This is crazy. It's such a big state you'd think they'd find one golf course or some big park to run this on. Road racing is not cross country. I disagree with posters saying CA kids can't run, but come on find something.
Why is the entirety of the CIF-SS Finals run in a parking lot before finishing on a track. What a joke. And then these same people wonder why nobody takes their performances seriously.
Hey dum dum, this California championship is usually run on a very hilly dirt course. That could not happen this year because the course was damaged from heavy rains. The hills are made of clay there, so when they get wet, it’s impossible to run them, you just slip and slide in place and get nowhere.
There have actually been entire decades when the asphalt rain course never had to be used, so it’s unfortunate that it had to be used two weeks in a row this year.
Mt Sac should never be used the course suck rain course and non rain course. It’s embarrassing
Why is the entirety of the CIF-SS Finals run in a parking lot before finishing on a track. What a joke. And then these same people wonder why nobody takes their performances seriously.
Hey dum dum, this California championship is usually run on a very hilly dirt course. That could not happen this year because the course was damaged from heavy rains. The hills are made of clay there, so when they get wet, it’s impossible to run them, you just slip and slide in place and get nowhere.
There have actually been entire decades when the asphalt rain course never had to be used, so it’s unfortunate that it had to be used two weeks in a row this year.
I believe the point is that they should have a better backup plan then running the parking lot and track. This isn't a league meet, this is Southern Section finals.
Hey dum dum, this California championship is usually run on a very hilly dirt course. That could not happen this year because the course was damaged from heavy rains. The hills are made of clay there, so when they get wet, it’s impossible to run them, you just slip and slide in place and get nowhere.
There have actually been entire decades when the asphalt rain course never had to be used, so it’s unfortunate that it had to be used two weeks in a row this year.
Mt Sac should never be used the course suck rain course and non rain course. It’s embarrassing
The traditional Mount Sac course is the most awesome course ever. Suck it.
I can tell you California State is incredibly deep. As a sophomore I finished 86th at state and a week later nearly made the Footlocker Nationals after finishing 18th in the Seeded Race. In perspective the Footlocker West Regional Meet that year was a muddy mess and I had always been great on courses with horrendous conditions. A good example in college as a Freshman I was my team’s 7th man all season and finished 33rd at the NCAA Southeast Region in garbage conditions and was my teams number 1 man lol and I actually ran in the top 10 for 8k and just fell apart over the last 2k. Basically I went from lucky to have a spot on a NCAA D-1 Team to my coach almost needing to waste his time traveling to Iowa for an NCAA meet to watch me battle another runner to not finish last.
I can tell you California State is incredibly deep. As a sophomore I finished 86th at state and a week later nearly made the Footlocker Nationals after finishing 18th in the Seeded Race. In perspective the Footlocker West Regional Meet that year was a muddy mess and I had always been great on courses with horrendous conditions. A good example in college as a Freshman I was my team’s 7th man all season and finished 33rd at the NCAA Southeast Region in garbage conditions and was my teams number 1 man lol and I actually ran in the top 10 for 8k and just fell apart over the last 2k. Basically I went from lucky to have a spot on a NCAA D-1 Team to my coach almost needing to waste his time traveling to Iowa for an NCAA meet to watch me battle another runner to not finish last.
I suppose I can't crap on myself too much. I did finish college as an All American in XC. Also ran decent track times with solid range from 800 in 1:52 to 10,000m in 29:05. Also improved my 1,500m from 4:05 as a freshman to 3:45 as a senior. I really think it is about not giving up focusing on a training method that works for you and setting realistic goals. Today I utilize the same focus in anything I do. I push the same attitude on activities and goals with my children. I always tell them you don't have to win in the sense of those that are watching you as long as you are winning within yourself. My daughter is a straight A student and started struggling in school mentally, her anxiety was getting out of control so we switched her to online for the time being in order to help her focus on methods which will help her manage her anxiety mixed with her academics. Our son is a senior and is already spending half of his day at university doing classes in order to be ahead of the game so he can focus on electrical engineering which is his passion.
That actually sounds like a great race. Cross country is a sport that should embrace challenging elements and different/unique courses - it's what the sport is about (as long as it's safe), not unlike F1 racing, golf, alpine ski, mountain biking etc etc.
What he didn’t mention is that it’s not just “mud” here in SoCal, it’s a nasty clay/mud combo that immediately builds up into a several inches thick layer that turns your shoes into ice skates. I’m a trail runner down here and unless you’re up in the mountains, it’s pretty much impossible to run in and extremely dangerous for high schoolers to even try.
I was at the race on Saturday and actually walked down to the valley loop to check it out and not only was there still a ton of standing water, my first step on the mud almost put me on my ass.
you can call it being “soft” all you want…but these are kids and it’s up to the adults running these events to keep their safety in mind.
We have this in Texas, too. We've run on those courses for state qualifying meets at Huntsville and Arlington.
California coaches need to have their state association (if they even have one) lobby CIF for changes to their qualifying system. It's crazy. It also ruins NXN for many schools because California can qualify without even head to head racing other teams. It also makes the entire country wait a week for their weird merge and power-merge. Everyone else was done by Monday. I'm sure Nike would like this, too.
Either way, it's a strange system. They've got a good thing going out there in terms of interest and participation, but there are better ways to do CIF advancement. Texas has a better system imo.
This is crazy. It's such a big state you'd think they'd find one golf course or some big park to run this on. Road racing is not cross country. I disagree with posters saying CA kids can't run, but come on find something.
That's the thing - how can nobody in an entire state come up with somewhere to run that doesn't involve concrete or turf or track? Especially a state as large as California.
That's the thing - how can nobody in an entire state come up with somewhere to run that doesn't involve concrete or turf or track?
LOTS of coaches don't want to run at Mt SAC. They don't like the regular hilly course or the flat pavement rain course. But CIF officials don't care what the coaches think so the teams are stuck with Mt SAC.