On the dusty, windy plains of western Kansas (It was windy, right? Isn’t is always?), a statement was made in the D2 world.
No. 5 Western State -- yeah, a lot of steeplechasers and 5kers best known for peaking just at the right time (like nationals) -- had a 14.3-second pack time to handily defeat previously No. 2 Colorado Mines. 14.3 seconds? Are you kidding me? If this Western team has the identity of past ones, it’s a bit frightening to think how they’ll come together in December.
Western’s top five: Gabe Proctor, Sean Brown, Ryan Haebe, David Flynn and Tyler Rasmussen. Notice who is missing: Tyler Pennel, 13th in Evansville.
We won’t really know how good Western is until at the earliest the Central Region meet -- in the dusty, windy plains of northeastern Nebraska.
Unbelievably it was not windy on Saturday in Hays, Kansas.
ReplyDeleteAlso worth noting, Tyler Pennel is not training, and most likely will not run at all this cross season. (medical hardship?)
Ft hays course is extremely fast, Mines ran inexcusably awful besides Zywicki who won the race.
This was Western's big sea level race this year before conference
Western silenced the doubters
No... Gildea also ran the race of this life... to this point. And Swift ran pretty decent. He didn't run great and didn't run terrible.
ReplyDeleteAnd Tyler Curtis ran a hell of a lot better than he did at Pre-Nats so you can't say he had an awful one either.
Mack was the only one who ran awful and he has proven time and time again that he runs 'awful' with consistency when it comes to cross country.
Swift was 18th at XC nationals last year, beating everyone in that race, i think he had a major off day.
ReplyDeleteTyler Curtis was top 50 at nationals last year after running well over 25 at the Hays course that year, which shows major improvement, but not necessarily a good race for him considering the Western guys that beat him.
Gildea finished top 50 at nationals last year as a true freshman, so his performance at hays was solid.
McLain doesn't ever run well at small meets, in cross or on the track
Swift didn't have a major off day!!!!
ReplyDeleteLook at him compared to Sean Brown... They have been historically back and forth throughout their careers and Brown only beat him by about 15 seconds.... Not a great day for Swift but by no means an off day either!!
Gildea had an amazing race. He beat Brown who was around 20th at nats last year.
Curtis hasn't looked good all year. What does "his race wasn't good considering the Western guys that beat him" even mean???? Hmm... maybe... just maybe... It's at typical Western squad where guys that were nobody's the year before burst onto the scene as instant all-americans.
How do you know, did you speak with Swift after the race? I think he was pretty upset at both his and his team's performance (minus Zywicki and Gildea). When you lose to 6 guys you beat the previous year at nationals that qualifies as an off day.
ReplyDeleteTyler Curtis has looked way better than last year, running a full minute faster on the hays course than in 09. He went on to finish 43rd at nationals. Although when a guy who finished 40+ spots behind you at nationals beats you, you don't call it a good day.
Pennel wasn't 13th in Evansville....
ReplyDeleteYour arguments make no logic. He ran good and has improved a lot but he ran bad?
ReplyDeleteYou can't ride both sides of the fence.
Maybe these guys that beat him just made a bigger improvement this year? hmm...
Western improve dramatically every year its what they do.Your living in the past. Accept it Mines will never touch Western.
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