I'm no rocky fanboy, but unless you have actual info from the Rocky team, you shouldn't be claiming that his injury was made worse because of the coaches rushing him into things.
You're an anonymous person online, why should we trust you?
Look at his Strava. He talks about how he has a potential stress fracture a couple of times but he is continuing to run through it. Is that enough proof for you?
If you have the potential of a stress fracture, it would make sense that you pause training while you figure things out, not continue to train on it and then race through it until you end up in a boot to end the year.
And yes, my information is directly from the Rocky team.
I looked through his Strava from the first week of September till the start of December. 0 mentions of a stress fracture that I could find at a glance. A few mentions of ankle pain before dropping down to 10-20 miles a week.
Link to multiple specific Strava posts that mention a stress fracture, and then email Jeff Howard your concerns, especially since you are privilege to insider information allegedly.
Look at his Strava. He talks about how he has a potential stress fracture a couple of times but he is continuing to run through it. Is that enough proof for you?
If you have the potential of a stress fracture, it would make sense that you pause training while you figure things out, not continue to train on it and then race through it until you end up in a boot to end the year.
And yes, my information is directly from the Rocky team.
I looked through his Strava from the first week of September till the start of December. 0 mentions of a stress fracture that I could find at a glance. A few mentions of ankle pain before dropping down to 10-20 miles a week.
Link to multiple specific Strava posts that mention a stress fracture, and then email Jeff Howard your concerns, especially since you are privilege to insider information allegedly.
Any time any criticism of Rocky pops up, members of their coaching staff hop on here and start saying “I’m not a Rocky fan boy” and tell people to email Jeff Howard. The Idaho XC thread had the poster Idaho 5A girls or something like that, as well as posters that use Idaho runner names, like Nathan Green, Michael Slagowski, and Elijah Armstrong. All of them are closely affiliated with the program.
I looked through his Strava from the first week of September till the start of December. 0 mentions of a stress fracture that I could find at a glance. A few mentions of ankle pain before dropping down to 10-20 miles a week.
Link to multiple specific Strava posts that mention a stress fracture, and then email Jeff Howard your concerns, especially since you are privilege to insider information allegedly.
Any time any criticism of Rocky pops up, members of their coaching staff hop on here and start saying “I’m not a Rocky fan boy” and tell people to email Jeff Howard. The Idaho XC thread had the poster Idaho 5A girls or something like that, as well as posters that use Idaho runner names, like Nathan Green, Michael Slagowski, and Elijah Armstrong. All of them are closely affiliated with the program.
The curse lives on. There are other people using screennames of former top high schoolers like FastTuohy and Kobbs Hessler
Parker, his parents, his coaches, and his physical therapist were all involved in making decisions once the stress reaction was diagnosed. He did tons of swimming and decided he wanted to try to race once cleared by his physical therapist. He wanted to help his team and race through some pain, the kid made a massive jump from sophomore year to junior year and got banged up. Let’s keep this NXN 2024 thread on topic….Rocky Mountain has never made the NXN meet, talk about other stuff please.
I looked through his Strava from the first week of September till the start of December. 0 mentions of a stress fracture that I could find at a glance. A few mentions of ankle pain before dropping down to 10-20 miles a week.
Link to multiple specific Strava posts that mention a stress fracture, and then email Jeff Howard your concerns, especially since you are privilege to insider information allegedly.
Any time any criticism of Rocky pops up, members of their coaching staff hop on here and start saying “I’m not a Rocky fan boy” and tell people to email Jeff Howard. The Idaho XC thread had the poster Idaho 5A girls or something like that, as well as posters that use Idaho runner names, like Nathan Green, Michael Slagowski, and Elijah Armstrong. All of them are closely affiliated with the program.
I've been on this forum well before any mention of Rocky mountain. I'm literally what my name says I am, a NW XC Fan, meaning I love all of the NW, and would prefer for people to stop being factually wrong about any of these teams. It just so happens that Rocky gets talked about on here more than any other team since Newbury Park, and so more stuff that's degrading/hostile/wrong gets put out about them than any other team.
Any time any criticism of Rocky pops up, members of their coaching staff hop on here and start saying “I’m not a Rocky fan boy” and tell people to email Jeff Howard. The Idaho XC thread had the poster Idaho 5A girls or something like that, as well as posters that use Idaho runner names, like Nathan Green, Michael Slagowski, and Elijah Armstrong. All of them are closely affiliated with the program.
I've been on this forum well before any mention of Rocky mountain. I'm literally what my name says I am, a NW XC Fan, meaning I love all of the NW, and would prefer for people to stop being factually wrong about any of these teams. It just so happens that Rocky gets talked about on here more than any other team since Newbury Park, and so more stuff that's degrading/hostile/wrong gets put out about them than any other team.
The reason why they get talked about so often is because the coaches, parents, and athletes are on here saying things like “I’m not a Rocky fan, but here’s why they are awesome” and “I’ve been on this board since before Rocky was ever mentioned, I’m just a fan of NW XC, but this is why Rocky is awesome.”
Rocky Mountain has brought on all the vitriol directed towards them by hyping themselves up so much over the years, and that starts at the top. They are talked about more than any team except for Newbury Park because their team and coaching staff has made sure of it.
I feel like so many Southwest guys were slept on and finish higher than expected. And I don’t think anybody expected JoJo Jourdon to win.
Watch out for these SW guys to challenge for a podium spot or maybe the title.
-Kyle Steadman. Senior next year. Individual qualifier who has been to NXN twice already (went with his team in 2022). Also part of a very good program so probably has a great coach.
