Georgetown

Fmrhoya2 wrote:

No the trails around georgetown are actually great. You can basically get on a trail system a quarter mile from campus and take that over to more hilly trails in rock creek park. Or you have the 50 mile toe path (all dirt crush rock) and have a great place to do flat straight tempo runs on a faster surface... it turned out dc is one of the better places i have lived for running..

First of all, it is toW path, and it is more liek 180 miles...

...but you are correct, DC is an excellent city for running. More trails than you could ever use, great mix of flat and hilly terrain, all within 400 meters of campus.

Whats the deal with his recruiting. They've gotten one good runner a year it seems with Taye and Springer, but then they ignore several potential recruits. I have talked with multiple people who would seem to be good matches for the program and the coaches have completely ignored everything in the last couple months, they don't even return emails.

Who coaches the girls now then?

Chris Miltenburg, an ex-hoya runner under gags I think who was also an assistant at Columbia. Their women don't seem to have they same issues as the men,i.e., performing at big meets. they also recently have gotten much better recruits.

Helmer always coached the women and Henner the men, so those cross country results were all Henner's.

Can't speak for Henner, but Helmer had a one-size fits all kind of attitude, and so had success with a few stars, such as Treniere (then Clement) but many others were unhealthy/injured/broken. The women's team has gotten much better since Miltenberg took over, it seems like there are a lot less injuries.

Did Gtwn get any new recruits today?

The problem is that those guys-big recruits have not really progressed--though Bumbalough did improve--does henner actually get involved in recuiting or does he pass it off to somebody else?

The women's team should be one of the favorites at XC nats next year.

for the record Bumbi spent a lot of time hurt

It will be interesting to see if he stays healthy with Schumacher. It might notbe henner's tarining that caused his injuries-could just have been bad luck

It will be interesting to see if he stays healthy with Schumacher. It might notbe henner's tarining that caused his injuries-could just have been bad luck

John Murray

Omar Kaddurah

Ryan Gil

Miles Schoedler

Derek Armstrong

All of these were previously announced--did not see any new names yesterday

We also added an elite 400H Cornelius Savage + a sprinter Tyler Smith

Patrick Henner is responsible for 90% of what is wrong with Georgetown Track and Field at present. His grace period as a "new" head coach is over-steps must not be taken to ensure the future success of the program (steps which are not yet underway since the athletic department has been experiencing its own turnover as of late).

As Fmrhoya alluded, Henner has developed a program on "technically sound" training philosophies (in accordance with Jack Daniels' VO2 Max), however, where he falls short is in the coaching itself. Henner lacks the ability to succeed as head coach of ANY program because he is unable to communicate effectively with 90% of his athletes (distance or sprint). His ploy of picking favorites does indeed create a "negative atmosphere" (Fmrhoya) for both recruits and modest freshman whose potential is ALWAYS discredited.

It's no mystery that Georgetown lacks facilities (the pathetic 320m oval is insufficient for sprinters). However; that which the GU programs lack most is team cohesiveness. Fingers must be pointed at Patrick Henner and graduated seniors for their incredible lack of leadership qualities necessary to sustain the program.

Patrick Henner was formerly assistant coach to the JMU program before making the move to GU. Now..whether Georgetown's preceding reputation and/or ritzy atmosphere has changed him personally, this is debatable; however, what has most certainly changed is his approach to coaching/recruiting. Albeit a different atmosphere entirely (DC,GU), Henner used to be the kind of coach who took pride in developing athletes and encouraging mediocre-modest HS track athletes to recognize their untapped potential. Somewhere this love and respect for coaching fell to the wayside and hard-work instead took a backseat to arrogance.

Patrick Henner's improprieties as head coach have been deflected on athletes for 4 years- it's time for the alumni to stand up and the athletic department to take action. What is happening to these athletes is an absolute shame.

Yes, and part of standing up is being a man and putting a name behind those bold words!

Yeah, I had heard stories about Henner at JMU and how he would often take walk-ons and do great things to develop them into strong consistent racers.. He was a different coach at Gtown though. I think Henner has potential to make a great team if he would change his attitude/philosophy of team a little.

I don't know if it's because of the type of people who come to Gtown or what, but it just didn't seem like he was creating the culture that he might have been known for at JMU. Maybe he thinks you have to at least start out with a baseline of talent to be worthwhile at all, and maybe that is true, but often i think its the slightly less talented, hard working runners who end up being the consistent 4 and 5 guys on the xc team...

I guess i have been addressing xc more than track in this thread. Team xc is just a different beast than fast times on the track. The track times still might be strong for many of henner's guys but the culture created by coaching decisions will have to change for their xc team to ever reach its potential.

Sounds like fmrhoya and fmrhoya2 have some serious bitterness!!!!

Na, honestly not bitter. I think Henner knows his stuff real well. I like him as a coach and a person. Its just disappointing when the hoyas fall short of the potential they have at NCAAs XC each year. I think some of the team dynamics need to change at gtown to create a slightly different atmosphere... but to be optimistic i think Henner can learn from some of the disappointments and find a culture that works for his particular personality and program.

So no bitterness... i just want to see them do well. Hoya Saxa

Current Hoya wrote:

Sounds like fmrhoya and fmrhoya2 have some serious bitterness!!!!

Sounds like you should be out training and not posting on message boards after that horrible performance at NCAA's in XC.