Austin Tamagno chooses NXN - Is he scared of Drew Hunter and Phillip Rocha???

It's The Truth wrote:

Dewey_Runner wrote:

He's running with his team at NXN.

Sorry that Tamagno isn't a selfish POS like Rocha OP.

LOL. His team isn't running at NXN. Just him. His team ran at NXN last year, and he bailed on them to run at FL last year. So does that make him a "selfish POS" as well?

All of you guys accusing are the pieces of shit, how can you call a 17-18 year old kid a POS over the choice of where they run? Who knows their true motives in choosing the championship races, but who cares, it just makes for 2 exciting races in the coming weeks. Letsrun's hobby joggers and slow HS kids need to stop posting on here.

This board blows my mind. We ask that top athletes and coaches participate in the discussions (petty arguments/speculative BS) and then accost informed participants when facts are presented.

Austin's training has gone well this summer and fall. I held him out of a few early season races along with CIF Prelims in order to deliver him to the post season in the best possible shape which has been achieved. Austin is a well rounded student-athlete who takes both areas seriously hence the need to take the ACT again the day of Footlocker. If he didn't need to take the ACT again he would be racing FL not NXN. The end result is that he will not be racing Hunter or Rocha on 12/12. It would be awesome to see how Austin stacks up against Hunter and Rocha head to head but that's not going to happen this season. Hunter and Rocha have killed it this season both adding to their already impressive resumes. I'm not sure what other speculation the trolls on this board want to entertain but these are the facts. If you have any questions that have merit feel free to ask but stop being a bunch of punks. These kids are doing their best to make our sport more popular and you're part of our very small fan base. Help build the sport not break it down.

Good luck to all.

Well Said Sir!

As a long time CIF SS XC/Track fan, I can tell you all that Austin is a tough competitor and class act. There is no reason to believe anything other than was put forward by his father and coaches on these boards. I wish him the best of luck at NXN and look forward to following his progress this spring and in the coming years at Oregon.

Century League wrote:

It's The Truth wrote:

LOL. His team isn't running at NXN. Just him. His team ran at NXN last year, and he bailed on them to run at FL last year. So does that make him a "selfish POS" as well?

All of you guys accusing are the pieces of shit, how can you call a 17-18 year old kid a POS over the choice of where they run? Who knows their true motives in choosing the championship races, but who cares, it just makes for 2 exciting races in the coming weeks. Letsrun's hobby joggers and slow HS kids need to stop posting on here.

RIGHT.

The #1 and #2 (Hunter & Rocha) in the nation are going to duke it out Footlocker!

And the #3, #4, #5, (Davis, Veatch, Tamagno) are going to duke it out at NXN!

Both exciting races!

messi wrote:

man o' man wrote:

Brea Olinda and their coach Jeremy Mattern maybe the reason California got no at-large berths this year. The NXN committee may have decided to give the at-large births to regions that will send complete and competitive teams. Not a chopped-up version less their best runner/scorer to come in 2nd to LAST!

And isn't it coincidental that a year after Tamagno "bails out" on his team to run Footlocker, coach Mattern "bails out" on his team to go coach with his brother! The bark doesn't fall far from the tree. Not a whole lot of loyalty in that program!

First, let's be snarky. In this instance, it's "may be," not "maybe." Also, pick a berth/birth and stick with it.

Okay, now the serious part. I probably should not respond, but when it comes to loyalty and Brea Olinda, I'm passionate about the program. Leaving was one of the most challenging decisions of my life; I miss the athletes and the coaches I worked with more than a message board can convey. My one year stint in southern California turned into sixteen years, and the reason is Brea Olinda XC.

The fact that Brea Olinda ran without Tamagno at NXN last year may have hurt California teams with the at-large process this year. However, I really don't know. Like you, I can only speculate. I do know that we would have loved to have had Austin race with the team last year at NXN, but after we qualified, he told me he was choosing to do FL, and I chose to support him. What was I supposed to do, banish Austin from Brea Olinda? Trash him online? Deny the other guys on the team who contributed to our qualifying from racing NXN? Ironically, my loyalty to Brea Olinda is questioned, when I worked with a difficult situation to support all of my athletes to the best of my abilities. I admit, the situation was not ideal, but I have no control over athlete racing choices post CIF competition.

As for the decision to move 400 miles away from Brea nine months after Tamagno chose not to run with the team at NXN, your deductive reasoning clearly outed me. No coincidence--it was payback (not sure on whom, but payback nonetheless). I'm one petty son-of-gun! The decision had nothing to do with wanting to live in the Bay Area so that my children can grow up around grandparents and their uncle. Sheesh!

Again, good luck to athletes at both meets this weekend. Austin, if you're reading this, I can't wait to cheer you on in Portland. See you there.

RIGHT.

The #1 and #2 (Hunter & Rocha) in the nation are going to duke it out Footlocker!

And the #3, #4, #5, (Davis, Veatch, Tamagno) are going to duke it out at NXN!

