Great Start for Bison in 2015

[Hammersmith]

Thanks....so how do you qualify for the Regional Meet? Can a time qualify one for AA status? Would it benefit SU if we were in a different conference----I know we are D1 and there are no FCS equivalent in other D1 sports. My question/rational is this.....we seem to dominate the summit; thus, would it be better if we were in another conference (competition, recruiting wise, etc)?

All-American Awards: The only way to get AA status is to compete at the NCAA finals. Top 8 = 1st team, next 8 = 2nd team, everyone else = honorable mention. Only the 1st and 2nd teams have the right to call themselves All-Americans. For cross country, only the top 40 are selected and there are no 1st/2nd/HM distinctions.



As for how to get to the finals, Buffalo.Rider is largely correct. Times/performances from qualifying meets are kept track of throughout the season. At the end of each season:

Indoor:
The top 16 individual and top 12 relay performances for each event are invited to the NCAA championship.

Outdoor:
The top 48 individual and top 24 relay performances for each region are invited to the prelims. The top 12 individuals and top 12 relay teams from each of the two prelims go on to the finals. Heptathlon and decathlon don't qualify via prelims; the top 24 of each go straight to nationals.

Cross Country:
CC selection is mostly team-based. There are 9 regionals, and all schools from each region compete at their regional. The top 2 teams from each region get autobids to nationals(18 overall). Additionally, 13 teams are selected as at-larges. Then the top 4 individuals from each regional not already on a selected team are chosen(36 altogether). Finally, 2 more individuals are selected without regard to a region. That brings the total to 31 teams and 38 individuals.

For example, NDSU's women's CC team placed 16th this year at the Midwest Regional. But Erin Teschuk placed 2nd. So Erin was invited to the nationals as one of the top-4 non-team selections. (she placed 116th there out of 253)




Here's a link to the USTFCCCA website(these are also the guys who officiate All-American honors): http://www.ustfccca.org/weekly-resul...fying-criteria
There are also links on that page leading to NCAA documents.

[Hammersmith]

As to the question of whether your conference makes a difference, I really couldn't say. On the one hand, competing more regularly against faster competition could result in faster times at the conference tournament. That could lead to a better chance of getting fast enough times to qualify for regionals/nationals. But all schools have chances to compete at major meets(Drake Relays for instance), so I don't know if it's that big a thing. Additionally, T&F is not like BB or VB where schools play round robin within their conference for half the season. The only time the conference competes against itself is during the conference tourney.

But I could easily be wrong about this. It's 40% logic and 60% talking out my ass.

[Buffalo.Rider]

Alan Webb ran his American Record mile time at a small track meet in Belgium with little competition - as if he ran largely alone. This is an argument for why meets with strong competition do not matter that much. And some people run their best times when they don't have competition in the race that intimidates them (yes, getting the head ready is super important in track and field - defiance is a necessary trait for someone who performs well against good competition).

That said, most good times, distances, heights, are achieved when there is really good competition. This is especially true if an athlete will perform with abandon, is determined to prove something, and has their adrenaline pumping. There must be a few meets each year where the competition will push Bison athletes to new heights. When it gets to outdoor, it is particularly important to have several of these meets on the schedule because of weather. Unless one qualifies for the NCAA national meet, or NDSU allows them to go to a late May or early June meet against good non-NCAA competition or NCAA athletes who just missed the cut, the track and field season is over about mid-May. Particularly for the running and jumping events, temperatures need to be above 70 degrees (generally) to get top performances (maybe 75 degrees) so for the northern climate teams, that means a lucky day in April or a day in May. If in May, one prays there won't be heavy rains, high winds, or that they get a spring cold. Having only 1 or 2 meets with good competition in the outdoor season is really dicey - what if the weather is not good on those days. So generally the athletes want 2-4 with really good competition - hoping one of them will have good conditions for fast times, good heights and distances - winning a race does not get one into the regionals, only times, heights, distances do.

don't know if my rambling made sense. hopefully it does.

[MAKBison]

Very helpful Thanks much

[NDSUstudent]

Teschuk, Milbrath, Andrushko & Van Beek run 11:10.49 in the distance medley at Notre Dame. New school record by, oh, you know, 25 SECONDS!

https://twitter.com/NDSUTrackField/s...81887916175360

[Buffalo.Rider]

I am surprised we have not heard anything from Castor Troy for awhile.
Enjoyed his insights.

[Buffalo.Rider]

Just saw Teschuk's 3000m. Great time, an amazing time, and she had a strong kick at the end suggesting still some gas in the tank at the end.

