South Dakota
Rapid City Stevens’ Simeon Birnbaum continues to cover new ground as South Dakota’s best distance runner
![Rapid City Stevens’ Simeon Birnbaum continues to cover new ground as South Dakota’s best distance runner Rapid City Stevens’ Simeon Birnbaum continues to cover new ground as South Dakota’s best distance runner](https://cdn.forumcomm.com/dims4/default/241ea38/2147483647/strip/true/crop/5472x2660%200%20494/resize/1440x700!/quality/90/?url=https://forum-communications-production-web.s3.amazonaws.com/brightspot/8f/f3/587308594e889611f3af627489d1/2022dakotarelays-106.jpg)
RAPID CITY – Fast Metropolis Stevens star distance runner Simeon Birnbaum continues so as to add to his record-breaking highschool operating profession.
Coming off a season wherein he received two particular person state titles within the 800-meter and 1,600-meter sprint, in addition to serving to his group win the 4×800 relay on the state meet in 2021, Birnbaum got here into this 12 months’s observe season in some way extra motivated than ever earlier than.
The season started with the junior competing on the Arcadia Invitational in California for the one-mile run on April 9, the place Birnbaum broke the South Dakota state report for the quickest mile time at 4 minutes, 7.88 seconds. Competing towards a number of the nation’s prime highschool athletes, he rose to the event, beating a report that had been held in South Dakota for greater than 40 years and completed third total in what was his most nerve-racking race he’d been part of.
He adopted that milestone up with an all-time state efficiency within the boys 3,200-meter race on the Howard Wooden Dakota Relays. As he gained a 30-meter hole from the following closest runner within the first lap and ended the race with greater than 100 meters separating him from the second place finisher, Birnbaum set the state report and moved into the top-10 within the nation with an 8 minute and 55.22 second end within the 3,200-meter occasion.
After crossing the end line, Birnbaum was ecstatic about carrying out this milestone in his dwelling state.
“I had in thoughts that I might do that ever because the Arcadia Invitational again in early April,” Birnbaum mentioned. “I barely acquired the state report there and my subsequent huge meet was Howard Wooden, so I mentioned, ‘Why not go for the two-mile state report. … Operating in California is cool and all, however it was nice to interrupt this report in South Dakota and at an awesome area like Howard Wooden. It makes this report just a little bit extra particular.”
Adam Thury / Mitchell Republic
It didn’t shock the junior within the slightest that he was breaking South Dakota state information or making his mark throughout the nation, after the way in which the cross nation season in the course of the fall of 2021. Birnbaum completed first in three separate meets in the course of the cross nation season, together with a first-place end on the Class AA state meet on October 23.
After the season concluded, Birnbaum positioned eighth within the Nike Heartland Regional Championships on November 14 and completed sixteenth out of 150 of the nation’s quickest 5000-meter runners on the Eastbay Midwest Area Cross Nation Championships on November 27. As soon as he understood the place he stood nationally, Birnbaum felt it was nothing he couldn’t accomplish.
“I might say my breakthrough races occurred this cross nation season after I raced within the Eastbay Midwest Area and the Nike Heartland Regional,” Birnbaum mentioned. “I completed fairly excessive up and ran higher than I ever had earlier than. I all the time knew I used to be higher on the observe so I put within the work and I had all the pieces I wanted to make it thus far.”
As a result of observe season getting canceled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Birnbaum solely competed in cross nation occasions from the top of the 2019 observe season till March 2021.
As he was additionally transitioning from transferring from Fast Metropolis Christian to Fast Metropolis Stevens, not a lot of his coaching modified all through that troublesome time, however the truth is he grew to become higher on the observe, competing towards a brand new surroundings of athletes.
“Being on an even bigger group and having extra guys to coach with makes the method just a little extra enjoyable and that has been translating into my performances,” Birnbaum mentioned. “However nothing’s too particular with my coaching these previous few years, in my view. I’ve simply been in a position to keep harm free and that comes with understanding my physique and understanding my limits. I may not run as many miles as the highest guys within the nation, however I’m rarely harm and consistency is vital.”
