Illinoisphotographer wrote:
Thank you -- I'm friends with a few of the NCC guys and kept hearing talk of how Crain could possible podium at DI nats (if he were to run) after his 28:5x 10k.
Truth be told, yes, there is a lot of talent coming in and out of NCC and Al is a legend. But unless it was a tactical race, even your top guys would get blown out of the water. Not everyone is going to end up like Rizzo.
Another interesting note: for the amount of All American's they get out of that XC program, very few go on to be successful post-college. Plenty of guys who were top 7 or NCAA qualifiers in track who take a shot at the roads, and can't manage to put together a good half or full, at least to the level which their college times would predict.
Your last point is true of every program. There's not very much support for guys who might be, say, 63-65 minutes at the half if everything goes right, and it's not super-easy to make the transition from college to solo training. There're enough D1 guys who only go 2:17 despite taking a couple years off from life to show you how hard it can be.
There's also the question of motivation. For example, my D3 program had a run of D1-level talent on the girl's side (sub-4:20 while training 5 days a week, capable of much faster if they could get in more competitive races), and none of them went on to do much after college. A few of them, I think, would be competitive on the national level given a couple years in a good club. Instead, they went to med school, got a PhD, etc. Is that really an indictment of the program? I don't think so.