Mark Wetmore

little violin wrote:

I think maybe coaches such as Damon Martin and the Western coach do similar things to Wetmore. They definitely get good recruits and not so good ones, but can pump out a few sub 14 minute guys every year.

I agree, both Martin and Michel can develop talent as good as anyone in the college ranks. I'm also very curious to see what happens at CSU in the next few years. Siemers did a great job at Colorado School of Mines and I've always felt that CSU should be one of the those schools consistently finishing in the top 20 nationally. Fort Collins is a great college town and it shouldn't be too difficult to get some talent at CSU. Obviously, much depends on what the head coach is willing to give the XC coach in terms of scholarship money, but even if Siemers can recruit some quality Colorado HS kids, he'll build a successful program.

I have heard that Colorado's training is a lot different (and a lot less "crazy") now than in the RwtB days. Any Buffs want to comment?

Wetmore doesn't do a great job at recruiting but I think part of that is by design. He doesn't want a ton of these blue chip runners with big egos. From what I here it often takes some effort to get in touch with him but it is just showing him how much you want to be on the team. Like someone already pointed out, a lot of his success has to do with finding the "right" personalities to fit his program.

I know from what we did in my tenure at CU, the mileage was very individualized and so were the workouts. There were top guys only running 70ish and some were running 100. It just all depends on the type of athlete. His style has changed tremendously from RWTB, but is still just as effective if not more effective.

dsklfj;ldsf wrote:

I remember watch the Colorado varsity run at the Stanford invite 3 years ago and watching 5/7 drop.

So in 2009, CU only had two finishers at the Stanford Invitational? WHy do the official results indicate that CU did not even take part in the meet?

I think that CSU will be a consistent top 10 team once Art gets them up to that level. Just give him a few years time. What he is going to do is get some of the Colorado talent who are underdeveloped and unrecognized like Pennel, Haebe, Stevens, etc, and eventually build them in to great runners. He is going to take the tier right bellow the "blue chips" and get them to reach their potential. If you look at the talent level that he got at Mines and what many of them ended up running, he has shown that he is a very good coach. Compared to Mines, he will not have guys worrying about academics as much and he will be able to redshirt lots more guys of guys. I know that at Mines, Art struggled with guys finishing their four years of school and going to find job because it was a lot more enticing to be making 50 to 60 grand a year than running.

yuiop wrote:

I agree, both Martin and Michel can develop talent as good as anyone in the college ranks. I'm also very curious to see what happens at CSU in the next few years. Siemers did a great job at Colorado School of Mines and I've always felt that CSU should be one of the those schools consistently finishing in the top 20 nationally. Fort Collins is a great college town and it shouldn't be too difficult to get some talent at CSU. Obviously, much depends on what the head coach is willing to give the XC coach in terms of scholarship money, but even if Siemers can recruit some quality Colorado HS kids, he'll build a successful program.

What role does altitude play in the Success of CU?

Wetmore has often said he would rather take Boulder and its training environment at sea than at 5,400ft. Too demanding all year round and can't train as fast.

Horses mouth wrote:

Wetmore has often said he would rather take Boulder and its training environment at sea than at 5,400ft. Too demanding all year round and can't train as fast.

this

the altitude is actually more of a hinderance than a benefit for a college athlete

He had a very good h.s. girl in Aislin Ryan (NY) how did she do out there?

I like xc, and Wetmore is an excellant xc coach, but has this guy ever had good 4x800 or DMR relays...if he came to Penn Relays he' get lapped by Villanova....

And why the F*** should he care about Penn Relays when he has guys consistently crush it at Peyton Jordan that same weekend? And for the record, I guarantee you his team would make a run at a 4xmile at Penn.

Yes, when he coached Seton Hall.

Aislin Ryan was a national high school cross country champ as a junior in high school. I met her.She was really friendly She wasn't your typical long distance runner. She was kind of a bigger girl compared to these little 98 lb wasps that you see win races. She was maybe 5 7 and 115-20 lbs. She looked more like a cheerleader than a runner. She was chronically injured and tried sitting out months at a time only to get re-injured upon returning is what I heard.

wet pants wrote:

Wetmore doesn't do a great job at recruiting but I think part of that is by design. He doesn't want a ton of these blue chip runners with big egos. From what I here it often takes some effort to get in touch with him but it is just showing him how much you want to be on the team. Like someone already pointed out, a lot of his success has to do with finding the "right" personalities to fit his program.

Current high school senior right now-

It wasn't too hard to get a hold of the program, actually a lot easier then Indiana and some other schools.

I sent Coach Nelson and e-mail and got a rather quick response. It came with a general e-mail from Wetmore to recruits and at the end information I've requested. They are very good at getting back to recruits. I should also add my times when I wrote them were not at the level that they would be looking for. I just wanted to find out what it would take.

I have nothing but infinite respect for Wetmore and the coaching staff.

freak of the run,,

So where do u think u will likely end up running? What are your times(if u don't mind my asking)? Have u also considered D2 or D3 schools?

Does anyone know if Wetmore is looking at Burcham or Montoya?

Like most top programs, the head coach (Wetmore in this case) doesn't do a whole lot of recruiting, rather it's their assistants that do. Part of the reason Billy Nelson was brought in was so he could recruit (youthful, energetic and extremely successful runner). Nelson, as freakoftherun mentioned, is doing a very good job. The Colorado program is different. It isn't for everyone. While they may not get the very top kids year in and year out, the talent they do get gets developed and they are usually in contention for a XC trophy. In terms of overall development, there are very few coaches who can match Wetmore's success. Even more so, look at how many CU guys try to run post-collegiately. It's impressive.

To piggy back on what someone else said, some runners fit better at cu than others. I would think Kirk Webb is the most obvious on that list, he's likely better off in a mid-d focused program.

Colorado is an under recruited state as it stands. Most coaches don't give a lot of credence to a 15-20 second conversion for a 3200 and just think 920 is 920. That is part of the reason Western/Adams/Mines do so well at the d2 level. Yes they have great coaches but they get some very underrated talent. Someone else mentioned Tabor Stevens, he ran 422/153 in hs in Colorado, that is solid up here! I also think it has become a big deal to run out of state in the last decade and cu has lost some of its luster. Part of that has to do with some programs recruiting Colorado more actively. Oklahoma also recruited Nicholls brothers, and Poland. Portland recruited Perry, Kincaid, as well as Fauble who are in their top 5 right now. They also have some lesser known recruits from powerhouse teams like Fort Collins.

The other factor is that it has been awhile since there was a really high end boy in Colorado go to cu and have huge success. Brent Vaughn was the last one to do so and he graduated 5 years ago this spring so the memory is slightly faded for some hs boys around here. All it will take for them to get more super elite Colorado kids to stay is another Goucher or Vaughn.