Has Nike's NXN ruined Footlocker National?

footlockerownsindividuals wrote:

Footlocker had all the top boys in the south and they got Verzbikas in the midwest. Aside from the Rosas going to NXN, Footlocker has it all individually this year. The players will be there.

Footlocker is for the nations best racers. NXN is for 2nd/3rd rate runners with no chance at Footlocker, hiding behind their "teams." "Oh such wonderful shopping at NXN!" Complete lightweights.

nhgdgfsfs wrote:

Footlocker is for the nations best racers. NXN is for 2nd/3rd rate runners with no chance at Footlocker, hiding behind their "teams." "Oh such wonderful shopping at NXN!" Complete lightweights.

You've got that right. Shopping? How queer can you get?

It isn't about atmosphere. It's about racing the best.

Footlocker 2002 wrote:

nhgdgfsfs wrote:

Footlocker is for the nations best racers. NXN is for 2nd/3rd rate runners with no chance at Footlocker, hiding behind their "teams." "Oh such wonderful shopping at NXN!" Complete lightweights.

You've got that right. Shopping? How queer can you get?

It isn't about atmosphere. It's about racing the best.

I agree. You don't think Chris Derrick wakes up every day regretting he is/was not a national champion...all because "he took one for the team."

Is this a fair assessment?

NXN and FL are different, but face it, NXN will never achieve FL's status. Period.

FL has the best runners, no fluff teammates. How many runners with PRs over 16:00 are at FL Nat'ls? How many at NXN?

FL has real qualifier meets, top 10 or no nationals. FL doesn't have BS panels to decide at-large crap for coaches who kiss major ass during the season. At FL you either qualify at the race on race day, or you pack up and forget San Diego.

A lot of people with bust their nut all over NXN, but that is because they are 2nd and 3rd rate HS runners and/or coaches of those teams. No one else really cares about NXN, truly. Nike shoves a bunch of money and also makes a ton of of the parents and athletes with their over-priced tent shopping mall.

Yes, I went to both nationals last year and am very close with qualifiers to both meets.

Look where Chelsey Sviensson picked to compete this year. 'Nuff said. Out.

You could say the same thing about the NCAA cross meet -- after the top 50 or so, there are a bunch of 2nd and 3rd rate college runners. Maybe the NCAA should become an individual event only. Top 50 individuals, no "fluff teammates" since it only brings in a bunch of posers.

Look where the Rosa brothers picked to compete this year.

zxcv wrote:

You could say the same thing about the NCAA cross meet -- after the top 50 or so, there are a bunch of 2nd and 3rd rate college runners. Maybe the NCAA should become an individual event only. Top 50 individuals, no "fluff teammates" since it only brings in a bunch of posers.

Look where the Rosa brothers picked to compete this year.

You got it right, look where the Rosa brothers are running. Footlocker does not have the best runner in the Us this year, along with several others. The only reason Chelsea is not going to NXN is because too much travel time to do both meet's successfully, she has won NXN, will win Footlocker this year and then go back to the better meet next year.

Oh yes, there are kids with 16:00 pr's at Footlocker, I noticed the 13th place finisher at the Mass. state meet qualified, everyone else went to NXN and one kid just skipped both and ran a local Turkey Day road race.

Think about it, do you think of going to Footlocker when you want to buy running shoes? Do you think of Nike when thinking of running.

Footlocker is fading, fading....

Striped shirt, hands on waist wrote:

Look where Chelsey Sviensson picked to compete this year. 'Nuff said. Out.

she probably is doing this because she wants to win both, because she won Nike last year.

ive ran footlocker south and NXN southeast, and i think one of the reasons you will see slower times at NXN is because the footlocker course was pancake flat, but Nike was hilly.

i don't know if it is true that all footlocker courses are flatter or not though.

also, footlocker is where you go when YOU are really good, but your team sucks, whereas Nike is where you go if you're really good and the rest of your team is really good too.

Nike is much better at running a meet too. when i asked the footlocker guys why there was no apparel they said "it didn't come." ....wow.

i think as more and more people go to Nike, they will probably stay there and footlocker will lose prestige.

And here come the Footlocker bloggers to tow the company line. Your best line is "no one else really cares about NXN, truly." Who wrote that for you?

Affluent teams only?? What BS is that?? Our team went to SE regional. 3 parents drove. Cost...zero. Two hotel rooms were $160 or $20 bucks apiece. Cost of entry $125 or $15 bucks apiece. Local running store donated 7 singlets..cost zero. $35 dollars each man...yeah that's for affluent schools only!

NXN hasn't achieved the same status as FL because it has only been around for like 4 years or something.

Before that it was Nike Team Nationals where only teams could compete, no individuals.

I think it will take over FL eventually. Besides whoever has run on the NXN course knows that it's better than FL.

Again, part of the Footlocker party line is to claim that NXN is for "affluent teams." There are two problems with this assertion. The most obvious is that traveling to Footlocker is far more expensive than traveling to NXN. Nike has 8 regional meets whereas FL has four. In the SE, for example, the farthest anyone has to drive is less than 800 miles (miami to Raleigh). The majority of the region is less than 5 hours away. In FL, folks have to routinely drive over 800 miles and some (more than 1600 miles away) simply have to fly.

