How fast can cragg go???

go back far enough, and we're all descendants of small chunks of rna. the point is, there is a difference between being born in africa and being racially african.

bloomers wrote:

But only 2 non-African runners have gone under 13:00

I thought Cragg was from Africa??? So if he breaks 13:00, will we still say that only 2 non-africans have run under

13:00. Say he does, will we then say 3 non-africans have broken 13:00 merely b/c he is white?

How about "Cragg would be only the 3rd non-african or african of caucasian descent to run under 13:00." There have been 107 sub-13:00 performances. That list is composed of approximately 30 to 35 individuals. Out of those, only 2 (roughly 6% or 7%) fit into the category I just highlighted. And only 3 performances out of the 107 (2.8%). Yet, there are a hell of a lot of people in that category for only 2 to have gone under 13:00. Asia/Pacific, Europe, Western Hemisphere - only 2. So, when one does it, I would call it rare.

I'm not sure how much should be said so I will be somewhat vague. They train year-round with an emphasis on strength. During the winter they do ladders starting with about 2000 meters or so and coming down in increments of 400's or 200's. They don't taper for xc nats or indoor nats. McDonnell believes that if you drop your mileage significantly for a race then your fitness will decrease. They do very minimal speed during the winter. Cragg basically trained through the winter and raced 5 times (a mile leg on a dmr, boston 3k, tyson 5k, sec mile and 3k, ncaa 3k and 5k). After indoors they will go back to a few weeks of higher mileage and long intervals on grass before returning to the track where they will do shorter intervals than indoors starting at around 1200 and working down. They train with the long term in mind. That is why they don't bring their mileage down to qualify, and for nats every season. Also, you will rarely ever see an Arkansas runner injured. Coach Mac does a great job of keeping his boys healthy.

I'm the most informed there is, but I'm not telling YOU, idiot human. Now quit wasting that life I gave you.

Cragg Advocate,

Thanks for the response. Shockingly, I have posted numerous times on this message board and that was the first straight response I received. Thanks!

As for Arkansas training, I must agree that you rarely see Arkansas athletes injured. The last major injury I can think of was Graham Hood dropping out of NCAA's in 1995 due to foot problems. Furthermore, being that Alister had dealt with a knee injury while at SMU, I am glad to see that the training he is doing at Arkansas has been so successful. But now I get to play devil's advocate, rarely do you see Arkansas distance runners successful post-college. (Hood, Bunston, Wilson (injury - probably not the fault of Arkansas training), Godfrey, Lassiter, Mitchell). Please don't get me wrong, I am not saying that these runners haven't had successful post-collegiate careers, but just not the same improvement that they showed in college (maybe this is to say that McDonnell gets his athletes to perform at their absolute peak level while in college).

At any rate, I can hardly wait to see Cragg run at Mt. Sac!! and thanks for your informative response to my questions.

A Cragg carries dual citizenship, RSA and Ireland. There were remarks about his plans to run for Ireland in a recent interview.

Why is this shifting from an individual's great running the past several weeks to an ethnicity or nationality issue?

If you are going to argue about someone, do some reading and learn what you are talking about--he has been interviewed three times and there is a bio-page on the UA Web Site

http://www.hogwired.com

What were their splits for NCAA indoors, if they were only at 68 seconds for the middle portion of the race for the 5k? It's gotta be something insane.

Yeah, I have to agree that Arkansas hasn't had many runners do too much professionally. However, Cragg is improving by the day, and I would be surprised if we don't see him (5k or 10k) and Lincoln (3k steeple) in Athens.

Yeah, Reub was pretty stout for awhile there on the American scene, but not really internationally. Of course, Falcon, Consiglio, Paul Donovan, Niall Brutton, and Niall O'Shaugnassay actually did pretty well on the international front after college.

Yeah, I guess Hood's Olympic 9th at 19 was no good for Arkansas, as he was a sophmore at that time. Let's see, the 7 NCAA titles won by Falcon and his dream mile victory over the best in the world. Wow! Now all the Arkansas guys are no good after college. Was Kaley in the last Olympics? Was Mike Powers in the last Olympics? What about Brian Baker and the Pan Am Team 1999. Rueben R. ran 13:25 and made the US Olympic Team in 1992. Jorge Torres is good in Cross, but what happened last year at Mt. SAC. I think it went collegiately, Aish, Cragg, then Torres. I am still waiting for the Goucher kid to break 13, oh the CU guys are not doing what was predicted??? I read on threads just three years ago how Gouch was going to break 12:50. Cragg is the better man now and will be this year, so much can happen and I wish both Torri (both) and Cragg much success in the future. To clear it up, Cragg is South African, but has decided last summer to compete for Ireland. Sean Dollman did this as have many others in the past, nothing new, smart guys. Grow up and get a sense of history for the sport. Not the Cardinal, nor the Buffalo will ever reach 37 in track/Cross-country as has Johny Mac. He is the celebration as he is the greatest collegiate coach in any sport in College history!!! Cragg has the please of running for him and this combo works very well!!

