DFW HOYA
Platinum Hoya (over 5000 posts)
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Post by DFW HOYA on May 2, 2010 15:42:26 GMT -5
Three questions:
1. Why has Georgetown fallen off in outdoor track? Middle and long distance seems to be there, but sprints and field events seem not to be as competitive.
2. What are Georgetown's recruiitng needs going forward?
3. Next season marks 15 years since the Kehoe track was abandoned. Do track alumni have any initiatives to secure a track facility, on or off campus?
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Post by reformation on May 2, 2010 16:03:35 GMT -5
Three questions: 1. Why has Georgetown fallen off in outdoor track? Middle and long distance seems to be there, but sprints and field events seem not to be as competitive. 2. What are Georgetown's recruiitng needs going forward? 3. Next season marks 15 years since the Kehoe track was abandoned. Do track alumni have any initiatives to secure a track facility, on or off campus?
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Nevada Hoya
Blue & Gray (over 10,000 posts)
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Post by Nevada Hoya on May 2, 2010 18:15:28 GMT -5
Three questions: 1. Why has Georgetown fallen off in outdoor track? Middle and long distance seems to be there, but sprints and field events seem not to be as competitive. 2. What are Georgetown's recruiitng needs going forward? 3. Next season marks 15 years since the Kehoe track was abandoned. Do track alumni have any initiatives to secure a track facility, on or off campus? Reformation has some strong views on your questions. So strong that he was speechless in his post answering your questions. Actually, question #1, the sprints have kept us from falling further behind. The sprints and the hurdles actually. With Kenny Mitchell's not having anymore eligibility after this season, the sprints will fall off a bit, but we still have some young sprinters coming on. Field events is a different questions, and I think that speaks directly to our lack of facilities. Question 2 is that reformation and I think we should shore up our middle distance crew. It used to be that we had three or four sub-1:48 800m guys; we really do not have one. If Bumbi concentrated on the 800m, maybe, but he is now a 1500/5000m guy. But he too will be gone next year. Billy Ledder is going to help, but we don't have too many others. As of now we know of only two or three men recruits for next year. In the past four years we have lost out to Oregon, Stanford, and maybe now UVA for our athletes. Sheila Burrell helped our sprint/hurdle recruiting, but she is gone. We have a replacement for her, and the hurdle crew has maintained. Question 3, since I am not a track alum (although I keep in touch with one or two of them), I am not privy to any info on that front. There was that effort to get the Ellington track refurbished, but that is not a very attractive recruiting facility, as it is a five lap to the mile track, which is a strange distance. It is a wonder we still are competitive in track at all. The funny thing is that the women seem to be recruiting better than the men at the present time. They are deep in sprinters and middle distance runners. Again, the field events are lacking, although at least the women had two competitors in the field events at the BE meet, although they did not score. And yes the women have some nice recruits for next year.
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Post by reformation on May 2, 2010 18:16:16 GMT -5
Three questions: 1. Why has Georgetown fallen off in outdoor track? Middle and long distance seems to be there, but sprints and field events seem not to be as competitive. 2. What are Georgetown's recruiitng needs going forward? 3. Next season marks 15 years since the Kehoe track was abandoned. Do track alumni have any initiatives to secure a track facility, on or off campus? DFW, I think you have gotten it backwards-- The sprints have actually improved a lot--while the middle distances for the men have definitely taken a hit and may take a bigger hit after graduation this year- The women actually seem to be on the upswing pretty much across the board. Just speculating re: why the men have taken a step backward--I also think the decline is more on a natl level than on a Big east level 1) Weak recruiting in several recent years 2) Several of the big time recruits we did get have not panned out 3)Team is not good at peaking for big meets--not sure if this is coaching or athletes Re: recruiting needs the men need a big class of elite 400-1500 guys this year and next. Other than one recruit Ledder(son of track alum), the other men we know about so far have not posted elite times, but they are repotedly getting close to full schollies which is unusual for track for anyone but the most elite athletes like the Infelds or Bumbalough. For the men we seem to be in the hunt for the top guys but do not get them--the women seem to be doing much better recruiting since Chris Miltenburg became coach. They seem to get a fair share of athletes that are highly recruited. Hard to say whether the relative(we still get some elites) lack of recent recruiting success for the men is random, or if the men's coaches are not doing a good job recruiting. Its certainly possible that the lack of good facilities + kind of mediocre results from a lot of our mid distance guys has turned off recruits recently. I also guess that where we used to turn out a great corps of 800-1500 guys, the coaches and recent mens recruits have been more distance oriented. It would probably help if we got a big name 400-1500 type coach like we used to have to complement the staff. Competitively also, UVA Oregon + Stanford have beat us out for the very top guys--all of those programs have gone through a resurgence which has hurt us. Also a lot of the ivies have been getting better and have actually beat us out for a # of the next level recruits. Its also hard to say what to do about the ability to "peak" for big meets--would seem to be a coaching/training thing but I have really no direct evidence, just an observation. We don't really compete at the field events anymore. Personally I would like to see the team focus on being nationally relevant for a selection of events rather than try to be avg for a whole bunch of events to score more at the BE meet. I think its good to have a balanced + elite team, just having a balanced team doesn't justify the relatively the big $ investment that we have in the sport. Also the men's (down)+ women's(up)programs fortunes seem to be diverging somewhat-not sure what is causing this. The men have so few announced recruits I suspect that they may be getting some tranfers/elite foreigners--not sure if that is a good or bad sign for them.
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Nevada Hoya
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Post by Nevada Hoya on May 2, 2010 18:29:51 GMT -5
After you got your voice back, reformation, well said.
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