FM 27 Points- Wins NXN 5th Year In A Row

I was the one that said the comment about 1-5 and I said they had a better 1-5 spread than FM, so you all are wrong.

I think NXN should be moved to another course to see if it would make a difference, maybe at Mt. Sac one year? It is a unfair advantage for New York teams seeing that most schools in the Western region do not practice or compete in those conditions.

it is an unfair advantage to NY teams who travel across the entire country?

What they should do is make it at the winners location for the boys and girls. that way the FM team doesn't have to travel to the west coast every year to prove something everyone on the east already knows.

You're an idiot.

move wrote:

I think NXN should be moved to another course to see if it would make a difference, maybe at Mt. Sac one year? It is a unfair advantage for New York teams seeing that most schools in the Western region do not practice or compete in those conditions.

Are you really saying the teams from 3000 miles away have the home field advantage? You'd think a team from Oregon would win every year. How did Arcadia win?

I have been coaching in ny for 20 years. Never do we face weather conditions like that of Portland Meadows for NXN.

move wrote:

I think NXN should be moved to another course to see if it would make a difference, maybe at Mt. Sac one year? It is a unfair advantage for New York teams seeing that most schools in the Western region do not practice or compete in those conditions.

Cali, the land of fruits and nuts!

Get real dude, Saugus wouldn't have won if the race was run in Mahoney's back yard. The best team won, just the wayit is. And, nobody would want to run some Cali style xc race that runs in some parking lot and some roads etc.

You were wrong! You said since they had a better spread they had a better 1-5 which was proven untrue!

Why should Nike move the meet?

Every year its the same excuses, it's portland meadows, we cant run on that course. Every team runs in the same conditions every year their, it's what you make of it and how you handle it!!! Last year it was not actually sunny out in 2009 and was the winning team any different?

If the meet was at Mt Sac the result would of been the same, FM is hands down the best team in the Country! they have proven that 5 years straight! No one was beating them regardless of what course NXN was held on.

agreed wrote:

I have been coaching in ny for 20 years. Never do we face weather conditions like that of Portland Meadows for NXN.

I only lived in Syracuse for two years so maybe I just don't remember. Are you really saying that there's never weather in the 30s and 40s with wind gusts in upstate NY? I remember it raining every once in a while during the fall (and the summer too).

Seems as if the FM girls ran State with temps in the 30s just recently. No wind, though. Totally different.

Or is it the mud? Guess those Leone timing results that mention muddy conditions at various NY races are incorrect.

Sure the temps get into the 30's, however its warm most of the season and you only get to see temps in that range for 1 maybe 2 races tops per season. Mainly talking about the mud. Portland Meadows is an experience that no other course in NY offers so it's not like there is any advantage. Sure maybe some rain and a sloppy course once in a while but not like PM.

Somebody needs to explain why the NE teams have an advantage over the teams from the pacific NW. Yes, NE teams run in mud and they also have hills. They run 5k, all preparing them well for this race. I've had athletes run the Portland Meadows course, it was a much easier course than many they ran on in the east.But it is certainly not a "home course advantage". Maybe teams from the rest of the country ought to stop running on flat golf courses.

I think he means the type of course with hay bales and those little mogul things.

If anyone uses the weather as an excuse then they should just run indoor track.

No one makes excuses for the NE kids when they go to FL and run in warm weather. I'm in upstate NY and it's 20 degrees with 5" of snow right now. When you go to warm weather you are not acclimated.

Just accept the course and conditions. If it was close you may haver a point but the Cali teams weren't close at all.

I'm so tired of hearing excuses about the muddy course and weather conditions with the vast majority (or all?) of the whining coming from California. Many teams from all across the country have run well at Portland Meadows despite no experience in the mud.

I am more familiar than most with FM's training.

While I can't nail down specifics, what I do have to offer is that their runners are trained very well to run fast on the Portland Meadows course, specifically.

Being a fast runner doesn't guarantee a good performance at Portland Meadows. The teams that prepare best for the COURSE ITSELF will do the best. That's why you see the FM guys team go from a 3rd place at New York State AA and a somewhat slight victory at NXNNY to second in the country.

If you look at FM's team, you'll never see a HS team that is more cut/ripped than them. They're not huge but you can tell that they are all very strong - guys and girls, upper body and lower body. That's part of the key - weaker finesse runners don't fare well at NXN, but strong runners do. I'm noy saying that strength is the secret, but many teams neglect or fail to so as much as they should.

doesn't saratoga have a hay bale course set up specifically to train for nxn , that sounds more prepared

The NY girls are very, very good and it goes much farther than FM and Toga. You have Burnt HIlls, Shen, Queensbury, Hilton, North Shore, Warwiclk, Bethlehem, etc.

NXN is a tough course and it is getting tiresome to hear the Cali people and coaches complaining about the "advantages" that NY teams have. Each team comes with some advantages and some disadvantages....

NY has to travel across the country and run a flat course and they don't have soccer players available to have on the team.

NY does have experience with some mud (although nothing like NXN) and can use 7th and 8th graders

I do not see a major advantage one way or the other.

Here is the one thing I want to address...people claiming that only Cali teams have "bad" races at NXN and NY teams don't and the "unfair" course is to blame for it.

Just about every NY girls team can point to some issue in the race.... I may get the years wrong, but here are a few examples...

07 Saratoga has 2 girls struggle and still makes the podium

07 BH #3 Pezzullo has "injury" and #2 Gregory races after recovering from mono..still places 5th. Warwick gets 11th (most believe they were NY #6-7 at the time)

08 This year was nearly dry and warm and still NY teams outperformed Cali teams. Toga has several girls fall and still comes in 2nd. BH has Pezzullo way off and #5 Drapeau got last....Finished 8th. FM had a top 5 girl real sick the night before and struggled in the race and they still won.

09 Shen and Qbury both struggled and had their poorest races of the season and finished 7-8

10 North Shore had their 4 &5 struggle and came in 9th...2 weeks ago they were not even ranked in the top 50...wow

Toga had their #1 finish as #5 and their #2 did not race at all and their #5/6 was their #1....that was not a great race for them and they finished 2nd..they made no excuses about injuries, illnesses or the course...they just raced

Lets not forget that FM's #1 runner at the beginning of the season got sick and finished as their #5 and they still scored 27!!!!

Bottom line: NY teams have also had rough races and you don't hear them making excuses upon excuses. I think the ultimate difference is that NY coaches prepare their athletes to race the course and do not make excuses...Cali people are making excuses before the race even starts....not the best way to race

Coming from Northern California, they should keep it at Portland Meadows. So Cal just keeps making excuses for themselves, it can't be 80 degrees 10 months out of the year, whatever. FM would've won even if it was in 100+ in Texas or mid-October at Mt. Sac. The dominance will continue. The End.

brajufs wrote:

doesn't saratoga have a hay bale course set up specifically to train for nxn , that sounds more prepared

The hay bales are less than 2 feet tall, it takes like 1 practice run to get the steps down.

Now the mud, that's something worth preparing for...I can see how being a strong runner would be a great advantage.

NY has an advantage because they are too jet-lagged to realize just how stupid the PM course is.

NY teams do not like the PM course either. They just don't complain and make excuses about it. They train for the race style (go out fast and hold on) throughout the year and don't make excuses about the conditions or the situation.