Wayzata in 9th at 4k, finishes 2nd?! And only ranked 24th in Dyestat??!!

Great race by Wayzata, but FM's #1 guy was way off today.

EPO is my middle name wrote:

Finally, Jaret Carpenter, Wayzata junior has been getting better and better, and finally broke through on a big stage. Just two races ago, his best xc performance was 7th at state. Then 13th at Heartland regionals. And now, 14th, at Nationals! I think he was one of the biggest surprises in the men's race.I'll definitely be following his progression in track, should be interesting to see how he does next year.

14th at TEAM nationals. There's a big difference.

Rock And Roll wrote:

Great race by Wayzata, but FM's #1 guy was way off today.

Having raced against Wayzata all year, I have an inside scoop, one that makes this point invalid. Wayzata's 7th man, the one who finished way back in 17:55 gutted the race out with a broken foot, he literally had to cut the front part of the shoe off in order for the cast to fit inside. Furthermore, the 5th guy raced despite contracting mono. In other words, FM wasn't the only team that didn't do as well as they had potential to do.

Potkins XC wrote:

Rock And Roll wrote:

Great race by Wayzata, but FM's #1 guy was way off today.

Having raced against Wayzata all year, I have an inside scoop, one that makes this point invalid. Wayzata's 7th man, the one who finished way back in 17:55 gutted the race out with a broken foot, he literally had to cut the front part of the shoe off in order for the cast to fit inside. Furthermore, the 5th guy raced despite contracting mono. In other words, FM wasn't the only team that didn't do as well as they had potential to do.

The point may be incomplete, but it is hardly invalid.

Anyway, the point is that almost every team has at least a couple of runners off their game each year to some degree of another.

Wayzata ran real well today, and should be proud, they just lost to the better team and that team also didn't have all of their guys bringing their A game today.

Carpenter's race was frankly a masterpiece. 174th at the beginning, fighting the entire race and picking up 30 places in the last kilometer. He certainly has a bright future. 7th at state to 14th at team nationals is unbelievable, even though it wasn't FL.

whatthewhatthewhat wrote:

14th at TEAM nationals. There's a big difference.

Nike Cross Country Nationals is the official name.

Doping obviously.

Why would the wayzata coach have a kid with mono and a kid with a broken foot race?

He likes hurting kids.

can't be this wrote:

He likes hurting kids.

I'm not sure how that weird post above happened. I didn't mean to do that.

In response to why the coach would have kids race with mono and a broken foot, how would you feel if after 6 years, thousands of miles, in the biggest race of your career, your coach told you you couldn't run? I know I would be furious. I'm sure the athletes and coaches were aware of the risk, and decided the potential reward (high place at NXN) was worth it. In Minnesota, there is a long time until track season with the long cold winters, a large amount of time to recover from mono or a broken foot. It's incredible to see such sacrifice for one's teammates. Concern for the future takes the backseat when one attempts to achieve greatness.

There's taking a risk and sheer stupidity - as in running with mono.

I'm an alumni of the Wayzata men's program, just putting that out there, but I can confidently say Bill Miles, Eric Jahn and the rest of the coaching staff at Wayzata care more about their runners overall wellness than even their running performance. To summarize their philosophy, Bill Miles' pre-section (State qualifying race) speech is to tell the runners that the race doesn't matter; it's just a game and there are more important things in life.

Anyways, not gonna go on a rant here, but I can say that the fact that those two runners ran through injuries was a calculated decision that would have been left up to the parents and the athletes.

The guys ran awesome today and after chronically underperforming at NXN in past years (coming from someone on those teams), it's great for Bill and Eric to see the rewards they deserve.

wayzata alum wrote:

I'm an alumni of the Wayzata men's program, just putting that out there, but I can confidently say Bill Miles, Eric Jahn and the rest of the coaching staff at Wayzata care more about their runners overall wellness than even their running performance. To summarize their philosophy, Bill Miles' pre-section (State qualifying race) speech is to tell the runners that the race doesn't matter; it's just a game and there are more important things in life.

Anyways, not gonna go on a rant here, but I can say that the fact that those two runners ran through injuries was a calculated decision that would have been left up to the parents and the athletes.

The guys ran awesome today and after chronically underperforming at NXN in past years (coming from someone on those teams), it's great for Bill and Eric to see the rewards they deserve.

^^Wayzata alum here as well- very well put.

Think of it that way- you work all high school to get to NXN, you're not going to let one little thing prevent you from running. It's like if you're in track and start developing an achilles issue between sections and state, you're going to still race state and then take the summer to figure the achilles out despite the risk of lengthening the injury time.

Another thing about Wayzata race strategy- look at how the team races throughout the years and they're never a "go out hard and hang on" team. It's always get out in position and move through and really turn the wheels on over the last 1-2K. They did exactly like the program has always done, just with arguably the strongest set of runners the program has ever had.

Their top runner had a faulty chip i believe

wayzata alum wrote:

I'm an alumni of the Wayzata men's program, just putting that out there, but I can confidently say Bill Miles, Eric Jahn and the rest of the coaching staff at Wayzata care more about their runners overall wellness than even their running performance. To summarize their philosophy, Bill Miles' pre-section (State qualifying race) speech is to tell the runners that the race doesn't matter; it's just a game and there are more important things in life.

Anyways, not gonna go on a rant here, but I can say that the fact that those two runners ran through injuries was a calculated decision that would have been left up to the parents and the athletes.

The guys ran awesome today and after chronically underperforming at NXN in past years (coming from someone on those teams), it's great for Bill and Eric to see the rewards they deserve.

Well, did mono is not an injury...did the kid have mono or not as some earlier post indicated?

Running with mono is dangerous and beyond stupid.

The runner who's being referred to here as having Mono (a relatively minor case of it in reality) had it back in September, and backed off training while he was sick. He was healthy and running well at Griak, the coaches and athlete handled it perfectly.

The broken toe runner was cleared to run by his doctor.

Dawg wrote:

The runner who's being referred to here as having Mono (a relatively minor case of it in reality) had it back in September, and backed off training while he was sick. He was healthy and running well at Griak, the coaches and athlete handled it perfectly.

The broken toe runner was cleared to run by his doctor.

Thank you for clarifying...in other words, that earlier poster was playing loose with the specifics.

Maybe I'm stupid but wrote:

Why would the wayzata coach have a kid with mono and a kid with a broken foot race?

The Wayzata coach made none of the calls. Once state is over, MN does not allow coaches to coach off-season. It would have been whoever was working with these athletes the past 5 weeks who allowed them to run.