NAU women's team have to be kicking themselves. Elise Stearns underperformed badly, I don't think she's finished that far back in years. Ali Upshaw finishing 57th was also disappointing. first time in the spotlight and nerves really showed.
maybe theres a silver lining - NC State came in second to BYU before going on their threepeat.
They had one female qualify - but they injured her and didn't even end up entering her.
They scratched too late for a replacement to go, meaning the Northeast only sent 3 individual qualifiers. They robbed the 5th individual of a spot at NCAAs.
NAU women's team have to be kicking themselves. Elise Stearns underperformed badly, I don't think she's finished that far back in years. Ali Upshaw finishing 57th was also disappointing. first time in the spotlight and nerves really showed.
maybe theres a silver lining - NC State came in second to BYU before going on their threepeat.
Wisconsin was not good this year and nationals was not a surprise if you paid attention.
They sat out their home meet to not get exposed. The times they ran at Big 10s at home were not that impressive when compared to historical data (the whole big ten is kinda doo doo). They did not win their regional.
Why were they expected to do well when basically they only beat Michigan who was not ranked that high?
Mick Byrne and Vin Lananna are past their primes and not the coaches they used to be. Or maybe yet they never evolved to were the current coaches today. Mick is old school and will never change and with out change you’ll never keep getting better. Don’t get me wrong Mick is a great guy, Just not the top choice for top HS athletes. He will continue to struggle with his team. Vin Lananna was out of the game too long and let be honest he’s the opposite of nice guy. He’s selfish and not well liked. I also agree with the assessment that UVA didn’t choke. That were just not any good to start with.
Mick Byrne, the guy who in recent years has developed Ollie Hoare, Alicia Monson, Morgan McDonald, Olin Hacker, Adam Spencer and Jackson Sharp isn't a 'top choice for High school athletes'?
NAU women's team have to be kicking themselves. Elise Stearns underperformed badly, I don't think she's finished that far back in years. Ali Upshaw finishing 57th was also disappointing. first time in the spotlight and nerves really showed.
maybe theres a silver lining - NC State came in second to BYU before going on their threepeat.
Upshaw was sick. Wasn’t nerves for her.
I'm curious why they sat both Moores then. Other afflictions?
Coming here to set the record straight re Wisco - my understanding is that 2 of Wisconsin's top 5 guys were pretty sick coming into the race at Nats, hence why you didn't even see them toe the line at regionals.
Now as to why they held guys out at Nutty and ('intentionally') did so poorly there... I don't have any excuses for you.
Sharp, Liking, and Spencer are the big names and they didn't do well. The team has underperformed nearly every year under the current coach. It is sad that the top local kids don't choose the school.
NAU women's team have to be kicking themselves. Elise Stearns underperformed badly, I don't think she's finished that far back in years. Ali Upshaw finishing 57th was also disappointing. first time in the spotlight and nerves really showed.
maybe theres a silver lining - NC State came in second to BYU before going on their threepeat.
Upshaw was sick. Wasn’t nerves for her.
Why the downvotes? She says she was in her instagram post. Keira Moore also talks about her injury. That’s why she didn’t run. I have a friend on the team so I follow them. And to the person that asked about Nikita Moore she was the alternate. She had the 8th fastest times/places for the season so just missed the cut.
Ollie and Morgan were indeed successful at UW. Funny, though, how they constantly wax poetic about Mike Smith and rarely mention Mick. I am a big Olin Hacker fan, but he was injury plagued and achieved all American cross and his 5000m title in his 6th/7th year on the team. Until that time, he had somewhat underachieved.
NAU women's team have to be kicking themselves. Elise Stearns underperformed badly, I don't think she's finished that far back in years. Ali Upshaw finishing 57th was also disappointing. first time in the spotlight and nerves really showed.
maybe theres a silver lining - NC State came in second to BYU before going on their threepeat.
Upshaw was sick. Wasn’t nerves for her.
you're right, she was sick. Fair enough, I take back what I said about Upshaw. I wonder if Elise Stearns was sick too? she sat next to Tuohy, who was also sick, at that press conference.
Mick Byrne, the guy who in recent years has developed Ollie Hoare, Alicia Monson, Morgan McDonald, Olin Hacker, Adam Spencer and Jackson Sharp isn't a 'top choice for High school athletes'?
Mick has as much to do with women's throws as women's distance: no role in Monson's development. -Ollie Hoare (Australia): 8:09 3k at 18, 3:46 1500m at 19 (= 8:45/4:02, all before Wisconsin) -Morgan McDonald (Australia): 8:15 & 14:07 at 17, 3:45 15 18 ( =8:51 as a junior, = 4:01 as a senior; all before Wisconsin) -Jackson Sharp (Australia): 3:46 & 8:14 at 17 (=8:50 & 4:02 as a junior, all before Wisconsin) -Adam Spencer (Australia): 3:39 & 8:16 at 19 (=3:56 & 8:52, all before Wisconsin)
1) How much "development" is there having guys that good get 4-5 years older, add in super spikes, and have a big travel budget?
2) Why can Mick get such great kids from 9,000 miles away, but struggle to get comparable talent from within his own hemisphere?
3) With UW's tradition, resources, and money spent on men's distance, when you only score 5 guys in XC, what's going on where you have talents like those above but can't crack the top 5 at NCAAs in XC since 2012?
Olin Hacker (US): 2nd at Foot Locker (To Grant Fisher) and 2nd at NXN; son of NCAA & USA XC champ / 3:35 1500m runner
Through SIX years of college, Olin was a ZERO time individual All-American, ZERO Big Ten Championships. The year he got 3 AA's, the only guy who beat him at Foot Locker broke 4 American records and was 4th & 6th at Worlds.
Might be victims of the 8k to 10k conversion. I was high on their stock and they definitely seemed to barely limp into nationals after the hype.
They did still seem elite at the races before regionals though, so their ranking was justified at the time.
Cal Baptist coach is really bad and getting them ready for NCAA’s. The did the same thing at regionals last year.
Vin is not a good coach anymore. He all ego, but there are better coaches now and he’s too old.
Mick is very inconsistent as a coach since at Wisconsin. He tends to blow up and make bad decisions.
I believe multiple of their guys went down at the start of NCAA's. If you watch the broadcast you see 2 or 3 guys fall in the stampede and all of them were CBU.
Still think they underperformed but I'm sure that had a part in the result.
Average place finish at NCAA XCs for Wisconsin men the last 10 years (including 2 years not qualifying counted as being 32nd): 15th
Number of times Badgers finished worth than 14th at NCAAs in 30 years before Mick Byrne: 1
^^this 100x
As someone who ran for the program during the transition to Mick from Jerry, the writing was on the wall then, the last 10-years have not been a surprise. He's ridden Jerry's coattails and Wisconsin's legacy long-enough. Wisco should be a perennial top 5 finisher with the resources Mick has, it's time for him to go.