Wait, what?? Pre-Nats fields split into 2 “equal” seeded heats. WHY?!

Did they ever not do this?

Dur wrote:

Did they ever not do this?

They used to put the top half of teams in one race and the worse half in the other.

I like it. You will see 4 heats of the best teams in the country. This will be the deepest xc field ever assembled because you will have teams 35, 40, 50, etc all competing. I think most coaches like it because they can rationalize holding their guys back at 99%. If all are together, they feel like they have to treat it as the National Meet.

So I'm confused. Two weeks apart they host the Nuttycombe Invitational and then the PreNational meet? And essentially the same group of teams are going to each? Is there a reason they didn't just roll these into one meet? And from the competing teams' perspective, is it worth the travel (both from the financial and general travel fatigue/stress) to get a second preview of the course? Seems like the opportunity cost of going a second time far outweighs the slight additional benefit of becoming just a hair more familiar with the course.

Badgers United wrote:

I like it. You will see 4 heats of the best teams in the country. This will be the deepest xc field ever assembled because you will have teams 35, 40, 50, etc all competing. I think most coaches like it because they can rationalize holding their guys back at 99%. If all are together, they feel like they have to treat it as the National Meet.

Right, because what cross country needs is fewer meets that actually matter. There are way too many of those already! /s

It makes real nationals more special

BadMoveGuys wrote:

Dur wrote:

Did they ever not do this?

They used to put the top half of teams in one race and the worse half in the other.

When?

Also of note - we landed on the moon!

It’s a one year deal. BYU didn’t run nutty and Iowa state isn’t running prenats so some are only coming once.

Lookly wrote:

BadMoveGuys wrote:

They used to put the top half of teams in one race and the worse half in the other.

When?

Also of note - we landed on the moon!

When? Try last year. And the year before that. And the year before that. And the year before that. And the year before that. And the year before that...

Moron.

If they put the first 20-30 teams in one race and 31-50 in another race, then the lower teams wouldn’t have a chance to get any points. Seeding is the fairest option based on the current qualifying for nationals.

BadMoveGuys wrote:

Lookly wrote:

When?

Also of note - we landed on the moon!

When? Try last year. And the year before that. And the year before that. And the year before that. And the year before that. And the year before that...

Moron.

Only when they had watered down fields for sharing the same weekend as the Nutty invite. The even races approach was always used when Pre Nats was the hot race this weekend and they got a lot of good teams.

Moron.

There needs to be a change with XC scheduling. There are a number of schools that will race 3 times in Wisconsin this year and no times in their home state. How can you be a fan of those teams if you don't live in Wisconsin? I would pay to go watch Colorado and CSU race their varsity teams in person. Throw in Wyoming, Adams State, Mines and Western State and you have a great meet.

Air Force too. Would be an exciting race. It would be nice if the shootout was still a big deal and all these teams raced each other there.

BadMoveGuys wrote:

Badgers United wrote:

I like it. You will see 4 heats of the best teams in the country. This will be the deepest xc field ever assembled because you will have teams 35, 40, 50, etc all competing. I think most coaches like it because they can rationalize holding their guys back at 99%. If all are together, they feel like they have to treat it as the National Meet.

Right, because what cross country needs is fewer meets that actually matter. There are way too many of those already! /s

"Coach Eyestone, why another poor performance at Nationals? You know it's still Saturday right?"

"It wasn't an all out effort. We really just tempoed this one as a group in order to prepare for indoor track, where we're hoping to have 10 guys under 14. We'll really get after it in a month or two, it's all about the long term."

"Makes sense and certainly explains the outcome. Thanks, Ed!"

BadMoveGuys wrote:

https://www.flotrack.org/events/6180410-2018-wisconsin-xc-pre-nationals/entries

Did you want to see BYU vs. NAU? Oh, too bad, they’re in different heats. Colorado vs. New Mexico rematch? Nope, different heats.

Who thought this was a good idea? “Let’s bring all of the very best teams together, and then have them NOT race each other! That’s what the athletes and fans are clamoring for!”

Honestly, it boggles the mind. Is this just so bad teams have a chance to race good teams and theoretically get Kolas points? That’s the only excuse I can think of, and it’s terrible.

I actually like that NAU and BYU won't go head to head yet. I like the mystery and excitement heading into the national meet of not knowing exactly how they'll match up. Except in this year's case it might be more fun to have them meet head to head this weekend so we could watch BYU beat NAU now and then get pwned by NAU in 5 weeks. So maybe you're right. idk

Hilarious when Badmoveguys calls the other guy a moron. Hey buddy, you are the moron. They did this for a number of years.

I understand that this is letsrun but there are so many incorrect things said in this thread and we are only on page 1.

Pre nats could be broken into west and east race with each winner crowned best in the West or the beast of the east

dsaf wrote:

Hilarious when Badmoveguys calls the other guy a moron. Hey buddy, you are the moron. They did this for a number of years.

I understand that this is letsrun but there are so many incorrect things said in this thread and we are only on page 1.

Why can’t we both be morons? The other guy implied that it had never been split into a “good” race and “bad” race. It’s happened that way literally everyyear since around 2011 or 2012. Yes, it was largely because of competition from Wisco, but who really wanted to go back? Is it really so terrible if the 40th best team at the prenational meet doesn’t get to race for Kolas points? That team was never going to make it in on points anyway.

BadMoveGuys wrote:

dsaf wrote:

Hilarious when Badmoveguys calls the other guy a moron. Hey buddy, you are the moron. They did this for a number of years.

I understand that this is letsrun but there are so many incorrect things said in this thread and we are only on page 1.

Why can’t we both be morons? The other guy implied that it had never been split into a “good” race and “bad” race. It’s happened that way literally everyyear since around 2011 or 2012. Yes, it was largely because of competition from Wisco, but who really wanted to go back? Is it really so terrible if the 40th best team at the prenational meet doesn’t get to race for Kolas points? That team was never going to make it in on points anyway.

If you've only been paying attention since 2011/12, don't come at us with your complaining. Head to Head matters in November. I wish the regionals/Nationals were still Saturday/Monday. We used to care about ten days in November. Nothing else.