NAIA 2023

Completely objectively, the runner did cut in on him, but guys were coming up on him pretty fast. I doubt that he would have qualified had the DQ'd runner stepped in front just a little bit later. The EOU guys failed to advance and they were coming up on him hard on the outside and he was about to get boxed in.

He's definitely good enough to advance on his own merit. It's also equally true that he was about to be stuck and that he was lucky the fall happened, because he probably would have had a hard time qualifying with the position he was about to be in. His Strava video shows the sequencing pretty clearly.

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Anyone else hear about those bum from aqiunis that hit HUGE profit from beamish at worlds? At least something good happened to them after what was a disaster of a performance at THE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP. Their coach said in a quote "that DMR was the biggest disappointment of my coaching career"

I would say they're a team that would be much better off in the final than the prelim. Even going in I wasn't too high on them because like someone else said, they just don't have the miler for it. The slowest mile PR for the anchor of any of the teams that reached the final, outside of Manella, was 4:13 and Hardy runs 4:15 (I'd guess Manella could run faster than his 4:15 mile PR though, considering he runs 1 2:26 1k.)

Cumberlands was dominant indoors, but I actually expected a bit more from them at the national meet. They had quite a few guys under perform, but I guess that's bound to happen when you qualify that many guys.

Outdoor's going to be pretty exciting. The 10k should be really close with Pohl, Jones, Kipkurui all most likely running it. I think that Robert Swoboda is going to be competing again in outdoor, but not necessarily sure.

The 1500 should be as fast as ever. Santorum and Silva will in all odds be running it and could be looking for a new national record if they're fresh enough.

With no DMR I'd expect Cumberlands to go all out in the 4x8 for outdoor probably running with Santorum, Carpeggiani, Trost, and one of Bendsen or Yeary. Dordt seemed to have an off day in the 4x8 final indoor, but there's no reason to think they shouldn't be elite again outdoor. Okalhoma City obviously is going to be looking for that title too.

It looked like Dordt kind of lost it in the second or third leg. Oklahoma City was either in the lead or close to the lead the entire time. By the start of the third leg the lead got too big for Dordt to have any chance of closing it.

Silva got the baton and went out as fast as he could (according to his Strava it was 50 or 51 through 400m) and I think Mauldin just decided to go for second at that point.

My best guess would have been that some of Dordt's guys were just a little beat up after prelims. They didn't look very smooth and obviously didn't run their best.

Overall that final was a bit weird and some really good teams were just out of it early on. Lewis-Clark had the first and sixth place finishers in the 800, but they only managed to take 8th in the final and were in last by a long shot by the time that either of their top guys got the final.

Hardy split 4:10 when AQ ran the #2 qualifying time. Their weakness has been the 800 leg which showed with Liam Kelley running over 2 minutes. While Hodgkinson should have been a strong 1200 leg, he hasn’t been quite as strong this year as in the past.

Overall, I didn’t expect much from Aquinas because they never perform well at nationals but I don’t think the mile leg was their vulnerability.

Why is nobody talking about Cornerstone’s choke?

They came in ranked high in both of the 4x8 and DMR. They decided against running Holwerda in open events to give them a chance in the relays and it failed miserably. He probably could’ve been one of the top 800 finishers.

VanderZwaag was also one of the slowest finishers in the 600.

Will people who were freshmen during the COVID year (2020-2021 year) have to redshirt to get outdoor eligibility next year?

If so that could really change how outdoor is going to shape up

I think this year really should be the peak of the NAIA being so fast. So much of the talent is coming from 4th and 5th year athletes.

From what I understand, yes those freshman will have to redshirt if they want to fifth as they only get an extra year of XC and Indoor. Some of my teammates have been told that.

How much more eligibility does Skoog have left?

He’s listed as a junior for xc and a senior for indoor.

Also that double seemed to bite him. Lost by less than a second in the 3k and didn’t even earn an All-American spot in the 5k.

The biggest take away from this weekend is that Silva probably dominates every race he wants to in outdoor. Dude is significantly better then everyone in the field

On the right day Santorum could have a shot at him, especially if he’s fresher than Silva. Don’t forget he ran 4:06 and 2:22 and then was fresh enough to split 1:49 or 1:50 in the DMR. But yeah most likely Silva is pretty likely to get him on an even playing field.

Still no telling how OKC will use Silva for outdoor or indoor for next year.

My bet for outdoor this year would be 1500/5k/4x8. There’s an outside shot of him even throwing a 10k in there instead of a 4x8.

Indoor next year I wouldn’t be surprised at all if he decides to either do mile/3k/DMR/4x8 or mile/3k/5k.

The unsportsmanlike conduct battles between Silva and the Cumberlands guys will be legendary for the next year.

…also any competitive balance is gone with Silva dominating the individual races and Cumberlands dominating team standings. That’s too bad.

Didn't know santorum split 1:50 pretty impressive after that day. But Silva is in his own world out there. It took him less then 400 to close that gap

Will be interesting to see if Santorum is even there next year. I have a suspicion that him, the 3k kid and Bedsen are gone. Although that leaves a bunch of options. Was not impressed by Kipkirui as a supposed 13:30 guy he got toasted by a 14:20 paced race that he was on with the Missouri Baptist kid