17:08? Sam Wharton? Get yourselves together, Nike

xc is about doing what's best for the kids.

this is not in nike's formula.

another example of corporate poisoning of wonderful human enterprise.

It would just be better if teams would stop attending the Nike race. That way nobody would be confused and all of the top runners could go to Footlocker, instead of making them choose. This Nike race is a JV race at best compared to Footlocker.

So many complaining individuals... its a race that high school athletes choose to go to, get over it.

umm... Bob Firman Course? Somewhere in The Nevada, Utah, Illinois, Arizona area... California Mt. Sac Course? IDK throwing ideas out there but definitely not this course again... I mean there are over billions of courses in the US and this course is only raced twice a year (I only know Pre-Nat and National).....

??????? wrote:

Seriously, WTF?? This is a NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP? A bunch of no names taking the top spots? What the hell happened? I thought this was the national XC Championships, not the national swimming championships! I feel like Nike just poured gallons and gallons of water upon the course! This isn't some obstacle/crappy condition/ultra type runner race, this is a high school cross country race. These kids want to run fast. WTF

Stop your crying.

Listen to what this California runner had to say about the conditions today, yes he ran there and did not.

Its a Mud Run

I guess cross country is about having perfect weather and racing on a flat, dry golf course every race. Excuse me.

It's XC man, not some indoor race. XC from it's historical origins in Scotland has always featured a difficult course, mud being all the more a part of the sport. If you don't like it being run like XC is meant to be, run one yourself on a flat golf course in Arizona.

The conditions were less than ideal. It was muddy and wet at times. I could see the students' breath come out in condensation... in fact many appeared to be shivering when they were huddled together before and after the race. The winner was unexpected. Did I mention it was muddy and wet?

Here's the race footage:

http://www.britishpathe.com/video/varsity-cross-country/query/cross+country

http://www.britishpathe.com/video/varsity-cross-country-1/query/cross+country+oxford

Did I forget to mention that this footage was taken in 1925 and 1923?

Students have long been dealing with increment conditions for what many consider to be a real, natural test of abilities in this sport that we call Cross Country. Be it a championship or not, today's display at Portland Meadows showed that even IF the greatest prep-distance stars and top programs are touted before the race, that anything is possible (Aracadia and American Fork upsetting the heavy favorites) and that a wake-up call can come at any time (Wharton flexing his muscles here...)

I don't necessarily want to see the fastest and most talented win as expected. The drama in distance running is to see who can last between the time the gun goes off and the tape is broken...

Be it Footlocker's all-star game (I mean Footlockers long, storied championship where they ignore team performances in a team sport) [can we call it an all star game already?] or Nike's NXN (where the conditions are so bad at a blatant attempt at "tough" marketing that they are willing to sacrifice safety and conventional wisdom to do it...) it makes no difference:

The students have trained, they have competed, and they are willing to showcase their rare and unique ability REGARDLESS of where/how/when or why. This is the soul of the sport, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

...just hope the striped bath robe warmups don't come back into fashion.

I hope he does not go to Ohio State like many Ohio standouts they never improve.

Hilarious thread. Only some loser who was brought up running 'cross-country' on golf courses and skims every road race entry form for the phrase "flat and fast!!" could have started something like this.

of course he's gonna say he liked the course, his team wouldnt have won if the course wasn't terrible

Get Real People wrote:

It is called Cross Country, not Track. What is everybody's obsession with running flat, fast courses in XC? Cross Country is not meant to see who can run the fastest time on the easiest course possible. It is meant to show who is the toughest runner out there and can withstand any and all conditions. Sam Wharton proved today that he is much tougher than anybody else in that race.

Or, we can just skip the bullsh!t and just have Track year round and run Cross Country on the Track if all of you complainers want it that way. Learn the difference between the two sports. We're all becoming too obsessed with fast times rather than toughness.

^^^^^

THIS! It's cross country. Seriously. My hat is off to Wharton!

Mud is right it rains in Portland from October to May

hot-like-fiya wrote:

...just hope the striped bath robe warmups don't come back into fashion.

Nothing wrong with striped bath robe warmups as long as they don't wear shorts over tights, ok?

You guys are idiots! The kids NEVER run courses like that, so it's not a fair race. That was a shit show and everyone on here knows it. Stop defending Nike. MY hat goes off to Sean McGorty for picking the REAL national championship, and I hope that elites in the next few years see how the big four finished today and stay the hell away from NXN. I also hope Leingang kills it at FootLocker. Seriously, we have a 8:51 3,200 runner in 59th, a 8:48 guy in 22nd, a 4:02 miler in 83rd, and a 4:05 guy in 15th? Sounds fair. Wharton will get buried at FootLocker.

Keep in mind this comes from someone who has never run a "fast, flat course" in his life. I'd love to though; I'm all about times.

Pre is my Favorite wrote:

You guys are idiots! The kids NEVER run courses like that, so it's not a fair race. That was a shit show and everyone on here knows it. Stop defending Nike. MY hat goes off to Sean McGorty for picking the REAL national championship, and I hope that elites in the next few years see how the big four finished today and stay the hell away from NXN. I also hope Leingang kills it at FootLocker. Seriously, we have a 8:51 3,200 runner in 59th, a 8:48 guy in 22nd, a 4:02 miler in 83rd, and a 4:05 guy in 15th? Sounds fair. Wharton will get buried at FootLocker.

I doubt that everyone here is defending Nike. The course WAS shit, no doubt about that. But you can't tell me that Sam Wharton wasn't the best cross country racer out there. Everybody ran 3.1 miles. Everybody started at the same time. I don't care if you can run a mile in less than 4 minutes. You race the course on the day the event is held and to be true to yourself and your team you do the best you can.

People get so disgruntled when they see someone they did not expect (or perhaps know). What's with that? Sam Wharton is smart and gutsy. Those other guys, the so-called elites, they either lacked the smarts to figure out how to be competitive in that race or the guts to stick it out to the finish. He was within a second of Leingang at Foot Locker regionals and buried him by over a minute at NxN Nationals. Similarly, he was edged out by Riba at the NxN regionals and buried him at Nationals as well.

Who impresses you more? This workhorse that finishes at at the top of everything regardless of condition? or a fast runner that might drop 60 places because the conditions aren't great?

Why don't you give this guy some credit for being the champion that he is.

P.S. Some of his posted times (assuming PRs)

3200m 9:01

5000m 14:46

5K XC 15:09

By that logic, Summit should have won, since they live in Oregon.

Nike Nationals is famous for mud. Get used to it.

Not trying to rip Wharton. I just don't think he's on that level. 9:01 is very fast... but it's not 8:48. And that 14:47 he ran had him 20 seconds behind Leingang. I could be wrong though. Time will tell.