| Member | Join Date: May 2007 Posts: 0   |
Several Points here to make:
1) IMO CO has too many classes for the population it has. This tends to seperate the good teams and individuals and some never see each other all year, because big meets like Liberty Bell (in track too) do not adjust their Divisions by competition.
My suggestion would be to take last years cumulative scoring runners times and break down the divisions by this simple math. It would not be perfect due to graduations etc, but at least it would provide some sense to the equation.
I think that the divisions are a bunch of bullshit as well. Take the best teams from last year, put them int he same division. Coach is right, grad rates might affect it, but not that much. It is a total joke that LHS and CHS do not face each other head-to-head in the Liberty Bell Track meet, especially when we are so equal.
There are teams in Div 1 that" don't have a good program, never have had a good program and never will have a good program (until things change). There is also a "team" in Div 1 that appears like it will not even be able to field 5 runners.
Are you serious, there is DI team that doesn't even have five runners?
2) Courses need to be "spike" courses. Too much running on concrete. Couple that with ridiculous situations that peg the meter on both ends of the spectrum, by having kids climb steep slippery mud hills/creekbeds on all fours (and falling back down) because the can't wear spikes due to other sections of a course having long areas of concrete/asphalt.
I'm not referring to Liberty Bell which is a recognized road race, but rather other venues that end up with too much "prepared surface" running. This is, after all, Colorado.
I have been banging this drum for years!!! This is an "across the country" style of racing. Racing on hard pavement causes injuries, mental burn-out and doesn't tell you who the best true cross country runner is. Yeah, it gives you fast times, but how far are we away from running the fall XC races 95% on a track?
My solution, boycott all these races. Head to the moutains and run the races up there where you run up and down ski hills. Or the Eastern Plains, where you can at least get some running in on dirt trails. I never understood the desire to have XC runners always competing against the same runners day in and day out. There is no qualifying in this sport, so run some races to get you faster for the supposed "play-offs" of the season (League, Regionals, States). Does running the Liberty Bell really prepare you better than running up hills on trails in Breckenridge? Hell no! XC is supposed to be fun. I really think coaches are forgetting that in this day and age of NTN rankings and message boards. Remember, to normal people, running 5 km as fast as you can is not inherently fun. We gotta add as much enjoyment as we can!
3) Traveling has its positives and negatives. We gave up our travel meet to Missouri this year because of many factors: disruptive to overall training, lost time in classes and homework difficulties, lower number of schools participating, and the real icing on the cake of the host school not using its best runners.
Coach N and I have to get together and have a Jamba Juice and discuss travel meets. I could go on for hours about the pros and cons of travel meets, but we have company coming over in a few minutes, and I gotta go slice up some watermelon.
Sep
1) IMO CO has too many classes for the population it has. This tends to seperate the good teams and individuals and some never see each other all year, because big meets like Liberty Bell (in track too) do not adjust their Divisions by competition.
My suggestion would be to take last years cumulative scoring runners times and break down the divisions by this simple math. It would not be perfect due to graduations etc, but at least it would provide some sense to the equation.
I think that the divisions are a bunch of bullshit as well. Take the best teams from last year, put them int he same division. Coach is right, grad rates might affect it, but not that much. It is a total joke that LHS and CHS do not face each other head-to-head in the Liberty Bell Track meet, especially when we are so equal.
There are teams in Div 1 that" don't have a good program, never have had a good program and never will have a good program (until things change). There is also a "team" in Div 1 that appears like it will not even be able to field 5 runners.
Are you serious, there is DI team that doesn't even have five runners?
2) Courses need to be "spike" courses. Too much running on concrete. Couple that with ridiculous situations that peg the meter on both ends of the spectrum, by having kids climb steep slippery mud hills/creekbeds on all fours (and falling back down) because the can't wear spikes due to other sections of a course having long areas of concrete/asphalt.
I'm not referring to Liberty Bell which is a recognized road race, but rather other venues that end up with too much "prepared surface" running. This is, after all, Colorado.
I have been banging this drum for years!!! This is an "across the country" style of racing. Racing on hard pavement causes injuries, mental burn-out and doesn't tell you who the best true cross country runner is. Yeah, it gives you fast times, but how far are we away from running the fall XC races 95% on a track?
My solution, boycott all these races. Head to the moutains and run the races up there where you run up and down ski hills. Or the Eastern Plains, where you can at least get some running in on dirt trails. I never understood the desire to have XC runners always competing against the same runners day in and day out. There is no qualifying in this sport, so run some races to get you faster for the supposed "play-offs" of the season (League, Regionals, States). Does running the Liberty Bell really prepare you better than running up hills on trails in Breckenridge? Hell no! XC is supposed to be fun. I really think coaches are forgetting that in this day and age of NTN rankings and message boards. Remember, to normal people, running 5 km as fast as you can is not inherently fun. We gotta add as much enjoyment as we can!
3) Traveling has its positives and negatives. We gave up our travel meet to Missouri this year because of many factors: disruptive to overall training, lost time in classes and homework difficulties, lower number of schools participating, and the real icing on the cake of the host school not using its best runners.
Coach N and I have to get together and have a Jamba Juice and discuss travel meets. I could go on for hours about the pros and cons of travel meets, but we have company coming over in a few minutes, and I gotta go slice up some watermelon.
Sep
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