Brett Larner implies last year's Mich State women (NCAA champs) might only get 7th or 8th in Japanese championships

kare wa nihonjin dewa nai

I still don't understand how these Japanese schools have such incredible depth. Seriously, could the top Japanese men's team beat Colorado/Stanford? I guess over XC it'd be different, but a 10k on the roads...

The Japanese are naturally leaner than Americans, AND they don't dream of being football players, basketball players, and many other sports Americans are obsessed with.

And yet the have little to show for it in the way of medals.

Brett is a troll.

No Football or Basketball wrote:

The Japanese are naturally leaner than Americans, AND they don't dream of being football players, basketball players, and many other sports Americans are obsessed with.

In the last Olympics, Japan won 1 medal: Hammer Throw, and the hammer is their best international event event by IAAF rankings. Their best athlete is a 20-year-old sprinter. They think they're better than they are because they mostly compete among themselves, but by medal count, they are one of the worst athletic programs in the IAAF.

That's what you get when you believe that high mileage jogging makes you anything but a bunch of losers.

Where you at these days, Jason? Good to see you here posting.

3rd or 4th at " worst "

Lindsay Clark is coming back

Katie is getting fit

Any word on why rachele didn't race?

Ali is fast

Shelby is fast

ipa pls wrote:

I still don't understand how these Japanese schools have such incredible depth. Seriously, could the top Japanese men's team beat Colorado/Stanford? I guess over XC it'd be different, but a 10k on the roads...

Its always seemed strange to me as well. Japanese have such great domestic competitions, but when their top elites come to compete internationally, they usually get pummeled, and not just by the Africans. In a race outside Japan, they'll lose to Europeans, Aussies, Kiwis, etc as well. Top Japanese guys will run 2:07s, 2:08s in domestic marathons, but take them to an even faster course like London or Chicago and they aren't even in the picture, finishing over 2:12.

The Japan of 2015 isn't the Japan of the 1960's Japan Economic Miracle. Rather 2015 Japanese are a bunch of lazy slobs that don't want to work hard the way their parents and grandparents did

reader of the forums wrote:

And yet the have little to show for it in the way of medals.

Brett is a troll.

What does winning an NCAA xc title have to do with medals? The best NCAA runner's can only hope to sniff a medal once in their career. Hell the Wisco team with Teg, Solinsky etc didn't even win the NCAA title.

But you can win an NCAA title with easily by putting 5 in the top 40. An all-american level runner is lucky to have a pro career at all.

The Japanese women are great at pushing a certain pace and sticking to it. I think xc would be an equalizer to some extent. It would be interesting to see one of those teams come over for wisco and see what happens.

Anyone know if they'd be interested in coming over? The timing might not work if their big meet is this weekend. How much would it cost to fly 7 of them over here? I bet we could do it for 20k. I'll think we should try to raise the money and do it if they'll come.

A fun Larner story is him claiming that the three of the four Americans on OSU's 2012 title team didn't count as American unless he received proof of their citizenship. However, even Erassa winning the USA junior cross title and then the Edinburgh cross challenge in USA colors didn't count. Stillwater Newspress stories about Mecheso and Manilafasha being American citizens certainly weren't sufficient.

Simply charming.

Cannot beat him for quality of reporting on Japanese running, however!

coach d wrote:

No Football or Basketball wrote:

The Japanese are naturally leaner than Americans, AND they don't dream of being football players, basketball players, and many other sports Americans are obsessed with.

In the last Olympics, Japan won 1 medal: Hammer Throw, and the hammer is their best international event event by IAAF rankings. Their best athlete is a 20-year-old sprinter. They think they're better than they are because they mostly compete among themselves, but by medal count, they are one of the worst athletic programs in the IAAF.

That's what you get when you believe that high mileage jogging makes you anything but a bunch of losers.

FWIW, Japanese women have won the following number of medals in the marathon at the Olympics and World Champs (last one in 2013 WC):

Gold: 4

Silver: 6

Bronze: 5

They also won a bronze in the 10,000 at the 97 WC.

The isn't Meiji Japan.

LetsRun.com wrote:

The Japanese University women's ekiden champs are this weekend. The defending champs' top 6 have an average 5k pb of 15:45 as compared to Michigan State's 16:11 for last year.

Brett Larner wrote:

2014 NCAA XC national champion Michigan State University had a top-six average of 16:11.16 at the time of its win, putting it right in with the group of six Japanese schools contending for 7th and 8th place.

http://japanrunningnews.blogspot.com/2015/10/ritsumeikan-set-to-make-it-five.html

Based on my calculations I would predict 3rd or 4th as opposed to 7th and 8th place. If you are comparing U.S. and Japan college age runners, you can't simply use the 5000, which is the premier Japanese event, whereas in the U.S., the mile is king. Also, U.S. college runners generally don't focus on time as much as the Japanese do, most college 5000s are tactical.

Remember in 2013 when a group of All Star male collegiate runners (Mark Amirault (Pr ’10), Tom Dialynas (Pr ’12), Jon Gault (D ’12), Dan Lowry (B ’12), Brendan Martin (Col ’11), Kyle Merber (Col ’12), Ethan Shaw (D ’12), Joe Stilin (Pr ’12), and Trevor Van Ackeren (Pr ’12) ran at the Izumo Ekiden. They came in 14th. We can say the Japanese collegiate men are better than ours. Probably the women too. They just don't translate to professional track. Think this speaks to the fact there is no money in track and field, Money is in the marathon and the roads. If you consider it financially worthwhile. I think most of the Japanese athletes just go and get a job, like most. I would think getting a decent job is going to be at least triple what a decent road runner makes. Not everyone has to go for the Olympic dream.

weirdoh wrote:

kare wa nihonjin dewa nai

Translation: 'He [Larner] isn't Japanese'.