Very few ran in middle school. The mid distance kids who ran in middle school come from a few neighborhoods and end up at a few schools. Very few Bronx or Queens kids participate in middle school track, the one who are in clubs tend to be sprinters. Brooklyn and Staten Island have a few very good club programs which prepare middle distance runners and send these kids to the better academic achools.
What are you talking about? There's tons of youth clubs in NYC. It's the deepest youth track area besides southern California. My kids have been competing against the NYC youth clubs for years. If you can win in NYC you're pretty much an All-American at any Junior Olympics.
Very few ran in middle school. The mid distance kids who ran in middle school come from a few neighborhoods and end up at a few schools. Very few Bronx or Queens kids participate in middle school track, the one who are in clubs tend to be sprinters. Brooklyn and Staten Island have a few very good club programs which prepare middle distance runners and send these kids to the better academic achools.
What are you talking about? There's tons of youth clubs in NYC. It's the deepest youth track area besides southern California. My kids have been competing against the NYC youth clubs for years. If you can win in NYC you're pretty much an All-American at any Junior Olympics.
There are tons of youth clubs but the middle distance runners tend to end up at some of the better academic schools. And even the sprinters tend to go to a few schools where the club coach continues to work with them.
I'm not complaining because I've been lucky enough to work in schools with talented athletes.I might not have had sub 5 minute 8th graders enter my team but I have had quite a few kids with ridiculous sprinting and jumping ability.
I'm in Maryland. Our raw volume of freshmen doesn't seem to have fully bounced back from COVID-lost seasons. Momentum really means a lot. I'd say a really good freshmen haul for us prior to 2020 was usually about 8-10 kids. Usually 3-4 of those had competed in cross country in middle school, though often sparingly, like as 1-2 times a week commitment woven around other sports. The rest were a mix of kids joining a fall sport that won't cut them, lacrosse players who were encouraged to do it, and if we're really lucky - kids cut from soccer. If you can still outrun guys to loose balls at 85+ minutes but can't do anything with the ball once you get it, then you're my kind of runner.
The last two years, we're down around 5-6 and with fewer of the fun scratch-offs like lacrosse and soccer players. Hoping that turns around this fall, but we'll see.
What are you talking about? There's tons of youth clubs in NYC. It's the deepest youth track area besides southern California. My kids have been competing against the NYC youth clubs for years. If you can win in NYC you're pretty much an All-American at any Junior Olympics.