Both exciting races![/quote]

This thread is why we are spinning our wheels as a sport. We're currently engulfed in controversy at the international level and the future of our sport is not supported by our minimal fan base here in the US.

The original question was a great question: (Is) Tamagno avoiding Hunter and Rocha??? As Tamagno's current coach I think that's a very appropriate question for those not directly connected to Austin. The question has been answered yet the arm chair quarterbacks want to troll. This website is a vehicle that can further our sport by asking questions, finding answers and improving our practices as coaches, athletes, meet directors, parents and spectators. You can get training advice from the best coaches in the world, help promote races or comment on many topics. Yet, this board rarely produces a productive conversation without some DB purposefully trolling. I feel like I'm an eternal optimist thinking that one day people will realize that we are missing a great opportunity to further our sport but then I am brought back to reality with the progression of threads like this. It's a great thing that none of the kids mentioned care to read these boards and why would they?

For the trolls 10/10. You have two of Austin's coaches posting in addition to his father. For the progression of our sport 0/10. I can see why many of the elites have abandoned this board. F.

Sounds like the ACT test is where it's at this season. Who's got the over under on Austin's ACT scores?

Well, it seems like Austin is distracted by other things and that's too bad. Not the end of the world though.

Look, it is irrelevant anyway. No one is beating Hunter in XC this year. Anyone following his year would see outrageous results, plus he is a returning 8:42 two miler, who could probably run in the 8:30's right now based on his crushing results with a week of sharpening.

I would be shocked if he does not win by 10 secs at FL

You are right about Drew Hunter. Tamagno doesn't have a chance against him, but Drew has to get to the line healthy and ready and sometimes that doesn't happen.

Amazing that you can be among the best in the country, like Tamagno, a 14:18? guy at Mt. Sac, and still need to get an academic scholarship at Oregon so that they can spread out their limited scholarship money to more athletes. Meanwhile, the football team is allowed something like 100-110 scholarships.

runn wrote:

It's a sad situation but FL is to blame for not going with Nike on the team thing.

Yeah, if Footlocker didn't have such a great meet, then maybe Nike's meet wouldn't suck so bad.

I agree with you, this is all Footlocker's fault.

It is shame though that the nations #2 and #3 ranked runners, who live barely 30 minutes apart in the same state, somehow managed to never race each other all year despite being healthy all year. I know there are good reasons for that, but it's still really hard to fathom given how close they live to each other.

Muddy waters wrote:

It is shame though that the nations #2 and #3 ranked runners, who live barely 30 minutes apart in the same state, somehow managed to never race each other all year despite being healthy all year. I know there are good reasons for that, but it's still really hard to fathom given how close they live to each other.

Not really, when you realize Tamagno only raced like 6 times and

mostly only against his local Orange County talent.

Not sure why he keeps mentioning he hasn't gottin' pushed when he didint race any of the BIG invites this season or any of the top talent?

Muddy waters wrote:

It is shame though that the nations #2 and #3 ranked runners, who live barely 30 minutes apart in the same state, somehow managed to never race each other all year despite being healthy all year. I know there are good reasons for that, but it's still really hard to fathom given how close they live to each other.

In fact they did race each other this year, on Rocha's home track no less. Tamagno beat him by a little over 5 seconds over 3200 meters.

As Tamagno's current coach I think that's a very appropriate question for those not directly connected to Austin. The question has been answered yet the arm chair quarterbacks want to troll. This website is a vehicle that can further our sport by asking questions, finding answers and improving our practices as coaches, athletes, meet directors, parents and spectators. You can get training advice from the best coaches in the world, help promote races or comment on many topics. Yet, this board rarely produces a productive conversation without some DB purposefully trolling. I feel like I'm an eternal optimist thinking that one day people will realize that we are missing a great opportunity to further our sport but then I am brought back to reality with the progression of threads like this. It's a great thing that none of the kids mentioned care to read these boards and why would they?

For the trolls 10/10. You have two of Austin's coaches posting in addition to his father. For the progression of our sport 0/10. I can see why many of the elites have abandoned this board. F.

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This is the best post I've seen on Letsrun. It sums things up perfectly how this board, which offers so much positive potential, has been ruined by the owner's decision to put money over ethics and love for the sport.

Oregon chose to not give Austin a full and Austin chose to jump through these academic hoops to cut down on college costs. I never get why these kids run to Oregon or why parents buy into it. It's not for the quality or reputation of the academics either.

Oregon has the luxury of paying less for top level talent than almost any other major DI school in the country.

Some folks, maybe not the informed on here would be shocked at what sub 8;50 two milers got out of HS even recently in the past 6-10 years.

How? Because kids buy into the whole Nike machine thing, and think that when they are done they will be helped out on the back end with a profitable contract.

Ask some how that worked out.

Pictures on my mind wrote:

Oregon chose to not give Austin a full and Austin chose to jump through these academic hoops to cut down on college costs. I never get why these kids run to Oregon or why parents buy into it. It's not for the quality or reputation of the academics either.

Not even drew hunter got offered a full... Only 96%