As Birnbaum does all the pieces in his grasp to stay constant and get probably the most out of himself every day, he constantly units new objectives he needs to perform and with the state meet lower than two weeks in the past, he’s aiming at including extra state titles to his already spectacular resume.
“The following step is the state meet for me,” Birnbaum mentioned. “I’d prefer to have 4 state titles and a group title. I would like probably the most titles attainable for the Raiders.”
Adam Thury / Mitchell Republic
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South Dakota
Videos: Gundy, Players Recap Win against South Dakota State
![Videos: Gundy, Players Recap Win against South Dakota State Videos: Gundy, Players Recap Win against South Dakota State](https://pistolsfiringblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/53962121679_afc402ad55_k-1000x600.jpg)
STILLWATER — The Oklahoma State football team beat South Dakota State 44-20 on Saturday to start the season 1-0. After the game, Mike Gundy, Ollie Gordon, Alan Bowman, De’Zhaun Stribling, Collin Oliver, Korie Black and Trey Rucker met with reporters to recap the game.
South Dakota
South Dakota State vs. No. 17 Oklahoma State live stream (8/31/24): Watch college football, Week 1 online
![South Dakota State vs. No. 17 Oklahoma State live stream (8/31/24): Watch college football, Week 1 online South Dakota State vs. No. 17 Oklahoma State live stream (8/31/24): Watch college football, Week 1 online](https://www.nj.com/resizer/v2/P2NH7TDAORCA3K2CFKZ3D37LHE.jpg?auth=27a73779c5e6defa1fa563e3ee42ddc0fe62687da0c8b6ecc5664751c4c0c4a2&width=1280&quality=90)
The South Dakota State Jackrabbits face the No. 17 Oklahoma State Cowboys on Saturday, Aug. 31, 2024 (8/31/24) at Boone Pickens Stadium in Stillwater, Oklahoma.
Fans can watch the game with a subscription to ESPN+.
Here’s what you need to know:
What: NCAA Football, Week 1
Who: South Dakota State vs. Oklahoma State
When: Saturday, Aug. 31, 2024 (8/31/24)
Where: Boone Pickens Stadium
Time: 2 p.m. ET
TV: N/A
Channel finder: Verizon Fios, AT&T U-verse, Comcast Xfinity, Spectrum/Charter, Optimum/Altice,Cox,DIRECTV, Dish, Hulu, fuboTV, Sling.
Live stream: ESPN+
***
Here’s a college football story from the Associated Press:
Y’all ain’t played nobody!
It might as well be college football’s slogan. Debates about strength of schedule are part of the fabric of the sport, like marching bands, cheerleaders and tailgating.
With the size of the College Football Playoff tripling in size from four teams to 12 this season — including seven at-large bids — expect the arguments over the relative difficulty of teams’ schedules to increase exponentially.
The posturing and politicking has already begun.
“This is the NFL of college football in my mind,” Nebraska coach Matt Rhule said during Big Ten media days. At Southeastern Conference media days, the NFL was also invoked when the topic steered to schedules.
“As coaches we want to play the best. People forget that when you’ve spent time in the NFL, every week was like that,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart said. “So when Texas and Oklahoma came into the conference, every schedule was going to get harder.”
The debates aren’t just about which conferences are the best. With super-sized conferences of 16-18 teams, the differences in strength of schedule within leagues can be significant.
The CFP selection committee uses a strength-of-schedule rating provided by SportSource Analytics that includes components such as wins and losses, scoring differential and game location.
Balancing who you played with how you played will be harder than ever.
“There’s a weight on the committee that’s new. I want to see how the committee processes that,” SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey said during spring meetings. “And my encouragement is that this, ‘Well, we have an undefeated team so they’re in’ is not the standard. It never was the standard. Obviously, that stirred up controversy last year.”
Toughest schedules in the Power Four
There are dozens of data-based rating systems to measure the relative strength of college football teams, and all have some type of schedule-rating component.
The AP took three systems — ESPN’s SP+, FEI and KFord Ratings — and averaged their strength of schedule rankings for all 134 Bowl Subdivision teams to determine where each Power Four team’s schedule ranks nationally (all games, not just conference games, are factored in).
