Minnesota Athletes Sign With Nike/OTC

New Blog, Get In The Trailer, has been busy introducing new members of OTC Elite this week.  To my surprise, two new members of the team are Ben Blankenship and Hassan Mead.  Both athletes are Minnesota High School graduates, Stillwater and Minneapolis South, respectively, and U of M graduates as well.  Now, before you, or they, go on the defensive, I want to say that I am surprised that Nike is signing athletes with potential instead of ahletes that have already accomplised a lot.  Typically, it takes a gargantuan performance to gain a spot with Nike or OTC.  In the past, athletes who have histories of collapsed lungs or total hip replacements don't get signed by Nike.  I am happy that Nike is giving these guys a shot and I wish them the best of luck.  They are no slouches and only stand to get faster.  Mead is said to be training with Chelimo, Chelanga and Thompson.  It is unclear who Blankenship will be training with.  After the recent success of OTC members Galen Rupp and Mo Farah it is exciting to see Minnesotans entering into that group.  They join Elliott Heath as the current Minnesotans on the most Elite Professional running group in the US.

Summit League Stats- Men's

This blog post is to share my Summit League Statistics after the Griak/Notre Dame Weekend.  The formula for these stats is simple.  The time category is Notre Dame time.  IPFW, UMKC, IUPUI, and WIU all have Notre Dame times.  Oakland is converted in based on races against IPFW.  USD and SDSU times are Griak -30 seconds which is conservative (2 of USD's top 5 did not run at Griak and they are represented here by a good guess of their performances relative to their teammates earlier this year).  NDSU is based on races against SDSU.  The Florating category is Flotrack's way of rating performances.  All teams except Oakland were assigned Floratings on that weekend.



Name                    School             Time*      Florating*

Mike Krsnak	SDSU	24.18	200.7
Jeff Metler	USD	24.34	195.4
Trent Lusignan	SDSU	24.36	194.9
Cosmas Ayabei	UMKC	24.31	193.6
Joey Zielinski	IUPUI	24.58	184.6
Jared Ailts	SDSU	25.13	182.4
Michael Castel	WIU	25.17	178.4
Mubarik Musa	USD	25.34	175.5
Sam Roudebush	IUPUI	25.28	174.6
Taylor Huseman	USD	25.44	171.8
Zach Wiedeman	WIU	25.4	170.6
Travis Brenner	USD	25.48	170.6
Drew Kraft	SDSU	25.5	170.2
Kolton Sheldon	UMKC	25.42	169.5
Alex Hoenthaner	USD	25.53	169.2
Alloch Burton	UMKC	25.49	167.6
Joel Reichow	SDSU	26.02	166.2
Miguel Lozano	IUPUI	25.58	164.3
Ethan Marquardt	USD	26.08	164.1
Brett Kelly	NDSU	26.35	163.8
Dann Mann	UMKC	26.02	163.3
Bryon Schuldt	NDSU	26.36	161.8
Dirk Hudson	UMKC	26.07	161.6
JD Smith	IUPUI	26.09	160.9
Brant Hasse	USD	26.3	159.6
Moses Heppner	NDSU	27.06	158.1
Spencer Burgin	IUPUI	26.21	157
Austin Young	IUPUI	26.24	155.9
Philip Lavalle	SDSU	26.34	155.7
Trenton Hopper	WIU	26.27	154.8
Brendan Skime	NDSU	26.36	154.8
Andrew Thies	SDSU	26.36	154.7
Ryan Cutter	IUPUI	26.3	154
George Oconnor	OU	26.3	154
Alex Nail	UMKC	26.34	152.3
Michael Cox	OU	26.48	148
Ryan Wodjdyla	WIU	26.5	147.3
Griffin Humphrey	UMKC	26.51	147
Philip Palomino	OU	26.53	146
Jordan Hollman	IPFW	26.54	145.6
Grady Anderson	NDSU	25.54	140.8
Josh Hintz	NDSU	27.06	140.8
Lucas Degree	NDSU	26.37	139.4
Brandon Perry	IPFW	27.32	132
Anthony Sterzick	OU	27.37	131
Alex Katona	OU	27.44	130
Pat Cassidy	OU	27.47	129
Garret Glecker	IPFW	27.56	125
Chris Rudolph	IPFW	27.56	125
OU Ghost	OU	28	124
Cody Sengthong	IPFW	28.08	123
Randy McComb	IPFW	28.11	122
Taylor Crowell	IPFW	28.13	121
Kevin Kamm	WIU	28.39	120
WIU Ghost	WIU	28.49	119
WIU Ghost 2	WIU	28.59	118