-Benjamin Anderson. Senior next year. In the middle of the season, many people thought he was #1 in Colorado. Took 9th at Footlocker nationals. Probably not his best race at NXR. Has a great coach.
-Brogan Collins. Senior next year. Made crazy year-to-year jumps especially from freshman to sophomore year. #2 finisher at NXR Southwest
Jesuit returns a lot of solid guys, but they don't have anyone returning from the top 55 or better at NXR.
CDA won't have Jesuits depth, but they have a good pipeline of freshman (allegedly), and they return 3 guys from the top ~50 at NXR
Rocky Mountain has a ton of really good depth and they return a low stick with Cody Lucas who got 13th at NXR/20th at Runninglane. The rest of their guys are pretty far back but there's probably gonna be like 10 of them so who knows how good or not good they will be
Issaquah returns all but 1 of their guys, but none of them cracked the top 100 at NXR despite a solid state showing
Franklin returns 12th and 36th for the best 1-2 returning combo I could find, but they are going to have a serious depth problem.
Crater has the best individual returner at 4th, but they are going to be plagued by depth problems like most of these other teams.
Am I missing any other notable teams?
Wroblewski could be a good low stick for Jesuit. He had a good start to the season (15:14 at the Mook Invite), close to senior teammate Swanson. Just not his best race at NXR.
Don’t be surprised if Kamiakin ends up being up there with those teams at NXR. They have had good teams in the past. They were young last year and are led by a Teeples who will be a senior.
Boise could be good again. They return some talented guys but lack depth.
Found in another thread that Valor Christian’s head coach (that started in 2022) is stepping down before next fall. So unless they get a really good new head coach, Valor Christian has a possibility of not being in the top 5 at NXR. They return almost everyone but they are losing their #1 guy.
I think Mountain View UT will probably get third.
Other SW teams not in this list to watch out for:
- Cheyenne Mountain. Keeps both of their top 2 runners who ran a 15:11 and 15:17 at NXR. They return 6 under 16:50.
- Mountain Vista CO. Great coach and they return 3 of their scorers (all under 15:40). They just need 2 more scorers but I’m sure there will be 2 that step up. Every year this program has some people come out of nowhere.
*PREVIEW IS BEING WRITTEN DIRECTLY AFTER NXN 2023*
NXN 2024 - The Way Too Early Preview - Boys Edition
NEW YORK REGION
1. Monroe Woodbury (New York)
2. Fairport (New York)
3. Ithaca (New York)
4. Beekmantown (New York)
5. Manhasset (New York)
Hey now... I freely admit that NY boys are way down, but listing Beekmantown and Manhasset is dirty pool.
So is completely leaving out Saratoga.
Their boys team had some good underclassmen 1600 times at the Ocean Breeze. Obviously their top 3 underclassmen scored for the team at NXR (Isenovski (10), Blaisdell (11), D Pasek (11)), But here are some more underclassmen 1600 times for Saratoga B Pasek - 4:44 - 9 Kerroum - 4:44 - 11 Chapman - 4:53 - 11 Miller - 4:55 - 9 Gargano - 4:55 - 9 Nix - 4:58 - 10
They definitely have another great shot at NXN. I think they will be looking for redemption after missing out last year.
They should move Colorado to the Heartland region. They compete with that region for Footlocker qualifying, and it would even out the NXR regions.
Heartland is really good on the boys individuals side though. And 3 studs (Putz, Mechura, Gonzalez) are back next year. They will all be seniors next year so I wonder how Heartland will look the year after that. Lenn (WI) and Merrick (IA) are sophomores who could do well at nationals as seniors too
CBA NJ has a shot at top 5 at NXN even though they lose most of their varsity. They return Barrett, Mastroly, and Falkowski from their top 7 (all of them scored at NXR), and also: - 9:34 3200 / 16:53 on the NXR NE course as a sophomore - 9:38 3200 - 16:55 on the NXR NE course as a freshman - 4:25 1600
Hey now... I freely admit that NY boys are way down, but listing Beekmantown and Manhasset is dirty pool.
So is completely leaving out Saratoga.
Their boys team had some good underclassmen 1600 times at the Ocean Breeze. Obviously their top 3 underclassmen scored for the team at NXR (Isenovski (10), Blaisdell (11), D Pasek (11)), But here are some more underclassmen 1600 times for Saratoga B Pasek - 4:44 - 9 Kerroum - 4:44 - 11 Chapman - 4:53 - 11 Miller - 4:55 - 9 Gargano - 4:55 - 9 Nix - 4:58 - 10
They definitely have another great shot at NXN. I think they will be looking for redemption after missing out last year.
Saratoga top 5 nonsenior 3200 indoor times 9:19 9:33 9:36 10:10 10:13 (freshman) Looks like they are in a good spot
I think NY is overhated. the nxr course is at Bowdoin park, probably one of the largest elevation gains of any hs xc course. plus the track times are great, and have had great runners recently, eg. miles hogan, hitch hays,
It seems like every year a team from Illinois gets overlooked or underestimated.
In 2022, Hinsdale Central took 8th and Downers Grove took 11th at NXN (although not many predicted either of these teams to finish that high).
In 2023, Downers Grove North took 7th at NXN (although not many predicted them to do that well).
In 2024, Plainfield North could get top 10 at NXN. They took 15th in 2023 and losing only one scorer. Downers Grove North has a possibility of getting top 10 too maybe. They return 3 scorers and another guy who ran a 9:33 3200 during 2023 track. They return 7 guys under 16:41 for 5k.