Should NCAA Superstars skip NC's for USATF?

[Atticus]

Lots of negativity about both the INdoor USATF and INdoor WC here!

Not at all. I plan on following both closely and I'm sure I will be highly entertained by what happens at both. For the athletes that choose to go to either, it's a really big deal.
But then look at all the elite athletes who bypass them. What does that tell you?
Elites don't bypass the OT or the OG, which are, by far (!) MORE important meets for US athletes.

[gh]

It's not negativity about the meets per se; it's negativity towards the concept that collegiate athletes should give a shit about compromising their scholastic competition/training.

[aaronk]

Lots of negativity about both the INdoor USATF and INdoor WC here!

Go meet Vin Lananna for lunch, and tell that to his face!!

LOL

[jazzcyclist]

Neither the iUSATF nor the WIC are important events. You can tell this by who participates. No way the NCAA nor its coaches move mountains to have their athletes add two more events onto their busy schedules.

Well said. If a coach has an athlete who is good enough to qualify for the World Indoor Championships, that athlete might be good enough to qualify for the Olympics, so that coach would have an incentive to keep his/her race count down, not add races at the expense of that athlete's long outdoor season.

[Atticus]

Neither the iUSATF nor the WIC are important events.

An outrageous assertion!
I totally agree.

[booond]

Neither the iUSATF nor the WIC are important events. You can tell this by who participates. No way the NCAA nor its coaches move mountains to have their athletes add two more events onto their busy schedules.

[Atticus]

So your best athletes are running multiple events at conference, running at USATF the following weekend and then NCAA's the following week. There may be some events this might work in but I can't see this as something NCAA coaches would be all that fired up about.

Indeed. That does not fit into any sort of peaking model I know of. The travel alone would be too disruptive.
This whole thread is driven by a fan's desire to maximize HIS pleasure, not for the benefit of the athlete or the institutions/he represents, even including the likelihood (difficult as it would be) of winning multiple titles.

[NotDutra5]

There's a week off between the two (formerly "Last Chance" weekend, now just IC4A/ECAC).

So your best athletes are running multiple events at conference, running at USATF the following weekend and then NCAA's the following week. There may be some events this might work in but I can't see this as something NCAA coaches would be all that fired up about.

[KevinM]

There's a week off between the two (formerly "Last Chance" weekend, now just IC4A/ECAC).

[NotDutra5]

Several years ago when the USA Indoor meet was being held in Albuquerque we did submit a proposal to USATF to host their meet prior to the NCAA meet, so as many of you are stating the collegiate athletes would be able to compete. Quite frankly, it would be easy to do schedule-wise. Have the USA meet either the third weekend or fourth weekend in February opposite of conference meets. Two things came back to us. First, the NCAA did not want to sanction the meet as an NCAA qualifying meet given international athletes would not be allowed to compete, and thus it would be discriminatory. We requested that USATF change their protocol so this could be addressed - no dice. Secondly, USATF indicated that they didn't want "all" the collegiate athletes in the meet because it would make the meet too large. To say we were flabbergasted would be an understatement. Take a look at field size at the USATF for the last five years? Very, very small field sizes and in some events limited quality. I think it would be a home run for track fans (and athletes).

You wanted the USATF meet the same weekend as conference meets so more NCAA athletes could compete in the USATF meet?

[olorin]

Outdoors is a different story. The NCAAs have always preceded the US Nationals, and I can't remember any eligible NCAA athlete ever skipping the NCAAs for the US Nationals/Trials. And there are very few NCAA athletes who have a decent chance of making a US team who stop competing after the NCAA meet when there is a team (World or Olympic) to make.

But in those years when only couple of weeks separating the NCAA and the trials (e.g. last year) there is a problem with long distance runners and multi-event athletes able to peak for both meets

[Rich22]

Several years ago when the USA Indoor meet was being held in Albuquerque we did submit a proposal to USATF to host their meet prior to the NCAA meet, so as many of you are stating the collegiate athletes would be able to compete. Quite frankly, it would be easy to do schedule-wise. Have the USA meet either the third weekend or fourth weekend in February opposite of conference meets. Two things came back to us. First, the NCAA did not want to sanction the meet as an NCAA qualifying meet given international athletes would not be allowed to compete, and thus it would be discriminatory. We requested that USATF change their protocol so this could be addressed - no dice. Secondly, USATF indicated that they didn't want "all" the collegiate athletes in the meet because it would make the meet too large. To say we were flabbergasted would be an understatement. Take a look at field size at the USATF for the last five years? Very, very small field sizes and in some events limited quality. I think it would be a home run for track fans (and athletes).

[gh]

aaron, you're laboring under the misconception that those on the collegiate side (be they coaches or athletes) particularly have a meet like the World Indoor on their radar. Never have, never will, and the collegiate calendar isn't in any way constructed with that meet in mind.

[aaronk]

Dutra---"AaronK's pipedream" isn't the problem!
What's the problem is that people don't take the INdoor WC's seriously enough to care about getting the BEST athletes on our team!
Crouser has the best US mark--as do the others I mentioned!
Why wouldn't they think they could make the team---and WANT to do it--if they could?
What happened to the pride of being on a WC team--whether OUTdoors or INdoors??

And don't bring up the OG--or the OT's!
The Trials are about 100 days after the WC's end!!
Plenty of time to re-peak!

[NotDutra5]

I was talking about this year's INdoor schedule!!
Both meets are on the same days---this Friday & Saturday!
Would've been doable if the NC's were a week earlier!

ADD: Look at the USATF entries!
Right now, Crouser has the best SP mark in the country--Pro or amateur!
So does Orji in the TJ, Saunders in the SP, Okolo in the 400, and Brazier in the 800!
In fact, Saunders's mark is 2nd only to Val Adams's recent
OUTdoor 63-9 and an earlier INdoor mark by the Chinese woman!

The NCAA's are not going to be a week after conference indoors. Those two meets affect, potentially, far more athletes than the limited number who can compete in the USATF meet if the schedule better fit AaronK's pipedream.

This assuming that the qualified athletes are interested in going to the USATF meet in the first place when they might not be.