More thoughts on regionals

Legendary football coach Bill Parcells was fond of saying, “You are what your record says you are.” Or something like that.

In the sport of cross country, however, there are no “season records” … just meet finishes. And so “you are what your record says you are” takes on a different meaning, and sometimes the outcome is cruel and possibly unfair. However, it is what it is.

These thoughts come one day removed from a stinging regional meet for us. Our body of work indicates that we are not the 20th best team (men) or 23rd best team (women) in our region. But on this day, that is what the record indicates, and we have to live with that.

But, does it have to define a program? Not necessarily. I still believe in the “body of work” theory in that you look at the collective process and results over the course of months and maybe even years.

The NCAA Regional meets can produce some unusual occurrences in cross country. One injury, one illness, one off day from one runner … and chaos ensues. Although I am not a huge follower of our sport, even though I coach it, I am aware that the 2011 regional results produced some highly bizarre occurrences – individually, but especially team-wise.

As programs, all we can do is prepare our absolute best, physically and mentally. After that, there is some element of luck involved.

Again, we are not trying to make excuses. We were not “unlucky.” We were not unprepared. The results did not pan out as we had hoped. Not even close. Maybe it was an anomaly.

Do we really believe that our women’s program, which has made such wonderful strides this season under the expert guidance of Coach Chuck, has not improved at all over the 2010 showing? Of course not! But the regional standing says so. It’s one day, hardly a way to define a program, right?

Do we really believe that our men’s program, featuring some of the finest distance men in the program’s long history, is 10 spots worse than the 2010 team? Of course not! But the regional standing says so. It’s one day, hardly a way to define a program, right?

But in our sport, we do not have team records as a way to put things in a longer view.

The body of work for 2011 cross country – women’s team, men’s team – has been solid and consistent (men) to downright inspiring and hopeful (women). One day puts a damper on it, but it does not have to spoil it.

Here’s hoping we can put a wrap on 2011 XC, at IC4A/ECAC, with a more positive note for our program.