Track & Field

#1      
Indoor track has started up. Had the Illini Open and ran at Iowa this weekend.
Quinn has started out well, winning the 60m at both in 6.65 (PR). Also won the 200 at Iowa. Showing good form out the blocks.
Davis won the 800 at Illini and the mile at Iowa in another sub4 effort. He beat some decent runners, including some Wisconsin guys.
 
#2      
Quinn (200) and the Men's DMR race in NCAA indoors tonight. It will be streamed on ESPN.

I'd say Quinn is a coin flip to reach the finals. The DMR could be interesting; it is is finals only. Davis holds up against pretty much any miler and several guys "better" then him will be coming back from mile prelims.
 
#3      
Quinn (200) and the Men's DMR race in NCAA indoors tonight. It will be streamed on ESPN.

I'd say Quinn is a coin flip to reach the finals. The DMR could be interesting; it is is finals only. Davis holds up against pretty much any miler and several guys "better" then him will be coming back from mile prelims.
Didn't go well for the Illini. Quinn finished 15 of 16 and DMR was dead last by ten seconds.
 
#4      
Yeah, I haven't seen a video but looking at splits the first leg of the DMR was out the back and we never closed it back up. Doesn't look like Davis even tried on the last leg.
 
#7      
Did we ever hear officially that Reiser took a redshirt for XC? Davis was made public, but a couple other guys never raced either.
 
#8      
Did we ever hear officially that Reiser took a redshirt for XC? Davis was made public, but a couple other guys never raced either.
I haven't heard that, but it would make sense since he redshirted both indoor and outdoor track the previous year. What's up with Eiker? I assume that Wells redshirted.
 
#10      
Conference starts today.

No Davis again; he didn't compete at all this outdoors. Anyone know why?
 
#11      
Don't know why but he was clearly not himself at the end of the indoor season. Ran something like 4:10 for the mile and failed to make the final.
 
#14      
He had mono last summer, which is why he red-shirted XC. He participated in indoors though and did well.
 
#15      
We also finished 10th in B10 cross country (12th for the women). In track the men were 11th and the women 13th.
And in outdoor track the men finish 12th of 13 teams and the women were 13 of 13.
 
#16      
It's hard to believe that the men were nationally-ranked earlier in the season

It's safe to say that our two most under-performing sports right now are wrestling and track. It might be time for Whitman to make coaching changes in those sports, or at least be thinking about it.
 
#17      
Agree it's time for a change in track. Devin Quinn provided over half our points at the BTC and he's gone next year, so not sure we have much to lose from making a change.

Would love to see us hire Buford-Bailey back in some capacity
 
#18      
Anyone see that high school kid that broke the national 100m record? Kid is a freakish athlete!! Also ran the fastest 400m while running the last leg of the 4x400. His name is Matthew Boling, from Texas private school.
 
#19      
Agree it's time for a change in track. Devin Quinn provided over half our points at the BTC and he's gone next year, so not sure we have much to lose from making a change.

Would love to see us hire Buford-Bailey back in some capacity

It would be awesome if we could get Buford-Bailey back. The program tanked after she left. She was great with the hurdlers and was an excellent recruiter. It would probably require making her the head coach and giving her a big raise for her to consider leaving Texas, though.

It also really hurt losing Jake Stewart. He had things going great with the men's distance runners.
 
#20      
I'm not ready to write off Haveman yet.

The women XC team showed improvement. The men's season was a disappointment, but I'm not going to blame a coach for the #1 runner getting mono. I'd like more information on the other redshirts, but absent that I'll give the benefit of the doubt. We did get to indoor nationals in the DMR, which is the first time in a long time.

I have no clue how she trains them, so I can't comment on there.
We'll see how the recruiting goes.
 
#21      
It would be awesome if we could get Buford-Bailey back. The program tanked after she left. She was great with the hurdlers and was an excellent recruiter. It would probably require making her the head coach and giving her a big raise for her to consider leaving Texas, though.

It also really hurt losing Jake Stewart. He had things going great with the men's distance runners.

Buford-Bailey is no longer at Texas. They changed head coaches last year and Tonia wasn't retained. Don't know where she is now but she should be the first call by our athletic director.
 
#22      
It seems that hiring alums has worked out pretty well for us: Mike Small, Renee Stone, Buford Bailey (when she was here), and Justin Spring.
 
#23      
It seems that hiring alums has worked out pretty well for us: Mike Small, Renee Stone, Buford Bailey (when she was here), and Justin Spring.

It makes total sense. Who better to sell recruits on Illinois than someone who had a lot of success there?

I wonder when Mike Poeta might be ready to take over the wrestling program? Maybe he could bring in I-Mar as an assistant once he's done competing :)
 
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#24      
It makes total sense. Who better to sell recruits on Illinois than someone who had a lot of success there?

I wonder when Mike Poeta might be ready to take over the wrestling program? Maybe he could bring in I-Mar as an assistant once he's done competing :)
I seem to remember that Craig Tiley was in a PHD program at Illinois when he was hired as Director of Instruction at Atkins. Don't think he ever completed it. In response to your post, I think the time has come for Hef to retire. One of the Tirapelli brothers maybe? I see where Troy was just named national HS coach of the year. Lot's of contacts in California where there is great high school wrestling.
 
#25      
I seem to remember that Craig Tiley was in a PHD program at Illinois when he was hired as Director of Instruction at Atkins. Don't think he ever completed it. In response to your post, I think the time has come for Hef to retire. One of the Tirapelli brothers maybe? I see where Troy was just named national HS coach of the year. Lot's of contacts in California where there is great high school wrestling.

Yes, Tiley is a graduate of the University of Illinois. Although he didn't compete on the tennis team, he was involved with running the Atkins Tennis Center, I believe, and did some coaching there before being appointed interim tennis coach.

I forgot about the Tirapelle brothers. That could be the perfect hire. They were both elite wrestlers at Illinois and come from a coaching family. The combination of their California connections and the deep pool of Illinois High School wrestling recruits would ensure plenty of talent.