Virginia Tech Men's Distance at ACC's

Ben Thomas has caught some flak on here over the years but the man can coach. He's done a great job at VT.

If UVA Men's Distance didn't know already...VTech guys are gunning for ya'll. They aren't there yet, but who knows what will happen next year and the rest of this.

Thanks Ben. Nice of you to toot your own horn again. Or is it your "friend" from Run About Sports?

go go boy wrote:

Thanks Ben. Nice of you to toot your own horn again. Or is it your "friend" from Run About Sports?

What?

It is funny how people act like they don't know what is going on here. The ACC meet is stupid. It's held in mid April when nothing matters. Lets see where these athletes end up before we go stroking a 2nd tier program and coach. Hell, as much money and scholarships as they have they should be even better.

I for one am impressed with Va Tech.

They have an All ACC runner in this meet who ran a 6:30 mile as a ninth grader. Believe me, I officiate at local meets and saw him.

He improves every year.

They have a 1:55 half miler in HS who is now a 3:42 1500 guy.

And an unheralded freshman running 14:15 (in Miami no less).

And a kid from a smallish school in the upper Shenandoah Valley ran a 1:50 800 in this meet - in good shape to improve.

And Tech is a great place to run - lots of land and a superb environment with down to earth nice people to boot.

I am not a Tech grad or affiliated with the school.

The ACC on the men's side really has never been as strong as it should be in the last 30 years - it takes quite a stretch back in history to go to the Tony Waldrop/Reggie McAfee/Bob Wheeler days - so it is good to see a program like Va Tech making progress.

"ACC Know it All"- where are you getting your information? You sound like a tool.

As a non-Tech athlete who was at the ACC meet, I've gotta say that I was very impressed by their performance as well. Ya, people are going to say that the meet is too early, and so teams like FSU and UVA are not going to have their top guns entirely ready to roll (Roberts didn't even run - is he hurt?)

However, that doesn't change the fact that Va Tech might do a better job of developing their runners than any other team in the conference. I mean, Mulherin was good in high school (9:0? I think?), but to have a freshman run 14:15 and p.r. by 12 seconds, in Miami, and running a smart / ballsy race to take down a quality field, is damn impressive. Michael Hammond in the 1500 making the finals - I don't think you can find that many 4:16 / 9:19 high school guys running 3:49 as freshmen on top of being All-ACC in cross. You could go on like this about a number of their guys - Ryan Witt has become an absolute stud this year. Not to mention the fact that Billy Berlin, a 4:20 high school guy, is now making a habit of winning ACC titles.

It'll be interesting to see what they do at the end of the year. I was really impressed by how they ran at ACC's in cross, but then they shit the bed at Regionals. Cornwall also seems to be AWOL (hurt?) which is unfortunate. But the bottom line is, I really think they do a better job of getting fairly average high school guys (4:15-20, 9:15-20) to the level of DAMN GOOD collegiate runners than about any program out there I can think of. It bodes well for the competitiveness of the ACC as a whole.

And no, once again, I am not affiliated with Tech in any way. To be totally honest, the weather in Blacksburg in February reminds me of the depiction of Mordor from "The Two Towers." Seriously, is there ever sunlight there? It's like entering a land where colors don't exist. Some great trails to run on though, and the gloom probably is part of the reason they're able to stay focused.

Good post above. However, I believe Mulherin was a 9:31 guy as a Senior.

Jayhawk Fever wrote:

As a non-Tech athlete who was at the ACC meet, I've gotta say that I was very impressed by their performance as well. Ya, people are going to say that the meet is too early, and so teams like FSU and UVA are not going to have their top guns entirely ready to roll (Roberts didn't even run - is he hurt?)

However, that doesn't change the fact that Va Tech might do a better job of developing their runners than any other team in the conference. I mean, Mulherin was good in high school (9:0? I think?), but to have a freshman run 14:15 and p.r. by 12 seconds, in Miami, and running a smart / ballsy race to take down a quality field, is damn impressive. Michael Hammond in the 1500 making the finals - I don't think you can find that many 4:16 / 9:19 high school guys running 3:49 as freshmen on top of being All-ACC in cross. You could go on like this about a number of their guys - Ryan Witt has become an absolute stud this year. Not to mention the fact that Billy Berlin, a 4:20 high school guy, is now making a habit of winning ACC titles.

It'll be interesting to see what they do at the end of the year. I was really impressed by how they ran at ACC's in cross, but then they shit the bed at Regionals. Cornwall also seems to be AWOL (hurt?) which is unfortunate. But the bottom line is, I really think they do a better job of getting fairly average high school guys (4:15-20, 9:15-20) to the level of DAMN GOOD collegiate runners than about any program out there I can think of. It bodes well for the competitiveness of the ACC as a whole.

