Buttry pushes Smith to CR @ Griak

[Friar]

Perhaps the 2 best college female CC runners met at UMinn. with Div.3 fab Missy Buttry http://216.239.39.104/search?q=cache:f6 ... nner&hl=en pushing Kiwi Kim Smith to a 6k course rec.1 1 551 Kim Smith 4 Providence 20:10 5:25 3:03 9:46
2 1 599 Missy Buttry 4 Wartburg 20:33 5:31 3:09 9:54
3 1 345 Amy Hastings 3 Arizona State 20:41 5:33 3:11 10:02
Wisconsin crushed field for the men's title,Providence took to Women's.

[bf]

Re: Buttry pushes Smith to CR @ Griak

20:10 was winning time? That's 33:37 10K pace. Even if tough course, why should anybody care? If x-c is that slow, only world x-c championships are of interest. And not even then, if over 31: pace.

[buckeye II]

Re: Buttry pushes Smith to CR @ Griak

I'm not advocating nor criticizing, but would like to hear the opinions of others: Would you take a team with finishers of 124, 171, 173, 176, 184, & 188 to a meet of that caliber to accomodate a single runner? My opinion is there is no right or wrong answer. Opinions?

[guru]

Re: Buttry pushes Smith to CR @ Griak

>I'm not advocating nor criticizing, but would like to hear the opinions of
>others: Would you take a team with finishers of 124, 171, 173, 176, 184, & 188
>to a meet of that caliber to accomodate a single runner? My opinion is there
>is no right or wrong answer. Opinions?

Certainly not every week, but there is only so much an athlete can get out of winning races by one or two minutes, so occasionally you almost have to when you have a runner of that quality.

[PeteM]

Re: Buttry pushes Smith to CR @ Griak

From a story in a student paper about a top woman runner on a D1 school in a major conference with a great running tradition: “xxx’s typical day begins with an early morning run of about four miles followed by three classes. After she finishes her classes, she has a break followed by an eight-mile run and some weightlifting. And when this is done, she can probably be found working at one of her two jobs.” The article goes on to describe that the runner works as a waitress at a restaurant and also is an employee at a delicatessen. That is, she is on her feet for two, four, six hours a day beyond whatever is required by training and going to class.

I think we can assume the woman is not on full scholarship. We probably also should salute her for continuing to train and race in the face of requirements to earn money for school. But I can’t help but thinking that her coach must be appalled—how can this runner be anywhere near mentally and physically ready to compete at the highest levels of D1 competition?

Can any readers with college running or coaching experience comment? Is this typical of the student-athlete in major college XC and T&F programs?

-thx,
PeteM

[Friar]

Re: Buttry pushes Smith to CR @ Griak

I don't think Div.1 scholarship athletes are allowed to have jobs during the semester for obvious reasons: some my be of the no-show ,high pay variety. But I may be wrong. Almost all top programs have two a day workouts and the kids take 12-15 credit hoursin between. How they spend thier time after that is preferably resting,but problematic.

[MJR]

Re: Buttry pushes Smith to CR @ Griak

>20:10 was winning time? That's 33:37 10K pace. Even if tough course, why should
>anybody care? If x-c is that slow, only world x-c championships are of
>interest. And not even then, if over 31: pace.



Whoa, get over yourself stud!

You know nothing about the course, the weather or their training at this time. Its only September and they break a course record. That's pretty good.

[Brian]

Re: Buttry pushes Smith to CR @ Griak

>20:10 was winning time? That's 33:37 10K pace.

Cross-Country is about place, not time. Period.

[go pre]

Re: Buttry pushes Smith to CR @ Griak

ok, i was at the race on saturday. i can say from experience that the course is quite tough. no huge hills, but the entire course is up and down short hills, never giving the runners time to recover from the previous uphill effort.

the griak invitational isn't just a big d1 race, though that's all most of you on here care about. before the d1 races, there were d2 and d3 races. and afterward, there is four or five high school races. if buttry weren't running for wartburg, i'm sure the team still would be at the meet, just running in the d3 race, but to accomodate her, they've allowed wartburg to run the d1 women's race the past two years.

as for the title of this thread "buttry pushes smith to cr @ griak," i can't say that is entirely accurate. smith took a decent lead right away and buttry never closed the gap, just maintained. so i'd consider smith's effort a solo one, making it more impressive.

the badgers busted out the 'shock and awe' campaign for '04. quite impressive. i can see why they are ranked the best in the land. six of the top nine finishers. i think the results speak for themselves on that race.