Ivy League team 14th at Izumo Ekiden.

Why would an Ivy runner actually be good? The best they've offered the past decade is Ben True.

Gcol wrote:

Why would an Ivy runner actually be good? The best they've offered the past decade is Ben True.

Or maybe Morgan Uceny.

You are forgetting Donn Cabral and Abbey D'Agostino

Who was on the squad?

Home country advantage for the Japanese.

The order was Joe Stilin, Mark Amirault, Dan Lowry, Kyle Merber, Trevor VanAckeren, Brendan Martin

All star team from a minor league that doesn't offer athletic scholarships vs. all of the best Japanese uni teams? How can that mean anything other than reinforce the concept that you don't go to an Ivy League school to focus solely on running?

An Ivy guy could win NCAA XC this year.

The Japanese handicappers picked this well "it would be a major accomplishment for the Americans to finish in the top 10."

james 23:13 wrote:

An Ivy guy could win NCAA XC this year.

No.

8.0 km Joe Stilin 24:29

5.8 Mark Amirault 17:31

7.9 Dan Lowry 24:40

6.2 Kyle Merber 19:39

6.4 Trevor VanAckeren 20:12

10.2 Brendan Martin 31:37

Anyone know how this team was assembled and how the trip was organized?

thank you

I don't know, but you could go ask Joe Stilin:

http://thinkfastwaitrun.blogspot.jp/2013/10/ten-minute-battle-izumo-ekiden-japan.html

I think they ran really bad, aren't those times really slow? Merber's is like 5:05 pace... how hilly was it?

According to japan running news blog (Brett Larner), they broke down the top 5 runners + Ivy runner in each stage. Very interesting to see the comparison:

25th Izumo Ekiden

Izumo, 10/14/13

twenty-two teams, six stages, 44.5 km

click here for complete results

Top Team Performances

1. Komazawa University - 2:09:11 - CR

2. Toyo University - 2:10:17

3. Nittai University - 2:10:59

4. Waseda University - 2:11:47

5. Aoyama Gakuin University - 2:12:09

6. Chuo Gakuin University - 2:12:24

7. Meiji University - 2:13:09

8. Hosei University - 2:13:20

9. Juntendo University - 2:13:29

10. Chuo University - 2:14:40

11. Kyoto Sangyo Univ. - 2:15:22

12. Teikyo Univ. - 2:16:07

13. Kwansei Gakuin Univ. - 2:17:13

14. Ivy League Select Team - 2:18:08

Stage Best Performances

First Stage (8.0 km)

1. Shogo Nakamura (Komazawa Univ.) - 23:25

2. Shota Hattori (Nittai Univ.) - 23:45

3. Kazuto Nishiike (Hosei Univ.) - 23:46

4. Yusuke Ogura (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 23:47

5. Hironori Tsuetaki (Chuo Gakuin Univ.) - 23:51

-----

10. Joe Stilin (Ivy League) - 24:29

Second Stage (5.8 km)

1. Genki Yagisawa (Meiji Univ.) - 16:32

2. Keisuke Nakatani (Komazawa Univ.) - 16:44

3. Yuta Oikawa (Chuo Gakuin Univ.) - 16:45

4. Koki Takada (Waseda Univ.) - 16:47

5. Shohei Tomita (Nittai Univ.) - 16:49

-----

10. Mark Amirault (Ivy League) - 17:31

Third Stage (7.9 km)

1. Kenta Murayama (Komazawa Univ.) - 22:36 - CR

2. Hideto Yamanaka (Nittai Univ.) - 22:49

3. Yuta Shitara (Toyo Univ.) - 23:14

4. Yuki Matsumura (Juntendo Univ.) - 23:26

5. Shuhei Yamamoto (Waseda Univ.) - 23:29

-----

14. Dan Lowry (Ivy League) - 24:40

Fourth Stage (6.2 km)

1. Yudai Okamoto (Chuo Gakuin Univ.) - 17:46 - CR

2. Ikuto Yufu (Komazawa Univ.) - 18:03

3. Jun Nobuto (Toyo Univ.) - 18:05

4. Hikaru Kato (Nittai Univ.) - 18:13

5. Rintaro Takeda (Waseda Univ.) - 18:15

-----

19. Kyle Merber (Ivy League) - 19:39

Fifth Stage (6.4 km)

