Nico, Colin and Aaron vs Lex and Leo is going to be a fun one to watch for the next few years. Former teammates and brothers becoming rivals at the next level. I wonder how that’s going to work out? As a fan it will be epic battles. Who collects more national titles in the next 5 years? Stanford or NAU?
I don't have an answer to your main question, though I think you may be overestimating the chokehold that Nike has on both college sponsorships and high school kids.
Off the top of my head, NAU and NC State are Adidas, while Wisconsin and Notre Dame are Under Armour. Those are four strong running schools. I don't have any interest in looking through race photos to see what athletes like Nuguse and Hacker were wearing on their feet in their biggest races, but I don't think non-Nike schools are as big of an anomaly amongst strong distance programs as you seem to suggest.
Also, I feel like I see high schoolers wearing a pretty wide variety of brands? Many high schoolers get into running through their parents, and their parents often have tried a wider variety of brands and aren't swayed by Nike being "cool". I've known plenty of high schoolers who train in Asics, Brooks, or Saucony because their parents have been running recreationally in those brands for years. Additionally, I'd say that Hoka is actually the running shoe brand with the most cache amongst young women generally (they've done quite a bit of work with "active lifestyle" influencers, and are part of certain aesthetic trends online). I also think that New Balance has done a solid job of marketing their spikes to high school girls.
Good post. Very informative. I'm certainly not calling BS on what you wrote. I didn't realize there were that many non-Nike D1 programs, but 'that many' is still just a few. Don't they have the so-called P5 locked down? Maybe not: I'll admit I don't know exactly whom that includes. But the Pac12 plus BYU seems to cast a big shadow distance-running-wise in the States. Include a few others - OK State, U of Portland, New Mexico - soon you're covering the alma maters of nearly every American pro. Not all. NAU, as this thread is discussing, is a glaring exception.
Now about high school. As I wrote above, when I went it wasn't Nike-oriented at all. They were just picking up steam back then. But I've been noticing the 99-100% trend since the days of Running Times. The first photo that sticks in my mind was a starting line of a random high school track race. Waterfall start, so not a sprint.
'Random' is accurate here because no caption was given and it wasn't supposed to be a particular event. The column was about high school track in general. Maybe 'how to get people to come watch it' or something. Anyway, the photo was taken at ground level and you could only see below the knee. Every shoe clearly visible and easily indentifiable. All Nike. This may have been taken aroung 2010.
A year later or so was a multi-page spread about high school XC. A couple other brands worn by kids standing around (as opposed to in a race), so that gets me to the main point. I'm only judging by what kids race in. I don't really see footage of high school training with the exception of one video I saw of NP on YT. No student there would be caught dead with anything else, so even the training footage is Nike as far as that school goes. (And the subject of this thread just got out of there.) But with rare exceptions, I haven't really seen what teenagers train in.
Going by racing, however, it's been 99% Nike for quite a while. It's probably 100 now. The last exception I'm aware of was the kid who went sub-4 outside of Folsom, CA (Sacramento area). Though I don't, some of you will remember his name. He was in NB. The rest of the field, well, you know.... That was a few years ago now. More recently, threads here about sub-4 attempts and other high school exploits have pointed out that the entire field is Dragonfly-shod.
I'm sure you're right about the college thing. You very well may be about high school TRAINING. (Still 90% there and at NP it's 100 even for training.) But as far as high school RACING, they simply don't wear anything else that I can see.
Making a decent living as a runner is very tough many kids think that running will become a long standing career, but unfortunately that’s far from true. Most of them will struggle to survive even at the pro level. A good education must be part of the plan.
Could have been worse, he could have ended up at Oklahoma, which would have ruined his running career.
can I ask why? Does Oklahoma have a reputation for that?
OU used to be competitive under Martin Smith, now they are one of the worst P5 distance programs (they don’t invest any scholarship in it anymore). The team is so bad they are not fielding a full team at regionals as would get beat by 80% of the teams in the field.
I see this ongoing bull about how a runner is a fool for not going to Stanford. Give me a break! Like 100% of those who graduate from NAU, or Oregon, or Podunk U are losers academically? I think not. Yep, there is university bias in the real world, but congrats to Colin S. for choosing what he feels is right for HIM, and more power to him!
