Guy who had never made conference xc squad was 3rd at Ivies - is this the best a 1st-time Sr has ever finished?

rojo wrote:

He deserves a lot of praise - could have easily quit the sport especially since he's not on scholarship.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't no ivy athletes on scholarship?

Anyways, could you interview him and find out what sort of changes he made in his training that allowed this big jump? I'd like to know what his summer and in season training were like specifically, and his last year in general.

Every year there are hundreds or even thousands of NCAA XC and track runners who finish out their 4th year of the sport despite having no scholarship and not making the championships team.

Most cross country teams carry 16 to 20 members, so roughly half of them don't make the championships team. I'd say an average team has one senior who fails to make the travel squad, and yet they finish out their year racing as hard as they can. Why not write an article about them? What they did is even more meaningful, since they didn't even have a payoff their senior year.

My suspicion is that if you were to interview this kid, you'd find it was more about eliminating bad habits than making some radical change. You'd probably find that he actually trained this summer, whereas in past years he had an internship or partied in his hometown or something like that. Or this year he had much easier classes in the fall, so had more energy than previous years.

I had a teammate in college who didn't even make the team his freshman and sophomore years. His Junior and Senior years he barely made the team and never travelled. He stuck with it anyway. After he graduated, he continued to run and train as hard as he could. Fast forward to 5 years out of college, he's still running and still PRing. He's not about to win any championships, but if you want a story about perserverance and commitment to the sport when the only payoff is personal satisfaction, there are many men/women like him.

Shoot, Jamin kind of fits into that category too, now that I think about it. Mid pack guy in college, continues to run and improve despite no elite level aspirations.

rojo wrote:

So at the 2015 Ivy League Heps championships on Friday, Columbia senior Aubrey Myjer led the Lions to the men's title with a 3rd place showing.

The guy had never even made the conference XC squad before. After the meet, I was wondering, "Has there ever been a senior before that wasn't a transfer who has placed so high in a conference meet without even making it his first 3 years?"

.

sdfsdfsdfsdfsdfsdf wrote:

Every year there are hundreds or even thousands of NCAA XC and track runners who finish out their 4th year of the sport despite having no scholarship and not making the championships team.

.

Obviously NOT Ivy League material.

sdfsdfsdfsdfsdfsdf wrote:

Every year there are hundreds or even thousands of NCAA XC and track runners who finish out their 4th year of the sport despite having no scholarship and not making the championships team.

Most cross country teams carry 16 to 20 members, so roughly half of them don't make the championships team. I'd say an average team has one senior who fails to make the travel squad, and yet they finish out their year racing as hard as they can. Why not write an article about them? What they did is even more meaningful, since they didn't even have a payoff their senior year.

Why would that be more interesting than this guy who actually far exceeded expectations? What payoff are you talking about?

He finished third at the California state xc meet in HS. He was the South SF Bay runner of the year and 18 seconds ahead of anyone else in the CCS.

Very talented guy whose attention evidently wanders to things other than running (as was true during HS).

http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_19485344

I should add: he actually won his Division title at California state xc as a soph, took a year off to play water polo. then came back and finished 3d as a senior.

I'm reading too fast. He only helped the team win the division title as a soph. Then a year off playing water polo and lacrosse. Then finished third as an individual as a senior.

On the face of it I would assume he has a history of injuries. Every team I've ever been on always has that one uber talent who is constantly fighting injuries or mono/anemia. Put together a few months of injury-free high mileage training and people like this can really break through. As letsrun has said, talent/genetics never go away.

To me this is more likely than just a pure "breakthrough" as a senior based on more normal progression.

id take it wrote:

I'm reading too fast. He only helped the team win the division title as a soph. Then a year off playing water polo and lacrosse. Then finished third as an individual as a senior.

Amazing athlete.

Zach Sullivan of La Salle University finished 2nd in the A10 as a 5th year senior running 23:55. That was the first 10-man A10 Championship squad he had ever made.

Explorer wrote:

Zach Sullivan of La Salle University finished 2nd in the A10 as a 5th year senior running 23:55. That was the first 10-man A10 Championship squad he had ever made.