Razorbacker

Razorbacker wrote:

Johny Mac. He is the celebration as he is the greatest collegiate coach in any sport in College history!!!

Razorbacker

What the hell does this illiterate mumbo-jumbo mean? What is the celebration?

Looking at the facts, neither Arkansas, CU or Stanford have any international success after college. CU has placed some guys on national and Olympic teams, as have Stanford and Arkansas. Most of the Arkansas US guys don't run much after college, and with Lincoln going to med school in a few years, that may continue. Arkansas probably places more people on Oly teams, but that may be b/c they have more countries to represent than just the US.

Mt Sac 2002:

1 Lagat

2 Kimani - Alabama

4 Cragg - Arkansas

5 Aish - Western St

Torres ran the Invite mile, placing 4th in 4:02.62 to a good Kenyan, Bolota, and Dalibor Balgac all over 4:02.

When you look at the Arkansas athletes athletes that have competed during the McDonnell era, you will see a lot of post collegiate success.

Graham Hood and Joe Falcon are the two of the best examples. It doesn't matter if Hood is Canadian, he did better than the US milers at the Olympics when he placed 9th, I believe. Falcon won the Dream Mile over some of the best milers in history. It was a shame that he got tripped up at the trials.

Sean Kaley made the Canadian 10k team and had a better PR than Hauser when the Sydney games came around. So it was very probable that Kaley would have made the US 10k team.

Reina is another example of post-collegiate success. He was very competitive for long time.

Alistair and Lincoln will be two more that will do well after college.

I don't know much about the great runners from Coach Mac's early days. Would like some info.

Also, I am not sure about this. How have the legends of Arkansas faired at the World indoor meets of the past? I would look it up, but I am lazy. I am sure that they did well. Any medals?

test

Gee whiz, if you are going to call someone "...illiterate mumbo-jumbo..." shouldn't you write at a higher level?

All you sound like is someone else grasping at straws because you can't stand to see the Arkansas success continue.

Cragg Advocate,

Was wondering if you could shed anymore light on Arkansas's training? (how often they are doing interval work, weekly mileage, focus on easier long mileage or more on intensity, etc.) That's interesting that they don't taper for xc nationals of indoors.

One of the biggest questions I had was regarding how McDonnell seems to be able to keep his guys healthy. Why do you think the runners in his program are able to stay relatively healthy?

Razorbacker wrote:

Yeah, I guess Hood's Olympic 9th at 19 was no good for Arkansas, as he was a sophmore at that time. Let's see, the 7 NCAA titles won by Falcon

Razorbacker

Yeah, Hood did place 9th in the Olympics at age 19, while running for Arkansas. And yes, Falcon won 7 NCAA titles while running at Arkansas. That is not my point. Arkansas athletes always run great while in college. And yes, some of them run well and make Olympic teams post-college. My point is that AFTER college they tend not to improve much more (therefore, causing me to opine that Coach Mac really knows how to get the most out of his athletes when they run for him). I am not being critical about Arkansas, or mocking there NCAA titles. Additionally, you had mentioned that Cragg and Coach Mac were a perfect fit. Obviously! Cragg is running outstanding races, and looks unbeatable at this point. I am friends with Cragg's older brother, and have no ill will towards Alister or the Arkansas program, I was just bringing up what I thought was an interesting observation.

Is it true that Cragg broke Mark Carroll's Irish indoor 5k record? Was Carroll's record set the same year he ran close to 13:00 outdoors?

I'll try a thought or two.

Coach McDonnell's first responsibility and priority is the Razorback track and field program and its participants. Unfortunately this denies postcollegiate runners his time and dedication for their careers. They get some of his time, but the greatest part of it goes to the Razorback team, as it should.

One of the greatest shortcomings of this country in distance running is having an individual (qualified) who would coach distance runners. Having one would mean we have something resembling a national team, which we do not except for a few days every year or two. It would be interesting to have him as a national distance running coach with an adequate budget to support a serious effort for American distance runners.

On a side note about the success of postcollegiate success of runners. Since some want to stick to real American runners. Over the past 35, or so, years--after Steve Scott, Jim Ryun, Frank Shorter, Billy Mills, Rick Wolhuter, and Dave Wottle--the few medalist I can think of quickly--who is thought of as successful?

Is success only a medalist at World (Indoor or Outdoor) Championships, the Olympics...what about Panamerican Games, World Games, Goodwill Games, et al? If success is defined only as competing respectably (means you weren't laughed at openly at the starting line) at international level...Arkansas has had folks at the 100, 200, 400, 800, 1500, 3000, 5000, 10000, and we can squeeze the Olympic trials marathon efforts (good, bad, or indifferent) of Teddy Mitchell in just to round out the list.

And I seem to recall a few jumpers of decent credentials.

All in all, it is pointless to say one school is better than another for postcollegiate success. Bill Rodgers dropped out of running before his successful career. His collegiate days had little to do with his running success.