Track?

[valporun]

Most of the lack of recruitment issues are due to the lack of scholarships that  can be offered. Valpo89, your son would have been a great addition, but with his grades and want to get out of town, the coaches would have ignored him just the same. Do I hope the new track helps with recruiting? You bet I do! I just wish there was scholarship monies to offer, but VU Track just doesn't get the attention as basketball, softball, baseball, and soccer do.

[LaPorteAveApostle]

Valpo89, your son would have been a great addition, but with his grades and want to get out of town, the coaches would have ignored him just the same.

does not compute

First off, the grades were > 4.0, right?  So why would the coaches have ignored him because of that?  Is that too high for VU?

Second, they didn't know he wanted to get out of town BECAUSE THEY DIDN'T BOTHER TO ASK.  Further, since he had his scores sent to the school, that should probably be taken as a modicum of interest, at least, right? 

I don't pretend to know how the information flows (e.g. admissions to coaches, or vice versa) in such a case, but clearly, as has been stated before, there's not a whole lot of attention paid to local athletes in our non-revenue sports.  Which to me is strange because since these are the non- or fewer-scholarship sports, you might expect to harvest some economy of scale due to savings in travel, etc.

[wh]

I agree that you can't assume that a high school track and field athlete is "too good" or "too close to home" to be interested in Valpo's track program.  My son-in-law was an extremely gifted shot putter and discus thrower with many options coming out of high school. He chose Huntington University because he was more comfortable in a small college environment and actually wanted to be close to home so his family could attend his meets.  While at Huntington he set school records in both the shot and discus that far exceed Valpo's all-time bests, earned 4 national titles, was a 14-time All American, and was inducted into Huntington's athletic hall of fame.  The critical point here is that Huntington's coaches took the time to make a connection with him when he was in high school. 

https://www.huntington.edu/news/hall-of-fame-to-induct-four-foresters/

[momofalex]

I too am sorry your son didn't receive any mailings from Valpo.  Ironically that is what put Valpo in my son's sights - a mailing regarding competing in track.  Without that mailing we would have never considered Valpo living in Ohio. 

[Valpo89]

I too am sorry your son didn't receive any mailings from Valpo.  Ironically that is what put Valpo in my son's sights - a mailing regarding competing in track.  Without that mailing we would have never considered Valpo living in Ohio. 

Well, we received a lot of mailings from VU. But nothing specific to track or cross country, at least that I can recall.
It would have been nice just to get a little interest. I know I wasn't going to be able to talk him into going to VU, and we would have had to have a pretty good overall financial package for him to go there anyway. He's certainly very happy being at IU and competing for their running club, posting times in the fall that would have been right in the mix of VU's top 5 runners. And, he's better at track.

[covufan]

Most of the lack of recruitment issues are due to the lack of scholarships that  can be offered. Valpo89, your son would have been a great addition, but with his grades and want to get out of town, the coaches would have ignored him just the same. Do I hope the new track helps with recruiting? You bet I do! I just wish there was scholarship monies to offer, but VU Track just doesn't get the attention as basketball, softball, baseball, and soccer do.

I would hope that with the new track that the staff will have more recruiting $$$ or time to at least send out letters to those track and field athletes (and CC) in a 2-3 hour drive of Valpo.  These are the students, especially those that have times that would compete with our current team, that might consider Valpo even without scholarship money.  I would also think that some of these athletes might even be in line for some academic grants/aid, as they are probably better than average students in HS.  The trick is getting them money, but not based on the fact that they were a member of the track team in HS.

[Kyle321n]

I can somewhat echo Valpo89's concerns with recruiting. I went to Lake Central and my junior year I was a regional qualifier in Cross Country and the 3200 in track, one of the top 10 distance runners in Lake county.  I received a letter of congratulations or interest from every D1 outside of Indiana, Purdue, Notre Dame, and Valpo. My grades were not nearly as good at 89's son's, but they were good enough to get into Valpo. I had 0 interest of running in college, 7 years of competing was enough and was already starting to feel the effects of running 350 days a year for 7 years. (Note: I now have the knees of a 65 year old according to a MRI tech when I went in 2 years ago to get them looked at since they were causing me so much pain I couldn't sit with them bent or stand for long periods of time.) I enjoyed my time at Valpo, and I might have considered running there if I had gotten a letter of interest from them, but since I didn't I decided to focus on going to basketball games instead.

[Crew-Sader]

As a former runner and Valpo Alumni, I understand the thought process on why people think Valpo should recruit more local kids. However it was already said earlier, they don't want to stay in Valpo. Why bother wasting the time and resources when 99% of the local kids want to leave Valparaiso and attend a different school? The local kids that want to attend Valpo are on the team, and doing well, but for the most part the local kids want to get the heck out of town. The program can't entice the top talent in the area to stay because they basically have 0 scholarships, and the smart & fast kids are going to attend the schools like Notre Dame and IU.

[LaPorteAveApostle]

Here's the thing, though: they don't know if they don't ask, and really that's all that Valpo89 and other want.  To say "they want to leave" is a generalization, and everyone who makes generalizations should be shot.

It's simply not enough to say that "local kids don't want to go to Valpo" when recruiting data has consistently shown that all things being equal, kids will most often opt for the school closest to home.  Sure, some kids can't wait to go to Alaska-Fairbanks because it's SO far away, but every year dozens of kids from the 219 enroll at VU.

If they want to leave, sure they'll leave, but there's no chance they'll consider crashing a party to which they've never been invited.

