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From The Vault: 2017 Top 20 Articles
- Admin (Garrett Zatlin)
- Dec 25, 2017
- 5 min read
With the holidays nearing an end and the new year just around the corner, we thought it would be a good time to start reflecting on some of our favorite articles from the 2017 year. Keep in mind that the site wasn't launched until late March so we are yet to have a full year of articles!
Below, we have listed our 20 favorite articles with a quick description. We're stealing this idea from Jarrett Felix, the owner of a very popular Pennsylvania high school running site called Etrain11. If you're a runner from PA, you definitely know who I'm talking about. If not, you should definitely give him a click and check him out before he heads into retirement!
Admittedly, it's been a slow week of content here at TSR with college finals and a lack of meets during the holidays. Still, we're dedicated to bringing you more great posts as we progress through this winter season. So stay tuned! We appreciate all of the support that we've had in just the 9 months that this site has been published.
It was the very first article ever published on this site and it seemed to do pretty well with our early readers. The article talks about top distance runners who were set to earn pro contracts at the end of their NCAA eligibility. Some guys we were spot on about (Futsum Zienasellasie). Other we were very off the mark (Edward Cheserek).
After an eventful week at Bryan Clay, fans of the NCAA were left with even more questions than before. Josh Kerr's 3:35 and Cheserek's absence from the meet left fans wanting more closure as to who the top runner in the NCAA was (at that distance). We even sparked the idea about Vincent Kiprop possibly transferring to a new program after his monster 10k performance. It was the closest thing to psychic powers we've even shown before...
This past spring was a big season for a lot of young guys in the NCAA. We were able to point out some of our top picks and it turns out that many of them were about as good as we expected...
As the site was attempting to get off the ground and more articles were looking to be published, Jarrett Felix stepped in and wrote an excellent piece on the impact and legacy Edward Cheserek was going to leave on the NCAA. If you're looking to relive some of his finest performances, give it a click and read up!
The discussion during the spring track season was dominated by guys like Korir, Engels, Kerr, Cheserek, Fisher, and Knight. Yet, many people seemed to forget about NCAA stars like Sean McGorty, Daniel Kuhn, and so many more. Why did we not see these guys race earlier this year?
A distance program is just like any other sport. Superstars rise to the top of the NCAA and help build up the young talent around them. That was the case with Sean McGorty and Grant Fisher. The article here discusses the McGorty's constant chase for NCAA gold while Fisher may (and did) achieve it first. Luckily, we'll get to see McGorty pursue a national title this winter without Cheserek in his way.
It's amazing what one meet can tell you about the state of an entire sport. The article discusses "sit and kick" race tactics, the loss of Cheserek, having great range, foreign runners having success, and underclassmen succeeding at the shorter distances.
Personally, this will go down as my favorite article of 2017. This summer feature article took a look at the team building method that was first popularized in the NBA. Since then, programs like NAU, Furman, and now Wisconsin have embraced redshirting their top talent in favor of an all-out title pursuit in the following year. This was also one of our most shared articles on the site.
June
Constructing rankings are always fun, but these rankings brought a unique perspective during a summer when readers were looking for more content to read. The series of articles sparked a few debates and kept things busy in a summer without racing.
There were plenty of coaching moves that took the NCAA by surprise. The biggest, however, was Chris Solinsky when he announced that he would be leaving William & Mary to take the distance coaching position at Florida. Solinsky was just one of many coaches who chose to pursue coaching opportunities elsewhere.
It was one of our simpler articles, but it gave a lot of great detail in regards to the statistical matchups between Knight, Fisher, and McDonald.
Following the conclusion of our Top 25 Team rankings, we decided that certain teams deserved some recognition before the season began. In retrospect, maybe leaving teams like Colorado State and Portland out of our Top 25 was a bad idea...
The article was a great preview as to the matchups we expected to see during the cross country season. In terms of Kolas points, many of the smaller invites were crucial for teams attempting to qualify for NCAA's. It was also interesting to see teams like Colorado and NAU enter meets that we usually don't see them at.
It was an exciting regular season of cross country competition. This article was able to recap a few interesting points, spark new debates, and walk through a couple of NCAA qualifying scenarios. It's a good article to go back and review for the most recent cross country season.
One of the most riveting debates of the cross country season was whether or not Alabama's top three were strong enough to earn them a spot to NCAA's. In fact, I actually used this topic for my paper in my Economics of Data Analysis class. One side of the numbers argued heavily against the Tide qualifying for Nationals. The other side, however, was in Alabama's favor.
After a long season of cross country and the long distance studs getting copious amounts of attention, it's easy to forget about the talented athletes that we could see on the track this winter and spring. TSR broke down 7 individuals and teams that could surprise a lot of people around the NCAA...
11/19/2017
The Cross Country National Championships is always a wild experience. The team battle is typically the highlight of the meet and every finish from every team is extensively analyzed...well, at least for us it is. We evaluated all 31 team finishes and gave our thoughts on each team's performance.
11/8/2017
One of the more underrated aspects of collegiate cross country that many fans and people in media fail to remember is that races during the championship season are 10k. Not 8k like the regular season. Former Columbia runner Jack Boyle joined our team and explained how TSR's top 10 teams (at that time) could potentially transition to the 10k racing distance.
November/December
Not only has John Cusick brought us some awesome graphics, but his articles are pretty darn good as well. If you're looking for open distance event previews, Cusick brings excellent detail and mentions every name you could possibly think of. Give them a read if you haven't already!
12/5/2017
The cool thing about our Digits articles is that they give you a nice perspective on performances from certain individuals and teams. We like to think that this piece really gives you a good understanding of just how good Dumford's 1k was earlier this month. He could be primed for a breakout season...
