It’s fair to say that Hedengren’s last three meets are among the best in girls XC history. But the larger body of work just doesn’t compare to Fairchild and Tuohy. But if Hedengren can get a world XC medal in 2025, I reserve the right to update this opinion.
Agree on judging GOAT status based upon overarching racing career vs a few individual races.
As a result, Melody & Katelyn are inseparable. Fairchild has 2 Foot Locker titles plus 3rd at World Jrs (during her senior year). Tuohy has 3 NXN titles.
If Tuohy had raced World Jrs and finished top-10, that would tip me in favor of her. But she didn't, so I can't.
Here's the kicker: Leachman has the opportunity to best them both.
In 2025 she has the opportunity to three-peat Foot Locker, win NXN the week before, then race World U-20 XC a month later. (Note: the date of the USA XC champs qualifying races has not been set so Leachman may have to choose between one of the hs national champs races if there is a scheduling conflict).
Next year, if Elizabeth wins just one of NXN/FL, qualifies for Tallahassee, then gets top-10 at World U20 XC, those accomplishments would award her the GOAT crown.
I don't see Leachman giving up either NXN or Foot Locker for the U20 qualifying race if the dates conflict. Leachman has to run NXN because she is a Nike Elite athlete. And no way she gives up the opportunity to become the first 3 time Foot Locker winner.
Hopefully the dates work out so that Leachman can do all three races. If USATF schedules the U20 xc qualifying race on the same day as NXN or Foot Locker then they aren't very smart.
Amy Skieresz, GOAT of NCAA cross country. 2nd as a freshman, 1st as a sophomore, 2nd as a junior, 2nd as a senior. Seven total points scored in four races. Lost three times. Still the GOAT.
I don't see Leachman giving up either NXN or Foot Locker for the U20 qualifying race if the dates conflict. Leachman has to run NXN because she is a Nike Elite athlete. And no way she gives up the opportunity to become the first 3 time Foot Locker winner.
Hopefully the dates work out so that Leachman can do all three races. If USATF schedules the U20 xc qualifying race on the same day as NXN or Foot Locker then they aren't very smart.
Not necessarily disagreeing with anything else you're saying, but this one point is seemingly incorrect. Last year Zariel Macchia ran Foot Locker instead of NXR/N. And Nike made her part of Elite again this year, so they couldn't have been too upset.
With that said, I can't imagine NXN and U20s would conflict, because of the super-tight relations between Nike and USATF. Not 100% sure about Foot Locker though.
It’s fair to say that Hedengren’s last three meets are among the best in girls XC history. But the larger body of work just doesn’t compare to Fairchild and Tuohy. But if Hedengren can get a world XC medal in 2025, I reserve the right to update this opinion.
Agree on judging GOAT status based upon overarching racing career vs a few individual races.
As a result, Melody & Katelyn are inseparable. Fairchild has 2 Foot Locker titles plus 3rd at World Jrs (during her senior year). Tuohy has 3 NXN titles.
If Tuohy had raced World Jrs and finished top-10, that would tip me in favor of her. But she didn't, so I can't.
Here's the kicker: Leachman has the opportunity to best them both.
In 2025 she has the opportunity to three-peat Foot Locker, win NXN the week before, then race World U-20 XC a month later. (Note: the date of the USA XC champs qualifying races has not been set so Leachman may have to choose between one of the hs national champs races if there is a scheduling conflict).
Next year, if Elizabeth wins just one of NXN/FL, qualifies for Tallahassee, then gets top-10 at World U20 XC, those accomplishments would award her the GOAT crown.
No. NXN is the premier XC title these days, and Leachman hasn’t won any of those. Leachman’s time this weekend was nearly a minute off Fairchild’s pre super spike course record. There is just no comparison.
No. NXN is the premier XC title these days, and Leachman hasn’t won any of those. Leachman’s time this weekend was nearly a minute off Fairchild’s pre super spike course record. There is just no comparison.
Ummmm, it's never that simple. Everyone already knows Leachman is fast. Her time at FL, as a soph was also fast and already in the ballpark of the Fairchild record.
This year the time was slow, as she returned from injury, and also course altered due construction.
If she won as a senior and beat the record, you would have a pretty good story.
No. NXN is the premier XC title these days, and Leachman hasn’t won any of those. Leachman’s time this weekend was nearly a minute off Fairchild’s pre super spike course record. There is just no comparison.
Ummmm, it's never that simple. Everyone already knows Leachman is fast. Her time at FL, as a soph was also fast and already in the ballpark of the Fairchild record.
This year the time was slow, as she returned from injury, and also course altered due construction.
If she won as a senior and beat the record, you would have a pretty good story.
Won as a fast soph.
Defended as a jr despite lack of fitness.
Set record as fast sr.
Time will tell.
Leachman got beaten by more than 40 seconds in a race less than a month ago. She’s nowhere near the best HS girls XC runner *right now*. That’s a pre-condition to being the GOAT. You have to be dominant in your era. Leachman has had great races, but she was beaten handily in the biggest race twice. Tuohy and Fairchild never even came close to losing their junior or senior years. Leachman is obviously quite accomplished. But she’d have to have a truly otherworldly senior year to match those other two.
lots of COROS running metric gobbledygook in that article. been seeing a decent amount of that since they started sponsoring Milesplit and less about the actual runners themselves. but Im sure her father is on board since he does a lot of that sort of analysis himself with her and other runners through his position at BYU.
Heres a fairly recent interview she had going over the race, her anticipation for college and a few other things.
Leachman got beaten by more than 40 seconds in a race less than a month ago. She’s nowhere near the best HS girls XC runner *right now*. That’s a pre-condition to being the GOAT. You have to be dominant in your era. Leachman has had great races, but she was beaten handily in the biggest race twice. Tuohy and Fairchild never even came close to losing their junior or senior years. Leachman is obviously quite accomplished. But she’d have to have a truly otherworldly senior year to match those other two.
I was surprised Leachman ran any year end raced given her health, but she did, improving each week of November, as her fitness returned. Pretty amazing that she finished #3/#1 at NXN/FL.
If no one takes her track records and she wins another title next year, she would definitely still be in discussion as GOAT. The performance jr yr on comeback trail would add rather than detract from her legacy.
If instead she is slower on track and does not win a nat race, she would drop from discussion.
Timpview senior Jane Hedengren admitted that when she was told to meet with an athletic trainer on the track for a study on mechanics on Tuesday morning, she suspected something might be up. When Hedengren walked out into the...
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