Daisy Ding wins her 3rd straight triple jump with a new PR (if it's not wind-aided) of 13.26 meters (43-5). Rice goes 1-2 so that's at least 18 points. We'll miss those two seniors - they've been rock solid in the triple jump the past four years.

(05-14-2017 06:04 PM)Fort Bend Owl Wrote:  Daisy Ding wins her 3rd straight triple jump with a new PR (if it's not wind-aided) of 13.26 meters (43-5). Rice goes 1-2 so that's at least 18 points. We'll miss those two seniors - they've been rock solid in the triple jump the past four years.

The other senior being, I'd presume, Cybil Obiozor.

Yes - she was close to her PR too. Ding actually went 43-6.

(05-14-2017 05:43 PM)Fort Bend Owl Wrote:  I'm not sure if you can blame CUSA on the African influx of its runners. UTEP has been that way forever, and Middle Tanzania State (and yes I realize their Africans are from Ghana, Kenya and Nigeria but Middle Ghana State doesn't sound good) is no different than a lot of other track and field programs. It's more a statement on track and field in general than CUSA.

My point was that if Rice were in a conference without such a predominance of open-admission schools, the playing field in the mid- & distance events would be much more level. By and large the Division I schools that bring in heavy contingents of African runners are basically open-admission schools. There aren't very many African runners that score well enough on the TOEFL and other criteria to make it past admissions at more selective schools, even with athletic exceptions.

9 of the top 11 finishers in today's men's CUSA 1500m final were Africans. The other two were Owls.

You simply don't see African dominance of that sort in conferences like the SEC, Big Ten, Big East, Pac 12, etc.

Reagan Olguin with a nice race in men's 800 - finished fourth after setting a blistering pace through the first 400.

(05-14-2017 07:09 PM)illiniowl Wrote:  

(05-14-2017 05:43 PM)Fort Bend Owl Wrote:  I'm not sure if you can blame CUSA on the African influx of its runners. UTEP has been that way forever, and Middle Tanzania State (and yes I realize their Africans are from Ghana, Kenya and Nigeria but Middle Ghana State doesn't sound good) is no different than a lot of other track and field programs. It's more a statement on track and field in general than CUSA.

My point was that if Rice were in a conference without such a predominance of open-admission schools, the playing field in the mid- & distance events would be much more level. By and large the Division I schools that bring in heavy contingents of African runners are basically open-admission schools. There aren't very many African runners that score well enough on the TOEFL and other criteria to make it past admissions at more selective schools, even with athletic exceptions.

9 of the top 11 finishers in today's men's CUSA 1500m final were Africans. The other two were Owls.

You simply don't see African dominance of that sort in conferences like the SEC, Big Ten, Big East, Pac 12, etc.

But the top American high school track and field athletes predominately go to power 5 conferences with a few exceptions (Ivy League schools and maybe some Mountain based schools which offer good training set-ups). I don't think you can blame Rice's demise in track and field (and by demise, I mean our overall times have gone done considerably since the 1980's and 1990's with a few exceptions here and there) on schools bringing in marginal qualifiers/Africans.

We had a chance to recruit better athletes when we were in the SWC. Now we can get an occasional sleeper or decent distance runner and turn them into a solid collegian with good coaching but it's much more spotty than 20 years ago. Just about every NCAA track and field team in the country that is trying to score points at the NCAA's is bringing in some foreigners. I doubt most Caribbean athletes are any better students than the Africans.

Unless the video is frozen and replaying the same scene over and over, there has been about a 10-15 minute delay before the start of the women's 5,000 meters for some reason. This is one of the things that kills track and field - when a meet takes 4-5 hours in the sun to begin with, a delay before a 20 minute race is ridiculous. Plus the results for several events that are over are not being posted for some reason.

Hannah Jackson got 4th in the 200 after 7th in the 100. She's not a fast starter from what I can tell but she has solid closing speed.

ETA - Women's 5000 finally begins. A nice compact field of about 35 runners.

ETA2 - UTEP's track is one of the prettiest venues in the country. Not many track and field stadiums are built into the side of a mountain.

They finally did post Jackson's result. Her time of 23.34 is just off her own school record. We were shut out in the women's shot put so we're down to 5th place now and will need a solid 5K to get back into 4th. I doubt we can get enough to get ahead of USM into 3rd. Men are currently 6th but I don't know how many points they have left unless they got some in the pole vault.

Just two individual champions (Filip in decathlon, Ding in triple jump). That might be our lowest total in a long time.

Women's 5K is the same 1-4 as 10K. Cartwright 3rd, Roper 4th. But Charlotte 2nd so I'm not sure if we moved back ahead of them or not.

Rice women will finish 5th. UTEP women will win. Middle Tennessee will be 2nd.

Final women's scores.

1) UTEP 153
2) Mid. Tenn. State 126
3) Charlotte 85.50
4) Southern Miss. 85
5) Rice 82
6) Western Kentucky 67
7) Marshall 43
8) FIU 41
9) North Texas 35
10) UTSA 30.50
11) Florida Atlantic 30
12) Louisiana Tech 22
13) UAB 19

Although I would personally DQ Middle Tennessee in the 4x400 for tripping the UTSA runner that wouldn't really change the team results I don't believe.