The other problem is that XC is an affluent sport period. This affects both FL and NXN.

Remember, most of the pro Footlocker comments on these threads are by paid Footlocker employees, bloggers, or meet directors.

Their message is: NXN is a tradeshow; NXN is in a crappy location; NXN is for affuent teams; NXN is for crappy teams and a few good individuals; blah, blah.

i think nxn has a good chance someday of suceeding fl. the web stats today show fl get 4 times the web traffic at our site. i think nike's plans to move nxn finals to dallas will eventually seal their takeover dreams. such is life.

I just like the history FLN has. Thinking about the former great runners on the balboa park course. Waiting for someone to take Ruben Reina's course record of 14:36. The Best US runners ran there. It's nice to at least try to compare runners from now and then as much as you can with cross country.

I ran at the NXN Northeast this year and i felt that it was a very put together meet with a great atmosphere and a host of great runners. I have never been to FL but when i think of FL, I think of the great aura that the meet has around it.

The only problem is that with both formats the best are not running against each other. With some of the best going to one and some going to another.

I think the way to fix this problem would be to combine the formats of both races into one and have a NCAA championship type system:

-Keep the Footlocker Regional System of Northeast, South, Midwest and West.

-Qualifers would be top 4 teams from each regional (16 teams all together that would make it to nat's, no at-large)

-Then the top 12 individuals that did not make it with a team (48 individual spots for nat's, no individual at-large either)

-Hold it on a neutral course that embraces what XC is (that the course has the uphills and downhills but also has the flats for the people from the states that have pancake courses)

I think that this is the best of both worlds. It gives the oppurtunities for the top individuals to battle it out and gives each of the teams the chance to duke it out and get an outright winner. And with little bit of an extended field, it leaves room for upsets and excitement.

The reason this could never happen though is because FL and NXN probably would not agree to collaberate for the greater good of the sport. They would want to keep it separate like it is right now so they can make money...

hey applediddy...is the NXN meet at Portland Meadows inside the horse track? If its the course meet I'm thinking of then there's no way it is comparable to Balboa park. As a matter of fact that course is about the WORST cc course I've ever run. For NIKE to host there national meet there is surprising.

I agree with another poster that both meets should probably combine. I truly wonder what Nike's intention was in all of this. Part of me thinks they started this meet strictly to spite Footlocker and that they didn't have the runner's best intention FIRST. I'm not a fan of at-large teams because no doubt there really is a lot of ass-kissing going on. The people making those decisions probably know who they want at the beginning of the season...there are horrible biases toward certain regions of the country vs. others. I very much like the 8 region format vs. the 4 region format. It must be quite expensive to get kids from colorado to Racine, WI for the FL Midwest meet.

Bottom line I like the aura and tradition of Footlocker vs. the arrogance of the Nike corporate take over, however Nike might have the better overall format.

Those are both BCS demo tournaments that are for sales and advertisement purposes. So why get so uptight about them and try to make them out be be something they can never be. Just let the kids have fun. The BCS is a beauty contest designed to sell TV ads. NXN is a trade show designed to bring high schools to Beaverton. Footlocker is a pseudo championships designed to keep Al Bundy employed. We all know that that's all they were ever meant to be. So just let it go.

Though I haven't read every commenters post, so far no one here has any or at least displayed any vested interest in the differences of NXN and FLN.

All the detractors of NXN are just complaining about events they have no part of. Where are the coaches and athletes complaining about the separate meets. You're arguing in defense for no one.

I know athletes who have competed at NXN and they loved it. I know the coach of a team from NXN and he loved it. I've known athletes who competed at FLN and they loved it. Their coach loved it. Everyone loves these experiences. It doesn't make sense to "kill one off" or bash Nike because they're trying to fill a gap in the competition.

So stfu, quit complaining and just enjoy the good post-season championships.

Looks like California's two top male runners, Moussa and Elias Gedyon, will both run NXN - Gedyon as an individual and Moussa as part of the Arcadia at large qualifying team.

With the Rosas twins, the Calif runners, Zach Wills of Ohio and others at Nike, a Footlocker victory can't possibly mean as much this year. I think it's too bad. There is a lot of history wrapped up with the Footlocker meet. Seems a shame to abandon all that. I personally really hope the 2 meets can either combine or separate themselves enough so that those who want to can have the chance to compete.

Just let the kids have fun at the FLN champs and vacation in gorgeous San Diego, and NXN trade fair at the Nike campus in Beaverton. Those are all wonderful perks for any high school kid. We all know it's not for real. There's no real national champs in HS XC nor in NCAA DI-A football. FLN and NXN are like the football bowl game, Memorial Day 5k, or Turkey Trot 5k, which have a spirited winner, but are not sanctioned as a champion. The kids will only be 16, 17, and 18 once and they should have a memorable high school experience. I hope coaches and adults trying to relive their own poor childhoods don't ruin it for them. The kids will be legal adults soon, and will be in college, working at Walmart, or in the military in a year. Childhood will be over.