Why did Williamsz and McEntee run at Paul Short?

Maybe they wanted to--you know--do well in school? This will not be the only time they have to travel for a meet, and unlike many of their football and basketball-playing peers, what they do in class actually matters.

Plenty of competition at Paul Short.

So Tiernan doesn't care about school?

How about their lacrosse playing peers? Does what they do in class matters? Water polo? Swimming? Golf? Tennis? Do tell.

brewskie wrote:

How about their lacrosse playing peers? Does what they do in class matters? Water polo? Swimming? Golf? Tennis? Do tell.

I know that you know the difference between team sports and hybrid sports like cross country. XC has the luxury of accommodating the team and individual needs by splitting the squad between near and distant meets.

Both of them ran well into the summer, competing in Europe and then in the world relays.

I imagine their training is being handled differently.

I think it's safe to say that Marcus knows what he is doing, especially since they are both middle distance rather than pure distance guys.

NtC wrote:

Maybe they wanted to--you know--do well in school? This will not be the only time they have to travel for a meet, and unlike many of their football and basketball-playing peers, what they do in class actually matters.

Plenty of competition at Paul Short.

Then send the whole A team to Paul Short. This split-squad stuff is terrible for fans who actually want to-you know--follow the sport and root for "teams".

excattyguy wrote:

Both of them ran well into the summer, competing in Europe and then in the world relays.

I imagine their training is being handled differently.

I think it's safe to say that Marcus knows what he is doing, especially since they are both middle distance rather than pure distance guys.

I'm not questioning whether Marcus knows what he's doing. He's obviously a good coach. But again, THIS is what's wrong with NCAA cross country; when a coach doesn't send his top guys (when healthy, not red-shirting) to the big meet of the weekend because of what they did internationally over the summer. They didn't even make the Commonwealth Games. They only ran in B meets in Ireland and Finland.

Would Jumbo Elliott have split the squad, or not raced Coghlan because he ran a few mediocre track races over the summer?

And don't give me the "all that matters is what happens in November" B.S. If the sport is nothing but a conference meet and Nationals, you don't have a sport.

gotta disagree.

the coach's responsibility is to make nats, then ideally win nats.

these guys are endurance athletes. you don't run them simply to please the fans.

as a crazy distance running fan, i have zero problem with what 'nova (and wisco?) did. i actually thing it adds to the intrigue.

that said, 'nova can't beat colorado or stanford, so it doesn't really matter.