Found it interesting that the Harvard men's cross country team only ran one guy, Kieran Tuntivate, at regionals today.
This was after Harvard finished last at Heps (Ivy League Championships) and then the news came out that there the school was investigating an annual tradition of the men's team ranking the women's team on their looks and creating "sexually explicit documents" around the rankings. http://www.cbsnews.com/news/harvard-investigating-report-mens-x-country-team-created-sexually-explicit-docs/
Harvard didn't issue anything on their website as to why only one guy ran and we'll look into that for the Week That Was but it is worth nothing in light of what came out this week. If they just forfeited the season because they were bad at Heps they should be criticized (seems unlikely). If they suspended a bunch of runners they should state as much because essentially they just forfeited the rest of their season like the soccer team did.
Harvard Men Only Ran One Guy at Regionals
Report Thread
-
-
Given their performance at Heps, it may have been a smart move to pull the plug for most of their guys and have the one guy who could be competitive run at Regionals. Sometimes it just makes sense to reboot, instead of prolonging the agony.
I'm no Harvard fan but I felt bad for those guys at Heps. No fun and not much learned, I'm guessing. -
Wha??? wrote:
Given their performance at Heps, it may have been a smart move to pull the plug for most of their guys and have the one guy who could be competitive run at Regionals. Sometimes it just makes sense to reboot, instead of prolonging the agony.
I'm no Harvard fan but I felt bad for those guys at Heps. No fun and not much learned, I'm guessing.
You are teaching college kids that it's ok to just quit? Real smart.
Team is already soft. It's not like they'll do anything in track. -
A source told me that no one was suspended. The coaching staff was just disappointed in the team's performance at conference and decided to send a bit of a message to most of the team.
At conference, they only had two guys in the top 60 and they had the last 5 guys in the race. 6 of the final 7 finishers at Heps were from Harvard. -
Sounds like very poor coaching to me. Maybe Hawvad would have been better off firing the coaches and letting those fine young men race after taking some much needed recovery.
-
No doubt in my mind they could have been competitive with the Bonnie's, 'gate and Bryant. Not saying they would have beaten them but ..l
-
That's a really good strategy. Low score wins in XC, right? Well, you should score way lower with one runner than with a full team. I'm surprised no one thought of this until now.
-
They maybe were too busy getting therapy and counselling over Election 2016 to compete well?
-
rojo wrote:
A source told me that no one was suspended. The coaching staff was just disappointed in the team's performance at conference and decided to send a bit of a message to most of the team.
At conference, they only had two guys in the top 60 and they had the last 5 guys in the race. 6 of the final 7 finishers at Heps were from Harvard.
Maybe it's the coach's fault? Seems like he has been a bit distracted lately. -
Donger wrote:
Maybe it's the coach's fault? Seems like he has been a bit distracted lately.
Oh man shots fired. That's a different coach though right? Or does the girls coach also coach the men? -
DT fan wrote:
Wha??? wrote:
Given their performance at Heps, it may have been a smart move to pull the plug for most of their guys and have the one guy who could be competitive run at Regionals. Sometimes it just makes sense to reboot, instead of prolonging the agony.
I'm no Harvard fan but I felt bad for those guys at Heps. No fun and not much learned, I'm guessing.
You are teaching college kids that it's ok to just quit? Real smart.
Team is already soft. It's not like they'll do anything in track.
Maybe the coach is teaching them that regionals isn't a participation trophy; if you want to run there you have to earn it. The regional meet isn't the place to be a hobby jogger. -
Captain Ovour wrote:
DT fan wrote:
Wha??? wrote:
Given their performance at Heps, it may have been a smart move to pull the plug for most of their guys and have the one guy who could be competitive run at Regionals. Sometimes it just makes sense to reboot, instead of prolonging the agony.
I'm no Harvard fan but I felt bad for those guys at Heps. No fun and not much learned, I'm guessing.
You are teaching college kids that it's ok to just quit? Real smart.
Team is already soft. It's not like they'll do anything in track.
Maybe the coach is teaching them that regionals isn't a participation trophy; if you want to run there you have to earn it. The regional meet isn't the place to be a hobby jogger.
Exactly. One year my college team had a terrible season and got destroyed at the conference meet. Our coach refused to enter us in the regional meet, telling us we didn't deserve it. -
Or maybe the Regional meet is a chance at redemption for a poor conference meet? A chance to prove to recruits that your team is better than that. But, if the same result is expected, then why waste the time and money? Why not send a message to current members? Perhaps not a bad coaching move.
-
Was Brandon Price hurt? He was only a couple of spots behind Tuntivate at Heps and running with guys that ended up battling it out for the individual spots.
-
So now you want to talk about Harvard? Very selective reporting.
-
Hmmmmmxxx wrote:
So now you want to talk about Harvard? Very selective reporting.
Wejo is a journalist only in the sense that I'm an Olympic champion, which is to say, he's not. -
DT fan wrote:
You are teaching college kids that it's ok to just quit? Real smart.
Team is already soft. It's not like they'll do anything in track.
No, I'm suggesting that *their coaches* decided that the kids' just going through the motions at Heps (if, in fact, that's what happened) meant that their season should end. *The coaches* decided to "quit" the season--athletes don't have that power.
And it's just barely possible that, by cycling into track prep a couple weeks early (and perhaps getting a wakeup call in the process), at least some of those guys might be ready to make more of a contribution in track.
As someone pointed out above, occasionally stuff like this happens--and sometimes the only way to change that team dynamic is to end the season, at least for some.
I'm sure this is especially galling for the Harvard guys because their women are in a great position to earn a Heps triple crown this year. You'd think the same program might be more competitive on the men's side. -
"As some of you may know, an article was recently written in the Crimson about past Harvard men's cross country teams (http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2016/11/6/harvard-mens-cross-country-comments/). The University is in the process of gathering more information to gain a better understanding of the situation. I'm writing to let you know that I take these accusations seriously. There is no place for disrespecting and objectifying one's peers in our program. To whatever extent it has happened, it must stop immediately. I'm committed to promoting a culture we can all be proud of. Please know that appropriate action is being taken, and thank you for your continued leadership and support."
from an email the Coach has sent out to the Harvard TF/XC alumni. -
C/M Runner wrote:
"As some of you may know, an article was recently written in the Crimson about past Harvard men's cross country teams (http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2016/11/6/harvard-mens-cross-country-comments/). The University is in the process of gathering more information to gain a better understanding of the situation. I'm writing to let you know that I take these accusations seriously. There is no place for disrespecting and objectifying one's peers in our program. To whatever extent it has happened, it must stop immediately. I'm committed to promoting a culture we can all be proud of. Please know that appropriate action is being taken, and thank you for your continued leadership and support."
from an email the Coach has sent out to the Harvard TF/XC alumni.
Nice! An email to the TF/XC alumni that most likely started the tradition years ago! -
Out of the last 7 finishers at the Ivy Champs, 6 were Crimson, no wonder the coach didn't run the guys at Regionals.
