What was the most disappointing moment in your HS XC/track career?

Pretty sure I have one of the best/most disappointing ones on here.

Trained hard all senior season in an attempt to make state in the 800, in HS I competed in one of the top states in the country for track.

ran 1:56 and 1:55 late in the season... advanced to the final qualifying meet

the last qualifying meet for state I went out at 1:51 pace in a foolish attempt to beat the top runner in the state and break my school record. I ran an idiotic first 600, and then died. The top 3 qualified for state. To make things worse, although I was dying I was still in second until with 15 meters to go 2 runners passed me and I got fourth by .20 seconds. I missed out on state by .20 seconds, losing to 2 decidedly inferior runners. My final time was 2:00....to make things even more worse, I looked up some old records online and discovered to my dismay that even my 2:00 time would have gotten top 3 and therefore qualified for state the previous 6 years in a row from my area meet.

Stupid of me, but I was also really unlucky. If God is real, the dude hates me I swear.

My senior year at the District Track meet in the 200 meters I ran the sprint of my life breaking the school record at 22.10 and placing 3rd qualifying for the state meet only to have the race called back a few minutes later because of a (false start) which was blamed on ME!!!

Apparently the false start gun didn't go off, we ran the entire race and upon finishing they told us we had to run it again...all except late 3 (ME) who had false started and disqualified. No school record, no state qualifier, nothing...All of that taken away just like that. Funny thing is, I didn't false start, but they claimed I moved my butt a bit before the gun went off so that did it.

I ended up qualifying to state in the 4 x 4 later in the meet, but I never qualified in an individual event. Still hurts thinking about it.

My senior year of high school was an entire disappointment. Taking 20 seconds and 80 seconds off my 1600m and 3200m times respectively during the preceding track season, I was looking forward to a break out XC season. Got achilles tendonitis halfway through the summer. Recovered, only to get it again 2 weeks before the season started, along with chronic shin splints. Limped through the season, still at least 30 seconds faster on all courses than the previous year.

Looked for redemption in track, where I failed to run personal bests in any race due to untimely sickness.

Not looking back. It's only about what I do now. I will always be sick but I still have the ability to do my best given what I have. Within that race, I run pretty fast. I can be proud of myself for it.

Diahrea in the 800m

I had to run 4:20 to qualify for states my senior year. Ran a 4:20.10 at the last chance meet. It was hand-timed, too.

Won the state meet in the 1600 my junior year. Came back senior year running even better times leading up to states. Went to the meet with the strong expectation of defending my title. Ran 5:02 to get dead last, then doubled back to run the 800 in 2:16, again dfl. The next day I was so sick I didn't get out of bed which is what I contribute to being so drained at the meet.

Probably cost me a scholarship in college, but I ended up with a great college career anyways. 3 conference championships and a sub-4 mile.

My most disappointing moment was my very last HS race.

Partially because I didn't PR but mostly because I was sad I would never run a HS race again and didn't know if I'd ever race at all again.

I walked on to my college team and even raced full time a bit after college but I didn't know that was going to happen at that moment.

I was PRing in all the meets over the previous year on the same courses by about 30 seconds on each one. On the last race of the season this projected me to run around 16:30. Two days before the last meet of the season, I tore two tendons in my foot, making it nearly impossible for me to even walk. Trainer taped me up early the morning of the race before the two hour drive, not to help my foot feel better, but to structurally replace what the tendons were supposed to do. Hurt like **** and made everything hurt worse, but it allowed me to run. There's only so much I could do, though, and I didn't even PR in that race. Never got close again in HS XC. Following season ran but didn't PR the whole season due to more injury issues.

Similar story here. Senior year at college I was #4 or 5 man on our XC team all year. Caught mono the week before conference meet and couldn't run. Team ended up winning conference without me, in a (at the time) record low score. A teammate who I always ran with, never finishing more than a few seconds apart, ran super race to take 3rd on team and top 10 over all and I guarantee you I would have been there with him. Went on to run regionals the next week, although I probably shouldn't have. We had a shot at qualifiying for nationals, and I certainly didn't help much.2nd dissapointment was running 1500 PR in March my senior year and never improving.

