Track & Field

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#26      
Wells is currently high jumping at USAs.

He won't get last, as he cleared opening height and at least one person did not.
 
#29      
Darn, I didn't realize that Jake Stewart left to coach at Gonzaga :cry:

He had really turned the distance program around. Does anyone know what happened? I guess maybe he just wanted to return to his home state (he's from Washington).

Why can't Illinois have nice things? :(

https://fightingillini.com/news/201...k-names-haveman-head-cross-country-coach.aspx
Really disappointing the way that the university has handled the track and cross country programs since Wieneke and Buford Bailey have left. Both programs have shown that they could be very competitive in the past but they've deteriorated badly since.
 
#30      
Darn, I didn't realize that Jake Stewart left to coach at Gonzaga :cry:

He had really turned the distance program around. Does anyone know what happened? I guess maybe he just wanted to return to his home state (he's from Washington).

Why can't Illinois have nice things? :(

https://fightingillini.com/news/201...k-names-haveman-head-cross-country-coach.aspx

Same here. That hurts. I had no idea he left. Thought I read where his wife is from Washington too, so I can't blame him for wanting to be closer to home. Sucks for us though, because he really turned the XC program around and had a big part on the track.

I honestly thought he had us on the verge of becoming a powerhouse. Team is loaded this year and assuming health, should compete for the b10 title and should be really competitive in the NCAA's. Believe they return 6 of the top 7 from last year, but have a really strong freshman class and had several around the top 7 back that were running solid times.

Not sure what to think of the new coach. Hopefully she can keep us on track. No reason we shouldn't compete with Wisconsin every year. Illinois has to be a top-5 producer of distance talent, so if she can keep some of it home, she should be alright.
 
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#31      

ilphotog

The camera never lies
Champaign
Really disappointing the way that the university has handled the track and cross country programs since Wieneke and Buford Bailey have left. Both programs have shown that they could be very competitive in the past but they've deteriorated badly since.
I think with Turk and the way the staff is aligned now, we will see things improve in the Team format. In the past few years you had different coaching philosophies going against each other. Now I believe they are all on the same page with the same vision for the programs.
 
#32      
I wish him the best of luck, but it stings to lose a guy who rebuilt a program to a program that finished 24th in their Regional last year. I guess he is getting a promotion - being in charge of W's XC and T&F. We've been bleeding good assistants for awhile and I am not convinced that Whitman truly understands how a T&F/XC coaching system works. At least it sounds like he isn't taking any talent with him.

I honestly don't know much about Haveman. Definitely not the dream hire, but promoting an assistant can work. I'll give her the benefit of the doubt until otherwise. Would love to hear what her training philosophies are and how she expects to build buy in for the program.

She has a lot to work with on the guys side. I assume Davis won't redshirt this XC season so we can put a team of him and Reiser, Smith, Lathrop, Magnesen (I think they all have one year left), and Dale out there. That should be a national qualifying team.
Then redshirt Davis in '19, see who develops in the rebuild year, and try again in '20. Probably a good year to switch coaches as the in state class of '19 isn't that good.

The women's team needs a fair bit of work.
 
