NXN 2024 at-large bids

We need at-large bids to account for uneven distribution of talent.

If a team like Rocky Mountain got crushed by a team that(barely) got 4th place in another region, they obviously don't deserve to get in. Their runners, parents and coaches are obviously going to be upset and call it "political".

I'm not sure previous year's results should matter. Why would the kids be responsible by what somebody else did the previous year/s? NXN is yearly.

It is Nike's decision to make though. It's their race and they can do whatever they want.

Just facts here: Webb of Knox girls ends up being the highest ranked non-qualifier (ranked 17th after NXRs), even though they were ranked ahead of JSerra (barely decent state race), and Carmel (even further back in rankings).

Webb had an exceptional NXR, their State Champ falls and has to pass over 100 girls to end 13th (#determination). They lose by 1 point.

Then they run Footlocker at close to the same average pace on a more difficult course (with 2 PRs) to show they are peaking at the right time.

There was nothing to say that they should have lost the at-large to those two teams, having just been ranked ahead of them 2 days prior.

I'm not sure what else the Webb girls could have done to get 1 at-large. Where else will they go race? They have 11 states + DC in their region. Brutal.

The good thing about Glendora being chosen over Rocky Mountain is not only did Glendora beat an autoqualifier (Menlo), but Glendora is way more senior-heavy. They only return 1 person from their top 9 next year. In fact, he’s the only returner who ran a sub-18 in a 5k. So this is the “last dance” for the program. Their team structure is great too. 6-deep (so 1 person having a bad race won’t hurt much) and a front runner (Flores). Rocky was only 5-deep and it wasn’t beneficial at NXR due to the fact that their 5th man was far back.

Rocky returns 3 guys from varsity next year and a good freshman and sophomore class. They always seem to have plenty of young sub-5s. They always seem to reload and maybe at some point they will get over the hump if they put the pieces together at NXR one day.

For Taylorsville it will be borderline impossible to make NXN in the future too. Or for any Southwest teams it will be. Deepest region in the nation and Herriman, Niwot, and American Fork look to be the main contenders in this region every year.

Correction, the TN state champ fell and made it back to 21st. The team lost by 1 point. 🤷🏻‍♂️

Are the 2 California girls' teams the same two who were 3rd and 4th in the merge? Team names are different.

I remain confused. This says that there are two at large teams and neither match any names from the meet.

AT LARGE GIRLS TEAMS
CALIFORNIA - CARMEL XC
UTAH - LONE PEAK XC
CALIFORNIA - SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO XC
COLORADO - SOUTH FORT COLLINS XC

No only Jserra got in San Juan Capistrano. Carmel XC is from Indiana, a midwest team.

Reminder that the big win at Firman ended up not looking as good because Rocky beat Skyridge and Farmington by 17 and 18 points and those teams ended up finishing 10th and 15th at NXR SW. The biggest thing that Rocky had going for them was that they beat Great Oak, but Great Oak looked very different at the California state meet vs. Firman.

I think it's very important to also differentiate between big wins on your home course vs big wins on courses that you don't train on. If they are losing to teams that see the course once a year, wouldn't it stand to reason that they would be less competitive on courses that they haven't seen a bunch? Wouldn't they be less competitive when they have 6+ hours of travel and sleeping in a hotel on their bodies?

Say you are the selection committee. You have two teams to pick from.

Team A: 1st at a state level invitational with 20 teams, 2nd at a major invitational they traveled to, 4th at their NXR region, state champs in their classification

Team B: Ran 10 meets, won 7 of them. 3rd at the one major invitational they ran in season losing to Team A by 66 points. Won a small state level invitational with 13 teams. 2nd at the state meet, averaging 14 seconds per runner slower than the state championship team. 3rd at their NXR regional.

I don't know why anyone is actually confused why Rocky Mountain (Team B) is more deserving than Taylorsville (Team A) or any of the other teams that were actually selected. If the selection committee has the mandate to field the best possible field, why select a team that has huge question marks like are they actually going to be competitive in a major invite on a course they don't know or how do they travel? Jeff Howard could solve for at least a couple of questions by going to Portland or Salt Lake and beating some good teams on their home courses instead of saying that everyone needs to come to them.

Carmel "California" is a typo. It's supposed to say Carmel "Indiana".

The team called "San Juan Capistrano xc" is JSerra High School.

Many of the teams use different names for NXN than they use the rest of the year.

Looks like Carmel didn’t beat any autoqualifiers. They missed autoqualifying by 3. And Bridgeland missed autoqualifying by 1 after beating Southlake Carroll at state

Clint Eastwood says Carmel, CA always gets a bid.

Feels like Crater got screwed. Their top runner ran awful at the NXR because he was sick (I think finishing like 160th?) with a lung infection. They only lost out on an NXN bid by like 30 points and their #2 runner, Tayvon Kitchen, ended up running away from the field and winning NXR. Think about that for a second.

I think Crater should have gotten an at-large as their top runner would have been healthy by the time NXN rolls around and they could have been a top 10 team at NXN

I think there are several teams who can make a solid claim.

I also think there is some bias on the committee and some regional reps that go to bat for certain schools and not others.

My plan for the future is place top 2 so it isn't an issue...and then destroy the field so more teams from our region are considered.

Congrats to those who made it! Enjoy the trip! It is the experience of a lifetime for most coaches!

the issue with crater wasn't that they weren't a contender to be top 10 at nxn. It's that the nxn committee first looks at the 3rd at-large candidate. The 4th at-large candidate is only looked at after they have chosen the 3rd one.

And also yes, how your region has done last year or the year before is important. The reason why Midwest girls was prioritized over South and Southeast (I believe 3rd southeast should have gotten in) was because of past nxn results.

"SOUTH FORT COLLINS" = Fossil Ridge

This is just my hunch. I don't actually know what goes on in the heads of committee members.

But yes, what I heard is the at-large process goes like this:

Look at all 3rd place contenders - pick one

Look at all 3rd place contenders + and a 4th place contenders - pick one

Look at all 3rd place contenders + 2 4th place contenders or if the fourth place contender was picked then look at all 3rd place contenders and don't consider 5th place contender from that region - pick one

etc pick last one

Rules don't say that.

Rocky Mountain has an big advantage at Firman and NXR. The course is literally warm-up distance from their HS. A light jog away.

I know nothing about their training, but they'd be crazy not do workouts there frequently. They should know that course like the back of their hand. Plus sleeping in your own bed vs traveling all day and sleeping in a room full of runners. Big advantage.