The IC4A group are a bunch of backward sluggards. They are not very good at helping/promoting their own sport. They really need to wake up!
The IC4A group are a bunch of backward sluggards. They are not very good at helping/promoting their own sport. They really need to wake up!
You're not alone pal. Where are the entries?! The meet started yesterday and distance stuff starts today and still no entries...cmo man!
The IC4A group is a sad lot at this point. The conference once was great competition, but now it is a B level meet, where many of the top performers don't participate.
Why? In large part because they are top performers that their primary goal is the NCAA Championships.
In cross country, for example, the IC4A meet is run two days before the NCAA Championships. Any wonder that the top runners aren't there?
The outdoor meet - replete with start times like 10 AM in the high jump and 11 AM for trials in the 1500 - is not set up in ways conducive to top performance. Predictable result - top performers don't participate.
The IC4A group should remind themselves that the meets are for the athletes and then think about to create situations in which the athletes will have best conditions to produce best results.
And, oh, yes, maybe promote interest in the meet by let fans and athletes know in advance who will be competing.
lost in Boston wrote:
The IC4A group is a sad lot at this point. The conference once was great competition, but now it is a B level meet, where many of the top performers don't participate.
Why? In large part because [if] they are top performers [then] their primary goal is the NCAA Championships.
In cross country, for example, the IC4A meet is run two days before the NCAA Championships. Any wonder that the top runners aren't there?
The outdoor meet - replete with start times like 10 AM in the high jump and 11 AM for trials in the 1500 - is not set up in ways conducive to top performance. Predictable result - top performers don't participate.
Valid points, but I'm sure the early start/early finish academic calendar (that most IC4A colleges have) also plays a major role.
Example: the Cornell teams won the IC4A/ECAC titles indoors, a week after their Heptagonals conference meet. The Heps (the Ivy League championships) are extraordinarily important to Cornell (and all the other Ivies), and they made a maximal point-scoring effort there; but they were still able to come back the next week with almost all of their athletes who'd qualified for the IC4A/ECAC, and win the "afterthought" meets.
In contrast to the situation indoors, it would not surprise me if half of Cornell's IC4A/ECAC qualifiers did not attend the outdoor meets. As I understand it, Cornell is now in the midst of final exams; so are many other IC4A/ECAC schools. A lot of athletes are reluctant to cut into study/exam time, so they "call it a year" after competing in the outdoor Heps; get through finals; then move to their summer jobs.
In addition, a number of colleges have actually *completed* their academic year by now, and holding the athletes so they can compete in the IC4A/ECAC means paying money to feed and house those athletes. A lot of colleges may want to avoid that expense for some or all of their athletes, taking to the IC4A/ECAC only the athletes who "need" the meets (to set NCAA-qualifying marks, say).
So, yeah: you get a grab bag of athletes, few colleges making a serious effort to win team titles, and a diminished meet. It definitely ain't like it used to be.
Also, the commute to NJ could be pricey. Dartmouth and Brown have their distance crews listed as competing at the New Balance Boston Twilight Meet on Saturday night. Based on the information on the Twilight website, it looks like the entry costs are cheaper than for IC4As/ECACs. And with some local pros listed as competing in the same meet, it could be more competitive for the college entries.
C/M Runner wrote:
Also, the commute to NJ could be pricey. Dartmouth and Brown have their distance crews listed as competing at the New Balance Boston Twilight Meet on Saturday night. Based on the information on the Twilight website, it looks like the entry costs are cheaper than for IC4As/ECACs. And with some local pros listed as competing in the same meet, it could be more competitive for the college entries.
http://nbbtwilight.com/
Exactly.
There are other options. That's why the IC's needs to improve the way it does things in order to make the meet more successful/prominent/productive/exciting/meaningful/relevant.
For starters, it has to look at its placement in the competitive season.
Also doesnt help that Open New Englands is this weekend too.