I have 3 daughters and a son. They all attended a large high school in the Midwest that is one of the top schools in the state in athletics. All are good students and athletes.
My son was a baseball and basketball player in high school and played baseball at a D3 school in the Midwest in the UAA conference. Running was something he hated and I think that the reason he chose to play baseball in college was that he didn't like the fact that there was so much running in basketball.
My middle 2 daughters were both good runners and the oldest of the two just finished her senior year playing soccer at a D1 school. When she was in the 8th grade in middle school the xc & track coach tried to get her to run XC and the 400 & 800 in track. He knew that she was a good runner because of the fitness tests that they did in PE classes and she also always won the community XC race that is held for grade school and middle school kids. I think when the kids are really young it's only a 1-mile run and by the 4th through 8th grade, it's something like 1.5 miles. She always easily won and would beat the girls running track and XC. In middle school, the coach told her that he knew she played soccer and all that she would need to do would come to the meets that she could make. She didn't even need to come to practice. We wouldn't let her do it because my opinion and my wife's opinion was that it wouldn't be fair to the kids that were making practice. When she got to high school, she was still a good runner but had no desire to be on the XC or track teams,
The youngest of the two daughters dabbled in recreational soccer but running is her passion. She gave soccer up altogether by middle school and ran XC and track. When she was in middle school there were runners that played soccer that would only show up to the meets. If those were my kids I wouldn't have allowed it but to each their own. It didn't bother me because my daughter was a better runner than any of them. I do know that there were parents and other kids that it did bother. I don't know if any of them ever said anything to the coach or not. Seeing their anger reinforced that I made the right decision with my older daughter.
When the middle daughter that was the runner got to high school, some of those same girls that were allowed by the middle school coach to run, approached the high school coach and asked if he would allow it. He said absolutely not and said that it is a team and not a "running club." The kids could have helped the team but his training was very specific and he ran specific workouts on specific days, tapered the runners at specific times, etc. I respected him a lot for making that decision even though the runners might have benefitted the team. The coach is one of the best in the state and the team finished in the top 5 at the state meet. That daughter is currently running at a D3 school, also in the UAA conference, and has been pretty successful. After she graduated from HS I asked her if it would have bothered her if the soccer players ran and didn't attend practice even if she was a better runner and she would not have been threatened by them. She said that it would have bothered her a lot and she knows for a fact that some of her friends would have quit the team.
The youngest daughter just plays soccer and has no desire to run.
It's JMO but a coach that allows this is not doing the right thing even if the runners help the team. I still respect the HS coach a great deal because I know that he still does not allow it to happen.