Greatest College Cross Country Team of All Time

Wise Guy wrote:

SomeCoach wrote:

...I need to comment on that Wesleyan record list.

1. The first coach, J. Fred Swanson, coached from 1920 until 1962 ... that's 43 seasons.

2. The next coach, Elmer Swanson, coached from 1963 until 1997, that's another 35 seasons.

Swanson . . . any relation to each other?

I'm not sure about that, but I do know that Elmer Swanson married a woman whose father's name was...Elmer Swanson.

"Dr. Freud? Dr. Freud? Paging Dr. Freud..."

sjrtrt wrote:

Wise Guy wrote:

Swanson . . . any relation to each other?

I'm not sure about that, but I do know that Elmer Swanson married a woman whose father's name was...Elmer Swanson.

"Dr. Freud? Dr. Freud? Paging Dr. Freud..."

I once read a story about a guy marrying a girl who had the same name he did (they were both named something like Ashley Smith).

CU torres & Ritz

I witnessed, and ran against those UTEP teams, as well as the Adam's State team led by Pat Porter...and can still feel the pain of being whooped by the best (though Porter was really the only real stud for ASC, so they are not really in the picture, at least in the NCAA sense)

...so there is not even a close second place to those UTEP teams of the early 80's...they were men among us little boys who were still figuring out how to shave...

Oregon, Colorado, Stanford?...Pleeeease! not even close.

JUST WANTED TO MENTION IN HERE ONE OF THE FINEST JUNIOR COLLEGE PROGRAMS BACK IN THE LATE 70'S. THIS WAS THE ALLEGHENY COMMUNITY CC TEAM THAT FINISHED 1-2-3-4-5 AT THE JUCO NAT'L CHAMPS. THEY HAD GUYS LIKE J.J. ROTICH, WHO I BELIEVED LATER WENT ON TO WIN THE DIV 1 NCAA XC TITLE. MALCOLM EAST, WHO ULTIMATELY BECAME A SUPER ROAD RACER AND MARATHONER FINISHING 3RD AT NEW YORK-2:09; ROBIN HOLLAND-ANOTHER NATIONAL CLASS DUDE AND TOP 10 AT BOSTON, AS WELL AS THE GREEN BROTHERS, FROM IRELAND WHO WERE IN THAT TOP 5. AND EVEN MATT LEDDY, A YOUNG GUY FROM N.J. WHO WAS IN THAT TOP 5. THESE GUYS RAN SO WELL THAT THEY COULDN'T GET JC TEAMS WILLING TO COMPETE AGAINST THEM, WHICH ULTIMATELY PUT THE PROGRAM UNDER, AND THE GENERAL FEELING THAT SEASON WAS THAT THEY POTENTIAllY COULD BEAT THE TOP DIV 1 NCAA TEAMS, WHICH AT THE TIME, WERE KENYAN-BASED UTEP AND WASHINGTON STATE. THEY ALSO HAD A LOT OF DEPTH TO BACK THESE DUDES UP, WHO ALSO PRODUCED HIGH NATIONALLY RANKED PERFORMANCES.

I don't know how you can look beyond the WSU team in the mid to late 70's. Rono, Kimombwa, Kimeto etc.

Rono on his own was the greatest runner in that generation. An absolute beast.

Lobo80-84 wrote:

...so there is not even a close second place to those UTEP teams of the early 80's...they were men among us little boys who were still figuring out how to shave...

Didn't their scoring seven have an average age of 27?

Badgers 82-85 They should have three titles. UTEP's 83 title was vacated by the NCAA. Like the steriod era in baseball, UTEP's program comes with a huge asterix.

Why are you shouting

Wise Guy wrote:

Washington State in the late 70s with Henry Rono and Samson Kimombwa.

And Josh Kimeto

Agree with Old Guy. Allegheny Community College w/Sam Bair and Neil Cohen at the realm. They were kicking so many D1 schools asses all over the cross country course, that NCAA stepped in half way during the season and banned them from running against D1 schools for the rest of the year. They had depth.

Could you verify that, as I don't remember them being banned. Obviously, they could not compete at the NCAA meet, but banned?

stang68cs wrote:

Agree with Old Guy. Allegheny Community College w/Sam Bair and Neil Cohen at the realm. They were kicking so many D1 schools asses all over the cross country course, that NCAA stepped in half way during the season and banned them from running against D1 schools for the rest of the year. They had depth.

What about Life College/University men`s team during 94-96.

black rainbow wrote:

also, keep in mind what the world records were at the time that they ran these times.

imagine a college team with 5 guys between 26:48 and 27 flat today for 10K.

this board wouldn't be able to handle it.

I think that is kind of misleading. Back then there was not such a large professional scene after college, so it is not unsurprising that collegiate athletes were much closer to the records.

The 1982 to 1985 Wisconsin team was legendary. On paper if you matched up track pr's against the squads of late 70's Oregon and early 2000's Stanford, Wisconsin, and Colorado they would have not looked competitive. But don't discount them, those early 80's teams were clutch in cross country. Hacker, Easker, and Jenkins were among the very best American cross runners for their day from the start. Easker was placing top 15 at World Class and Hacker was a 3:35 1500 runner who was an NCAA Champ beating Ondieki. Top 10 at NCAA cross 3 times. You know they would have been sub 13:30 runners in todays racing opportunites.

I'll see if I still have the Cross Country Harrier magazine that talks about it. I kow at the beginning of the year they were winning everything in sight on the East Coast. If I remember correctly, they were to run in the Midwest somewhere(Notre Dame?) and that is when the D1 schools complained and NCAA stepped in.

I think the greatest college cross country team of all times is Wisconsin from 1999-present cause of them winning 12 straight Big Ten XC Titles

Wisco Fan wrote:

Badgers 82-85 They should have three titles. UTEP's 83 title was vacated by the NCAA. Like the steriod era in baseball, UTEP's program comes with a huge asterix.

And in one of the years that they did not win, the starting line was messed up. Rather than being [parallel to the turn point the side Wisconsin was on the end of was a considerable distance back (100m) and they were stuck trying to run through the 200 guys who were slower but ahead of them because of the mistake.

break it up wrote:

The 2004 Wisconsin team might not have been the all time best but can anyone come up with a bigger choke? They should have put 3 in the top 10 and 2 in the top 30, at worst 3 in top 15. They also had the low number one stick that day!

In 2005 Wisconsin did have 3 in the top 10, and 6 in the top 20. So I think it made up for 2004.

1  Simon Bairu, Sr             29:15.9  

3  Chris Solinsky, Jr          29:27.8  

7  Matt Withrow, Fr            29:50.7  

12  Antony Ford, Sr             29:55.2  

14  Stuart Eagon, Fr            30:05.3  

15  Tim Nelson, Jr              30:06.4  

43  Christian Wagner, Fr        30:35.7  

Time = 2:28:34.9     Places = 37