Brooks can't be called a national championship. It is a mid-distance/distance meet with a few other non-elite events thrown in. Anything put on by Brooks will never be a true national championship.
Thank you for stating the obvious truth that not many here seem to grasp; despite what LRC may imagine, distance running is not the entirety of the sport. You're not a track and field national championship if you don't have field events or serious sprint fields, you're a distance showcase (which is fine, but don't pretend to be something you're not). Anyway, if there's three or four national championships in a season, then there's actually zero of them. Having multiple national championships inherently defeats the purpose of having a national championship.
Ummmmm 100, 400, 110 hurdles, 800, mile, 2 mile. They are just missing the 200. Why the Brooks hate? They also added 400, 800, mile for junior high last year and I don’t think they fly those kids out but they are putting their families up in hotels. But yeah, let’s crap on the company/track meet that’s actually investing hard cash in doing good for the sport 🙄
Brooks doesnt market it as "The National Championship". Not sure why everyone keeps saying they do exactly. They actually formally call it an "Invitational" and "the world’s fastest high school track meet". And they operate it as an All Star meet which is exactly what it is. Its a gimmick they fully own. No need to bash them. Theres room for that I think. It clearly works considering the results.
You all do realize that some of these national ranked kids don't compete in any national meet. The #1 boys high school shot put kid won state by a huge margin and didn't compete in any nationals meet. A lot of kids and families can't afford to go to any of the meets or desire to pad their resumes.
You all do realize that some of these national ranked kids don't compete in any national meet. The #1 boys high school shot put kid won state by a huge margin and didn't compete in any nationals meet. A lot of kids and families can't afford to go to any of the meets or desire to pad their resumes.
Yeah, it's a bummer, that's why I think a true outdoor HS national championship should be in one of our states that's a hotbed for producing national caliber T&F athletes: California, Texas or Florida. At least some of the kids would be able to drive to the meet. These states are also pretty accessible to everyone else, lots of flights and accommodations. I know some on here are going to complain about the heat in these states for the distance races, but it was over 100 degrees at Arcadia last year and they pushed back the start of the 3200s a couple of hours and the kids ran just fine. Keep in mind by June there aren't too many places in the US where heat and humidity aren't going to be a factor.
I've been to quite a few of these national level high school meets and "championships" over the years, Arcadia continues to impress me. Arcadia always has really deep fields across the board, lots and lots of kids participating and full stands the entire meet. It goes to show what can be accomplished by having a high quality high school meet in a large population center with good weather. Nike Outdoor Nationals in Eugene last year by comparison was a pretty big let down for our kids: expensive travel, crappy weather, empty stands and frankly pretty weak competition. I didn't make it NB outdoor last year, but I can't imagine it was a whole lot better.
Brooks can't be called a national championship. It is a mid-distance/distance meet with a few other non-elite events thrown in. Anything put on by Brooks will never be a true national championship.
Brooks doesnt market it as "The National Championship". Not sure why everyone keeps saying they do exactly. They actually formally call it an "Invitational" and "the world’s fastest high school track meet". And they operate it as an All Star meet which is exactly what it is. Its a gimmick they fully own. No need to bash them. Theres room for that I think. It clearly works considering the results.
I don't think anyone is accusing Brooks of also hosting a national championship, but the timing of it definitely pulls some talent away from the other championships. Great Southwest for example is another great invitational with plenty of national championship caliber athletes, but it's usually scheduled 2 weeks before Brooks PR and the other "championship" meets.
Nobody is driving from the midwest to Texas or California. The 3 states mentioned might have some top sprinters, but the top high jump, throws and pole vaulters are all from the midwest.
Adidas put on a GREAT outdoor meet from around 2000-2004. At the time there was only Footlocker in the fall, Nike Indoors in March, and then Adidas Outdoors in June. Best track meet by far since it was summer and athletes could travel without school obligations. It used to be held at NC State, then Nike took over outdoor nationals and moved it to NC A&T.
Like the OP said, there are more meets than ever. Two "national championships" in XC, three for indoor, and I don't know how many outdoor.
This is so true..I went to Raleigh until it moved and then went to Greensboro thru 2009? Then I stopped. Raleigh was a great Venue, you could see the whole meet from concrete bleachers that were only like 10 or so rows? I saw amazing stuff. I went 9 years in a row as meet moved and changed sponserships.
