Where is he from? Where did he grow up? What is that accent?
Where is he from? Where did he grow up? What is that accent?
Mr smith wrote:
Where is he from? Where did he grow up? What is that accent?
I know he ran high school in central MA, not sure if he grew up here. It's certainly not a MA accent lol
I am wondering whether the sloppy conditions had anything to do with the results. The training video and the regional video I saw had NAU running on hard-packed surfaces. As a 800m-1500m runner, thick wet grass seemed to make the few 10k cross country meets I had to run in college seem even longer and harder. A few of the sloppy courses taught me that I was not a distance runner (also my lack of ability to run more than 50 mph) and the few successes I had in XC were all on hard trails or cart paths. In some cases, the lack of real "XC" in these courses tended to overstate my ability. Luckily, I knew what was going on.
I guess my point here is the bad conditions reward pure endurance and strength and perhaps BYU's team reflect this ability. They certainly have a lot of 10k track runners.
zxcvzvcx wrote:
at nationals at sea level, they struggled to run low 5s in cold, hypothermic conditions for just 10k after doing 5:17 for 8 at altitude.
I think it's clear from the older video and the other season results that this team was better than they ran at nationals, a lot better, but they had a bad day for whatever reason
The reason is that they were too cold. They didn't warm up and dress appropriately for the race conditions.
egbert1215 wrote:
They are also a mix of young kids and guys who have been banged up in the passed and prob not running 100 + mile weeks like Baxter and Day. So perhaps the region 10K took more out of them then it would have in years passed plus throw in that slop and presto, Runnerup.
*past
Holy $hit, man.
LumberJacked wrote:
egbert1215 wrote:
They are also a mix of young kids and guys who have been banged up in the passed and prob not running 100 + mile weeks like Baxter and Day. So perhaps the region 10K took more out of them then it would have in years passed plus throw in that slop and presto, Runnerup.
I think they blew their nationals race at regionals. Colorado did too, to an extent. For NAU, no reason for them to go 1-2-3. Beamish is incredibly talented but he’s very low mileage due to injury history. Two 10ks back-to-back are rough on him. He was still All-American. Hasty is still quite young and the two 10ks likely hurt him as well. Same for NAU’s Nir.
Same for Kashon Harrison of Colorado. He’s only a freshman but he’s had a fantastic freshman cross country season. He’s been among Colorado’s top guys. He beat Klecker at regionals, finishing 7th. Big run for a freshman. He’s likely still lower mileage as well so two 10ks in 8 days doesn’t help him either. Colorado might have been 2nd or possibly won the meet (not positive about winning, I haven’t analyzed the results enough).
THIS is why the NCAA needs to put 2 weeks before regionals and nationals. If you're going to bump from 8k to 10k at the regional meet at least give runners another week to recover. Either that or change post-season to an 8k.
Face Farter wrote:
casual observer... wrote:
Mike Smith sounds like he is always trying to say something deep and profound, it gets annoying.
Have known him since he was 16. That’s just him. Unique dude.
- Bump!
- Sounds like he had just finished a joint
casual observer... wrote:
Mike Smith sounds like he is always trying to say something deep and profound, it gets annoying.
That’s a great observation. Haha
I prefer Wetmore’s communication style, stoic and laconic, sometimes to the extreme.
That said, smith obviously knows what he’s doing.
Lickety Split wrote:
Face Farter wrote:
Have known him since he was 16. That’s just him. Unique dude.
- Bump!
- Sounds like he had just finished a joint
yeah-he is a good fit for Flagstaff-seems to be working pretty well thus far...
It is easy to see why NAU lost.
1. This year NAU team did not have a low stick. Last 3 years NAU had 1 or 2 Low stick who finished on the top 15.
2. This NAU team did have a clear leader. Every race their number 1 guy is changed. The number 1 guy is not a leader just by talking but also by just been number 1, that have a good character in it self.
3. This year NAU team did not go out hard on the cold and socking course, as the result they finished to where they started, they were number 3 at three 3km and finished number 2 only 1 point head at the finish.
Mike Smith is a great guy and a good coach but he need to find a leader for his team. They seem like a bunch of nice guys but they need a clear leader someone to look up too.
#1 "Clear Leader" - not required, hasn't ever served as a prerequisite to victory.
#2 Race Tactics - indeed Coach Smith agreed this deserved a review.
NAU's at an extreme advantage to BYU given how long their athletes are associated w/the program ... example 26 year olds.
Natural-runner wrote:
It is easy to see why NAU lost.
1. This year NAU team did not have a low stick. Last 3 years NAU had 1 or 2 Low stick who finished on the top 15.
2. This NAU team did have a clear leader. Every race their number 1 guy is changed. The number 1 guy is not a leader just by talking but also by just been number 1, that have a good character in it self.