And no, once again, I am not affiliated with Tech in any way. To be totally honest, the weather in Blacksburg in February reminds me of the depiction of Mordor from "The Two Towers." Seriously, is there ever sunlight there? It's like entering a land where colors don't exist. Some great trails to run on though, and the gloom probably is part of the reason they're able to stay focused.

Good post above. However, I believe Mulherin was a 9:31 guy as a Senior.

Wow. Makes what I said above even more impressive. Another thing I've noticed with Tech - most of their guys seem to kick very well and all seem to be noticeably pretty strong upper body-wise. Definitely seems like they do a good job of stressing form, etc.

And while not directly related to running, it is just remarkable how well the school has recovered from the most awful tragedy to befall a college campus in years. It is not just lip service - Tech people (and they abound in Northern Virginia) are in most cases unpretentious, hard working folks who you would like as neighbors. I just find it difficult to be negative about Tech, including its track team, which is making great progress.

By the way, as a 30 years ago ACC athlete, I do keep in touch with a few ACC current athletes (different sports). They almost to a one say the same good things about Tech when they visit there and compete. My views are not singular.

Jayhawk Fever wrote:

But the bottom line is, I really think they do a better job of getting fairly average high school guys (4:15-20, 9:15-20) to the level of DAMN GOOD collegiate runners than about any program out there I can think of.

Not a bad post, but I do take exception to the idea that 4:15-4:20 & 9:15-9:20 guys are "fairly average." There are teams/coaches out there that would kill to get a recruiting class of 4, 5 or 6 guys at 4:22 & 9:25, let alone the times you mentioned. If you do the research, you will see that many years at the D-I nationals there are as many "2nd tier" recruits in the finals as there are "blue chip" recruits in the distance races. I know he is retired now, and that he takes a lot of flack for having used "foriegn" athletes, but John McDonnell used to take 4:20/9:20 guys and make them into 8:30-8:45 steeplers routinely, and if it wasn't routine, you get a Daniel Lincoln.

I'm actually not Ben and have no personal connection to VT. I do know Ben (though not extremely well). He's a good guy and is clearly a quality coach. Maybe not one of the best in the country, but he's definitely proving to be one of the best in the Southeast. He's had some time now at Tech to recruit quite a bit and establish his program/training. I don't think anybody can really complain about the results. I remember when he first got to VT a lot of people on this board were crapping on the guy. It doesn't hurt to recognize and acknowledge the fact that he's done a very good job at VT. I realize that on every thread about a coach there are going to be people there to piss on the person's accomplishments. As a coach who competes against Ben's teams, I think he's done a fine job.

not trying to poo in your cereal, but saying that VT does a better job than UVA of developing runners over the past 5 years or so is just false. im not going to go through all the stats because that is lame. uva gets a lot of talent now but it wasn't that way when they first started winning. VT does do a much better job than NC state, Duke and FSU though

Daniel Roberts is redshirting outdoors due to an injury...

Points in the 800 and up (800, 1500, steeple, 5k, 10k)

UVa Men: 79

VTech Men: 45

Take your pick..

This is kind of a misleading thread in a lot of ways. I mean I think it's indisputable that Tech's men have had a great couple of track seasons (indoor and outdoor). Berlin is a stud miler (though has struggled to PR in 2 years), Judge has developed well and is running much faster than he was in high school (although he was state champion), and some of those 800 meter guys have been running superb (especially Witt). And then Mulherin has turned into a freshmen phenom but I think it's early to say that 1. they can think of challenging UVA and 2. that Thomas is one of the best coaches in the Southeast. Coaching is certainly important in developing freshman runners but Mulherin was breaking out early in cross before they system would really help that much. I'm not saying he hasn't improved much since then but there is a lot more that plays into a runner's potential that just what they ran in high school. Mulherin may not have run fast but clearly he has the tools.

I say that mostly because Tech has had an underachieving cross-team for the last 7-8 years. They had a good ACC meet this year but then had a terrible region meet (which is typical). Cornwall is their best cross runner and he really hasn't improved much since his freshman year. Tech is a low mileage program that does a lot of drills and strength work and I think that's working to produce solid 1500 meter runners - no doubt about it. But it's not producing distance guys. I think they'll be a better team next fall but they don't have a chance of beating UVA.

You could probably say Thomas is one of the best middle-distance coaches in the Southeast but even then I would wait another year or two to see how this freshmen class develops.

FWIW: I didn't run at any ACC school and don't have a dog in the fight. I just present facts.

An interesting note, of the three "studs" mentioned (Berlin, Witt, Hammond), three of them came from Midlothian High School... me thinks that high school coach did something right to set them up for college success.

Midlothian always pumps out amazing high school teams and runners who perform well in college and beyond. Austin Smith ran well at Princeton, the D'amato's ran well in college and one of them is still running well.