Wiess signs with Slippery Rock!!!

Jeff Weiss also looked at the University of Maryland. New coach (was an assitant coach at arkansas for many years) is the head of cross country/distance and is looking to turn the program around. Coach Garrison and Track Coach Andrew Valmon will get the program headed in the right direction and Jeff Weiss could have been apart of that.

I wouldn't count on it.

Maybe the UMD staff didn't offer enough.

I must say this is a huge win for the Rock. He will walk in and compete for records nobody has touched since Bob Petrini ran for the school.

I must say it is hard to understand from an athletic or accademic point of view, but kids have to make decisions for themselves.

For the person who used Yale and the Rock in the same post, you give the whole PSAC a bad name!!!!!!!!!!

bupa wrote:

For the person who used Yale and the Rock in the same post, you give the whole PSAC a bad name!!!!!!!!!!

Dude, check it out for yourself. I said for a PE/AT major...it's fact, not opinion.

Hoovis

I just went to the Yale web site and Yale does not offer PE/AT najors. So you are correct, the Rock is a better place for academics if this is your major.PASC - 1Ivies - 0

bupa wrote:

For the person who used Yale and the Rock in the same post, you give the whole PSAC a bad name!!!!!!!!!!

Dude, check it out for yourself. I said for a PE/AT major...it's fact, not opinion.

Hoovis[/quote]

i guess that chic from wartburg in iowa could've done better a DI school also by your thinking.

from what i heard rock will get that 3rd bid out for xc nationals in the fall.

bump

no way rock is getting last spot.

ship, edin, lock will go top 3. kutz bloom mill will battle for 4th

Are you kidding me? SRU will need much more than a footlocker finalist to COMPETE for the third spot.

no way rock is getting third

Let's face it, all you pussies think everyone but your school sucks.

Another good runner wasting his talent at a DII school. Tons of good PA runners go to the PSAC and they don't get even close to meeting their potential...why?...because they can.

Conversely, plenty of PA kids go to DI schools and run solid and meet their potential...why?...because they HAVE TO. It's a raised bar in DI.

Too bad. This Wiess kid will be running 14:50 against Ship kids and thinking he is the man when he could be running 14:00 against DI talent. Why would anyone want to be a big fish in a little pond?

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I couldn't agree more. The facilities, coaching, and competition are all that much better at Division I Universities.

As the above poster mentioned, with an elevated ceiling runners at a DI school are forced to think on a scale larger than just the DII conference or even DII national level.

It seems that often Division II runners are content to see themselves as the best DII runner in a DI race, while DI runners continuously compare themselves to both other dominant collegiate and post collegiate runners.

As a former runner at Mansfield State (1980--82) under coach Winrow, where I ran the indoor record for 3 miles (14:42 - Bucknell, Feb. 1981) - there is no reason that Wiess will not do well at S.R.

While it is true that Slippery Rock does not have the 'name' compared with schools like Penn. State and other division one schools, it does not really matter where you go for undergrad, as long as your Graduate Degree is from a reputable school....

Also, it is true that running in Division 2 might not give him the chance to run as fast as he might, but running at Shipp. did not stop a guy like Spence from becoming a world class marathon guy (3rd in the World Champs....in the 90's), and Wiess, from what I know, is every bit as talented, if not more so, than Spence.

Not everyone enjoys the experience of Division One, so the D11 school option (Slippery Rock) is probably the right decision. And, when your major is P.E. or related to that, it does not matter so much, especially, keeping in mind that S.R. has an excellent reputation in that field.

chris.moulton@mail.mcgill.ca

This guy was 2nd in D2 in cross country...why does this debate still exist? I am fairly confident that we will see some fast time out of him either this weekend at Bucknell or at Penn in a few weeks.

That's my point. He was second in the nation for DII and everybody thinks he's the shit. What place would he have gotten at the Division I National Cross Country meet? Probably not even top 30. As a result, instead of being satisfied, becoming complacent, and being the stud of the field, he would have compared himself to freshman and sophomore runners that were his equal, or even better, like McDougal, Winthrop, etc. and continued to work even harder.

You can't even say these guys are in the same class right now. The afore mentioned runners have experienced more success, and will continue to do so, because of the higher expectations created at a Division I University.

Weiss definitely have as good a career as Josh Spiker, Steven Pfifer, or even maybe Alister Cragg, yet I doubt he compares himself to those athletes because he is never forced to compete with them to be the top runner in his division. I strongly believe this can only hurt him in the long run.

"definitely has the talent to have as good a career"

Your logic is flawed in the sense that if you don't account for the numerous runners in Division I that think about comparing themselves to the top runners and eventually run themselves and their running career into the ground. The best part of running at a small division I, Divsion II or Division III is that that pressure to compare yourself to the best in the country is only there if you put it there in your head. Any motivated runner/coach will find the races in track and cross country to race the tough competition. There are two sides to every story. Your side makes you sound like a pussy because you can't push yourself without having the big names in every race with you. Weak man, you are weak.

You both bring up good points. Steve Spence certainly did excel on a post-collegiate level. Also, many runners do in fact burn out from struggling compete with the best runners in the nation at the Division I level.

However, I would argue that those who have the talent to potentially succeed on the Divion I level and also have the mental toughness to go from being a big fish in a small pond, to a small fish in a big pond for their first year or two in college, will have far more success both in college and after college.

In essense I am arguing that the Steve Spences of the world are few and far between and for most top talent, like Jeff Weiss, a Division I school would afford a much better situation for sucess by training both mental and physical prowess through competition with top talent and high expectations.

I do believe he finished third. Nicky, Christensen, Weiss... Still a studly race for a frosh, in VERY difficult conditions. He ran very smart.