EZ10Miler wrote:

I caught mono my senior year the week before the regional meet. I was O U T flat on my tail the entire week, battling a very high fever.

I pulled myself off the carpet and ran the meet, but it was a pathetic run. I doubt I had ever race that slow ever- even back to my first race as a 9th grader.

Finished my junior year with a 24 second PR in the 3200m (9:51) and went into training with a vengeance. Two stress fractures later, out of shape, and ten weeks until the state meet, I was able to start training again. Having no chance of hitting the time standards, I needed to get top two at the regional meet to qualify.

There were three other guys in my region in the 1600m who had been running in the mid to high-4:30s, while I was barely cracking 4:50. Having no aerobic base, I settled on the tactic that made the least sense: a strong move early in the last lap.

I sat off the shoulder of the leader for the first three laps, and then, with 300m to go, made a strong move. By 200m to go, I had 50m on the field! I had done it! I WAS JOE FALCON!

Almost all of the 33 people in the stands who were not coaches or students became mildly interested in what was going on down on the track. With 150m to go, I was holding on for dear life, but not losing ground. It was happening.

And then it wasn't.

Now those 33 sets of eyes were rapt with attention, focused intently on the dumbazz kid who took off like a bullet with 300m to go, and would soon pay for it with a very public execution. In those 150 remaining meters, I lost my 50m lead and some 20m more. Pretty sure if you do the math, I had to have been moving backwards at some point.

I did not get second. It was disappointing to not qualify for states, especially given the results of the previous season and the effort I had put into training. It wasn't as disappointing as watching the video of the race, though.

Was one of the favorites to win state going into my senior year in hs for xc. after having an amazing off season and in the best shape of my life i got an achilles injury 2 weeks before our first race and missed the whole year never ran 1 race and had to watch the guy who beat me last year at state win with a time i knew i could have beat. completely demoralizing.

I won the olympic trials 10,000 my senior year of high school. Before the games I ran a 4 mile cross country race at Mt Sac. All of the other US olympians for distance events were entered as well. I won the race in a course record time of 16:08. I was in GREAT shape. My plan for the games was to run the 10k at world record pace and break the field. Unfortunately I sprained my ankle just a few days before the 10,000m final. My roommate at the games who I beat in the trials went on to take gold.

Getting sick just before sectionals and missing out on qualifying for the state meet.

My best friend won it in a huge upset, so there was a very cool consolation.

Mine was never getting all-conference in track. My senior year I had a really good chance, but I choked terribly.

When I was 18 I was picked to run for the midlands but my club never passed on the letter because they thought I was doing too many races (yet they still entered me in a load of other races for them). It wasn't their decision to make. Right before the start of the race at the inter counties the team manager asked me why I hadn't showed up for the inter area race and that's when I discovered my club hadn't passed the letter on. They (mcaa) should've posted it to my home address not trusted the club would pass it on. It was what I'd been aiming for for 2 years.

my jr. year I travelled to Alabama for my first real big invitational national meet. Meet of champions. I went on to run 10:16 for the full 2mile, got last. Pity clap was given to me, so demoralizing.

Two disappointments boiled into one:

Was probably one of my state's top 10 cross country runners coming into my senior year of high school but sustained an injury that knocked me out of the season.

Therefore, pressure was on during track season if I wanted to sniff running for a college with a quality program. Had a great year, blew through the sectional and entered the regional as the top seed. Then choked...massively. Even coming within 5 seconds of my 1600 PB would have qualified me for the state meet.

Instead, I tanked. Got passed by 6 guys heading into the bell lap and then closed like I had the proverbial piano on my back.

Changed everything in my running career. Still ran D-I, but it was a very average program without a winning culture to help get me back on track. Never recovered my confidence and am still a complete loser 30 years later. I liken myself to the Shooter character in "Hoosiers"...short of being an alcoholic.