By: Garrett Zatlin
Reminder of the list so far...
20. Florida State
Seminoles
Flotrack’s #20: Northern
Arizona Lumberjacks
Coach: Bob Braman
Notable Departures: Glen
Yarham, Tyler Udland, Antony Taylor
Notable Additions:
Harry Mulenga (transfer), Andrew Coscoran (transfer), Tyler Anyan (transfer)
Projected Scoring
Five: Jack Goodwin (SR), Zak Seddon (SR), Harry Mulenga (JR) Stanley Linton
(JR), Andrew Coscoran (SO)
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I feel like Florida State doesn’t get enough love. Coach
Braman has done an excellent job turning decent recruits into studs. He has
also been able to get top tier talent to come over from the UK and Australia to
make FSU a national contender. The team is often unfairly criticized for cruising
through their regional race and then not matching that performance at NCAA’s.
Although, last season was a good example…
Florida State started off very strong during the beginning
of last season. They cruised through the Virginia Tech Alumni Invite (which I
ran in…didn’t go too well) and went 1-2-3. They also defeated UNC in the
process. For the next three weeks, FSU would go back to the grind and continue
to work on their fitness. That grind paid off at Notre Dame where the Noles put
two in the top 20 and three in the top 40. Their fifth man finished in a
respectable 53rd place. Overall, everyone executed their goal and
gave FSU a 4th place team finish in a strong field with multiple
nationally ranked teams. Things were going well for the Noles as they headed
into a tougher field at Wisconsin. It was there that FSU would put three in the
top 50. A rough race for fifth man Stanley Linton did hurt the team though.
Nonetheless, FSU placed 9th overall with Michigan, Providence, New
Mexico, and more all behind them. FSU was running well and it seemed that FSU
was proving to the nation that they could be competitive outside of their weak
region. Unfortunately, even with three in the top 20, FSU finished a surprising
5th at ACC’s. The reason why? Leader and number one man, Glen Yarham,
was hurt and would be left out of competing for the rest of the season. It was
a massive blow to the Seminoles and it showed. Determined to prove that they
could prosper without Yarham, FSU went into regionals (South) to try and regain
their 2012 title. Still, the absence of Yarham was too great and FSU was
outmatched by Mississippi. FSU still got the auto-bid to nationals, but it was
clear that they weren’t meeting the expectations they once had. The Seminoles
traveled up north looking to make up for the past couple of meets. That,
however, never happened. Florida State collapsed on the big stage finishing
dead last with their top guy only placing 152nd. The trip back home
would be a very, very, long drive.
FSU will enter this season hungry and looking for revenge. The
critics will be ready to point out their nationals performance last season and regional
champ Mississippi, will return even stronger. Yet, the Seminoles will be ready
and prepared. Four of their top five (from regionals) return. It also helps
that they will bring in transfers Harry Mulenga from Central Arizona CC and
Andrew Coscoran from Ireland. The two transfers are both excellent milers and
boast 5k PR’s of 14:30 (Mulenga) and 14:23 (Coscoran). While Yarham and Udland
may be gone, they will be replaced with two guys more than capable of having an
impact. The only question is, just how big of an impact will they have? The
other man to watch for is the steeplechaser Zak Seddon, who dominated on the
track this past spring. He is primed to be a contender on the national scene. I
could even see him sneaking into the Top 50 List at some point this season. If
FSU can stay healthy and be consistent, don’t be so sure that they’ll have a
repeat of nationals from last season.
When I look at Flotrack’s #25 ranking for FSU, I have to
admit that I think it’s pretty fair. Yarham was a huge loss and Udland
graduating didn’t help either. However, I put FSU at #20 because they proved
early on last season that they were dominant with Yarham. Now they bring in two
very solid transfers to replace them and have a strong leader in Seddon. I’m
also looking for Stanley Linton to step up and have an impact. Overall, there
are too many pieces in my mind for FSU to be as high as #25, but I guess we
will have to see if that’s true later this season.
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