Mike Torchia

injured...like rombough said after the race, they were without their 5th runner, and at griak he would have been their 4th. This might have moved the gophers up from 4th to either 2nd or 3rd.

anyone know how bad the injury is?

stress reaction in his foot. He had a boot on at the Griak. Looks like he will miss the rest of the year...

thatswhat happens when you run a sh*tload. too bad. my advice, stop running so damn much.

It seems to me that healthy, Torchia is #1 or #2...has he done anything close to his high school 8:50 2 mile since becoming a Gopher?

g@h wrote:

It seems to me that healthy, Torchia is #1 or #2...has he done anything close to his high school 8:50 2 mile since becoming a Gopher?

Well he has redshirted... wtf do you want him to do.

Why do you Gophers get so pissed when people actually bring up the fact that their program is the suckhole of distance running in the Midwest??

For all the talent that shows up at Minnesota- you'd think more than 1 out of 10 would actually do something.

mn observer wrote:

Why do you Gophers get so pissed when people actually bring up the fact that their program is the suckhole of distance running in the Midwest??

For all the talent that shows up at Minnesota- you'd think more than 1 out of 10 would actually do something.

Hahaha... I love people that talk smack like this. If we are speaking about the midwest. Then this should show their strength:

Last 10 years at Midwest Regionals:

97 - 2nd

98 - 3rd

99 - 1st

00 - 3rd

01 - 1st

02 - 2nd

03 - 2nd

04 - 1st

05 - 4th

06 - 6th

Don't even make me post O.K State's record because they have an even better result. If MN gets a solid 5th runner at regionals... they are guaranteed top 2. So you should be directing your attention to the other programs not making it in the top 3-4.

Griak meet wrote:

[quote]mn observer wrote:

If MN gets a solid 5th runner at regionals... they are guaranteed top 2.

They arent guarenteed a damn thing

i'm not sure if the hater was referring to the Midwest Region exactly...if so he's wrong. however, we all know the region is weak, and doing well there means little.

i agree with the sentiment that MN does poorly with its talent. There seem to be a lot of conflicts with the coach, but maybe that's getting better now? and yes, i personally know a large number of runners who have graduated from MN, so this isn't just hearsay.

u of m should be better than they are. many do not consider that they are the only DI team in the state while, WI has four, IA has four, the Dakotas have more than 1 each, IL has multiple, etc. plas gets alot of talent and runs them in the ground; consequently many do not achieve what they are capable of. steve is another example of a great runner getting the job based off of THEIR running background as opposed to COACHING background. with the quality of the U, the lure of the twin cities, and being the only DI game in town, they should be better. plain and simple.

pochahontas heights wrote:

u of m should be better than they are. many do not consider that they are the only DI team in the state while, WI has four, IA has four, the Dakotas have more than 1 each, IL has multiple, etc. plas gets alot of talent and runs them in the ground; consequently many do not achieve what they are capable of. steve is another example of a great runner getting the job based off of THEIR running background as opposed to COACHING background. with the quality of the U, the lure of the twin cities, and being the only DI game in town, they should be better. plain and simple.

They produce plenty of runners. How many coaches in the Big Ten alone have a Big Ten Cross Country Champ? Except for Michigan and Wisconsin?

I for one... know the program as well. And now that Plas has true distance runners... he does not have to rely on middle distance guys to fill in the gaps. With the high mileage type of runners he has now... he is just a recruit away from a top 10 NCAA team.

There are worse situations out there. This isn't a program that deserves so much scrutiny.

g@h wrote:

Where was Torchia at Griak?

He was probably out hustling married ladies, as "the torchinator" is wont to do from time to time (scroll down 1/2 way):

Re. my last post, obviously this is a different person but I remembered that name after reading about "the torchinator" in newsweek a few years back. What a tool.

Dude nailed 40 married chicks?! Wow! Well played my friend.

okay, now is coaching a big 10 champ really coaching or purchasing. with the heap of runners wisco has had, they should have multiple champs. furthermore, if bj would not have been conf champ, something would have been way wrong... i am sorry, but the true measure of a coach is not how they work with the 1 and 2 runners that are bought and paid for, but the 3-8's that they must develop. let's measure plas and the umn program based on 1) how they do in a joke of a region (by the way plas was pretty insulted when the flocasts guy said plas was in the great lakes region!) and 2)how they do at nat's??? come on, ok state, IA, etc.??? as far as being a recruit away from a top ten team, my question is why he is not a recruit away from a trophy. face it, forest xyz went to stan, heath went there, heath 2 went there, schneider went to duke, plas jacked up schmidt, tate went to ku, watson 1/2 went to ndame, graham went to wmmary, jang to morehead/etc. THE GUY DOES NOT GET THE BEST TALENT BECAUSE HE CANT COACH. IF HE COULD RECRUIT AND DID NOT BEAT THE CRAP OUT OF THE KIDS, HE'D HAVE A TROPHY. BTW I BETCHA FINNERTY ENDS UP AT WISCO. He's better off running for Jerry over in Mad Town.

The whole thing is Plasencia. (SP) He has the talent right here in this state to compete with any team in the big ten. Just think for a minute if he had both Heaths, Watson, you pick maybe TC Lumbar.

Torchia just doesn't have it in him to run up to his potential. Plasencia continues to drive these guys into the ground. Watch Mead fade at the end of the season. This high distance stuff only works for one of every 10 fellas. Too bad he thinks it is the answer. If they had a marathon at D1 the gophers would be a dynasty.

pitp,

i agree with you. part of coaching specificity is developing the athletes to meet the demands of their event which is the 8/10K in DI CC. while the uber high mileage stuff worked for him (he was a marathoner; i'm sure that we all know this) runners cannot be trained in one system. specifically, in a high mileage system that only lends itself to training on the hard surfaces of the river roads, so, se, and ne mpls. i'm all for finnerty to pull a john long and go to wisco. better team, coach, and training areas (oh... and a slightly better degree).

Does he really train them that much? From what I've seen, their training wasn't that tough... ? Can someone elaborate on the training style there?

I agree though, plas has not kept enough in-state talent. It's not always his fault, as some guys want to go to more prestigious academic schools and/or are recruited nationwide (Heaths, Watsons, Graham, Krisch/Lumbar, etc) but he shouldn't lose recruits to Big 10 or Big 12 schools. Being the only D1 school in a relatively talent-rich state is a huge advantage, but it doesn't seem that he's made full use of it. Combine that with the fact that so many Dakotans end up going to school in MN and there is really a huge natural recruiting base in the area.