A few quick notes after a relatively successful weekend across the Northeast for the Running Red Foxes ...
--Coach Chuck says the UAlbany course comes in at about 3.2 miles. He is converting the times for the women so they know what their 5km times are. Many PRs all around for them. Great job, ladies! Wish I could have been there to see it ...
--The Princeton course was/is lightning fast and a result the times reflected it. Suspicion can be raised when times are that fast. But my gut told me that the course was accurate, for a few reasons: 1. It's a long established course, with many championships having been held there through the years; 2. Each kilometer is marked; if they go through the trouble of doing that, you gotta figure it's spot on; 3. It is very flat and very fast, and the conditions were perfect, so fast times are to be expected; and there were some very fast and talented programs there.
--I hate to give Billy Hild credit, but credit where credit is due: The kid knows his course maps and his course measurements. On the bus down to Princeton, BEFORE the women raced at UAlbany, he said he did some calculations online by using the course map and surmised the course was long. He surmised correctly. He did the same for the Princeton course, and he said it comes in spot-on accurate -- if anything, maybe a few ticks long of 8km and closer to full 5 miles. So, there you go.
OK, Peter Van Aken is probably mumbling at his screen right now. He has long grumbled about why courses cannot be accurate and why they have to be a "little long" or a "little short" of the intended mark. It is a valid complaint and I will not disagree with him. The bottom line, as I tell my team virtually every day: Cross country is a sport that is more about places than times. And that is true.
However, when you get a nice day and a nice, fast course, and some nice, fast competition, it is nice to get some nice times. Yeah. I know. I said "nice" a whole lot in that previous sentence! Nicely done?
1 comment:
drats, I have got to check the schedule more, I want to hit Princton up to see you during track season. Glad the meet went well.
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