What's happening with Matt Withrow?

Is he going to race at Dellinger?

dont worry about it

I was told by his former teammate last weekend that he will kick ass this year

I have not heard anything of injuries in specific, but haven't been seeing people yet this fall. The first 'race' is a low-key event run primarily by the Wisconsin natives on the team and run together so that they have a semi-local race. The first real salvo is in Oregon, then Big Tens. We will know more where people are on the 29th, but not all will be clear until Big Tens, always an important race for Wisconsin. Which of last year's freshmen (including those RS) will step up. Miller and Bethke were probably most successful on the track but there is a lot of potential through that roster.

I was told by an anonymous message board poster that he is going to kick ass this year

I'm also not worried.

Some dude I've never met read on an internet messageboard that according to a teammate of Winthrow's, he's going to be awesome this year.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAAHAHA

I think Winthrow is a great runner - extremely tough. He should do great things if he can stay healthy.

I was told my Withrow himself that he has had chronic explosive diarrhea and can't run for more than 15 minutes without shitting himself.

It's amazing that in our sport somebody like Withrow can completely fall off the face of the earth for around a year now. If this was any other college sport there would be a press release, at least. Seriously, have there been press releases saying he's injured/was injured or is it just assumed that no one is supposed to care/notice that a Foot Locker champion isn't racing?

Obviously we all want athletes to grow and run well post college, but situations like this don't exactly help our sport. If they're injured, that's fine, but the coaches should at least say something - have the athletic department post something on their website. Imagine if one of the top college football players just didn't show up his junior year and there was no explanation from the coaches. All heck would break lose. As is Wisky isn't helping by only running their top guys in 3 races (why the heck even have a season???). This is part of why track/xc keeps getting cut (obviously not the only one, but clearly these situations don't help). Why keep a sport where coaches keep their mouths shut and don't run athletes that the school is paying money for?

Rant done. Bash away.

good point

yeah, i think the general letsrun public at least is kind of in the dark concering what exactly ailed withrow in the past and if anything still is. i mean, a freshman run 13:35 in his true freshman year- it's like some kid scoring 40 points in the mcdonals prep all-star game they have every year, but then the basketball fades away. i blame the media. if we ever find out about a football or basketball player, it's because there are press conferences because so many people want to know. but if someone from flocast wanted to talk, or if interviewers from runners world, running times, mensracing, letsrun, trackandfield, track shark, elite running, flocast, etc., i'm sure the schumacher wouldn't mind if a statement were released, but i don't know what goes through those coaches head, like if they try to play strategic mental games with other teams or what not.

we could let this thread(we could also not) be a good spring board for bringing up where other athletes are at right now, as far as fitness. sure, we could just wait until the 29tb or until whenver those athletes have a big meet coming up, but maybe some of them won't race because of something we don't know about.

i'd like to be the first to ask about jesse baumgartner- last year's 3rd place finisher who really seemed to come out of nowhere. he was listed as a junior last year in the ncaa results, but he's not on the southern utah roster this year. does anyone know where he is or if he's still runnning?

how about seth pilkington or kurt benninger? kurt benninger had a great junior year, and then last year really seemed to fade to the back. i remember in an interview him talking about trying to figure out how fast to make his recovery runs and having to fix some things in his training.

i forget how much i look forward to the cross season. utep's 7 man almost all kenyan roster, portland's growing program, the amazing ucla freshman recruits, and hoping cal can somehow do better than what sandoval's training is supposed to give them. here's to hoping this year is an all-out duke fest between rupp, mcdougal, and withrow, just like at FL champs. bring brack that american promise.

Solinsky used to pick on Withrow and steal his lunch. But now Solinsky is gone, so Withrow can come out of hiding and blast a sub 15 5k or two.

problem is/was girlfriend. Women weaken legs.

plus withrow is just a straight up weird dude. i heard him say something one time about how he had never heard people even hold a conversation on a run until he started doing recruiting trips... umm... what?

maybe he never had anyone to run with in high school. I didn't have anyone to talk to on runs my junior and senior year. It's not unheard of.

Maybe he was used to being the fastest one in HS and no one could keep up with his easy pace or at least not at a talking pace. I can't remember anything about his HS team, but just taking a guess.

I've seen him out running a few times this fall. He looks skinny.

Withrow is from a high school in IL where he was the only elite runner, perhaps the only elite runner ever. I recall reading that he trained alone, so holding a conversation while working out would be a new experience for him.

billybob66 wrote:

Withrow is from a high school in IL where he was the only elite runner, perhaps the only elite runner ever. I recall reading that he trained alone, so holding a conversation while working out would be a new experience for him.

2 guys from Withrow's high school qualified for the Olympic marathon trials this year (Danny Mackey/Jeff Jonaitis). But they probably shouldn't be qualified as elite yet. Though, they're a few years older than him and were out when he started. But, when he was an Frosh/Soph the team was decent so he ran with guys.

None of that matters though, because he's a normal, nice guy and he talks on runs.

We'll all find out this weekend at Oregon how he's doing though.

irun wrote:

i forget how much i look forward to the cross season. utep's 7 man almost all kenyan roster, portland's growing program, the amazing ucla freshman recruits, and hoping cal can somehow do better than what sandoval's training is supposed to give them. here's to hoping this year is an all-out duke fest between rupp, mcdougal, and withrow, just like at FL champs. bring brack that american promise.

I thought Rupp was sitting this season out, getting ready for the Olympics exclusively? I'm hoping McDougal can peak correctly, not early and be right at the front.