Worst HS national meet in 5 years

You'll Dance to Anything

Where are all the Jesuits

did you see the race? The course was super wet. They had to run through shin deep water a couple of times. Lots of slipping on the turns as well.

Didn’t see it, so I don’t know: what would be the results of getting a pump out on the course to drain (pump off) areas of standing water? Would that be possible?

not a chance it was disappointing! you must be watching RL or FL.

Nobody cares about this race, the real runners have moved on to track season.

Ever heard of mud?

I am very sorry that it wasn't a scripted time trial where your preferred hero wins and runs a record time on a gigantic putting green or artificial turf field. I was there and the racing was exciting! The weather created a course that was somewhat unpredictable and produced surprises. The true measure of a champion is their ability to adapt and to overcome whatever is thrown at them. Many kids did just that today and it was refreshing to see.

Hype is just that...hype. We still run the races to see who wins. A real championship race shouldn't be a coronation parade for the most popular runners or teams. Life is exciting when the outcome is different than expected. Methinks that you don't really care about the action, you just want to be right so that you appear smart and that you require some validation by proxy.

Honestly, one of the best meets that I have been to. The women's race had 3 lead changes and the men's race had drama as well. I like Nathan Neil moving up from from 10th to 3rd in the last 400. Herriman ran like champs.

I can say that all of this kids had a blast as you can tell from their post interviews. This course, this weather and inconvenient mud puddle is exactly what cross country is all about.

My kid got a picture with Grant Fisher.

Today was great.

Its really not. I mean, sure, one race that is a caricature of an actual race, who cares, right? Could even be fun at the right time.

But you'd like the race that (supposedly) means something and for which many parents paid $$$$$ to attend, to be an honest race on an actual running course rather than in a swimming pool.

This will not help this meet going forward.

Also, RL was a dud apparently. All this is great. Either have 1 meet or just move on to indoor after states. XC season is just way too long.

So when Colorado won NCAAs in the mud in ‘04 and ‘06 that wasn’t real XC?

NXN is too wet. Running Lane is too flat. Foot Locker is too hilly. Mt SAC has too much pavement. Woodbridge isn't 5k. Blah Blah Blah. Some people just like to find things to complain about.

Cross country is about racing and who wins and who loses, not about these other silly things that some people like to whine about.

Stop crying that your "preferred winners" choked and blamed it on the conditions, this is cross country not mickey mouse track and field. If anything this win means 10x more than with Nico/Aaron given more athletes were capable to run right around the winning time and it was more tactical.

I think the problem with woodbridge was that it was a 5k and people wanted to run 3 miles. So they changed it.

This guy does have somewhat of a point. Yes cross country should be hard and athletes should be able to handle adversity of the course, but at some point a course does become TOO difficult.

Ten meters of ankle-deep standing water is now too difficult? I overheard a very well-known and respected college coach at the meet talking about how this was like Irish and English XC and it informs him about an athlete's grit. He was loving it as it confirmed/exposed some runners that he came to watch.

And that is exactly how cross country running should be. Perfectly dry groomed courses are boring. I want to see something more akin to fell running.

Simple solution to rain - put a tarp over the course (like on baseball infields). Days of rain happen at this time of the year sometimes. It is XC, get over it. You people would drown in Euro XC races (check out 1989 Worlds at Stavanger, or 2001 in Ostend). Track (like Boston yesterday) serves a different purpose.

But, yes, the XC season is too long. Need to decide what is more important - early meets where kids run fast on dry, flat courses, or end of season meets that bring the better runners in the country to compete against each other, but risk inclement weather. I think many kids race too much in XC season - 3M/5k every week (or more) for months on end is NOT developmental for many, especially if they go straight into indoor track.

Yes, that can happen. See NXN 2012 when none of the boys broke 17 minutes.

But yesterday's NXN wasn't "TOO difficult."

The OP started the thread stating that the fields were weaker than previous years. I thought the course was fine and added some excitement.