[SanityLost17]

As far as distance running is concerned, Valpo is a joke!  It is not a lack of scholarships, or the fact that local kids "don't want to run at Valpo", or the fact that there was not a track for the longest time.  An intelligent, passionate coach can overcome these things.  Indiana Tech and Southern Indiana (no track)  / Wabash College (no scholarships) / EVERYONE ELSE (success with lots of in state runners....you know, the same in state runners that VU ignores)   

Several Indiana D3 schools have more consistent distance squads....  Sad!     

I think I posted this another time.  I had a runner who won the Lilly scholarship (free tuition), was looking for a private religious institution, and was the 9th best 3200 meter runner in the state.  She got a letter from every single school in the state with the exception of Notre Dame, IU, and VU. 

[vu72]

As far as distance running is concerned, Valpo is a joke! It is not a lack of scholarships, or the fact that local kids "don't want to run at Valpo", or the fact that there was not a track for the longest time.  An intelligent, passionate coach can overcome these things.  Indiana Tech and Southern Indiana (no track)  / Wabash College (no scholarships) / EVERYONE ELSE (success with lots of in state runners....you know, the same in state runners that VU ignores)   

Several Indiana D3 schools have more consistent distance squads....  Sad!     

I think I posted this another time.  I had a runner who won the Lilly scholarship (free tuition), was looking for a private religious institution, and was the 9th best 3200 meter runner in the state.  She got a letter from every single school in the state with the exception of Notre Dame, IU, and VU. 

You may be correct although Valpo has had All Americans in track and cross country, most recently Laura Rolf and Collette Liss.  I know Laura came from a Lutheran High School in Michigan but I'm also fairly sure Collette was a local product.

In any event, the fact is that we can, with all of our facility challenges, produce athletes at the highest level.  With additional support, this can only improve.

[bbtds]

but there's no chance they'll consider crashing a party to which they've never been invited.

You're not referencing a party on Lind Lane, are you?

[LaPorteAveApostle]

[FWalum]

An intelligent, passionate coach can overcome these things.  Indiana Tech and Southern Indiana (no track)

It can be done.  I know Brad Peterson who started the Indiana Tech track and X country programs.  A very passionate coach who had them in the national championship race in both sports in just two years.  Of course it helps when you have one of the best distance runners on the country follow you to a school. He was also great at developing talent, taking average high school runners and turning them into great performers. 

[VU2624]

Not sure if this was done but a lot of "recruiting" in most sports is initiated by the athlete. Contacting the coach or recruiting coordinator indicating interest in the program is the best way to go. There are programs more proactive than this but most of them aren't.

[covufan]

everyone who makes generalizations should be shot.

Hmm, is this a generalization? 

[a3uge]

everyone who makes generalizations should be shot.

Hmm, is this a generalization?

[Crew-Sader]

It sounds like the most frustration is coming from the distance/cross country side of the program. Keep in mind, that VU treats Cross Country and Track as two separate sports. The head cross country coach is also the distance coach, and he basically recruits his own way instead of how the track program does. They don't share offices, they don't share monies, and it seems like they don't do anything together. So the distance/cross country kids are recruited by the head cross country coach, but the head track and field coach has no power of who he recruits.

[historyman]

everyone who makes generalizations should be shot.

Hmm, is this a generalization?

SAVING GENERAL RYAN IN PRIVATE

Is this a generalization?

[VULB#62]

Something we haven't seen too often:  Valpo is in the lead at the HLMTF indoor championships.  Sunday will probably bring us down to earth, but there is some apparent improvement happening.  With the new track ready for its first full spring season, that should help attract some more talent.  Not having had a home track for decades, I wonder if anyone at Valpo has experience in running a track meet   

Men's Team Standings:
Valparaiso 42
Youngstown State 38
UIC 31
Milwaukee 27
Detroit 10
Oakland 7

[valpotx]

They have seen steady improvement this year throughout, even if we end up in the bottom 3, as we probably will.  Things are looking up, so if we can only get some better amenities for S&D, we will have a really competitive overall athletic program!!

[VULB#62]

They have seen steady improvement this year throughout, even if we end up in the bottom 3, as we probably will.  Things are looking up, so if we can only get some better amenities for S&D, we will have a really competitive overall athletic program!!

When we first moved to the HL I had my doubts as to whether we would be able to compete across the board much less in MBB. Goes to show you that a rising tide floats all boats. I think the coaches and the athletic administration have a very good job given the funds and resources they have to work with. I still am amazed at HL champs 3 out of the last 4 years in MBB. Wow!

[valporun]

Yeah, we will come back to earth today, as we only have 1 qualifier for finals in the sprints. We had a lot of track events yesterday where we didn't run anyone. All of the points came from field events, and I'm impressed with 1-2-3 in the men's pole vault, winning the women's pole vault, and having 17 of a possible 31 points in the weight throw. Yes, we'll come back to earth today. I just wish I knew what the extent of recruitment looks like. Blind dart throwing, waiting for phone calls, hoping for freshmen to walk into the fall team meeting that didn't show recruitment interest or what, but we need numbers big time.

In terms of running track meets, I was a high school track coach for a couple of years, and have experience running meets. I'm not sure what the comment you had means, 62, but I guess we'll see how things play out for that on April 25th at the 1st Annual Crusader Invitational.

[VULB#62]

Re:  running meets. It's a coordination thing while also trying to coordinate/coach/lead your own team.  There's also the pre-meet prep stuff that you don't have to do when you are the "visitor."  It'll be a new experience for Valpo.

[momofalex]

I'm sure folks saw that the men finished in 4th place, which is what the coaching staff was hoping for.  We were in 3rd by 1 point heading into the final event (4x400).  As was mentioned above, there were lots of great performances including Valpo program records broken.  As a track team the guys were very excited and proud, and eager for the outdoor season.