3. This year NAU team did not go out hard on the cold and socking course, as the result they finished to where they started, they were number 3 at three 3km and finished number 2 only 1 point head at the finish.
Mike Smith is a great guy and a good coach but he need to find a leader for his team. They seem like a bunch of nice guys but they need a clear leader someone to look up too.
definitely, Smith has been doing a great job with the program, but kudos to BYU--Conner Mantz is the low-stick guy that is important that NAU lacks--Mantz at the front and set the tone for the Cougars-sure helps also to have a really deep team; NAU was lucky to have Day for a 5th year last year anyway...
UATC wrote:
I found Cade Burke strava for that workout and he only ran 5:30 pace. He was with the front pack the whole time. Dunno why flotrack said 5:17s. Also ran shorter than 8miles
Some of the guys ran 5-6 miles at 5:30, while the top 5 guys ran 8 miles in 42:23 at 5:17/M.
The pack was larger for a good deal of the time but then there were 6 guys and finally just five at the end.
With regard to the point about whether they blew it, well, that is right that they faced a very good BYU team, they dominated BYU at regionals and they dominated every other race, sometimes resting top guys. BYU's winning total was not a great total. Track stats aside, NAU did not run its best in this race, and maybe the multiple 10k's in two weeks was too much for some of the lower mileage guys, not sure. Mike Smith seemed to think that they did not run to expectations because they did not get out fast enough to be in the 2nd pack. But of course 2nd at nationals is very, very good, and this team is apologizing to its coach for getting its worst place in the last four championships, and it's 2nd.
As for Mike Smith's way of speaking, the fact that he is trying to say exactly the right thing without constantly resorting to cliches, to say something deep or profound, is a virtue, not a vice, unless you like listening to the constant cliches spouted by most sports figures. It gives his athletes the correct sense that he is not trying to bs them.
- FLOTRACK Video: In the infamous words of Allen Iverson (AI):
"C'mon man, are we talking about PRACTICE?":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9ZQhyOZCNE
- "Blowing It?" 2nd to a team w/dudes 8 years-older than some of NAUs starters?
- Mike Smith Voice: ok good points, he still sounds like he just smoked a joint!
UATC wrote:
I found Cade Burke strava for that workout and he only ran 5:30 pace. He was with the front pack the whole time. Dunno why flotrack said 5:17s. Also ran shorter than 8miles
Buddy, this was at 7,000 feet. 5:30 pace is equal to about 12-15 seconds per mile at sea level.
zxcvzvcx wrote:
Interesting to go back and see their initial workout wednesday from early in the season shortly before Wisconsin.
They had five guys at Buffalo Park running an 8 mile tempo at 7,147 ft plus at 5:17 per mile in warm conditions for their first sub-threshold workout. A bunch went 6M at 5:30 pace, I think. So, at nationals at sea level, they struggled to run low 5s in cold, hypothermic conditions for just 10k after doing 5:17 for 8 at altitude. Mike Smith wanted to point out that they were still #2 in the nation and that they had their best season ever prior to it. He wasn't sure why they weren't able to get up into the second pack early, but I think it's clear from the older video and the other season results that this team was better than they ran at nationals, a lot better, but they had a bad day for whatever reason, lack of an aggressive start or maybe too many hard efforts prior to this--they didn't seem like ultra hard efforts but they were fast races. Maybe they thought they could turn it on at any time and they couldn't do that in the cold after they fell back. Or maybe BYU just had more talent and the whole field was as talented as it has been in a long time so it was harder to get the top places with guys who had never run low 28 10k's on the track. I expect they'll get BYU next year but Clinger is going to help them a lot.
I really like Clinger and I’m excited to see him back in competition, but 12-ish months might not be enough for him to regain his form.
Even Conner Mantz took a while to turn around after his mission. It took him the better part of 6 months to even be a big player on BYU’s roster. His first cross season back he didn’t make BYU’s varsity team- or even their top ten for that matter. He didn’t qualify for indoor nats the next season either. Other than finishing 22nd in the outdoor 10k, it took almost 18 months (summer ‘17 -> ncaa fall ‘18) for him to become a top ten guy in cross.
The bottom line is, Clinger is returning from a mission trip during which he sparsely trained for two years. Even as good as he is, it will take time for him to regain the form he managed to capture during the 2017 cross country season.
Basically an amazing coach. Very few would have that composure after that outcome.
commonsenseguy wrote:
Basically an amazing coach. Very few would have that composure after that outcome.
Okay Mike...
commonsenseguy wrote:
Basically an amazing coach. Very few would have that composure after that outcome.
Oh please. That is simply not true. He is kind of annoying to me.