Eagon at Nationals?

Wisconsin, except for Withrow, tried to pull off a fast course Colorado strategy and, to put it mildly, it didn't work.

http://www.madison.com/tct/sports/uw/257884

eagon only ran a few times before regionals. he was hurt all season.

OKSt ran a similar strategy but had their guys 10 seconds further up and able to get out of the logjam sooner. Given the race, they were not going to be either first or second, but they also performed better than many squads. I think that the distance, which normally is good for Eagon, was a bit of a handicap because 10k requires more conditioning and he was a little short on that.

I talked to Stu and some of the other Badger runners. Stu explained to me that the whole team was basically screwed after the race slowed down between 1k and 5k. The badgers were probably perfect at the k, since the first k was 2:40low, but by 5k they were in trobule, because its just all about positioning at that point. Stu told me that his training although limited had gone well leading up and he still felt that it was possible to at least match the previous years performance. Its still clear that he was probably hurt the most by the strategy, seeing as how he finished 11th the year before. Looking at the results it looks like the badgers were 150+ place at the 3k and about 90-110 at 5k (Eagon was in 93rd if I counted it right). Kind of hard to move up when that's the flow of the race that you're stuck in. My guess is that Withrow would have finished better if he had had Eagon was up running with him. I'm sure that the badgers will be back in track. Lacy had a good quote in that article that said something like "we're bringing hell with us."

talked to the badgers wrote:

Lacy had a good quote in that article that said something like "we're bringing hell with us."

yeah, he was quoting Eagon though. so it's really stu who said it.

Stu should probably have a pretty good shot at winning indoors in the 5 or 3 I would think. Who else could challenge him and McDougal in the indoor races?

!

lovin the badgers wrote:

Stu should probably have a pretty good shot at winning indoors in the 5 or 3 I would think. Who else could challenge him and McDougal in the indoor races?

Is Rupp redshirting indoor too? Because he could sure challenge them. Will Withrow do indoor?

Bobby Curtis could challenge McDougal and Eagon in an indoor 5K or 3K. Brent Vaughn maybe in a 5K (he's run 13:38 indoor).

Indoor 3, 5k?

Withrow, Woods, Kurui(MS), McNeill, Bor, Vaughn, Pifer, Araia, Brown, Gunn, Smyth, Curtis, Korir, Songok, Kiptoo-Biwott, plus dozen other Kenyans.

Since Rupp's not running a collegiate season I would think that it will be a nice little battle between Eagon, McDougal, Withrow and a bunch of Kenyans. The interesting thing is I bet you that Eagon and McDougal won't run indoors that seriously.

Bobby Curtis should be a huge threat in the 3k and 5k. He's got more speed than any of the top returning cross country guys

I would not be surprised if Eagon does not run indoors at all. He does not fit the track very well (6'5"+) and it was the cause of his injury problems last year. If he does run, he will run sparingly (maybe on the Wash/ND-oversized tracks and then just Nationals, maybe not even Big Tens (although the men's Big Tens is at Wisconsin this year).

also wrote:

Since Rupp's not running a collegiate season I would think that it will be a nice little battle between Eagon, McDougal, Withrow and a bunch of Kenyans. The interesting thing is I bet you that Eagon and McDougal won't run indoors that seriously.

I know Stuart hates indoors, but I would not be surprised if he runs a qualifier and then Nationals, since he's only really raced twice in the last 9 months or so. My guess is he doesn't want to go into outdoors too cold. Anytime you have the opportunity to compete for an individual title, its a good time to race.

Top returners on time

5k: McDougal, Eagon

3k: Wissel, Eagon, McDougal

Got to figure Curtis and some kenyans into the picture too. I can see Stu or Josh rising to the challenge.

eagon will be whored out at indoor conference if they might possibly need him to defend their track team title. Everyone notes how Teg finally got healthy and is running so great right now; a big reason he never ran great at NCAA's is because he was abused at conference (especially indoors).

Curtis seems to have the right speed/endurance combo right now to beat McDougal, Eagon, etc. at either the 5K or 3K, but probably not both. I can see McDougal winning the 5K, then doubling back and getting destroyed by a fresh Curtis in the 3K.

But this is about Eagon. Hope he gets healthy soon - he could run a killer 5K and/or 10K in the spring.