Overaged American Dominating NCAA d3 XC- Where's the outrage? ;)

We in division 3 are just a little more progressive than the rest of the NCAA divisions. You see we make the sport solely about passion and a mutual respect for our athletic counterparts instead of muddying the competitive waters with money. Cazzola (since she is the only one named) is a phenomenal athlete and I feel the vast, vast majority of D3 has a lot of respect for her and is able to look past the fact that she is older than the rest of the field by a few years.

Not much outrage since few care about chicks running and/or D3.

Hold it, a mom beat all those "D3 chicks running and partying hard"?

Well, Rojo, since you are the main Mormon-hate propagator it must be currently contained due to your starting this thread.

Well, I wouldn't say I'm outraged, since Women's DIII doesn't really come up on my radar.

But a 27 year old competing against 21 year olds? Come on. There's got to be an age cap somewhere. That's ridiculous.

I must submit my outrage . . . over those insanely ugly Oshkosh uniforms! What are those, giant yellow bubbles?

brabrab wrote:

Well, I wouldn't say I'm outraged, since Women's DIII doesn't really come up on my radar.

But a 27 year old competing against 21 year olds? Come on. There's got to be an age cap somewhere. That's ridiculous.

You do realize you would have to give 3 years credit for every baby popped out don't you? Of course I think it is a big advantage getting to train in the offseason pushing a heavy stroller so that may be a one year debit.

Regardless of how many babies you decide to crap out, it's pretty clear that 27-year-olds have higher levels of natural endurance than 21-year-olds.

Sure, raising kids is a lot of work. But look at Wesley Korir. He was a janitor who worked on his feet all day and still managed to be one of the best marathoners in the world.

My point is this: Yeah, it's probably tough to run fast after having and raising kids. But it's definitely possible, so their should be some kind of rule in place to even the playing field.

I don't know enough of the science behind it to make that rule myself. But my gut is telling me that 27 is over the limit.

"With 500 meters to go Cazzola was in second place behind Amherst College’s Keri Lambert, but Cazzola was able to close the gap and run past Lambert. Cazzola opened up a lead of 15 seconds over second place Alison Steinbrunner (Ohio Northern) and another 5 seconds over Lambert, who finished third."

This part of the article makes me wonder if the writer is a runner??? How does one put 20 seconds on someone in "500 meters to go" that was leading the race, did the other person walk the last 500 M?

rojo wrote:

Where's the outrage from the people hating on over-aged foreigners/Mormons?

There is no hating on over-aged foreigners/Mormons on Letsrun. That is a self serving falsehood. The hating is on african born runners, with accusations of their being over-aged (true or not), at both the high school and college level.

No white runners are ever attacked for being over-aged -- although sometimes it is pointed out in response to comments attacking the ages of African born runners

Considering the number of female distance runners who peak as high school freshmen, I have trouble believing that a 27 year old women has a definite advantage over a 21 year old. Throw in mother of two - and no full-time nanny -- I'd ascribe Cazzola's success to natural talent and hard work.

I would say she's at an obvious disadvantage. I wasn't stronger at 27, I was however smarter - and that equated to better races. The young kids should be able to outgun here on the basis of speed alone. No, DIII XC is not something anyone other than those taking part in it and maybe their parents care about, but that's still a pretty impressive performance just the same.

rollingthunder wrote:

This part of the article makes me wonder if the writer is a runner??? How does one put 20 seconds on someone in "500 meters to go" that was leading the race, did the other person walk the last 500 M?

Let's say the winner closed the last 500 in 80 seconds (1:04 400M pace) and the 3rd place person closed in 100 seconds (1:20 400M pace) That is 20 seconds and a not unreasonable differential between someone fading in the last 500M and someone with an excellent kick in the last 500M.

this is women's d3, who cares if she's 27? remember Phyllis Tuggle? she was like 40! this is not like the Chris Weinke thing

muck raking rojo even if he has a bit of a wink on this one. But exactly, it's DIII which doesn't have age limits. Case closed move on. I've had a recurring dream that I'm back on my college and training with the team for one more season, but decades older now. Gives me the willies. Fortunately, I haven't had that dream in a couple years.

Wow

Well, since it is not uncommon for females to peak at 16, the age curve for the typical female is different than that for males. And, if the gals she was competing against worked this hard for life, then they would have the training background to beat them. I think she is doing very well at DIII because at age 19 to 22 she could have been doing pretty well at DI. She's better because she's better, not because she is older (but despite that she is older).

brabrab wrote:

Regardless of how many babies you decide to crap out, it's pretty clear that 27-year-olds have higher levels of natural endurance than 21-year-olds.

Sure, raising kids is a lot of work. But look at Wesley Korir. He was a janitor who worked on his feet all day and still managed to be one of the best marathoners in the world.

My point is this: Yeah, it's probably tough to run fast after having and raising kids. But it's definitely possible, so their should be some kind of rule in place to even the playing field.

I don't know enough of the science behind it to make that rule myself. But my gut is telling me that 27 is over the limit.

uniform critic wrote:

I must submit my outrage . . . over those insanely ugly Oshkosh uniforms! What are those, giant yellow bubbles?

No way. Those unis are fresssssssssh.

She's no Phyllis Tuggle.