Curious, I looked at U of MN school indoor Top 10 all time. Here is the link:
http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/...oor_Top_10.pdf

NDSU's women have bested the U of MN women in several events: 400m, wd be very close 2nd in 800m , mile, 3000m, wd be 2nd in 5000m, 4x400m.

More complete comparison:

NDSU women would be #1 on the University of Minnesota all-time indoor lists in these events:

• 200m, 400m, mile, 3000m, 4x200m, 4x400m, 60m Hurdles

And would be #2 in these events:

• Long Jump, Pole Vault, 800m, 5000m

For all other events, the best performances by NDSU's women track and field athletes would be in the Top 5.

I find this VERY impressive. The U of MN track and field teams have been very good, they have had some great athletes.

[Hail the Bison]

Joining a new conference is unlikely to change anything other than where the squad runs the conference meet. The rest of the schedule, especially outdoors, seemingly has very little or nothing to do with what conference we are in. On top of that, conference meets are notoriously slow regardless of what conference we are talking about - speaking especially to the distance and middle distance races. This is the case for a number of reasons: (1) athletes are typically running multiple races trying to score as many total team points as possible; (2) as a result of running multiple races, sit and kick tactics are very common as athletes are either trying to save their legs for later races or already tired from earlier races. In sum, what conference we are in isn't likely to have much effect on any other meet the squad runs, and isn't likely to result in faster times at the conference meet.

The only real positive of joining a different conference is in recruiting kids who have it stuck in their head that they should be running for a team from one of the major conferences (Big 12, SEC, etc.).

I think the team takes a lot of pride in fighting for a conference title every single season, year after year. The conference meet can really pull a group of individual athletes into a tight-knit team. Additionally, for kids who aren't contending for AA status fighting to be a contributor on a conference title team provides a secondary measuring stick. Meanwhile the athletes contending for AA status have an opportunity to compete with the best in the nation during the outdoor season, and to some extent during the indoor season as well. I think the Summit League is great fit for NDSU T&F. That is not to say that we couldn't or wouldn't be successfull in other conferences, as I think we would.

[Castor Troy]

I am surprised we have not heard anything from Castor Troy for awhile.
Enjoyed his insights.

Sorry. I did respond earlier from my phone but it didn't send for some reason.

I have many thoughts about the track and field teams but it has been difficult to get it all organized on a message board so I'm not even gonna try. I have stayed away from this subject for the simple fact that I miss my friend Ryun. He came to NDSU when I was a Junior and his college was delays since he went to Bahrain with his dad for a while. He had a great experience and had lots of stories about living out there. He wasn't a very good runner but he tried hard. He was about a 4:05 1500 runner and not a very good cross runner, but he was always focused on being a coach someday. He did his grad assistantship with Jerry Gores and quickly became a candidate for his job when he left to sell pharmaceuticals. But Lynn didn't hire him right away. She was quit vocal about hiring a woman, and the there weren't a whole lot of good candidates- so I think she felt like she settled for Ryun. He has always been so humble. Since we were old friends, he shared inside information with me that I never shared here, like which athletes were a disappointment and which ones exceeded his expectations. So I am bummed out because I don't like the fact that he is gone.

A lot of folks really don't know how significant it was for Erin Teschuk to DESTROY Nancy Dietmann's records. I mean I never thought that anyone would break them, and a very unlikely candidate was the one that broke them all. She is quite a talent and has really bonded with Andrew Carlson. He told me that during cross he would run with her to try and challenge her. He said it got to a point where he was being challenged himself. We added another Canadian runner as well with very good high school marks, so let's see if we can tap that well again.

Both programs are now fully funded, so we are not a "have-not" program. In my opinion, the women have improved greatly during the DI move, but the men have not. The teams that I was on in the early 90's would challenge the track team of today and we had only 5 scholarships. So I am a bit disappointed. We have the luxury of being in a weak conference, but we may still place second to USD for a while. Weather is a huge reason why we cannot compete with the larger schools. But even if you compare us to "like" climates we are still a bit behind. Jumpers and sprinters for the men have been lacking lately. I am also not convinced that we have the best coaching staff. Our best assistant coach is Justin St. Clair. I am hoping that we lock him down for a while because he is a great coach. Throwers will come to NDSU because of him. I am concerned about the jumps coach. Great athlete, but not sure if he can coach someone to new heights- pun intended.

I will always support Bison Track and Lars was like a father to me. The women are moving the right direction, but I think we need to get away from so many decathletes and go get some sprinters.

[Buffalo.Rider]

Sorry. I did respond earlier from my phone but it didn't send for some reason.

I have many thoughts about the track and field teams but ...

Moving. Thanks.