Ivy Coaching

what distance do u run?

Men or women?

I am a male. 3k/5k/10k.

Here's the scoop.

Harvard - Individual oriented, never a great "team" distance squad. Often very good individuals who make the effort on their own to be the best. All the facilities are great and Boston is a great running town, but it takes alot of individual focus to make it happen as a Crimson distance runner.

Princeton - Traditionally a powerhouse in Heps for 500m-1500m, but of late have held their own in the distances. Good coaching. They'll always contend

Columbia - I don't care what they say....it is tough to run distance in NYC. The park gets old and riverside dr. is nothing special...but Columbia has managed to turn the program around and produce quality distance guys the last 4-8 years.

Yale - True Wejo ran there, but did not excel till he left. The women are in coaching hands. The Men seem to get decent talent, but never produce champs or a juggernaut.

Penn - More of a T&F program. Home of Penn Relays...but not much for distance. Strong mid-dist.

Brown - Finally got the Heps XC win. Very solid coaching....they always get the recruits and generally these 9:15/4:16 types develop and do well...they will continue to do well as long as gregorek is around.

Dartmouth - Traditionally the powerhouse in the league...especially since Army/Navy have departed. McArdle helped bridge the gap and keep the tradition alive the last few years. Shaky team in '03-04 in post-mcardle year 1, but the big green will always be a contender and win Heps every third year or so...by far the best place to train.

Cornell - Rojo. Nuff said. They will only get better. It has been a long time since they really had some dominating stars - Clas in 94 - but the coaching/recruting focus is there so it will improve. Go big Red.

Thank you. I appreciate your help. If anyone else has comments, feel free to add them.

Cornell- Rojo..nuff said if u want to go to the hardest of the Ivy League schools (They should consider taking them out of the Ivy league anyways because lets face it they are a state school)and compete for a subpar program that was the joke of XC Heps this year...then yeah it seems like a perfect place. Just keep running your easy runs at 8 minute pace boyz

Just wait until bruce is back...

hey im looking at Yale, Brown, and Princeton... does anyone have any more info on them or know what type of times it takes to get on the team (walk-on, probably). I run the 800/1600... thanks in advance

I know for a fact Harvard and Yale accept walk-ons. Many improve quite dramatically. You should email their respective coaches or give them a call, because few coaches will ever turn an eager runner away. They can tell you their policies on everything much better than we can.

No need to wait for Bruce, just wait until indoor HEPS!

yale's distance coach is dan ireland, former runner and asst. coach at georgetown. he was teammates with trautmann, holman, kenah and sherry. knows his stuff.

and academically - they're all good. but yale connections? can't beat that. you'd be in "the club." and mr. burns went there.

for what its worth Philadelphia has one of the best park/trail systems in the US, and Southeast PA is quite a bit warmer then the bitter climates of Dartmouth, Cornell, and Harvard . . . you wouldn't think its a big deal but it helps when on those raw November/April days its 42 and raining in New England but its 51 and partly sunny in Philadelphia

Ivo wrote:

I know for a fact Harvard and Yale accept walk-ons. Many improve quite dramatically. You should email their respective coaches or give them a call, because few coaches will ever turn an eager runner away. They can tell you their policies on everything much better than we can.

Absolutely, all of the Ivy programs take walk ons, contact the coaches and ask questions. The other thing to consider is to take a look at the school's websites and contact some of the students who are running your events. Be wary of info you get on boards like this since you don't know who you're talking to and what their agendas are! Some of us who are associated with the schools have to be careful of breaching NCAA rules, but we are allowed to answer your questions but not to contact you.

Good luck,

What are people thoughts on Yale v. Dartmouth women? For distance/XC. Where do runners tend to improve more, which is more team oriented etc.?

from the Ivy League leaderboard...

3k:

19 Mort, Emory Junior Cornell Cornell Vs Harvard... 8:27.44

20 Tassinari, Oliver Junior Cornell Penn State 8:29.26 01/17/04

5k:

16 Hart, Daniel Senior Cornell Penn State Sykes-S... 14:49.72

22 Mort, Emory Junior Cornell Penn State Sykes-S... 14:57.76

yeah... man those Cornell distance studs will be tearing it up in the slow heats...morons

As THE "Little Ivy," Williams has a monster program. You'll need a 1300 SAT, though. Pete Farwell ran for the Ephs, so he knows the academic demands coupled with the miles (I believe he was a sub-2:20 guy shortly after graduating). They always go to the Div 3 NCAA show and have won it twice in cross. Jealous teams call the Purple Cows the Evil Empire of Div III.

Our long distance guys will be the first to admit are not performing at the level that they would like to be at, but the ground work is being set for success come spring. In those guys' defense (not that they care about message board posts anyway), Tassinari ran 3:46 and Mort was a 9 minute steeple-chaser in their sophomore campaigns last spring. And if you're going to be looking up 3k and 5k rankings, why don't you check out some mid-d results while your at it?

If you're thinking about the Ivys, the best thing to do is to go by results--not reputation--and to pay a few visits to the schools. Find the fit for you.

See you at Heps!

Sammy Mack

I dont know why everyone says NYC is such a hard place to run and train. Columbia is real close to central park, van cortlandt park, and riverside park. All of these parks offer soft surfaces to run on. They have the armory as an indoor facility to train on; definitely one of the top places in the country to train on in the winter months. From what I hear the coaches are extremely dedicated to their runners and are always available to talk to. If you look at their results over the past few year you can tell they have legitimate contenders in every distance event from the mile up. As for cross country - look for them to qualify for nat's consistently beginning next fall. I've talked with several people on their team, and I cant find one person who doesnt love it. Seems to me like they have a really good thing going on there in NYC.

Far and away Dartmouth has the best environment for training and has produced the best athletes year in, year out....just look at their all time lists and their All Americans from the Lananna Years (1980-91) and the HArwick Years (1992-Present). Kempainen, Sap, Donaghu, Wilbur, Conrad, McArdle, etc. etc....and most of these guys were average joes in HS.