Track and Field/Cross Country

[bbg95]

I'm so proud of Weini Kelati. As the only woman in the field who had the Olympic standard, all she had to do was finish in the top three to guarantee her spot in Paris. But she outkicked Parker Valby and Karissa Schweizer on the home stretch to become a national champion in the 10K as well. I can't wait to see her run in Paris, and then it sounds like she will be making the long-awaited move to the marathon, which will likely be her best event.

[bbg95]

World record for Sydney McLaughlin again, this time lowering it to 50.65.

[badgerbyproxy]

Huge last day overall at the trials. Meet records in EVERY race plus the Javelin; huge performances by youngsters in the triple jump and pole vault to clinch their spots; some of the deepest races we’ve seen at the US level; and, of course, a World Record to close out the meet. Looking forward to the US performances in Paris!

[manyshaped]

it’s crazy, we have such depth in certain fields that it’s a shame we can only bring the top three in an event

[NebraskaVBfan93]

Jun 30, 2024 19:32:52 GMT -5 bbg95 said:

World record for Sydney McLaughlin again, this time lowering it to 50.65.

She made it look so pedestrian as well. I'm guessing she is going to shatter the record in Paris.

[bbg95]

Cross country nationals are today. The men are about to get underway. BYU won its sixth national championship on the women's side.

Edit: BYU won the men's title as well. This is the fifth time in NCAA history that a school swept the team titles and first since Colorado in 2004.

[badgerbyproxy]

Nov 23, 2024 11:03:49 GMT -5 bbg95 said:

Cross country nationals are today. The men are about to get underway. BYU won its sixth national championship on the women's side.

Edit: BYU won the men's title as well. This is the fifth time in NCAA history that a school swept the team titles and first since Colorado in 2004.

Didn’t know Shalane Flanagan took over Oregon’s program. That was a nice surprise!

[bbg95]

BYU won the women's title despite its top two runners not being 100% healthy. Lexy Halladay-Lowry apparently only did cross training in the leadup to nationals, and Jenna Hutchins missed the meet with a stress injury. BYU could survive the loss of one but not both, as Lexy finished in 14th place (11 points in the team score) as BYU's top runner. If Hutchins was healthy, she probably finishes in the top 20, and BYU wins with a score around 125 or so instead of 147, and the final margin of victory would be around 40 points instead of 17. Riley Chamberlain (23), Carmen Alder (31) and Taylor Rohatinsky (33) finished between 31st and 43rd, and Carlee Hansen finished 65th with a team score of 49. It's interesting that Hansen was the critical fifth scorer. She's from nearby Bountiful and was the Gatorade cross country athlete of the year in Utah but opted to commit to North Carolina. She transferred back a couple years later.

As for the other contenders, I thought Oregon's No. 2 national ranking was a bit sus. They didn't race at pre-nationals, unlike most of the other top teams, and whenever that happens, I'm always a bit skeptical. They were getting a lot of credit for beating Washington at the Big Ten meet, as Washington was second at pre-nats. Anyway, Oregon's top three runners did their job with just 54 team points (BYU's top three scored 65--lower is better), but their fourth and fifth runners scored a combined 156 points compared to the 82 that BYU's fourth and fifth runners scored. BYU's sixth and seventh runners also finished higher than Oregon's fourth and fifth. NAU was ranked No. 3 and seemed to be the biggest threat to BYU to me. They ended up finishing fourth, and I'll never forgive them for choking at nationals last season. West Virginia was ranked fourth and finished second, and Providence jumped up from its No. 11 ranking to take third.

It will be interesting to see if BYU can repeat next season. They have two top five recruits coming in and bring back several important runners.