Using those projections, SEC teams on average will be facing the toughest schedules this season.
The average strength-of-schedule ranking among the 16 SEC teams is 11.2, from Florida (a unanimous No. 1 among all three systems) to Missouri at 36.7.
Half the teams in the SEC have schedules with an average national ranking of 10 or better, including No. 1 Georgia at 3.7. No. 11 Missouri is the only SEC team with an average schedule-strength ranking below 25.3.
Rating the rest
The Big Ten, now including Southern California, UCLA, Oregon and Washington, is next with an average strength-of-schedule ranking of 26.9 among its 18 teams.
Purdue’s 7.7 average ranking is the highest followed by No. 23 USC at 9. Big Ten favorite No. 2 Ohio State’s average is 34. No. 3 Oregon’s is 26.7.
The ACC and Big 12 are about the same. The 17-team ACC has an average strength of schedule ranking of 49.9. The 16-team Big 12′s average ranking is 47.3.
Assessing strength of schedule
Straight up rankings can be deceiving. How to quantify the difference between facing the sixth-ranked schedule and 26th?
Brian Fremeau, the creator of FEI, does it three ways, asking three questions: How many games would an elite team lose facing a particular schedule? How many would a good team lose? How many would an average team lose?
AP used FEI’s strength of schedule ratings based on good teams in its composite rankings, since good teams are going to be the ones in the CFP race.
Based on FEI projections, the difference between playing Georgia’s schedule (rated 3.4 among the hardest in the nation) and Ohio State (34) is about one more loss for a good team against the Bulldogs’ slate. The difference between Alabama’s schedule and Big 12 favorite Utah’s is about two losses for a good team against the Tide’s.
If these schedule strength projections held — they will change throughout the season — it would then be reasonable to compare an 11-1 Utah to a 9-3 Alabama.
Reasonable to compare doesn’t necessarily mean the one with the tougher schedule should automatically be ranked higher.
“I don’t judge a team on its schedule. I judge a team on how it performs against a schedule, or my system does. And that is a little more of a nuanced take then, ‘Well, we played a tougher set of opponents than you did, therefore, we’re better,’” Fremeau said. “There’s a bit of a balancing act between the two.”
Intraconference debates
The SEC and Big Ten are both bigger and division-less for the first time. That necessitated new tiebreaker procedures to determine which teams qualify for conference title games featuring the top two teams in the standings.
Within the guidelines is an acknowledgment that the rigor of conference schedules will vary when teams are playing barely half the league. After head-to-head and record vs. common opponents are used to break ties, both leagues go to results that favor the team that fared better against the better conference opponents they play.
The ACC, a year ahead of the the SEC and Big Ten in abandoning divisions, has a similar nod within its tiebreakers to strength of schedule.
ACC Associate Commissioner Michael Strickland said the conference used 10 years of data that measures the success of its football teams to help create a new schedule rotation that would be competitively balanced. But the ACC also to had weigh travel now that Stanford, California and SMU are members, as well as protecting some traditional annual rivalries.
The ACC’s fourth two-team tiebreaker is combined winning percentage of conference opponents.
“Our head football coaches suggested that we insert that during our review process,” Strickland said.
The CFP choices
The CFP field announced Dec. 8 will be comprised of the five highest-ranked conference champions, regardless of league, and seven at-large selections. There is no limit to the number of at-large bids a conference can receive.
The most interesting comparisons for the CFP selection committee might end up being between the many conference rivals that do not play each other in the regular season.
What to do with a 10-2 Missouri and a 9-3 Alabama (composite strength-of-schedule ranking, 9.3)? Or Iowa (37) at 10-2 and Michigan (16) at 9-3? Over in the ACC, what would happen while assessing a 10-2 Virginia Tech (68) and a 9-3 Florida State (30.3)?
“Especially when we’re picking (seven) teams now, we’re looking at the loss column with a bit more scrutiny,” Fremeau said. “They’re going to be debating teams like that with a one or possibly two-game difference in record, but a comparable difference in expected schedule rating and they’re going to have that debate about which one they value more.”
(The Associated Press contributed to this report)
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South Dakota
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