Totally agree! As a college prof, I can say with certainty that kids are better off finding a school that feels right to them than simply trying to get into schools with the best reputation. Every accredited college and university ought to be able to engage their students and provide meaningful education that benefits their intellectual development and career goals. When this doesn’t happen there is usually a poor fit between the student and the school or there’s some external factor that inhibits persistence/retention. Higher ed can be improved, to be sure. But it’s not as broken or dysfunctional as some people make it out to be. We should all be happy when Aaron or anyone else commits to further developing themselves as a student and as an athlete.
Nico, Colin and Aaron vs Lex and Leo is going to be a fun one to watch for the next few years. Former teammates and brothers becoming rivals at the next level. I wonder how that’s going to work out? As a fan it will be epic battles. Who collects more national titles in the next 5 years? Stanford or NAU?
Stanford on paper has way more talented recruits either coming or in their first years / RS. Without any coaching they should be the dominant team on paper. They've got like 3 sets of twins, Bergen, and I'm sure more I'm forgetting that all have potential to fill in the back half of their roster.
NAU's recent recruits, besides the obvious ones, fly a little under the radar.
It will come down to if Mike Smith can make another Abdi out of an above average runner. They need another low stick to replace ASAP or they're toast. The other contenders have 2-3 low sticks and NAU only has Nico and (presumably Colin) next year if Bosley and Kusche leave.
If he can't, Stanford should be the clear favorite for the next 4-5 years.
he is one of the best high school runners of all time. There are very few people that can match those stats. There are even less 11th graders, probably just the two that were on the same level as him last year who were also on his team. Makes sense for him to follow his brother and Nico’s lead.
he is one of the best high school runners of all time. There are very few people that can match those stats. There are even less 11th graders, probably just the two that were on the same level as him last year who were also on his team. Makes sense for him to follow his brother and Nico’s lead.
His 8:01 3000m converts to 8:36 3200m. To my knowledge, it was the first time he ever ran the event in high school....and if there is such a record, that may never be done again. 8:36 in his first stab at it? It makes a whole lot of sense for him to go to NAU if running is a priority. He has his older brother to hold him accountable with obvious team leadership and elites to model off of.
Nico, Colin and Aaron vs Lex and Leo is going to be a fun one to watch for the next few years. Former teammates and brothers becoming rivals at the next level. I wonder how that’s going to work out? As a fan it will be epic battles. Who collects more national titles in the next 5 years? Stanford or NAU?
Stanford on paper has way more talented recruits either coming or in their first years / RS. Without any coaching they should be the dominant team on paper. They've got like 3 sets of twins, Bergen, and I'm sure more I'm forgetting that all have potential to fill in the back half of their roster.
NAU's recent recruits, besides the obvious ones, fly a little under the radar.
It will come down to if Mike Smith can make another Abdi out of an above average runner. They need another low stick to replace ASAP or they're toast. The other contenders have 2-3 low sticks and NAU only has Nico and (presumably Colin) next year if Bosley and Kusche leave.
If he can't, Stanford should be the clear favorite for the next 4-5 years.
Stanford has way more talent? Yes but they do so every year. They recruit the very best yet they don’t win every year. Why? Because school like NAU and Colorado make up the talent gap by developing the more under the radar recruits to become all Americans. Sure NAU and Colorado get talent but not to the extent that Stanford or even Oregon do. What NAU is good at is developing the Abdi Nurs, Diego Estrada and Luis Grijalvas of the world who were not even noticed by Oregon and Stanford. NCAA XC will be fun for the next 5 yrs. Add BYU to the mix and it get even better!
Nobody I know chose their college for the best academics, but almost everybody attended the most prestigious college where they were accepted. However, prestige does directly correlate with academic strength.
To get a good job? I wouldn’t have got my job if I went to a low ranked school. Some companies only recruit at T20 and even T5 for the most prestigious
To get a good job? I wouldn’t have got my job if I went to a low ranked school. Some companies only recruit at T20 and even T5 for the most prestigious
It obviously wasn’t dependent on the way you write. That much is certain.
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