Future

[sebastianc]

This may be a bit premature, but it is something to think about.

The women did not run 4x1500 at Penn - probably because they did not have four quality milers. Something is wrong with Margey, this year. Hurt? Not in shape? But it does not appear to be any better for next year. Shappert has been exceptional, but she graduates. Piccirillo is also exceptional, but that is it. Siofra C-B has been very good. That is about it. Not impressed with incoming class - there does not appear to be any exceptional talent. Burda is distance. Again, poor recruiting: nothing in soph class, one in frosh class, apparently not much in incoming class.

I do not claim to be infallible so maybe someone else has a more optimistic view.

Men are in better shape. They have quality and depth. The McEntee of this year is replaced by Lampron. I do no know who is the 5th man in XC. Except for Williamsz and Tiernan, who are both exceptional, the talent is good to very good. I am still waiting to see the Malone of his HS years. Just how good can Wetzel be especially considering that his development was set back by the injury. So maybe there is more upside then one might think.

Note: the G'town anchor in the 4x800 was Joe White, whom Muhammed beat in the NJ HS championship in record time. Mohammed has been good, this season, but not that good. Do not want a repeat of Fitzsimons.

My point: Where is Villanova's next Williamsz? Is that possibly in Slade who has speed to do well at mile, but is not an outstanding 800 man? Is there some outstanding recruit that has not been announced?

And my standard lament: Please get a 400 man with some talent. But there is nothing on the horizon - at least not for next year.

 

[TheFoyeEffect]

Villanova is not a school that is well equipped to be perpetually good. It's not good enough academically to compete with Georgetown, Stanford, and The Ivies with some recruits, it doesn't have the money or facilities to compete with any school that has a big football program that also takes track seriously.

Villanova is a school that will get a few blue chip distance runners, but they'll also depend on developing some runners who were good but not great high school runners, like Dusty Solis, Nicky Akande, and Sheila Reid.

As for the men, they're in good shape. It's unreasonable to expect true freshmen to instantly improve when adapting to a new environment, so you can pretty much write off making any judgments on their progress/lack of progress until the beginning of their sophomore year. Sam Ellison is a great example of someone who made a huge leap from his freshman to his sophomore year. On this team, Ben Malone is doing the same thing, improving on personal bests he set in high school.

As for the 400 man, until Villanova gets an indoor facility or suddenly becomes a warm weather school, you're not going to have a ton of luck.