Wow: Was that the greatest Foot Locker battle in history? Sydney Masciarelli edges Katelynne Hart for the title!!

cocky runners wrote:

It might be just me, but I wish Hart would have won FL. I like someone who's genuine and good on camera during interviews and such. Not to mention she ran a smart race and has excellent speed, but hey--the clock doesn't lie. Masciarelli won fairly.

I know Masciarelli is new to the national XC scene, but she is no good on camera. I kind of feel that way about Tuohy, too; she always seems subtly cocky whenever I watch an interview of her. Hart is a very sweet and genuine girl and would make a tremendous teammate, someone whom every college coach desires.

You have to keep in mind how raw and green Sydney is to her situation. She literally had no strategy for the race, only hoped for a top-ten finish and to "run a good time". She is very sweet and hopefully will grow to appreciate her place in the XC pantheon as she progresses, but keep her humble, low-key attitude.

I must admit that Hart has the greatest charisma of all of them though.

Bib #1 wrote:

I tune in to watch the racing, not the interviews. That said, Hart is very well spoken and engaging

same.

1. Both streams were free. If you paid for the NXN stream you did something wrong

2. The footlocker boys race had no camera on the lead cart for at least the second half of the boys race (I can't remember how early it went out) and missed major moves in both races Nike had no such issues

3. NXN had more of the highly ranked individuals (both boys and girls) than Footlocker

4. Who is blaming kids for how fast/slow their team is? That is why individual slots were added to NTN, so that exceptional individuals on bad teams can still qualify. With the exception of wildcards (which don't end up contending for the title anyways) the qualification process is just as straightforward as footlocker.

Footlocker of course gets some of the top talent, and usually does a very good job with the meet. But they really dropped the ball when they decided not to add teams to the mix and let NTN/NXN rise as a competitor. Footlocker is dying a slow death

DumpsterDiver wrote:

Footlocker of course gets some of the top talent, and usually does a very good job with the meet. But they really dropped the ball when they decided not to add teams to the mix and let NTN/NXN rise as a competitor. Footlocker is dying a slow death

Lol. Yeah, dying a slow death because they don't take a whole slew of average runners riding the coattails of their faster teammates. So entertaining watching 17 minute 5K boys slog it out in the mud. Woohoo!

cocky runners wrote:

I know Masciarelli is new to the national XC scene, but she is no good on camera. I kind of feel that way about Tuohy, too; she always seems subtly cocky whenever I watch an interview of her. Hart is a very sweet and genuine girl and would make a tremendous teammate, someone whom every college coach desires.

Wow. Just wow. this is a 10th grade girl you're talking about. Where are your live interviews from when you were 16? Let's see just how well you handled yourself in the glare of the cameras when you were in the national spotlight.

cocky runners wrote:

It might be just me, but I wish Hart would have won FL. I like someone who's genuine and good on camera during interviews and such. Not to mention she ran a smart race and has excellent speed, but hey--the clock doesn't lie. Masciarelli won fairly.

I know Masciarelli is new to the national XC scene, but she is no good on camera. I kind of feel that way about Tuohy, too; she always seems subtly cocky whenever I watch an interview of her. Hart is a very sweet and genuine girl and would make a tremendous teammate, someone whom every college coach desires.

I would say more than that, it also looked like she wanted it more. Of course anyone wants a foot locker champion title, but Katelynne has worked much harder and really took risks in this race. Coming down the homestretch, Katelynne looked spent, while Masciarelli looked a little tired but not all out. Masciarelli’s post race interview was so boring and she kind of acted like it wasn’t a big deal.

Kkhart wrote:

I would say more than that, it also looked like she wanted it more. Of course anyone wants a foot locker champion title, but Katelynne has worked much harder and really took risks in this race. Coming down the homestretch, Katelynne looked spent, while Masciarelli looked a little tired but not all out. Masciarelli’s post race interview was so boring and she kind of acted like it wasn’t a big deal.

Yup. Let's just keep on finding ways to denigrate the accomplishments of a 10th grader who just won the national championships in her first season of high school cross country. Real classy these Hart supporters!

Kkhart wrote:

I would say more than that, it also looked like she wanted it more. Of course anyone wants a foot locker champion title, but Katelynne has worked much harder and really took risks in this race. Coming down the homestretch, Katelynne looked spent, while Masciarelli looked a little tired but not all out. Masciarelli’s post race interview was so boring and she kind of acted like it wasn’t a big deal.

Some runners look ‘spent’ running 8 minute pace. Some look relaxed running 5 minute pace. You look down on a runner because she doesn’t look all out?

Perhaps it wasn’t a big deal to Masciarelli. Perhaps she isn’t aware of the prestige that comes along with winning a Footlocker title. She’s new to the sport.

cocky runners wrote:

It might be just me, but I wish Hart would have won FL. I like someone who's genuine and good on camera during interviews and such. Not to mention she ran a smart race and has excellent speed, but hey--the clock doesn't lie. Masciarelli won fairly.

