on hanging with them. like the above poster said, great recruits are coming home after missions. all the younger guys will be more mature when they get back from the mission 2.5 years from now., prolly redshirt and hop to it again it will be a huge step in performance. UVSC should get into a conference pretty soon, i'd say this next year will be the last year of independents if not in a conference by the end of the summer, once in a conference they are able to compete at regionals and nationals etc..

conference wise, who knows who they will get in with, mwc prolly won't want more than 2 utah schools, mid con prolly doesn't want another utah school to pwn all the others, big sky, same thing allready weber in there. big west is an option, big sky is an option, creation of a new conference is another.. but yeah.. other independent schools , north dakota state, south dakota state, uc davis all just got in conferences. so yeah thats the deal on that.

meh wrote:

i don't think he's taking away from other utah schools, they just don't say anything about other teams wins.

[quote]SUU WEBSITE:

In 1999, Coach Houle led the Thunderbird men to their first-ever NCAA Mountain Division Cross Country Championship, a feat no other collegiate team in Utah has accomplished to date. quote]

The Website doesn't just not mention other schools it specifically claims "a feat that no other collegiate team in Utah has accomplished".

That is NOT honest!!!

As for the altitude adjustment....... we can't find any school that makes their records things that "might have been". Other School records are based on things as they are or at least were. You know things that actually happened.

Again listing marks that are adjusted downward doesn't feel honest to me. No other record recording group does that. (Note some marks are left with an explanatory * for elevation but no time adjustments. If SUU compares its top 10 to USUs top ten (both altitude teams) SUU looks better than they really are because USU does not list fictional results as records. Nor do any other teams.

The beef is they didn't run those times. It makes it look like they did something that they didn't do. No one else counts it for records. The NCAA wouldn't give credit for the time if the adjusted time were an NCAA record. They don't show up on Track and Field News yearly lists. They only count for NCAA regional and national qualifying.

It makes me question why a coach would do such a thing.

I totally understand what you guys are arguing here, but the blame probably shouldn't be put on Houle for the statement made on the website about SUU being the only Utah team to achieve the feat. Wouldn't it be the schools sports information department? And I can say that they are paid to put spins on information, so I'm sure there is some loop-hole they found to make that claim. That being said, if it's not true, it shouldn't be there and it should be changed.

It wasn't their sports information that adjusted their time to make them look better.

SUU will not make nationals next year....... and Baumgartner will be lucky to make it as an individual, if he does, he will not place top 10.

I'm willing to take bets.

If the mountain region is in fact so strong why did only CU and BYU make it to Nat's?

Two reasons; the first is the great conspiracy involving the NCAA selection committee. Even though Southern Utah raced all over and were beaten by numerous teams through out the season and had no points, they somehow were left out of the NCAA Championships even though they would have finished 8th.

The second reason is that the UTEP coach hadn’t figured out that beating highly ranked teams such as Arkansas and Alabama gave them no more points them beating the weaker teams that got into the meet later. They should have raced against some other good teams during the season.

CC wrote:

I totally understand what you guys are arguing here, but the blame probably shouldn't be put on Houle for the statement made on the website about SUU being the only Utah team to achieve the feat. Wouldn't it be the schools sports information department? And I can say that they are paid to put spins on information, so I'm sure there is some loop-hole they found to make that claim. That being said, if it's not true, it shouldn't be there and it should be changed.

Go back to the first post on this topic and click on the link. you can then here Houle in his own words claim that BYU has never done it. Houle can't blame that on his SI. He made the statement that is deseptive and wrong.

Please listen to it. If you do not here the rubbish that comes out of his own mouth you would not believe it. It really sounds like a parody!!!

thanks for posting the podcast. having once been recruited by eric houle myself, i appreciate the good laugh. the best thing about it is that i have no doubt that houle actually believes all the b.s. that comes out of his mouth. everybody plays the same game (working out hypothetical what-if scenarios after every race) but this guy lacks the self control to refrain from spouting off about it as if it really almost happened. top 5 next year...good luck, suu.

Okay you win. I missed that haha

Houle is splitting hairs but is technically right: BYU never has won the Mountain Regionals. BYU has, however, won the Region VII championships, which is what it was known as up until a few years ago.