Anyone else remember Rojo's prediction (nearly a guarantee--he posted it on the front page), when Ben Saarel was still in high school, that he would be the next Dathan Ritzenhein?
Furthermore, anyone remember his weird self-congratulatory bragging that he doesn't believe in placing undue pressure on high schoolers, but in Saarel's case it was just too undeniable not to mention?
How'd that go for you, Rojo?
TSVOR wrote:
Anyone else remember Rojo's prediction (nearly a guarantee--he posted it on the front page), when Ben Saarel was still in high school, that he would be the next Dathan Ritzenhein?
Furthermore, anyone remember his weird self-congratulatory bragging that he doesn't believe in placing undue pressure on high schoolers, but in Saarel's case it was just too undeniable not to mention?
How'd that go for you, Rojo?
Pretty poorly. I was thinking about that today. He looked horrible. Someone said the other day that he looked fat. I jsut thought his stride didn't look smooth at all, but today I did notice his legs are bigger than most.
But he's a big time student. I really think the academics kill the ivy league type kids. (He could have gone to Princeton like his parents).
I remember 4ish years ago a former college teammate of mine assured me that Saarel was going to be the best American distance runner ever. I wasn't convinced, but I didn't dismiss the idea either. In retrospect, maybe that guy was drinking too much of rojo's Koolaid.
He looked like a cyclist in HS and he does even more so today.
He showed a lot of promise with his two top 10 cross finishes and 3rd place in the NCAA 3k as a freshman, but he just didn't really pan out afterwards.
Yep, it's about who ya know, don't kid yourself Mr. Johnson. Our neighbor's kid was National Merit Scholar, 35 on his ACT, 1580 on his SAT, etc...unless you have money to give, are a phenom in your sport, you're not getting in unless you're just plain lucky. Those scores are good enough to get into many top schools, but not if it's a year of rich parents giving money to add to the school endowment cash pile.
rojo wrote:
TSVOR wrote:Anyone else remember Rojo's prediction (nearly a guarantee--he posted it on the front page), when Ben Saarel was still in high school, that he would be the next Dathan Ritzenhein?
Furthermore, anyone remember his weird self-congratulatory bragging that he doesn't believe in placing undue pressure on high schoolers, but in Saarel's case it was just too undeniable not to mention?
How'd that go for you, Rojo?
Pretty poorly. I was thinking about that today. He looked horrible. Someone said the other day that he looked fat. I jsut thought his stride didn't look smooth at all, but today I did notice his legs are bigger than most.
But he's a big time student. I really think the academics kill the ivy league type kids. (He could have gone to Princeton like his parents).
If he ran 5000 or 10000, he'd be more competitive, probably placing top 5 in both events most years. I think he does the 1500 because he does lower mileage due to academics. That's my guess anyway. If he decides to run after college and be fully committed, I could see him being an Olympian.
Looked like he was lacking leg speed. Its well known that Colorado is a high mileage program, and some kids just can't handle that. Saarel must be one of them. Wetmore worships Lydiard, which basically involves doing mostly junk mileage and subsequently kills your legs. My high school coach is actually good friends with Wetmore (I'm also from Colorado) and I'm telling you long, slow mileage doesn't help you recover at all. Feel bad for Saarel, he's been going through what i've been going through.
eflakneiog wrote:
Looked like he was lacking leg speed. Its well known that Colorado is a high mileage program, and some kids just can't handle that. Saarel must be one of them. Wetmore worships Lydiard, which basically involves doing mostly junk mileage and subsequently kills your legs. My high school coach is actually good friends with Wetmore (I'm also from Colorado) and I'm telling you long, slow mileage doesn't help you recover at all. Feel bad for Saarel, he's been going through what i've been going through.
"which basically involves doing mostly junk mileage "
uhhh
Look at his body. He was never going to be a world beater with that sort of musculature and leg:torso ratio. He's still had an excellent career thus far and has done extremely well with less than an ideal physique for this sport.
eflakneiog wrote:
Wetmore worships Lydiard, which basically involves doing mostly junk mileage and subsequently kills your legs.
This statement basically involves you having no idea about what you reference.
"Weird self-congratulatory bragging" is Rojo's middle name. Let's not forgot all the articles that start with "as we predicted, [insert something obvious that everyone predicted]"...
TSVOR wrote:
Anyone else remember Rojo's prediction (nearly a guarantee--he posted it on the front page), when Ben Saarel was still in high school, that he would be the next Dathan Ritzenhein?
Furthermore, anyone remember his weird self-congratulatory bragging that he doesn't believe in placing undue pressure on high schoolers, but in Saarel's case it was just too undeniable not to mention?
How'd that go for you, Rojo?
The guy has inflammatory bowel disease, for goodness sake. It completely destroys a person. Your body is in a constant state of struggle.
Two comments on Ben.
1.) he has not looked smooth for several years. He actually looks horrible on the track. Remember his blow up in the NCAA 1500 where he barely finished the race?
2.) His interviews concern me. Letsrun just did one after the prelim where he seemed quite defeated. I've seen that in him on flotrack too.
Do you guys not know he has a serious illness? Ulcerative Colitis
That's got to affect his running a bit. I asked him about it after the prelim:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UArEFa06rxE
Article on it here:
Pics?
wejo wrote:
Do you guys not know he has a serious illness? Ulcerative Colitis
Didn't know that. We dont watch your videos. It's more fun to do no research and act like an informed expert. Kind of like Donald Trump.
Ulcerative colitis is a terrible disease for anyone, much less a runner. Saarel puts a brave face on it, but it is not something one really manages--rather, it manages you.
wejo wrote:
Do you guys not know he has a serious illness? Ulcerative Colitis
That's got to affect his running a bit. I asked him about it after the prelim:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UArEFa06rxEArticle on it here:
http://www.flotrack.org/article/55587-ben-saarel-uses-lessons-from-running-community-to-battle-ulcerative-colitis
In rojos defense:
(1) I thought the same thing
(2) Saarel looked to be of the same fabric as ritz and the other good ol american boys
But the game has done changed in this generation. The die hard runner from high school with top nationally ranked times is not the next american prodigy any longer.
It's untapped kids like Clayton Murphy who are good enough to get to a mid major on a full ride and continue to grow. The current major D1 teams have their annual pick of 3-5 guys of which maybe 1 or 2 per year help assemble a national team. It used to be a major incoming class would grow together and make it work as juniors and seniors.
Not so much anymore.
You get a couple freshman, some seniors you initially rounded up as people to fall back on and maybe a transfer or foreigner to get the 1 point so to speak. Like Jenkins and/or Cheserek.
Look at the pole vaulter from USD as another example. He went to USD for the most personal reasons not because they had a talent laden program with a ton of blue chip pole vaulters. Yes, he had a future bronze medalist coach but what went into his decision was not whatd youd traditionally expect.
It's like we are now so interconnected via web, shared training philosophies on youtube, and access to research and top aides that now you could go to literally any place with the facilities and support network and make it happen.
Quite frankly, I love it when the mid major kid or power 5 walk on makes it to the top. It is inspiring. Still, and of course, top talent is still in the mix but being the best in high school is not a guarantee anymore.
Ben Saarel has a lot of talent he can get by with but the rest of the country has people rise from the woodwork to compete with guys like him more so than ever before.
Did Saarel hit puberty or something because his body sure looks like it underwent physical changes. There's no way he's running fast with that new, heavier physique. I guess it happens to HS phenoms more than people think.