I know Masciarelli is new to the national XC scene, but she is no good on camera. I kind of feel that way about Tuohy, too; she always seems subtly cocky whenever I watch an interview of her. Hart is a very sweet and genuine girl and would make a tremendous teammate, someone whom every college coach desires.

Masciarelli was great in the interview even though she was still catching her breath. You should be critical of the interviewer who asked her a dumb question about basketball and full court press vs man to man, and Masciarelli handled it very well.

Seriously they were the worst questions. What does it feel like to win? It feels great, you moron.

And you are a terrible person for judging her. You can't be more genuine than Masciarelli was - you can tell she's modest and shy and there's nothing wrong with that - it's a heck of a lot better than being arrogant and loud.

Hart gave up in the last 10 meters. she probably knew she was beat, but if she wanted it more she would have fought to the line. Masciarelli wanted it more, everything Hart threw at her she handled and gave back more.

You don't know how hard Masciarelli worked. In one of the articles before the race it said she gave up sugar. Did Hart give up sugar? Additionally, Masciarelli plays basketball and soccer, but was running on her own outside of practice to prepare for track at the same time.

In trying to diminish Masciarelli's accomplishment you only diminish yourself. It's clear why you are slow and you have no friends.

cocky runners wrote:

It might be just me, but I wish Hart would have won FL. I like someone who's genuine and good on camera during interviews and such. Not to mention she ran a smart race and has excellent speed, but hey--the clock doesn't lie. Masciarelli won fairly.

I know Masciarelli is new to the national XC scene, but she is no good on camera. I kind of feel that way about Tuohy, too; she always seems subtly cocky whenever I watch an interview of her. Hart is a very sweet and genuine girl and would make a tremendous teammate, someone whom every college coach desires.

I was thinking Hart didn't run a smart race. The outcome was inevitable going up the last hill. Hart went way too early, and never got a definitive break. Also, she has raced way more than others this past month, so should have settled in the first half and only attacked when she was nowhere near the steep hill.

She has a decent future though.

Hart ran a perfect race. Masciarelli was always going to outkick her. Masciarelli is just better. Hart was almost able to run the kick out of Masciarelli. Masciarelli would have won by even more if Hart went out slower.

She just got beat by one of the best women's distance runners in American history.

Reminded me of a Doug Jarrett hip-check.

20/20 hindsight is pretty easy. It looked to me like Hart ran very smart pushing the pace. She broke most of the field. Maybe she started her final kick too soon, but Masciarelli was already even with her so she probably had to do it. I don't think she died at the end, she just did not have one more gear in the last 20 meters or so which Masciarelli did. They both ran smart and well. If I was to nitpick one thing it would be that Masciarelli had better form (arm swing) and held it and used it. But Hart is pretty successful with how she runs.

In her pre race YouTube interview she said top 10 but then also said close to or break 17. Which basically means way more than top 10 if you look at winning times from previous years. So that was confjsing

Astrid wrote:

In her pre race YouTube interview she said top 10 but then also said close to or break 17. Which basically means way more than top 10 if you look at winning times from previous years. So that was confjsing

Yeah. It really spoiled the whole race for me. I'm still having trouble sleeping at night trying to reconcile her pre-race comments with meet history and the way the race actually unfolded. Hopefully, in the future, 16 and 17 year olds will only say what they mean and mean what they say - at all times - so help us God.

I love Hart's "heart" but she left a lot her cards strewn all over the course, attacking hills too aggressively early on, etc., while Sydney ran a masterful "stalking" approach, surprisingly perfect execution for a novice. I feel both ran very much from their instincts, and Masciarelli's won the day.

Next year promises to be one for the ages if Hart, Masciarelli and Tuohy all line up together for one of these national meets. Might top the big clash at NXN between Cranny, Efraimson and Baxter.

https://hips.hearstapps.com/hmg-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/images/1076/efraimsonbaxtercranny-1498303441.jpg?resize=2559:*

YMMV wrote:

I love Hart's "heart" but she left a lot her cards strewn all over the course, attacking hills too aggressively early on, etc., while Sydney ran a masterful "stalking" approach, surprisingly perfect execution for a novice. I feel both ran very much from their instincts, and Masciarelli's won the day.

Next year promises to be one for the ages if Hart, Masciarelli and Tuohy all line up together for one of these national meets. Might top the big clash at NXN between Cranny, Efraimson and Baxter.

https://hips.hearstapps.com/hmg-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/images/1076/efraimsonbaxtercranny-1498303441.jpg?resize=2559:*

After next year, Cranny Baxter and Efraimson will be an afterthought. It's going to be Tuohy and Masciarelli dominating everything with Masciarelli doing a lot better.

50/50 chance Tuohy gets hurt and does worse than this year because her coach is a fool.

no point in time wrote:

Hart ran a perfect race. Masciarelli was always going to outkick her. Masciarelli is just better. Hart was almost able to run the kick out of Masciarelli. Masciarelli would have won by even more if Hart went out slower.

She just got beat by one of the best women's distance runners in American history.

OK Mrs. Masciarelli, that's nice, "one of the best women's distance runners in American History"? Really??

We know one thing, no FL girls champ has ever won an NCAA XC title, so.........