Do you really think Haverford is the ONLY team that tried to peak for their end-of-season championship meets? You think everyone else is peaking for Oct 1?
I'm a D3 guy so I pull for D3, and I'm not trying to discredit what Haverford accomplished. Their mission was to win D3 Nationals, and they did one hell of a job at that, pulling off what many considered an upset, Donnelly is a hell of a coach (esp. with milers), etc..
However, this D1 top 25 comparison is ridiculous. I get that Haverford didn't have their greatest race @ Paul Short, lost to Allegheny who finished 17th 6 weeks later at D3, yadda yadda. But explain to me how any training/peaking method would overcome a 400 + point gap in 6 weeks?
Paul Short 2010 --> NCAAs 2010
UVA (132 pts)--> 17th D1 nats
W&M (170 pts) --> 19th D1 nats
Rich (224 pts) --> 24th D1 nats
Haverford (655 points) --> ??