Matthew Maton Ditches His HS Teammates In Postseason

Melancholy Parent wrote:

XC is a team sport.

Please stop spreading this lie. Running is an individual sport at its core. XC just adds some half-assed scoring system to make the mid-packers feel like they're contributing.

devinePDX wrote:

he sat down with his coaches months ago and developed a plan to accomplish his goals, some of which dovetailed with the team, and some of which have him running in China in a Team USA singlet in February.

What does Footlocker have to do with making the China Junior team? Doing Nike instead would have had no bearing on that.

The NXN meet this year was just as strong up top as Footlocker turned out to be. Looks like Maton and Tamagno's bad decisions backfired.

I remember back in HS I had the option of running a DMR at the Penn Relays or running the Boy's Mile.

I had a chance to win the Boy's Mile, but we would have no chance to win the Boy's DMR because my teammates were simply not good enough to put us in contention to win. They would each run a sub-par leg, I would split 4:10-4:13 to put us back into the mix, but never back to the front.

I liked my teammates, and they're still my friends - but in my heart I knew running the Boy's mile was the right decision. I ran 70 miles/week year round. They ran the bare minimum, often taking summers completely off. I was in the weight room 3 times/week in the mornings to get in an extra run and some light weights -- always alone.

My teammates were my friends, and they still are. But sometimes the individual must come first. They understood this.

Fair but unequal.

#8 got to run Nats. I'm sure he was excited for the opportunity.

Can't deny the validity of your argument for track and field, which, because of the variety of events and the kind of arbitrary nature of events like the dmr isn't truly a team sport.

But we are talking about cross country, which is the team sport version of running.

sub 4 worked out pretty well for him

boomstick wrote:

sub 4 worked out pretty well for him

That wasn't the point.

He ditched his teammates in XC, how does running under 4 change that? I knew some mole would dig out of the ground and post some stupid crap like this.

boomstick wrote:

sub 4 worked out pretty well for him

Interestingly, it really hasn't. He got very little positive attention for it. Seemingly because he's 19, which in my opinion is lame for people to try to lessen the accomplishment.

But you have to look at the real reason people want to invalidate the accomplishment; he gives off a vibe that is not all that charismatic. People want someone who can lead a team, unite people, bring out the best in everyone. Someone who always seems to be looking out for themselves is difficult to get excited about.

I feel for the kid, and that's what he is still, a kid. Hopefully his self-worth isn't completely tied to running.

doom stick wrote:

boomstick wrote:

sub 4 worked out pretty well for him

Interestingly, it really hasn't. He got very little positive attention for it. Seemingly because he's 19, which in my opinion is lame for people to try to lessen the accomplishment.

But you have to look at the real reason people want to invalidate the accomplishment; he gives off a vibe that is not all that charismatic. People want someone who can lead a team, unite people, bring out the best in everyone. Someone who always seems to be looking out for themselves is difficult to get excited about.

I feel for the kid, and that's what he is still, a kid. Hopefully his self-worth isn't completely tied to running.

He's gotten a tone of positive attention. Just because some people like us point out he's 19 doesn't mean it's still not a tremendous accomplishment.

The article was very popular on LetsRun.

For the record, according to the Oregon High School Rules, the day after the state meet. Maton no longer has "teammates" until track season starts. So there were no teammates to "ditch" at NXR. This rule is in place for the exact reason to put a stop to such codependence as demonstrated on this thread. The Summit program, as are scores of others, are living proof of what is wrong with Communism. You can't lift everyone up by holding the elite back. As soon as Maton broke free of the cabal, he vastly improved. Sorry Marxists, you lose this round as well.