Foot Locker Regionals

you could look at the "big picture" and keep her from possibly being part of a once in a lifetime experience. sounds like ignorant coaches/officials if you ask me. but that's only my opinion.

old school wrote:

Did it ever occur to you so-called running "experts" that the coach may be taking the long view and sees the whole picture, what's best for a young runner?

That's exactly what occurred to me. That the coach was putting his/her interests above that of the athlete.

The athlete's needs and interests should always come FIRST.

In the case of high school girls I have to side with the coaches in holding back. Tremendous success as a freshman more often then not erodes into dissapointment a couple years later. I think this can be manipulated better if you hold off on the big time goals until they're a junior or senior, while starting them at a light workload and steadily increasing it every season/year. I know there's that chance that the kid won't improve and may have had their best shot for success as a freshman and maybe that's worth something but I think every effort should be made to aim for their best running as a junior/senior, rather than show a flash of brilliance early then have that to judge the kid against the final three years. If a kid ends up graduating without making it to that meet and has bad feelings if they were ready as a freshaman, think about it. What does that say? Their best running is behind them.

Now saying that, why would you bring anyone to the regional meet if they aren't trying to qualify for nationals? What's the point of the J.V. race ayway? As far as I can see its useless. State meet is over, if you weren't a state champ or top 3 at least (in most cases) start getting ready for track. When you're ready run with the top guys and have a legitimate shot then go for it. Just me but if you aren't tops in your state why would you want to run that race. Get back to training and get better first. I don't think running either 1) a race against second rate competition, or 2) getting blown away in the main race, is going to do a thing to help you prepare better for the future or give you any valuable experience. Master your state competition before you mess with the best in the region or nation.

Just my opinion.

Fredo, I'm not sure if your second paragraph was speaking specifically to Albright or not. However, she is a home-schooled athlete and may not have the chances to run in many high school meets of any kind. I think it makes perfect sense for her to run at regionals. I won't comment on whether or not she should have been in the seeded race because she wasn't and she could have been if she wanted to be, that's enough for me.

Fredo wrote:

In the case of high school girls I have to side with the coaches in holding back.

She is running 17 minutes for 5k! Whether she was allowed to run in the race or not has nothing to do with her current state of fitness. That has come from her own personal work. Not the coaches.

Preventing her from competing in a race she has worked very hard to obtain the right to run in, is not doing anything except DISCOURAGING her continued development.

After such an experience, she would be just as likely to think "what's the use" and quit running.

Am I reading this right, or does it say that this young lady was discouraged to compete "by meet officials"?

If this is true, what right do they have to do this? Footlocker is not a school competition, I know that in the Midwest Regional competitors are not even allowed to wear their school uniform. The organizers were way out of line if this is so.

BTW, did you know that DIII National Champ Missy Buttry was home-schooled? She competed for Shenandoah (IA) High School, as Iowa rules allow a home-schooled student to compete for the school within whose residence area he or she resides.

Everybody should go to the Dyestat front page and read the quick post-race interview with Albright. It was only her second cross race, and she doesn't seem to mind not having made nationals.

Yes, the link to the interview itself is

http://209.15.205.231/3us/2xc/footlocker/south/r-frosh-soph-girls.htm

It says her coach did want her to run seeded, but he relented after the officials discouraged him. But Katie says she does not mind...

holy shit she's only been running for less than a year!What a huge talent, and it doesn't exactly seem like she's being pushed too hard at a young age,this being her second cross race ever!

This was just added to the commentary on Dyestat. Very interesting...

"Contrary to early reports, Regional meet coordinator Max Mayo said neither he nor meet referee Mary Sanford were asked about Albright's entry before the race. The entry was for the 9th grade race. Mayo said the decision on which race to run is totally up to the runner, and it can be changed up until 5 minutes before the race."

dunes runner wrote:

That's exactly what occurred to me. That the coach was putting his/her interests above that of the athlete.

The athlete's needs and interests should always come FIRST.[/quote]

Isn't it possible that the athlete and coach and parents decided ahead of time that running the unseeded race was more in the athlete's interest, for whatever reason, and it was not a screw-up or a selfish power-play?

The world of the HS runner does not always revolve around Footlocker.

jersey_guy wrote:

Yes, the link to the interview itself is

http://209.15.205.231/3us/2xc/footlocker/south/r-frosh-soph-girls.htm

It says her coach did want her to run seeded, but he relented after the officials discouraged him. But Katie says she does not mind...

Thanks for the link. But it's not working. Do you have the complete one?

songdog - From the information here -- "Katie says she does not mind..." etc -- the decision to keep her out of the race was not made by her.

She might say she "doesn't mind" but you don't know what she feels inside.

How would you like to qualify for the finals of the Olympics and have some coach tell you to wait 4 more years and try it again.

You say the world doesn't revolve around Footlocker.

But Katie Albright's world is her world and no one should interfere with the choices that she has the right to make for herself.

Really I think Footlocker should make an exception and give her a position in the finals.

Does anyone else agree with this. Maybe we can petition them to do it.

Does anyone have the FULL results for the Midwest Seeded Boys?? Thanks in advance to whoever posts them

dunes runner wrote:

Really I think Footlocker should make an exception and give her a position in the finals.

Does anyone else agree with this. Maybe we can petition them to do it.

Absolutely not. What about the girl who finished 8th in the seeded race, are you going to send her home? And, if not, and we open up the race to more than 32 people, you open up a whole new can of worms. What if some guy runs just faster than the 8th guy in the seeded race, should he get in, too? Where do you draw the line? It's silly. There is no discrimination here, anyone who wants to run the seeded race can. Everyone has a chance. Anyone who knows anything about XC will tell you that times mean nothing. There could be different conditions, or maybe the packs just went out at different speeds. If she was in the seeded race something wholly different could have happened. She obviously had some reason not to run the seeded race, and we shouldn't judge her until we find out what those reasons were.

You're welcome Zeus!

Athena

Athena, I am seeking the FULL results for the boys' seeded race. The site you posted gives FULL results for the seeded girls' race field, senior/junior boys' race, frosh/soph boys' race, frosh/soph girls' race, the team races, the open race, ONLY the top 10 from the boys' seeded race but NOT the FULL results for the boys' seeded race. Does anyone have them?

Here you go:

http://www.footlockercc.com/flcccmidwestcom/

I think!

Wrong! Try this:

http://www.footlockercc.com/flcccmidwestcom/2002_bseeded.htm