Men won't score any points in 4x400 so they will either finish 6th or 7th depending on how USM does in final race. Western Kentucky has 2 point lead over UTSA but should be favored to win 4x400 and win team title in a close race. UTEP will finish 3rd.

ETA - we finish in 7th, half a point behind USM. But I think our men competed pretty well in most of their events (and could really use some football players to round out their relays and a few field events).

(05-14-2017 09:33 PM)Fort Bend Owl Wrote:  Men won't score any points in 4x400 so they will either finish 6th or 7th depending on how USM does in final race. Western Kentucky has 2 point lead over UTSA but should be favored to win 4x400 and win team title in a close race. UTEP will finish 3rd.

ETA - we finish in 7th, half a point behind USM. But I think our men competed pretty well in most of their events (and could really use some football players to round out their relays and a few field events).

No doubt we have some good track athletes on the football team.

For example, Corey Klingler threw the Discus 153' 5" his senior year of high school... With expected improvement, he would easily score points for us at a conference meet like this.

The issue is that for each track practice, you're taking away much needed practice time from football.

(05-14-2017 09:52 PM)ExcitedOwl18 Wrote:  

(05-14-2017 09:33 PM)Fort Bend Owl Wrote:  Men won't score any points in 4x400 so they will either finish 6th or 7th depending on how USM does in final race. Western Kentucky has 2 point lead over UTSA but should be favored to win 4x400 and win team title in a close race. UTEP will finish 3rd.

ETA - we finish in 7th, half a point behind USM. But I think our men competed pretty well in most of their events (and could really use some football players to round out their relays and a few field events).

No doubt we have some good track athletes on the football team.

For example, Corey Klingler threw the Discus 153' 5" his senior year of high school... With expected improvement, he would easily score points for us at a conference meet like this.

The issue is that for each track practice, you're taking away much needed practice time from football.

and/or academics.

A couple things.

Bitching and moaning and demeaning African student-athletes is pathetic. Let's also hear how bad it is to also bring in boatloads of Canadians, Brits, Aussies and New Zealanders. Unless you just want to reserve your disdain for our African brothers and sisters.

A 153 high school discus throw doesn't equate to anywhere near a decent college effort.

Rice's men and women do pretty well in track and field, all things considered.

(05-15-2017 01:37 AM)InterestedX Wrote:  A couple things.

Bitching and moaning and demeaning African student-athletes is pathetic. Let's also hear how bad it is to also bring in boatloads of Canadians, Brits, Aussies and New Zealanders. Unless you just want to reserve your disdain for our African brothers and sisters.

A 153 high school discus throw doesn't equate to anywhere near a decent college effort.

Rice's men and women do pretty well in track and field, all things considered.

Our Football team was perhaps the "7th" in C-USA in 2015.

Baseball might get the 7 seed in the conference tourney this year.

Not bad, all things considered !

(05-15-2017 01:37 AM)InterestedX Wrote:  A couple things.

Bitching and moaning and demeaning African student-athletes is pathetic. Let's also hear how bad it is to also bring in boatloads of Canadians, Brits, Aussies and New Zealanders. Unless you just want to reserve your disdain for our African brothers and sisters.

A 153 high school discus throw doesn't equate to anywhere near a decent college effort.

Rice's men and women do pretty well in track and field, all things considered.

As a Rice XC & track alum, I certainly agree with your last sentence, but those "all things considered" include, again, the fact that in this conference (unlike the SWC I competed in), Rice has to compete against open-admission schools that have no problem bringing in marginal English-speakers (and let's not get started on the age issue) to stock their mid- & distance squads. Rice simply cannot do that. So the playing field is not level. I fail to see how this can seriously be disputed.

Recruiting non-Americans who are nevertheless *proficient in English* - and that would include Afro-Caribbean sprinters and jumpers in addition to athletes (and not just white ones) from Canada, ANZ, Europe, etc. - is entirely different; it is something Rice can easily do and has done with plenty of success and I certainly have no problem with that nor did I say I did, so you can have your race and xenophobia cards back. And if Rice wants to recruit the next Edward Cheserek - Kenyan, but went to HS in New Jersey and speaks English just fine (see also, e.g., Hassan Mead (Somali-American, went to Minnesota), Mo Ahmed (Somali-Canadian, went to Wisconsin)) - I would welcome him/her with open arms. But wholesale importation of marginal-English-speaking runners is a farce and not one that Rice would have to deal with in a conference with some schools even just within shouting distance of Rice's academic standards.

I had no idea you had examined the transcripts and test scores for all these folks. My apologies.

It's important to note that the Rice women redshirted both Katie Jensen and Elsa Racasan and that they both would have scored a lot of points, if healthy, improving the team finish greatly. Those points will help next year when Rice hosts the C-USA meet.

Another problem, Rice always sux in relays which brings in a large number of points. We have to win the 4x100, 4x200, and or 4x400 relays sometimes.

(05-15-2017 12:55 PM)InterestedX Wrote:  I had no idea you had examined the transcripts and test scores for all these folks. My apologies.

And on what basis do you divine that his objection is purely racial?