Stanford FAILS again!

As much as any coach can hate a sub 4 miler

I didn't see this years race, but I saw last years, and it seems like team-wise, it was basically the same. Stanford looks awesome all season long, and just has that ONE bad meet when it counts the most.

Jared wrote:

As much as any coach can hate a sub 4 miler

Dunn needs to figure out what's happening with his season long training plan for NCAA's. Are only a few guys strong enough to last the season or are they just peaking early?

Where was Kathy Kroeger on the women's side?

Actually Derrick and Riley did exactly what they should have.

They ran together and outkicked all the OK State guys.

Stanford's 3-7 underperformed. Especially Heath.

Puskedra got 5th as a freshman and beat Derrick.

He had a bad year last year, and is now running back where he should be.

You should be happy for the best American finisher.

Riley ran above and beyond what I expected, Derrick did great. Too many other guys dropping the ball, oh well. Puskedra is a beast!

Edrick and Kyle need to get some HOG blood out there to the farm if they want a winner. Talent is there, but are they John McDonnell battle ready. Is Dunn a winner? Can he take all that talent that throws itself at his feet and bring home the hardware that counts on a consistent basis? What do the results say?

You can't fault Derrick or Riley at all, because they did exactly what they were supposed to do (or more, in Riley's case). Derrick was clearly not going for the win, but just running with Riley to maximize the team results. He surely would have been up with Puskedra and probably challenging Chelanga and Sambu if he had not been running conservatively.

It seems to me that two guys seriously underperformed for Stanford, Heath, who is a great miler, and Unterreiner, who Dunn mentioned as their number four guy. Subtract about 100 pts for those two guys underperforming, I think, and Stanford could have risen to second. I don't know what happened to Heath, but this was the first time all season he couldn't stick with Riley and Derrick. Regardless, OK State was head and shoulders above the field and are as close to a sure thing for the threepeat next year as it gets, with no one graduating and two freshman among the top seven. That was a solid result for Fernandez, as he was able to stick with Mecheso and Lowe, he wasn't all out, this was by far his best xc result so far, and he was right around his expected finish his freshman year until the injury. I expect big things from Fernandez in outdoor track if he is 100 percent now.

can we officially put to rest their title hopes for the next few years? it will not happen. they can't do it when it counts

Too bad their is only one Smith to go around.

Um....remember 2003? 1997? 1996?

rtgh678 wrote:

can we officially put to rest their title hopes for the next few years? it will not happen. they can't do it when it counts

The Real Disaster wrote:

Um....remember 2003? 1997? 1996?

Not entirely true. They maybe training/living in the same environment (social and geographic)as past teams but it is disingenuous to compare a teams performance based on a jersey without looking at the individuals that make up the team, including coaches. You could have made the case with say John McDonnell, but he is a rarity.

-cracky b

vin made those teams

Derrick could have went faster. He played it really conservative throughout the race, trying to run with his team and thinking about them. He could have went after Chelanga with Puskedra and Sambu, but was thinking about the team instead trying to keep them all there. It obviously didn't workout though...

Hey Bud wrote:

[Where was Kathy Kroeger on the women's side?

Kathy was limping when she arrived at the meet and got out of the van. I saw her again just before the start of the race and she was limping noticeably. She was in the lead pack for a while but then came by us about seven minutes into the race and was barely jogging in obvious pain. I assume she dropped soon after that.

Poor C.D.

Who knows how much it affected Heath, but it looks like he took a few spikes to the knee:

http://www.letsrun.com/photos/2010/ncaaxcmen/imagepages/image16.php

Whoa - FSU ran to second AND had a runner sporting a fine texas-towtruck stache? Doesn't that result in a point bonus? I'll need to review my NCAA rule book.

Are the BYU guys running in a lycra version of the Mormon undergarment?

Just wait until next year when they get the Rosa twins, and what happened to Miles Unterreiner today?