X-Country

[BigFatMeanie]

Sweet! I love Coach Taylor channeling Austin Collie with a "magic happens" quote:

“They’re running for something bigger than themselves. When you can get women that step on the line empowered, strong and really feeling in their hearts they can win, that’s when you see magic happen. That’s what we witnessed today.” - Coach Diljeet Taylor

[Joe Public]

Let's go! Orton looking good, but the depth needs to get up there.

[Joe Public]

What a strong finish by Orton! Nice job by the team, too; NC State is really deep.

[Joe Public]

Kiptoo and Mantz up front for the men. The starts are so wild.

[Jeff Lebowski]

So proud of whittni. That was clutch.

[Joe Public]

Come on, Conner!

[Joe Public]

What a move by Mantz! Such a stud!

[Joe Public]

Depth not there for the men's team again this year, but what an accomplishment by Mantz.

[Jeff Lebowski]

What a move by Mantz! Such a stud!

That was incredible. Wow.

[Moliere]

Just finished watching both women's and men's races. Very cool to see BYU take first in both races. Orton and Mantz are incredible. The women looked good but the men not so much. Hoepfully they come back stronger next year because NAU looks crazy good...as always.

[BigPiney]

Just finished watching both women's and men's races. Very cool to see BYU take first in both races. Orton and Mantz are incredible. The women looked good but the men not so much. Hoepfully they come back stronger next year because NAU looks crazy good...as always.

NAU is strong and getting stronger. Missions really hurt BYU.

On the women's side of things, they lose a lot this year. There were 4 seniors running today. I think top 5 would be a great finish next year.

[smokymountainrain]

NAU is strong and getting stronger. Missions really hurt BYU.

On the women's side of things, they lose a lot this year. There were 4 seniors running today. I think top 5 would be a great finish next year.

i have to wonder if missions hurt the running events/sports perhaps more than any other sport.

[Jeff Lebowski]

i have to wonder if missions hurt the running events/sports perhaps more than any other sport.

We know the Troutner kid as he grew up in our corner of town. He was a national champion in HS and then went on a mission. He was BYU's 4th place finisher on Saturday and was way back in the pack. I was expecting him to be more like Connor Mantz in college.

Not sure how much the mission hurt him, but there is another data point.

[Art Vandelay]

i have to wonder if missions hurt the running events/sports perhaps more than any other sport.

I don't know enough about running to know what makes an elite distance runner. Obviously losing 2 years of training doesn't help any athlete. But that is also 24 months less wear and tear on the body, in a sport where overuse injuries seem to be a big factor. it would make sense that it might require a year to get back to pre-mission conditioning, but are there other reasons missions are detrimental?

[smokymountainrain]

I don't know enough about running to know what makes an elite distance runner. Obviously losing 2 years of training doesn't help any athlete. But that is also 24 months less wear and tear on the body, in a sport where overuse injuries seem to be a big factor. it would make sense that it might require a year to get back to pre-mission conditioning, but are there other reasons missions are detrimental?

i'm mostly looking at it from a sprinting standpoint. i just can't imagine my son - granted he's not the most passionate, and therefore hard working track athlete - coming back from two years and ever getting back to where he was coming out of HS, let alone improving on those times. but now that i type it out, that is a pretty narrow view. could be entirely different for a distance runner or even a passionate, hard working sprinter.