#33      
I honestly don't know much about Haveman.
I'm gonna post some of my thoughts, sorry if it's a bit long. For what it's worth: I'm in my Sophmore season of XC at the high school level and a couple weeks ago I went to the camp. I didn't really think anything was wrong with Coach Haveman; she did a fine job with the stress of running the camp unexpectedly after Coach Stewart left.
She has a lot to work with on the guys side. I assume Davis won't redshirt this XC season so we can put a team of him and Reiser, Smith, Lathrop, Magnesen (I think they all have one year left), and Dale out there. That should be a national qualifying team.
There is no plan to redshirt Davis this year or next, that I know of. A lot of positive things to say about Jesse though, I think he will surprise a lot of people with his performances. He was on the highest mileage week of anyone that was a counselor at camp at 100. I think Jesse is going to be in the best shape of his life this year. He has a really good mindset and he was one of the nicest guys I've ever talked to, super positive. Jon was on an 80 mile week. He should be in great shape this year especially after his 3:58.46 mile in track. I also talked to Dan. Not sure what kind of mileage he put in but he seems to be ready for the year. By the way, don't forget about Jack Lalonde. He was putting in a lot of miles at camp, and had a freshman XC 10k at 29:49. All in all, I think they should compete for a Big Ten title and qualify for nationals.
see who develops in the rebuild year
I think the incoming freshmen will surprise some. It sucks to miss out on Danny Kilrea and Dylan Jacobs as they both go off to Notre Dame. However, the two kids in that class that could surprise are Logan Hall and Wyatt McIntyre. Both are 1A, small school kids that I've gotten to race against as I'm in a small school as well. Logan has a 3 mile of best of 14:24 on road (St Joe Spartan Classic which I got to run in, insanely fast course) and Wyatt posted a 14:25 at Detweiller. The thing I think is underlooked is the amount of resources they will have after making the jump from a small school to a large university. Training plans will be more efficient, nutrition will be improved, and insanely high competition compared to what they faced in HS. I wouldn't surprised if they were both Sub 30 in the 10k in a couple years. For a comparison, Dan Lathrop only ran a 14:48 at Detweiler his Senior year and a 4:18 in the 1600, but last year as a Redshirt Junior he ran 30:00.9 in an XC 10k and a 14:02 5k on the track. Logan has a PR of 14:30 on Detweiler and a 4:16 1600. Things can really change in a few years of good training. If they can go out and get a top runner like Davis (Tommy Brady if he has a good senior year, maybe? Haven't heard much about his college recruitment), they could have some decent teams for the future.
The women's team needs a fair bit of work.
Definitely lol
 
#34      
I'm gonna post some of my thoughts, sorry if it's a bit long. For what it's worth: I'm in my Sophmore season of XC at the high school level and a couple weeks ago I went to the camp. I didn't really think anything was wrong with Coach Haveman; she did a fine job with the stress of running the camp unexpectedly after Coach Stewart left.

There is no plan to redshirt Davis this year or next, that I know of. A lot of positive things to say about Jesse though, I think he will surprise a lot of people with his performances. He was on the highest mileage week of anyone that was a counselor at camp at 100. I think Jesse is going to be in the best shape of his life this year. He has a really good mindset and he was one of the nicest guys I've ever talked to, super positive. Jon was on an 80 mile week. He should be in great shape this year especially after his 3:58.46 mile in track. I also talked to Dan. Not sure what kind of mileage he put in but he seems to be ready for the year. By the way, don't forget about Jack Lalonde. He was putting in a lot of miles at camp, and had a freshman XC 10k at 29:49. All in all, I think they should compete for a Big Ten title and qualify for nationals.

I think the incoming freshmen will surprise some. It sucks to miss out on Danny Kilrea and Dylan Jacobs as they both go off to Notre Dame. However, the two kids in that class that could surprise are Logan Hall and Wyatt McIntyre. Both are 1A, small school kids that I've gotten to race against as I'm in a small school as well. Logan has a 3 mile of best of 14:24 on road (St Joe Spartan Classic which I got to run in, insanely fast course) and Wyatt posted a 14:25 at Detweiller. The thing I think is underlooked is the amount of resources they will have after making the jump from a small school to a large university. Training plans will be more efficient, nutrition will be improved, and insanely high competition compared to what they faced in HS. I wouldn't surprised if they were both Sub 30 in the 10k in a couple years. For a comparison, Dan Lathrop only ran a 14:48 at Detweiler his Senior year and a 4:18 in the 1600, but last year as a Redshirt Junior he ran 30:00.9 in an XC 10k and a 14:02 5k on the track. Logan has a PR of 14:30 on Detweiler and a 4:16 1600. Things can really change in a few years of good training. If they can go out and get a top runner like Davis (Tommy Brady if he has a good senior year, maybe? Haven't heard much about his college recruitment), they could have some decent teams for the future.

Definitely lol
Do you know if Dylan Jacobs is any relation to former Illini great Jeff?
 
#36      
I'll feeling a little better about the cross-country program after this hire they just announced. He is going to be focusing on the middle distance runners, but he was the head cross-country coach at UNLV and also was the distance coach for the USA World Jr. Team. I'm guessing that he will help with recruiting for the men's cross-country team.

