NXN Champions Where are they now?

stankyLegs wrote:

joe M wrote:

Reed Connor doing well at Wisconsin.

Wait, are you implying that some from The Woodlands HS wasn't "burnt out" like everyone that comes out of that program?!? How could that be? Just kidding. But for real, what ever happened to the first ever NXN champ (first called NTN) Macnamara from York HS? I forget his first name. He walked away from Brandon Betheke in that race and then I never heard of that guy again. I think he went to Michigan to run?

Sean McNamara had an OK career at Michigan with PRs of 4:03, 8:58 and 14:07 (all in '09). Definitely didn't live up to HS expectations.

Sean McNamara had an OK career at Michigan with PRs of 4:03, 8:58 and 14:07 (all in '09). Definitely didn't live up to HS expectations.

Oops, meant 7:58 obviously.

Colby McCune and Moses Luevano are currently running for Stephen F. Austin. Ryan Miller and Ethan Doherty are still running for Texas A&M. 4/7 still competing in D1 with 2-3 years of eligibility left.

2010: Lucas Verbicas is... well let's just say he's rebuilding. 2009 Craig Lutz is Texas, Elias Gideon is MIA... Joe & Jim Rosa, Texas... Amar Mousa, Colorado

Rosa's are at Stanford, not Texas. Last I knew Gedyon was at Lane CC in Eugene Oregon.

Maclean O'Donnell also at A&M, was 9th that year.

Hulk wrote:

Disagree- I think its interesting to see what guys who aren't elite but had a real taste of success in high school go on to do. Just because most of them don't turn out to be world beaters at the collegiate level doesn't mean its not an interesting question.

The point is that they didn't really have a real taste of success - in terms of being a good runner.

They were on a good h.s. xc team, which, lets face it, means that you have 5 guys who can run under 4:25/9:30.

Those are good h.s. times, but most of those guys won't make the top 5 at any particular state meet, and when you look at end of season lists, rarely is there more than one guy in the top 100 in their event.

That's not going to portend well in college, and in fact, probably has a worse prognosis - as they had already "gone to the well" to get them to that 4:25 - they were highly motivated by a team concept.

Take that away, (because it's not like runners of that caliber are going to be winding up at Oklahoma State or Oregon), and the motivation to train every day disappears real quickly.

I'd expect most of the guys from the teams that won to be out of the sport completely in less than 3 years. Maybe a guy or two still hanging on, but nothing to devote an entire thread to.

You might as well ask, "Hey, what ever happened to the 20th through 40th place finishers the the 2008 Michigan state XC meet?

Because that's about the talent level you're getting.

You are significantly underestimating how good the top 5 guys are on these NXN champion teams. Unfortunately, I can't call up all their season bests from the following track seasons because of Dyestat's current state, but I'm pretty sure that the 2007, 2008, 2010 and 2011 champions were all FAR better than just 4:25/9:30 guys.

The 2008 team, since I know a good place to see those times:

1. Andrew Kimpel - 4:14.20/9:04.82. 15:25 for 5k in XC

2. Leon Dean - 1:54.37/4:14.67. 15:40 for 5k in XC

3. Jeff Howard - 9:20.07. 15:27 for 5k in XC

4. Ben Johnston - 4:13.58/9:11.27 that year, 4:06.54/8:58.68 the next. 15:39 for 5k in XC that year, 15:15 the next.

5. Alex Avila - Not sure what he ran that year, but the next year he was 1:54.06/4:17.10. He ran 15:47 for 5k that year and 15:29 the next.

... CBA had 5 guys under 9:19 for 3200m IN THE SAME RACE last year.

... it seemed like Arcadia had almost if not all of their guys under 15:00 for 5k on the track after their 2010 championship.

This year, there are multiple teams with 5+ guys that are under 4:20/9:20 already... and they have another 9 months to improve!

NXN champion teams are going to have D1 caliber athletes; you need true frontrunners in order to compete on that level.

I see Sean McNamara occasionally jogging on the Chicago Lake Front, around North Ave Beach area(this month). He looks like and runs like hobbie jogger now, gained a lot of weight, hardly recogized hime. His face and stomach show signs of office work. He runs (I mean jogs) among the masses now, leaving competitive running behind.

Good for him, seriously.

And #6 Casey Adams who was a sophomore that year ended up running 15:30 and 4:12 or 4:13.

Josh Hernandez was on that team, runs the 800 for Texas A&M, ran 1:51 high this last year.

Josh is another caliber than the rest of those boys. He helped them get out of district, then got screwed over and taken to run unattached. Rest of those boys were mediocre athletes, but ran close as a pack. Miller had to go into longer distance because he has no speed. Doherty had some speed in track for a 19 1/2 yr old high schooler, but nothing impressive. Same with 2011 state champs, nothing special as individual runners, just as a pack.

Just wanted to add that the presumption that group runners who won NXN means each are individually good runners is just unfair to them. They ran well as a group, nothing more, not in that case.

Bump, heard Lutz has moved on from McDoubles and goes with the double meat burritos from Chipotle

RuKiddingMe!! wrote:

I see Sean McNamara occasionally jogging on the Chicago Lake Front, around North Ave Beach area(this month). He looks like and runs like hobbie jogger now, gained a lot of weight, hardly recogized hime. His face and stomach show signs of office work. He runs (I mean jogs) among the masses now, leaving competitive running behind.

Could believe he has chubbed up, but he doesn't look too absurd here:

Didn't they invite Kenyan teens in the first few years of the event.

Did any of those Kenyans do anything later on in their careers?

Tanner Anderson seems to be doing okay at Oregon. Haven't heard much from Kai Wilmont though.

Billy Bragg who was part of the cba national championship xc team in 2011 no longer runs for providence