The first set of scores are from the times.


Team                      1               2              3             4              5     Team Score

SDSU	1	4	6	15	19	45
USD	3	9	12	13	16	53
UMKC	2	11	14	20	21	68
IUPUI	5	8	18	23	24	78
WIU	7	10	26	38	54	135
NDSU	17	32	33	34	42	158
OU	29	37	40	45	46	197
IPFW	41	44	48	49	51	233

This set of team scores is from floratings.

Team                       1             2               3             4             5      Team Score

SDSU	1	3	6	13	17	40
USD	2	8	10	12	15	47
UMKC	4	14	16	21	23	78
IUPUI	5	9	18	24	27	83
WIU	7	11	30	37	54	139
NDSU	20	22	26	31	41	140
OU	34	36	39	45	46	200
IPFW	40	44	48	49	51	232

Shut up, Bob Costas.

I am oh so tired of the ageless Bob Costas stating opinions as facts.  The one that he has repeated so many times and that is going to be the focus of this blog is that "Michael Phelps is the greatest Olympian of All-Time".  I think it is very unfair to athletes in every other discipline to say such a thing.  Here is an example of a fact that Mr. Costas could use instead "Michael Phelps is the most decorated Olympian of All-Time" or even "Michael Phelps is the greatest Olympic Swimmer of All-Time".  I don't want to try and undermine Phelps achievements.  He is great.  He won a lot of medals.  I really just want to highlight how hard it is for athletes in other disciplines to win this many medals.


We will start with Usain Bolt.  In order for Bolt to accumulate 22 medals he would have to win the 100, 200, 400, 4x1, and 4x4 in 4 straight Olympics.  Then he would still be left with 20.  He could try and pull a Carl Lewis and pull a sprint/jump double.  Or he could stick around for an unheard 5th Olympics for a sprinting male.  Bolt's achievements would also be against a true worldwide field.  Notice how many of Phelps' finals were 7/8 Americans or Europeans and maybe one Asian.  Swimming is a white man's sport.  It has been said that 1/3 of all Americans and 1/2 of the whole world can't swim much less do it fast.  The percentage of people who can run is very high.  And sometime throughout life, most everybody who can run has participated in some form of a race.  Even a game of tag could be considered a race.  I remember running the shuttle run and half mile runs all through elementary school but I never remember being timed swimming.


Now, using Bolt as an example was bad because he does have the opportunity to win so many medals compared to some other athletes.  How about Wrestlers, Marksmen, Cyclists, Archers, Martial Artists, Volleyball players, etc?  They have have a very limited number of medals they can win.  In my opinion, it is much more impressive if someone who has one opportunity to win gold per Olympics and they do it 4 times in a row than for someone like Phelps who can enter a seemingly unlimited number of events.


Speaking of said events, there are 4 events and 2 relays at 100m.  5 events and another relay at 200m as well as one at 50 and 2 at 400.  Now, I realize that 100m in the water is different than 100m on land but still.  This is like having a regular 100m dash in athletics then adding a backwards 100, a crabwalk 100m, and a  sideways 100.  Then adding a backwards 4x100.  Then adding a 40m dash for those that find the 100m too long.  Then adding a 4x2 and 4 more variations of that event.  Why in the world would you want to swim the butterfly, breaststroke, or backstroke when you could freestyle?  They are slower and harder!  The number of opportunities for swimmers to win medals compared to every other sport is pretty ridiculous when you put it that way. 


