A number of large invitationals dominated the scene this past weekend. None of
them gave us big clashes between top individuals. We’ll have to wait a week
or two until the conference meets come around for that.
Cragg and Cheboiywo continue to trade fast times, as the Irish Hog ran 13:35
while the Kenyan Eagle ran 7:52. Both ran on their home tracks; Cragg on Arkansas’
synthetic banked oval with hydraulics that can be tuned to different running
speeds, while Cheboiywo ran in EMU’s Korean War-era fieldhouse on a track
that’s little more than a glorified carpet. They won’t meet until
nationals, where I think it will be the best race in the meet. I’ve seen
Cheboiywo in person, and he’s stunning. At his best, he’s better
than Cragg, but inconsistency has been a major problem this year. Cragg looks
like he’s unbeatable, but with a month remaining before the NCAA, has
he peaked?
An astute reader told me that my constant harping about a lack of team scoring
misses the point; it’s the competition that makes track fun to watch,
not necessarily the team aspect. I’ll agree to a certain level. Competition
is what makes track fun, but team scoring makes competition for all places important,
not just first. I’m sure you’ve seen a meet where someone killed
themselves to hold onto a fifth place, just because the team needed it. Of course,
with nationals qualifying based solely on marks, few teams are interested in
going places so they can compete—they’d rather run fast. Hopefully
things will change in the spring.
Speaking of team scoring, there actually were a few scored meets this week
featuring top teams. On the men’s side, #10 Ohio State handily defeated
ten teams at Penn State, including #7 Michigan. #14 Nebraska won its own invitational.
And Toledo won the All-Ohio championships; while it was a relatively small title,
our research team is still trying to find the last time the Rockets won a championship
meet of any kind (they’ve never even been runner-up in the MAC).
On the women’s side, Michigan took the Penn State meet, #13 Nebraska
easily beat #8 BYU at home, and Akron won All-Ohio. These might seem like upsets
to the casual fan. Trackwire’s ranking system, however, is based solely
on projected finish at the NCAA meet, where one or two strong individuals can
mask an otherwise weak team. USTCA’s Power Rankings are based on dual-meet
ability, a concept so outmoded that many coaches don’t bother to send
the info necessary for ranking. If you want to know how a team rates at conference
meet or mid-sized invitational, where do you go?
Well, beginning in this year’s outdoor season, TrackShark will rank teams
based on scoring ability at both NCAA and conference championships. That way,
you’ll actually know which teams are the favorites going into, say, the
Big 10 meet. I hope it rewards those programs, like Ohio State, that have made
the conscious decision to fund and develop a whole program.
I Know More Than You Do Trivia
Joe Kutner correctly answered last week’s question (What do the only two
American Olympic men’s 10k medal winners have in common?) with the statement
that they are/were both Native Americans. No foreigners here!
He posed a question to me. I’m not above plagiarism, so here it is:
Who are the four high schoolers who broke 4:00 in the mile?
Feel free to e-mail answers to jsquire@bgnet.bgsu.edu
As always, correct answers win you an empty feeling of superiority. Wrong answers
get you a poke in the eye with a sharp stick.
Visit the SuperFan\'s website:
http://personal.bgsu.edu/~jsquire
A number of large invitationals dominated the scene this past weekend. None of
them gave us big clashes between top individuals. We’ll have to wait a week
or two until the conference meets come around for that.
Cragg and Cheboiywo continue to trade fast times, as the Irish Hog ran 13:35
while the Kenyan Eagle ran 7:52. Both ran on their home tracks; Cragg on Arkansas’
synthetic banked oval with hydraulics that can be tuned to different running
speeds, while Cheboiywo ran in EMU’s Korean War-era fieldhouse on a track
that’s little more than a glorified carpet. They won’t meet until
nationals, where I think it will be the best race in the meet. I’ve seen
Cheboiywo in person, and he’s stunning. At his best, he’s better
than Cragg, but inconsistency has been a major problem this year. Cragg looks
like he’s unbeatable, but with a month remaining before the NCAA, has
he peaked?
An astute reader told me that my constant harping about a lack of team scoring
misses the point; it’s the competition that makes track fun to watch,
not necessarily the team aspect. I’ll agree to a certain level. Competition
is what makes track fun, but team scoring makes competition for all places important,
not just first. I’m sure you’ve seen a meet where someone killed
themselves to hold onto a fifth place, just because the team needed it. Of course,
with nationals qualifying based solely on marks, few teams are interested in
going places so they can compete—they’d rather run fast. Hopefully
things will change in the spring.
Speaking of team scoring, there actually were a few scored meets this week
featuring top teams. On the men’s side, #10 Ohio State handily defeated
ten teams at Penn State, including #7 Michigan. #14 Nebraska won its own invitational.
And Toledo won the All-Ohio championships; while it was a relatively small title,
our research team is still trying to find the last time the Rockets won a championship
meet of any kind (they’ve never even been runner-up in the MAC).