Is it time to get rid of the NXR New York regional?

Make NY/NE into two regions and maybe take a couple states from another region.

For the second year in a row, the winning NY boys team wouldn’t have cracked the top 4 in the NE.

Another idea is to base the number of autoqualifying teams off of previous performances.

For example, allow three Southwest boys autoqualifying teams, and one New York boys autoqualifying team. Two at larges in the Southwest would send 5 teams from that region

Two years in a row, 4 Southwest teams were in the top 10. Three years in a row, the team in last place was from New York, and this region is only going to get worse next year because all of the top teams in that region graduated so many seniors

Here’s a potential realignment that would hypothetically keep the same amount of regions:

Combine NY and NE for sure, but only with the New England states. Bowdoin would still be a good central point because of how far WNY extends.

Add a Mid-Atlantic region by taking away from the Southeast. That region takes up more than a quarter of the country and it seems odd for runners from Delaware to be in the same region as runners from Alabama.

Mid-Atlantic would include DC, DE, MD, NJ, PA, VA, and WV. Courses like Lehigh, Carlisle or Great Meadow could be good options (just not Hereford lol).

That’s a population of approximately 42,000,000 (with quick mental math) which seems fair enough for regions divided into 9, given it wouldn’t be the strongest. Northeast would have about 35,000,000. Southeast would still have about 58,000,000 and likely grow faster than most other regions, even while losing four states and DC. Admittedly it’s one of the weakest regions per capita, but probably doesn’t need the 76,000,000-odd people it’s representing right now.

Another idea is to add Alaska and Hawaii regionals to the mix. They wouldn’t have any auto-qualifiers but it would make it easier to be considered for a potential at-large spot if it ever came to this (rather than travel all the way to Boise, which is a HUGE barrier to some of their teams)

And also if would be cool if the California season were shifted a week forward so the CIF championships (aka NXR Cali) wasn’t on the same day as Footlocker West. I’ve seen lot of people bashing Footlocker Nationals for being a “second-chance” national race but I honestly just think it’s the difference between a team and individual championship. Several states (New Hampshire, New York, Georgia, etc.) have both team divisional championships and then meets-of-champions a week later, so I don’t see why this couldn’t play out on the federal stage. Just gotta make sure everyone gets an equal chance to participate.

These are just rough ideas, lemme know what you think

The best solution is to roll NY into NE. Then add 2 extra at larges. Now we have 6 at larges. Allow regions to receive more than 2 at larges if needed. This would allow the best teams to compete.

Yes please.

Every National, XC, Indoor, Outdoor all held hostage by the NY Calendar.

The problem with this is that SE is already one of the weakest regions. This was actually a strong year for them and they finished 12th and 18th on the boys' side, 12th and 13th on the girls. Take away St. Albans this year and you would have Broughton, who genuinely might be worse than Xavier NY (who are in the running for worst NXN team of all time). If you're taking away MD, DC, DE, and VA, you need to replace them with something. Unfortunately, you also can't take away teams from the South, because it is also a weak region. The only way to do that fairly would be to then add something from the Southwest to the South, but the problem there is 99% of the great Southwest teams are from either CO or UT, and neither makes sense to add to the South.

Alternatively, you could leave the regions as is, and let the natural cycle of talent take its course. There is a vacuum on the boys side in NY right now (arguably both sides), and it will take some time to fill it. Other regions have been equally weak for years in a row in the past (Southeast, Heartland, South), and came back with strong years and strong teams. Also, the current phenomenon of the Southwest dominating has happened before, with California and New York teams completely dominating on different occasions. New York is an easy target because they are one of only two states to have their own region, and they have the lowest population of any region, meaning they are more susceptible to wild swings than any other region. At their best, they've accomplished things that no other region besides the Southwest has matched. At their worst, they're as bad as a number of other regions have been. Could be worse honestly.

You’re joking right? If any state is holding every other one hostage with their schedule it’s clearly California.

Southeast has had stronger years than this year.
In 2018, Southeast teams went 1st & 9th at NXN

In 2019, Southeast teams went 5th & 10th at NXN

In 2022, Southeast teams went 9th & 14th at NXN

But next year, I don’t think Southeast will be very strong. Belen Jesuit Prep and St. Albans will be graduating a lot.

Business Rule #1.

Always...take...the...money.

Those paltry lil' quarter million dollar days add up. 😉

It's absurd that NY and NE are separate regions and get additional NXN invites while CO and Utah are in the same ridiculously superior region. NY needs to be consolidated into the NE, and Utah and Colorado need to be separated.

Allowing only the top 3 Individuals from each region would be a travesty. Way too much talent would be denied an invite. Why wouldn't they just fill up each individual box with 7 athletes? Each region should have a full team of individuals, and the scoring for those "regional teams" of individuals should be scored, compared to the other regions and trophied.

Agree on combining NY and NE, but reducing the number of individuals seems unnecessary, and just taking the best race away from great athletes and assuming they'd go to Footlocker instead is silly.

I really don't care about Utah and Colorado. Those are two of the easiest states to manipulate what school district your kid attends. Of course, they should have strong teams every year.

yeah I’m not sure if top 3 (instead of 5) individuals would be a good idea. FWIW, for “scoring individuals” purposes, some top individuals are on qualifying teams. Like Marcelo Mantecon, Caden Leonard, Kaden Evans, and Jackson Spencer

Well they can keep using the same number of teams in the championship race as before. It will just move more teams to the open races.

Doesn‘t every state allow open enrollment?

Nope. Plenty of states will basically take away a season of competing if you move. UT and CO on the other hand have some of the loosest rules. The fact that most of the powerhouses are around just a few areas helps(SLC, Denver and Boulder metro areas).

And last year Utah had a new rule where all transfers can start racing varsity at some point in the middle of the season