Now, another of my pet peeves is when people whine about something but have no better solution.  To avoid being a hypocrite, I am going to offer up some solutions for who might be the best Olympian ever.


Carl Lewis, this man won 4 consecutive Gold Medals in the Long Jump and had also qualified for the 1980 games which the US boycotted.  Outside of his LJ medals, Lewis won 5 other golds and one silver.  That is a solid winning percentage.  Also, Lewis won the LJ, 100, 200 and 4x100 in the same Olympics.  For those of you who aren't familiar with athletics, nobody jumps and sprints.  For someone to win gold in both of those events is just crazy.  Back to swimming, this is like Phelps winning a diving event to go with his swimming medals.


Lewis' predecessor, Jesse Owens won 4 gold medals in front of Adolph Hitler in 1936 as a black man in Nazi Germany.  He won the same 4 as Lewis in 1992.  Oh yea, and Owens was an amateur.  That means he wasn't able to compete in another Olympics because he didn't have the money and no one to support him.  This is a huge advantage that Phelps has over many Olympians from the past.  Professional athletes weren't allowed into the Olympics until the 70s and not completely until 1988.  The man whom Phelps surpassed as far as golds in one Olympics, Mark Spitz, was an amateur.  His career was ended in his prime at the age of 22 because he couldn't make a living swimming.  He won 4 medals in 1968 and certainly would have had the chance to win 11 more at the following 2 Olympics had he been professional.  Not only is Phelps a professional now, he won't have to work a day in his life after retiring after these Olympics.  His agent stated a goal for 100 million dollars in endorsements.


Another possibility is Emil Zatopek.  The man won the 5000, 10000, and Marathon in the same Olympics.  He also added a silver and golf in the previous Olympics and won the Pierre de Coubertin medal for sportsmanship.  That's gotta count for something, right?  I'm not going to dis on swimmers to much but the potential for injury in that sport is much lower than most other sports.  Especially distance running.


How about Aleksander Karelin?  Remember the wrestler that Rulon Gardner beat?  The guy won 3 golds and was undefeated for 13 years.  He didn't give up a single point for 6 years in a row.  The man only was able to win 1 gold per Olympics.  And this is in a contact sport full of injury potential.


Edorardo Mangiarotti competed from 1936 to 1960 and won 13 medals in fencing.


Al Oerter won 4 Golds in the Discus, Phelps won't even compete in 4 Olympics.


Steve Redgrave of Great Britain, won 5 golds in 5 games.  5 for 5!  Or Elisabeta Lipa-Oleniuc who won 6 in 6?

How about Clara Hughes?  She won 2 medals in cycling and 3 medals in speedskating at the winter Olympics!

What about Michael Johnson or Usain Bolt and their historic sprint doubles?


Or how about the woman that Phelps supassed as the most decorated, Larisa Latynia.  I would argue that there are less opporunities to win medals in gymnastics than swimming.  I would also argue that gymnastics has less longevity than swimming.  It is impressive that Latynia even made it to 3 Olympics.  Where are Nastia Liukin and Shawn Johnson?  It has hard to keep competitive in a sport that requires hours upon hours of practice and favors a certain body type that is much more prevalent on a 16 year old than a mid-20 year old.

I just really feel that it is premature to call Phelps the greatest Olympian ever.  He is very good.  And he does have the most medals.  But he does have advantages over the Olympians of the past and over Olympians in other disciplines.  I really just wish Bob would stop voicing opinions as fact on national tv.  

Thanks for reading and please leave a comment or two.  By comments, I don't want you to say "Your stupid" (notice how I spelled you're wrong) or make some comment on my grammar.  I just typed this up quick to get it posted.