Mt. Sac Meet Director Please Stop Joseph Boland

I don't know the athlete you mention, but I fully agree with the principle you state. There are a number of similar anomalies in other events as well. Big job for a Meet Director, though. I would like to see coaches and athletes take more responsibility for this situation.

With technology the way it is, why are not meet times entered into a data base and verified? Say you must run a time at a NCAA/USATF/iaaf certified event.

A couple of thoughts on this. I noticed that guy. Mostly because a gal who appeared totally out of place in the women's heat just before him was from the same club. She ran in a heat with FAST women and appeared totally out of place.. and was Never in the race. Then the men stepped out and there was a guy from the same club who looked equally out of place. He did the same fade as she had. Must be this guy.

A related thought... There are a LOT of big time lies from coaches...

Truthsayer wrote:

who is known for his rediculous over seeding

"ridiculous"

Dude, yes this guy is CRAZY! We should all e-mail the race director. He can maybe run 3:58 in a 1500. He shouldn't even be running at Mt Sac.

It sounds like this club, or whomever, clearly has no idea the of the kind of speed required to run in these meets. Looking at the Stanford results I note 3 athletes from this club who were well below the expected level.

Please stop these athletes!

Ross Ridgewell 1.47.90?

i dont think so

The top sections from Stanford, along with winning times of slower heats:

Women's 800:

1 Uceny, Morgan Reebok 2:04.66

2 Green, Nikeya NA Reebok 2:05.06

3 Bailey, Caitlin SO Boston College 2:05.18

4 Marzell, Miesha NA Unattached 2:05.35

5 Morris, Lavera SR Kentucky 2:06.16

6 Williams, Ysanne NA UCLA 2:07.01

7 Rhetta, Sherron NA South Bay Tr 2:09.89

8 Hardy, Melanie NA Team XO 2:10.91

9 DeGaust, Hayley NA Edmonton Thunder 2:12.30

1 Vessey, Maggie NA Unattached 2:06.08

1 Centrowitz, Lauren JR Stanford 2:08.95

1 Curry, Krishna SO UCLA 2:10.27

*****************

Men's 800:

1 Hicks, Kevin NA Oregon Track 1:48.38

2 Sherer, Steve NA Athletic Per 1:48.55

3 Brown, Russell SR Stanford 1:48.66

4 Garcia, Michael SR Stanford 1:49.18

5 Fitts, Wil SR Unattached 1:49.68

6 Stember, Michael NA Unattached 1:50.17

7 Kerekjarto, Istvan NA Unattached 1:54.29

8 Ostapowich, Jaden NA Edmonton Thunder 1:56.11

9 Munguia, Martell Mexico 1:59.35

1 Currie, Adam SR Notre Dame 1:50.67

1 Freitas, Alex SO Long Beach St. 1:49.39

1 Dubois, Jacob JR Eastern Mich 1:50.80

1 Paneda, Jeffrey SR Sacramento State 1:51.24

1 Morgan, Patrick JR Furman 1:51.73

1 Thomas, Josey FR California 1:53.96

***********

Men's 1500:

1 Brown, Russell SR Stanford 3:42.58

2 Miller, Craig SO Wisconsin 3:43.14

3 Watson, Jake SR Notre Dame 3:43.39

4 Debole, Matt SR Georgetown 3:43.89

5 Barnes, Laef JR UCLA 3:44.62

6 Davis, Jordan SR Syracuse 3:45.11

7 Stember, Michael NA Unattached 3:45.44

8 Sherer, Steve NA Athletic Per 3:45.46

9 Gustafsson, Jacob JR BYU 3:45.93

10 Bethke, Brandon SO Wisconsin 3:46.18

11 Bybee, Dustin SR BYU 3:53.61

12 Boland, Joseph NA Edmonton Thunder 3:58.64

1 Matusak, Mark JR California 3:45.85

1 Lacy, Andrew SO Wisconsin 3:45.54

1 Clark, Dan JR Notre Dame 3:48.25

1 Nelson, Alex SR U of San Francisco 3:49.53

1 Doering, Brad FR Nebraska 3:55.76

Georgia wrote:

Ross Ridgewell 1.47.90?

i dont think so

Ross Ridgewell ran 1:48.5 and was 3rd in the indoor 800m. It is not an unreasonable seed time.

It's not just lying Coaches. A lot of athletes submit their own entry form, particularly from smaller clubs or unattached athletes. Clearly, a lot of these are just optimistic guesses, particularly from those who haven't even raced yet this year.

Yup. Talk it down to just 3 unlucky guesses by athletes from the same club. It doesn't matter that they bumped much more capable athletes.

turku wrote:

It's not just lying Coaches. A lot of athletes submit their own entry form, particularly from smaller clubs or unattached athletes. Clearly, a lot of these are just optimistic guesses, particularly from those who haven't even raced yet this year.

"Clearly" this is not just some average runner trying to get into some hot heats. "Clearly" it's an issue with the club person who submits the seed times. Someone pointed out it was more than one athlete...

I had a coach in college who did this without regard for his athletes. We hated being placed where we shouldn't for the same reasons all of you hate seeing slowER runners in hot heats.

The question is, what are the standards for Mt. Sac. Yes, do not put him in the Hot heat, but if he's hit a qualifying standard, let him run. That's what we're all here to do, isn't it?

Misunderstanding !!!

I was not referring to the 3 athletes from 1 Club. Clearly, something else is going on there.

A search revealed

Jaden Ostapowich best time in 2007 to be 1:53.97

http://www.athleticsalberta.com/UserFiles/File/Rankings/2007/Outdoor%202007/2007%20Comprehensive%20Men%20Ranking.pdf

Hayley Degaust previous best time to be 2:13

http://www.athleticsalberta.com/UserFiles/File/Rankings/2007/Outdoor%202007/2007%20Comprehensive%20Women%20Ranking.pdf

Does anyone know if there is a 2008 USA Outdoor Rankings list yet?

Ridgewell still hasnt run 1.47.90. He might this season but he still hasnt run that time. He has to run 1.48.1 b4 he can start saying he is a 1.47 high runner.

Hope he gets better.

The "Coach" should receive a talking to. I always- and I mean always- take a piggy's pleasure in pointing out a coach that lies of his seed times. Even better- ask the liar in front of other coaches at the scratch meeting- be genuine- its hilarious!

I have emailed the Meet Director and notified him of the concerns in this thread. It will be interesting if anything is done about it.

Exagerating times is a part of coaching that at first bothered me but now it's something that I jsut accept as part of the job. Exaggerations don't bother me as long as people end up in the correct heat.

The thing that drives me nuts is I've never understood why someone would want to purposely get into a heat they have no business being in. There just isn't a chance that 1358 guy is going to run 345.

this is a result of "learning by watching". Just as many of us have learned to be the way we are by watching those around us earlier in life (parents, teachers, coaches) the person you mentioned obviously felt it was ok to do this by some form of previous encounter. My bet is, he was around a coach who seeded his/her athletes higher than they deserved. This is not that unusual. Many times I have seen coaches "stretch the truth"

This is my theory, and my 2c.