At what point of foreign presence in NCAA cross country does the sport become unwatchable in the US?

Cross country is already pretty much unwatchable, thanks to the NCAA and Flotrack. What difference does it make who is running?

What? You were able to watch the race?

There are only so many top notch American athletes to go around and most of them would choose a program with big name recognition over some small, out of the way school with no football or basketball. There are how many NCAA D1 Schools? 200? 250? Are there that many top flight American kids coming out of high school? Do you really think that the top American kids are being left off of rosters?

Now, for the 4:25 kid coming out of bad high school program, it's another story. I had a kid go 4:22 in 1991 (When 4:22 was a lot better than it is today) then try to walk on to the team at Villanova. He was 9th out of 14 on their pre-season time trial and told, "don't bother, kid".

That kind of sucked

The sport will always be watchable, plenty of american kids on rosters. Seems like every year people get upset when a team with a lot of foreign athletes does well. These athletes add a massive amount of depth to the sport. I was better off having had foreign teammates in college. Our school would have never been able to get similar talented americans. I got to run with better athletes thanks to my coach recruited some foreign talent. Last I checked, it is still very difficult to get a team with a lot of foreign athletes to run well. I enjoy the races more. I would say that the top americans should be motivated when getting beat by these athletes from other countries. Please stop with this nonsense about foreign athletes.

CoachB wrote:

There are only so many top notch American athletes to go around and most of them would choose a program with big name recognition over some small, out of the way school with no football or basketball. There are how many NCAA D1 Schools? 200? 250? Are there that many top flight American kids coming out of high school? Do you really think that the top American kids are being left off of rosters?

Now, for the 4:25 kid coming out of bad high school program, it's another story. I had a kid go 4:22 in 1991 (When 4:22 was a lot better than it is today) then try to walk on to the team at Villanova. He was 9th out of 14 on their pre-season time trial and told, "don't bother, kid".

That kind of sucked

That athlete probably had better times than a number of people who were all Americans coming out of high school, but was not given a chance to develop and was evaluated off of a couple weeks of collegiate running against foreign athletes that had probably been training at a higher level for years.

The foreign athletes need the NCAA system more than the NCAA needs them.

Maybe. I was just starting out as a coach and only worked with the distance kids on the track team for the duration of the track season. I didn't coach cross back then. I know the kid had talent, though....He ran 2:07 the first time he ever tried an 800 after being a 400m guy for most of his freshman year. I coached him spring of Junior and Senior years. We used to run together during the off seasons also.

Only when an all Lithuanian team from a small school wins March madness will the American public take notice. Until then.....nada.

Didn't UTEP score 15 points at Natty's with a completely foreign team?

F U C O C K S U C K ER S wrote:

Didn't UTEP score 15 points at Natty's with a completely foreign team?

19 in 1982, I believe.

Sorry your runner was left out after a preseason time trial result, but that is the way things should be. Have a time trial and make cuts so kids aren't strung along by a coach who wants to maintain a large group of runners as they burn through the roster with overtraining and injuries.

When you give a scholarship to a foreign runner then you are taking one away from an American runner. Of course the topAmerican high schoolers get schollys, but we have a lot of untapped potential here.

I still can't understand how universities here can go and recruit and give out all the schollys to foreigners.

I have nothing against foreign athletes and feel they help programs and individuals get better.

When teams have a majority of foreign athletes - that is wrong.

The NCAA needs to limit the number of foreign athletes on a team.

Recommendation: 25%

The NCAA needs to limit the age that athletes can compete in the NCAA.

Recommendation: 24 years old. After which age an athlete in any sport has no eligibility left.

perhaps there are middle men who help foreign athletes and profit from doing so.

How is it possible for so many foreign athletes to make it... Contact and paperwork wise into the NCAA

Not many track or XC scholarships go to foreign students.

You could be tennis....30% of scholarships go abroad.

Alan

Alan -- top presenting so many facts!! You'll get run off the forum!

The sport is already unwatchable. So niche that it is not even known to exist, outside running circles.

If the top 20 isn't 90% american I tuned out for a couple years.

If you think the NCAA is tough, wait till you're working for a large corporation (if you do).

The idea that h1b visas don't surpress domestic wages needs to be debunked. Obama isnt in office anymore so we got cover to pursue reality a bit.

Reality check : the NCAA doesn’t give a hoot about cross country . If it wasn't for title IX the sport would be defunct. And foreigners have been dominating it for 40years.

Hounddogharrier wrote:

Reality check : the NCAA doesn’t give a hoot about cross country . If it wasn't for title IX the sport would be defunct. And foreigners have been dominating it for 40years.

Actually longer. At the age of 29, Al Lawrence (already an Olympic medalist) led a foreigner heavy Houston team to an NCAA Championship in 1959.