The biggest winners and losers from the 2024 NCAA Champs were......

“Whom did he miss?” is grammatically correct.

That makes me a winner!

The biggest disappointment for me was Anass Essayi.

I would say one of the biggest disappointments in the latest 10 years.

I call this generation that go to USA a "The spoiled generation" (thanks google translation).

The guy didn't lack anything at Ifran. He had an inscription to an American Style university "Al Akhawayn", with an annual pension paid by Ahizoun himself.

Instead he choose to spoil the image of his country seeking for hasty luxury and false dreams.

Yeah you heard it. They do half results and ask too much.*

Do you think someone get visa and live in USA for free?

Its an expensive deal.

People start small to grow. Not playing big from the start.

Recall that Aouita slept in wooden chairs at some point in 1983.

You are getting only what you deserve.

After seeing Rheinhardt Harrison’s father’s comments on the NCAA live thread last weekend, I think we should be more sensitive about how we talk about college students. I’m not a fan of calling college students losers. I’m extra mindful now that this is a public forum, and these students and/or their families might read these threads (for their sake, I hope they stay away).

That said, if you want to talk about who lost the most, I think Nico has to be mentioned. By coming up just a bit short in his bid to win the 5,000, he missed out on:

• winning an outdoor title before he goes pro
• capping off one of the best collegiate indoor + outdoor seasons of any distance runner
• securing the first Bowerman award for a male distance runner in 12 years

He missed out on all that by less than a quarter of a second! In the grand scheme of things, I think he’ll be ok. He can put all this behind him by making the Olympic team. But it was still a tough loss.

On the other side, I’d like to see more elaboration on what Parker Valby won. She didn’t just win those two races. She capped off the best ever school year for a female collegiate distance runner. In doing so, she elevated her standing in the argument for college woman distance GOAT. Big winner.

Biggest losers? All the locals with short term rentals that thought they were going to make a killing off of visitors that didn't show up in the end.

Big disappointment? UW's M/W track teams. Except for Waskom, massively under performed, and unable to score in most events. With the demise of the PAC 12, is this the end of T&F at the UW? Unlike UO, they do have an indoor facility, but virtually any high school in America has a better outdoor track setup

Big Winner non-NCAA:

Grant Fisher

-Recall that Grant easily outkicked Nico at The Ten and Nico’s kick looked even more vulnerable this weekend. Meanwhile he was way ahead of Abdi Nur and Beadlescomb while closing in 53.46. Elsewhere Cooper Teare looked fine but again showed dubious tactics. It sure seems like Grant may have a second gap heading to the bell at Trials which would be more than enough. Then you get into Woody who’s not even racing, which could be nothing but it sure seems like he’s taking longer to recover nowadays. A complaint about his with Jerry was not racing enough. Well, now he races the bare minimum and gave up on the 5,000m standard? Paul Chelimo was also nowhere in the Portland 5,000m. So yeah I think Grant may easily cruise to 2 Olympic teams at this point and could pull off the double in my estimation. It seems he’s on a different level and others guys (outside of Teare) are stagnating/fading as the season goes on. Still think Nur/Nico/Kincaid all can make it, but taking down Grant feels less likely than before the outdoor season.

Surprised no one mentioned Tennessee. The highest paid staff in the country wasn’t even top 30 on the men’s or women’s side. They better be top 10 next year or they will be shown the door

Vin Lananna showed he’s still got it.

Especially as college runners are becoming mini pros anyway, why can't we criticize them? (Of course, true personal attacks / doxxing should be deleted - not "name" ran like a moran)

Do you think Caleb Williams would cry on 247 forums if he'd be criticized for a bad game?

Y’all are so soft on Nico. Dude ran sub 13 and nearly beat Fisher in a 10k. Homie is DONE. Too much record chasing and intense racing when it didn’t matter. Losing to dudes that aren’t even in the Olympic convo. Gotta have that Sr. Year Centro or Rupp end of season momentum.

BYU men's distance had an off year in general. Must be rebuilding.

The good news is that they are obviously not eating food truck burritos.

Johnson ruined Brit. Wilson last year so much so she had stress reactions in both shins. And, she still has not come back to form

He is a Loser.

You make a good point about college runners being “mini pros.” In that sense, I suppose the comments here can be another part of their preparation for being a pro.

To clarify, I’m fine with criticizing college runners. I’m a Nico fan, and I was one of the first people here to criticize him and his NAU teammates for not deploying team tactics in that 5,000. I just think we can criticize in a way that’s not demeaning.

He was running a single event and had a massively superior PR with better times in the 10k and 1500m. In what world does he need “team tactics” to win? How about just win and don’t be a wiener? Lack of team tactics such an odd cop out for a bad race. Bro got owned. Looked terrified the last 200m bc he couldn’t shake the dudes he was with.

You’re right, he didn’t need team tactics to win, but it’s still an advantage he had at his disposal that he didn’t utilize (if El G could use team tactics to win championships, I don’t think it’s unreasonable to suggest that Nico could have done so). We can at look at his race from a team angle and/or an individual one; either way many of us agree he didn’t put himself in the best position to win. And the bigger point I was making by bringing that up in the context of this thread is we can express valid criticisms without being demeaning.