Do steeplechasers or 10000m guys make better college xc guys?

Are there usually hills at XC nationals or conference meets?

Take the top 5 in the NCAA steeple and 10,000 and see where they finished in cross. 10K wins hands down.

10k for sure. If you took the entire field from XC nationals and ran them in a 10k on the track and a 3k steeple on the track the XC results would more closely correlate with then 10k results.

That's not exactly what you asked for, but hopefully it makes a point.

I could beat people in a 10k, steeple, and XC, but those same people could beat me in a 5k and 1500. So that's another data point for you.

sunfire wrote:

10k for sure. If you took the entire field from XC nationals and ran them in a 10k on the track and a 3k steeple on the track the XC results would more closely correlate with then 10k results.

That's not exactly what you asked for, but hopefully it makes a point.

I could beat people in a 10k, steeple, and XC, but those same people could beat me in a 5k and 1500. So that's another data point for you.

^^that^^

sunfire wrote:

10k for sure. If you took the entire field from XC nationals and ran them in a 10k on the track and a 3k steeple on the track the XC results would more closely correlate with then 10k results.

That's not exactly what you asked for, but hopefully it makes a point.

Correlation is not causation.

hjj wrote:

sunfire wrote:

10k for sure. If you took the entire field from XC nationals and ran them in a 10k on the track and a 3k steeple on the track the XC results would more closely correlate with then 10k results.

That's not exactly what you asked for, but hopefully it makes a point.

Correlation is not causation.

OP asked for correlation, not causation.

Relation wrote:

hjj wrote:

Correlation is not causation.

OP asked for correlation, not causation.

No

hjj wrote:

Relation wrote:

OP asked for correlation, not causation.

No

Yep. If he were asking for causation, he would have asked whether training for the 10k or steeple makes one a better XC runner. Instead he asked whether top steeplers or 10k guys tend to be top XC guys. Correlation.

sunfire's answer is pretty good but it also depends on the race situation.

I can imagine a regional race where the elite competition is only a fraction of that at nationals where the 1500/5000 guys can sit and kick which lets them look better. The depth of nationals means there are almost no sit and kick races but I don't know where this idea leaves a steepler.

It also seems that regionals and nationals are close enough together so that the 10,000 guys look better at nationals because they recover from the regional round better than the steeplers. This would kind of leave the steeplers looking better than the 10,000 guys at regionals.

ididj wrote:

Are there usually hills at XC nationals or conference meets?

+1

JackDunlopTheRunner wrote:

10k guys already run the distance and have the endurance but steeplers have strong thighs for the hills from hurdling. Thoughts?

Steeplers do NOT have "strong thighs from hurdling."