Also, it appears that Turk might have a successor-in-training in Wheatley, who was promoted to Associate Head Coach.

https://fightingillini.com/news/2018/8/15/mens-track-field-turk-promotes-wheatley-hires-harris.aspx
 
#37      
It looks like Tonja Buford-Bailey is out at Texas. I wonder if they could bring her back to Illinois. Does anyone know what her plans are?

Also, it's weird what happened to Karen Harvey. She quit FSU suddenly in 2015 and hasn't coached since then. She's currently working for a non-profit in Nashville, I believe.

Those programs have never recovered since they respectively left. If I were the athletics director at Illinois, I'd be trying to bring those two back and we'd be talking about having nationally-elite teams in women's track & field and cross-country.
 
#39      
It looks like Tonja Buford-Bailey is out at Texas. I wonder if they could bring her back to Illinois. Does anyone know what her plans are?

Also, it's weird what happened to Karen Harvey. She quit FSU suddenly in 2015 and hasn't coached since then. She's currently working for a non-profit in Nashville, I believe.

Those programs have never recovered since they respectively left. If I were the athletics director at Illinois, I'd be trying to bring those two back and we'd be talking about having nationally-elite teams in women's track & field and cross-country.

You sir, hit the nail right on the head.
 
#40      
Harvey is very intense, in both the good and the bad ways. Unless she has mellowed in her ways since she left FSU, I don't see her being successful with today's athletes. Her training style is going out of style and her interpersonal skills would be a headache for the AD.
 
#41      
Harvey is very intense, in both the good and the bad ways. Unless she has mellowed in her ways since she left FSU, I don't see her being successful with today's athletes. Her training style is going out of style and her interpersonal skills would be a headache for the AD.

Yeah, I didn't know anything about her coaching style, just her results--which were incredible. She was a great recruiter, too.
 
#42      
I looked at the XC schedule.

Seems like they will be racing about every two weeks.
First, they have a tune up at EIU (which I doubt we'll see the big guns).
Then the Commodore Classic, which will probably have a weak field. Maybe a chance to grab a point from MTSU.
They are going up to Madison twice - for Nutteycombe and Pre-Nats. Both fields are thicc. Really need to perform well in at least one of them.
The Illini Open and B1G are what they are.
Then Regionals, where it is likely Iowa State, Oklahoma State, and Illinois.
 
#43      
Does anyone know why Wyatt Mcintyre isn't on either the cross country or track rosters?
 
#45      
I checked the XC roster and he was on there

Yup, there he is. Still missing from the track roster. He and Logan Hall are probably the cream of this year's recruiting class. Need both of them even if one or both redshirts.
 
#46      
Men got ranked 3rd in the Midwest Regional preseason, behind Iowa State and Oklahoma State. Pretty accurate, I'd say there is a gap between those two and Illinois and another gap between Illinois and Minnesota (ranked 4th). Need to pick up points in the regular season.

Wisconsin, MSU, Michigan, Indiana, Purdue ranked 1-5 in the Great Lakes. PSU 5th in the Mid-Atlantic.

The women aren't ranked in the Regional, which is not a good sign.

Overall poll comes out tomorrow. I'd expect the men to be ranked in the 20s.
 
#47      
Men were just in the "receiving votes". Shenanigans I say.

Relevant teams ranked:
Iowa State 5, Oklahoma State 25

Wisconsin 11, MSU 22, Michigan 26. Indiana and PSU also RV.
 
#50      
http://www.cfpitiming.com/2018_Cros...erbilt_XC_2018/Vanderbilt_xc_invite_2018.html

Men didn't run the A team, holding back Reiser and Smith. Good runs by Magnesen and Hall though.
Women actually look decent, taking 2nd with all Freshman and Sophomores. Impressive debut for Marasco, 9th overall and first Illini. I thought she was more of an 800 runner in HS. Ohio State won, and looks like they were holding back.
Hall has been very solid so far; we have done a good job with under the radar 1A runners. too bad Davis is out
 
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