1. Yuma Hattori (Toyo Univ.) - 17:54 - CR

2. Yusuke Nishiyama (Komazawa Univ.) - 18:31

3. Ken Yokote (Meiji Univ.) - 18:38

4. Shota Kai (Nittai Univ.) - 18:45

5. Kazuki Ozawa (Juntendo Univ.) - 18:50

-----

17. Trevor Van Ackeren (Ivy League) - 20:12

Sixth Stage (10.2 km)

1. Shinobu Kubota (Komazawa Univ.) - 29:52

2. Keita Shitara (Toyo Univ.) - 29:59

3. Suguru Osako (Waseda Univ.) - 30:00

4. Daichi Kamino (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 30:27

5. Keigo Yano (Nittai Univ.) - 30:38

-----

12. Brendan Martin (Ivy League) - 31:37

Alternates' 5000 m

1. Genta Yodokawa (Toyo Univ.) - 14:06.77 - PB

2. Ryo Kuchimachi (Toyo Univ.) - 14:07.23 - PB

3. Shinya Saito (Toyo Univ.) - 14:07.54

4. Shuya Kurokawa (Komazawa Univ.) - 14:08.99 - PB

5. Yoshihiro Nishizawa (Komazawa Univ.) - 14:11.65

C/M Runner wrote:

Alternates' 5000 m

1. Genta Yodokawa (Toyo Univ.) - 14:06.77 - PB

2. Ryo Kuchimachi (Toyo Univ.) - 14:07.23 - PB

3. Shinya Saito (Toyo Univ.) - 14:07.54

4. Shuya Kurokawa (Komazawa Univ.) - 14:08.99 - PB

5. Yoshihiro Nishizawa (Komazawa Univ.) - 14:11.65

A good illustration of how deep these teams are, especially considering that this is just the beginning of the major ekiden season.

roughly adjusted to 8km

Stilin-24:29

Amirault-24:40

Lowery-25:00

Merber-25:45

Van Ackeren-25:40

Martin-24:20

I deleted the above post and re-post it below with some modicications. You can't just copy and paste someone else's entire blog with no link back.

So here is a link to a great article on the race from Brett Larner.

Here are the highlights:

My thoughts.

1) It's been like this for 20 + years. Every few years, the Ivy Leaguers seem to think they've got a good team that could do some damage but there is no way they'll ever do damage unless they are in top shape. And few are in top shape that time of year post-collegiately.

2) Where was Cabral? He went right but didn't run?

3) Having run in the alternate's race before myself (the only time i ever wore a princeton singlet), i think that's the best attribute to how good the Japanese are. They have guys not running for their varsities who are ripping 14:07s.

4) What if the NCAA xc was run as an ekiden one year. How cool would that be? It would be way better for tv - as you'd know who was winning and it would add some real strategy to who runs what legs. Instead of all five guys running at once, you just go one after another on the terre haute course.

I think in general sports should do stuff like that. One year play a certain proportion of NBA games with no shot clocks (even short shorts).

Have no rabbits in chicago every other year. Just spice things up so it's not the same every year.

ONce ever four years, ncaa xc is run as a relay race.

Cabral wasn't on the trip at all. Gave up his spot.

There's a lot to be said about having road racing and specifically ekiden racing experience. Most US guys don't run solo time trials on the road very often. I would also say most recent post-collegiates have never run a road race at this intensity, period. Obviously the Japanese have a ton of experience with that style of racing.

The alternates last year for the US ran 14;06 and 14:12ish. (In hindsight they should have absolutely been put on the Ekiden).

I think the Ekiden is pretty boring to watch compared to a race like NCAA cross. It spreads out super quickly and then it's just a bunch of individual time trials more or less. NCAA cross is full of individual battles happening simultaneously - the broadcast just does a painfully bad job of capturing this. I caught some of the broadcast of Izumo and it was mostly that one team way out front alone. (Wait, that sounds familiar!) Maybe it's just because the Japanese have no issue hammering themselves silly out front.

rojo wrote:

[quote]C/M Runner wrote:

4) What if the NCAA xc was run as an ekiden one year. How cool would that be? It would be way better for tv - as you'd know who was winning and it would add some real strategy to who runs what legs. Instead of all five guys running at once, you just go one after another on the terre haute course.

PAC12, Big10, SEC, even ACC and Big12 all-star teams would similarly trounce the Ivies in an Ekiden like this. There's good reason the Japanese organizers like this arrangement.

Why was Elliott Heath on the Ivy team in 2012? Stanford isn't Ivy League.