Adidas put on a GREAT outdoor meet from around 2000-2004. At the time there was only Footlocker in the fall, Nike Indoors in March, and then Adidas Outdoors in June. Best track meet by far since it was summer and athletes could travel without school obligations. It used to be held at NC State, then Nike took over outdoor nationals and moved it to NC A&T.
Incorrect. The National Scholastic Indoor Championships (NSIC) had been around since the 80s. It had filled the role of the "sole National Championships" for Indoor Track & Field for quite sometime. Nike started the whole mess we find ourselves in today when in 1999 they began the Nike Indoor Classic. That meet functioned more like a large nationally competitive invitational, but it wasn't until it was rebranded/renamed the Nike Indoor Championships in 2003 that the intentional effort to position the meet as a rival "national championship" was made resulting in there being multiple "national championships".
What do you mean it's not a "championship"? There is no high school national championship other than maybe USATF Junior Champs.
Well, it's a one coast elite invite. Not a national at all. I think NB is much closer to N Championship than USATF. NB is household word for HS nationals. Still a bit regional I know.
I've had athletes win a NBO Championship race and we've never once said they are "national champions", simply that they won NBO. Same when Irene Riggs introduces herself, says she won "Nike Nationals" and doesn't say she's the "national champion."
Nobody is driving from the midwest to Texas or California. The 3 states mentioned might have some top sprinters, but the top high jump, throws and pole vaulters are all from the midwest.
This is just not correct. In 2022 for example, 3 of the top 10 boys pole vaulters were from Texas. California and Texas had 2 each in the top 10 for boys discus and shot put. Texas had 2 boys in the top 10 in the long jump and high jump, it was the only state to have more than one athlete in either one of those. Texas had 3 girls in the top 10 in high jump, pole vault, the discus and 2 girls in the top 10 in the shot put. I could go on, but as I dig through the high school rankings for the last couple of years in the field events my point is made even more clear, Texas is the only state regularly producing top 10 nationally ranked high school athletes, in every single field event. In fact doing this kind of changed my mind about Florida, I see Georgia, Pennsylvania and Ohio more regularly with athletes in the top 10 in the field events than Florida.
So that's that, we should hold our national high school championships in Texas.
I've had athletes win a NBO Championship race and we've never once said they are "national champions", simply that they won NBO. Same when Irene Riggs introduces herself, says she won "Nike Nationals" and doesn't say she's the "national champion."
IDK, maybe they should? At least til we have one NC in Denver or something someday? NB is historically the high water mark. But yes, far from having every single elite HS athlete.
no matter what you do a true national championship doesn't exist in any manner and never will. States are on totally different schedules with totally different rules. State championships are all different weekends. Even in cross, some kids are showing to nationals a month after they peaked for states. Others are getting one week rest before they compete at nationals. Even teams at NXN that know they aren't top 5 aren't peaking for that race, a bunch of the teams are just there enjoying the trip - who cares if you finish 20th or 28th. For track to even consider indoor a national championship when half the states barely run an indoor season. It's a fun event for kids to brag about going to and enjoy a trip. It is an elite invitational with standards where some corporation is making money off of it. Who cares what they call it.
Nobody is driving from the midwest to Texas or California. The 3 states mentioned might have some top sprinters, but the top high jump, throws and pole vaulters are all from the midwest.
This is just not correct. In 2022 for example, 3 of the top 10 boys pole vaulters were from Texas. California and Texas had 2 each in the top 10 for boys discus and shot put. Texas had 2 boys in the top 10 in the long jump and high jump, it was the only state to have more than one athlete in either one of those. Texas had 3 girls in the top 10 in high jump, pole vault, the discus and 2 girls in the top 10 in the shot put. I could go on, but as I dig through the high school rankings for the last couple of years in the field events my point is made even more clear, Texas is the only state regularly producing top 10 nationally ranked high school athletes, in every single field event. In fact doing this kind of changed my mind about Florida, I see Georgia, Pennsylvania and Ohio more regularly with athletes in the top 10 in the field events than Florida.
So that's that, we should hold our national high school championships in Texas.
The thing is that was last year. If you look at current results Texas has a few but most field events and running only have one kid in the top 10. Considering the size of Texas you would think they would have more kids.