Cool. I love the stories of overlooked, under-appreciated runners.

rojo wrote:

The guy had never even made the conference XC squad before. After the meet, I was wondering, "Has there ever been a senior before that wasn't a transfer who has placed so high in a conference meet without even making it his first 3 years?"

Allow me to pose another question. "Does this accomplishment in question have too many qualifiers on it for me to get unusually excited about it?"

(Yes.)

rojo wrote:

So at the 2015 Ivy League Heps championships on Friday, Columbia senior Aubrey Myjer led the Lions to the men's title with a 3rd place showing.

The guy had never even made the conference XC squad before. After the meet, I was wondering, "Has there ever been a senior before that wasn't a transfer who has placed so high in a conference meet without even making it his first 3 years?"

Can you think of any seniors that have had similar huge breakouts in any conference?

He deserves a lot of praise - could have easily quit the sport especially since he's not on scholarship.

I can see how this happened:

CC Dude: I'm on the cross country team

Aubrey: Cool! I used to be able to run a 4 minute mile back when we were doing summer conditioning for soccer.

CC Dude: Not likely. Do you know how hard it is to run a legit 4 minute mile? I can't even do that and I've been a runner for over 10 years now.

Aubrey: I don't know, it doesn't seem that hard. A couple other guys on the soccer team did it.

CC Dude: They probably ran a 4:58 by cutting the corners on a short course.

Aubrey: No it was legit.

CC Dude: well, if you think you're so fast why don't you come out and run with the team sometime?

Aubrey: Sure!

Zach Sullivan of La Salle University finished 2nd in the A10 as a 5th year senior running 23:55. That was the first 10-man A10 Championship squad he had ever made.[/quote]

Also Sullivan and Myjer had the same coach. Dan Ireland.

rojo wrote:

So at the 2015 Ivy League Heps championships on Friday, Columbia senior Aubrey Myjer led the Lions to the men's title with a 3rd place showing.

The guy had never even made the conference XC squad before. After the meet, I was wondering, "Has there ever been a senior before that wasn't a transfer who has placed so high in a conference meet without even making it his first 3 years?"

Can you think of any seniors that have had similar huge breakouts in any conference?

He deserves a lot of praise - could have easily quit the sport especially since he's not on scholarship.

Interview him.

poster feedback wrote:

rojo wrote:

So at the 2015 Ivy League Heps championships on Friday, Columbia senior Aubrey Myjer led the Lions to the men's title with a 3rd place showing.

The guy had never even made the conference XC squad before. After the meet, I was wondering, "Has there ever been a senior before that wasn't a transfer who has placed so high in a conference meet without even making it his first 3 years?"

Can you think of any seniors that have had similar huge breakouts in any conference?

He deserves a lot of praise - could have easily quit the sport especially since he's not on scholarship.

Interview him.

I'd love to see LRC interview fifth men / women. I'll bet their stories are more interesting than the studs. These men and women are running for the love of the sport and maybe some recognition which they didn't get as HS athletes.

gl xc fan wrote:

poster feedback wrote:

Interview him.

I'd love to see LRC interview fifth men / women. I'll bet their stories are more interesting than the studs. These men and women are running for the love of the sport and maybe some recognition which they didn't get as HS athletes.

I'd like to see more of those stories too. Remember most of us started out as the fifth man at one time. Most don't move up but it's the strength of your fifth man that determines the outcome of most meets.

I could think of something similar as it applied more for the track seasons rather than cross country - Princeton's Michael Franklin.

He never scored at a Heps until his senior year where he won the indoor 5km, outdoor 5km, and outdoor 10km, and then capped it all off with an All-American finish in the outdoor 10km in 2013. He was on Princeton's 2012 NCAA XC squad, but that was after he was off the 2012 HepsXC team.

http://hepstrack.com/blog/2013/12/31/2012-13-track-man-of-the-year/

One and done for SUNY Geneseo runner Alex Brimstein. Won the only XC SUNYAC race he ran.

https://www.tfrrs.org/results/xc/4762.html?athlete_hnd=3277904#25362