Iowa State uses a pacemaker at Big 12s, only finishes with five men but they sweep men's and women's xc titles

How do I get Martin Smith fired from Iowa State?

I love it. I have ZERO problem with it. The sport needs more strategy . If you're allowed the bodies, why not? And I"m somone who hates pacers often times in European pro meets.

For the women, it was their 7th title in 8 years. For the men, it was 2 in a row.

Full team and then top 10 individual results appear below as does a link to a full recap.

Men's Team

Final Standings Score Scoring Order

1 Iowa State 32 1-5-6-9-11

2 Oklahoma State 40 2-3-4-15-16(20)(23)

3 Texas 70 7-8-14-17-24(27)(28)

4 Kansas 79 10-12-13-19-25(31)(32)

5 K-State 162 22-29-30-36-45(52)(53)

6 Texas Tech 166 18-21-40-43-44(46)(48)

7 Oklahoma 182 26-35-38-41-42(47)(54)

8 Baylor 217 33-34-49-50-51(57)(58)

9 TCU 246 37-39-55-56-59(60)(61)

Men's Individual

Athlete Yr. Team Time

1 KURGAT, Edwin JR Iowa State 23:21.1

2 RODRIGUEZ, Isai FR Oklahoma State 23:26.2

3 HATTE, Ashenafi JR Oklahoma State 23:40.0

4 MARTINEZ, Luis SR Oklahoma State 23:43.4

5 JORDAN, Andrew JR Iowa State 23:45.9

6 CURTS, Dan SR Iowa State 23:50.3

7 ROGERS, Alex SR Texas 23:54.4

8 WORLEY, Sam SO Texas 24:06.4

9 GREDER, Milo SO Iowa State 24:11.4

10 MELGARES, Michael SR Kansas 24:11.8

Women's Team

Final Standings Score

1 Iowa State 35

2 Oklahoma State 52

3 Kansas 90

4 West Virginia 96

5 Texas 113

6 Oklahoma 207

7 Texas Tech 217

8 TCU 223

9 Baylor 238

10 K-State 240

Women's Individual

Athlete Yr. # Team Time

1 LOGUE, Cailie SO 119 Iowa State 19:53.8

2 JOHNSON, Sinclaire SO 154 Oklahoma State 19:56.3

3 HERBERG, Haley FR 141 Oklahoma 20:05.9

4 COLLINS, Destiny JR 160 Texas 20:06.7

5 LOKEDI, Sharon SR 129 Kansas 20:17.4

6 FRISBIE, Anne SR 116 Iowa State 20:26.3

7 VESTRI, Amanda SO 122 Iowa State 20:35.8

8 JACKSON , Hayley SO 193 West Virginia 20:42.0

9 SOMERS, Taylor SO 157 Oklahoma State 20:49.3

10 NAUMANN, Kelly SR 120 Iowa State 20:51.2

https://cyclones.com/news/2018/10/26/cross-country-iowa-state-women-logue-crowned-big-12-champs.aspx

https://cyclones.com/news/2018/10/26/cross-country-kurgat-paces-cyclones-to-big-12-championship.aspx

Full results:

https://www.tfrrs.org/results/xc/14636/Big_12_Cross_Country_Championships

Do they still train in Flagstaff and take online courses?

Sesamoiditis wrote:

Do they still train in Flagstaff and take online courses?

Some do.

Yes.

Not just if someone dropped. What if a guy had a bad day? They only won by 8.

It is obvious, however, that conference is not a focal point of iowa state's season. I'm sure this is part of some greater plan to do well at nationals. Even if they got upset at conference, I'm sure they would have considered it worth it if they got on the podium in 3 weeks.

So lame, if true.

Having someone pace 2k isn't even a strategy. A Pacer who can't even go halfway? Are we sure he planned to drop out at 2k?

Don't see any strategic value in sacrificing one of your runners for pacemaking duties.

Seems like a coach doing something different just for the sake of doing something different so we can all see how smart they are. Like when a baseball manager hits his pitcher 8th.

My initial thought when I saw the headline was instead of maybe an inhaler at the starting line that maybe an electronic pacemaker zapped the heart into a turbo performance. Such are the times we live in.

Sesamoiditis wrote:

Do they still train in Flagstaff and take online courses?

Clarification? Is this a joke, or for serial? How would this make sense? Do you mean during the school year / season, Iowa state runners live in Flagstaff? How does that possibly work, logistically. One of the big advantages to being a collegiate athlete is getting food in the cafateria, laundry done, athletic trainers at your disposal, access to athletic facilities, etc...

Why didn't you post the full team results? You only had 9 men's teams for the Big 12.

Hard to say which is more disappointing between 3rd in this conference for Texas or 7th in the SEC for A&M. Pretty equivalent results, though Texas will likely get the regional 2nd place.

I have no rules objections to the use of a pacer, but I do think it a waste of resources in cross country. I also think it takes away from leading runners' opportunity to learn how to race, which is something that happens with each competition.

There are only 9 men's teams. WVU doesn't have a men's team.

Excellent point but in some of these races the top dog teammates tend to run in a pack almost as if it were a grieling tempo run.

Wouldn't using a pacer make sense for the favorites? Upsets are much more likely to happen in slow races than in fast ones.

I agree, whats the 6-7 guys supposed to do? the 6-7 ISU guy was more consequential than any other 6-7 guy from other teams.

Seems like kind of a dumb idea. Scoring 5 deep, someone good enough to pace very long is likely giving up points as a potential scorer. There's probably a reason why this isn't a common racing strategy.

I agree with Rojo. Athletics should not be just about times.

There should be some suspense.

Bio Dome wrote:

Seems like kind of a dumb idea. Scoring 5 deep, someone good enough to pace very long is likely giving up points as a potential scorer. There's probably a reason why this isn't a common racing strategy.

Iowa State is a deep enough team that they can sacrifice more than most. Plus he didn't really pace that long, just the first 2k or so.