cut from x-country and hurt

In my high school, they didn't cut anyone. They had a varsity race and a JV race. Anyone who couldn't make varsity was on JV. Why doesn't your school do something like that?

I've never heard of a high school cutting runners from its cross country team. When you get to the conference and district meets where you only are allowed 7 runners, people are left off. But every program I've ever known anything about keeps everyone who turns out.

Is this a new trend, anyone?

Sorry to hear that you are not as fast as the rest of the kids. To run, and race you don't need to be on a team----continue to train and race young man....miles and patience could do you wonders.

Seems like you should train better so that you are faster.

Any coach that cuts down a high school cross country team to 8 runners shouldn't be coaching. Cross country should be a participation sport in high school. Look at York. They have 100 plus runners every year, and they win a state title almost every year. Cutting down to a small group is not the answer.

I think it's funny that he thinks if he gets a couple of injuries that he can go to a reserve list to fill in. Does he actually believe those guys are going to be training because of the chance that they might be called up? He is really setting up this team for failure.

man, i'm serious when say this. go freaking kock the bottom out of this fall- train your butt off. eat right. do everything. bust a road race or two, then kill them all in track. rise to the occasion, little buddy. get inspired!!!!

running doesn't suck. your coach has a policy that i have never heard of at the HS level. as much as i don't like people interfering in my life i would suggest that you inform your athletic director of the cuts in a sport that has no history of cutting people. argue that people progress at different rates of progress and you seem to have earned the opportunity to participate. also, add that in a time where fitness in america is at an all time low, a lifetime activity sport that costs the school very little in terms of money per athlete should encourage participation not exclusion.

your AD might want to review this coaches policy on deveolping people through sport.

you might want to edit this thread, print it and bring it to the powers that be in your school.

Where is this school? I\'ve never heard of a cross country team cutting to such a small number. Don\'t they have JV meets in your area for those that don\'t make the varsity?

What's wrong with your coach? You had a time trial on the track and on the road but this sport is Cross Country. Shouldn't he have had a time trial on a Cross Country course?

Anyway, the other posters are right. Unless there's a very good reason, there should be no cuts for XC. Hell, even if there's no JV then you should at least be allowed to practice with the team and once in a while allowed to race, like at invitationals...

Let me get this straight...Your team is going to start 7 in the big meets, correct? And the school is keeping 8 runners-1 more than a complete starting lineup? Is your Football team limited to 25 on the roster? That would be a similar ratio. Is your Basketball team going to go with a roster of 6? Is Baseball going to carry 10 or 11?

See what I'm saying?

I can see an across the board "no no-cut" policy if that's what a district chooses for all sports. Not saying I'm in favor of it for XC or other sports that traditionally have taken all comers just that I can see a school administration making a rule that affects all school teams in the same way. What I can't see is a roster that's limited to such a small number above the size of a full team. With only 12 trying out for XC it seems like it would have been reasonable to keep all 12. That would be about the same as a football team carrying 40 or basketball carrying 9-11, which are pretty normal team sizes at least around here.

If you love running don't be disillusioned. Keep up your training and find some local road races and tear it up, and then stick it to them when Track rolls around.

Not a trend in Colorado! I know of two high schools with over 200 kids on the team.

The sad thing about this is that it inhibits improvement. Most runners need a team to motivate them early and some are just late bloomers. As an example, here is my progression:

Freshman in HS: 15th on team

Sophomore in HS: 9th on team

Junior in HS: 5th on team

Senior in HS: 4th on team

Sophomore in College: 6th on team

Junior in College: 4th on team

Senior in College: 1st on team

Would I have progressed like that had I been cut early on? Very unlikely.

If only there were someplace where the name of this school, its athletic director and coach could be made public along with, oh, something like an email address, so those powers-that-be might offered alternative scenarios to team selection -- in a respectful non-bashing manner, of course. If only there were some way....

flats wrote:

Sorry to hear that you are not as fast as the rest of the kids. To run, and race you don't need to be on a team----continue to train and race young man....miles and patience could do you wonders.

Exactly. Train your ass off, let the coach call you and say they need someone else, and tell his ass No.

don't panic, adjust wrote:

running doesn't suck. your coach has a policy that i have never heard of at the HS level. as much as i don't like people interfering in my life i would suggest that you inform your athletic director of the cuts in a sport that has no history of cutting people. argue that people progress at different rates of progress and you seem to have earned the opportunity to participate. also, add that in a time where fitness in america is at an all time low, a lifetime activity sport that costs the school very little in terms of money per athlete should encourage participation not exclusion.

your AD might want to review this coaches policy on deveolping people through sport.

you might want to edit this thread, print it and bring it to the powers that be in your school.

In the very first sentence of the original poster he says that HIS SCHOOL changed their no-cut policy for varsity sports. It doesn't appear that the coach had anything to do with the policy, it was the athletic director telling him that he couldn't keep everyone on the team anymore, most likely to save money. Everyone is getting on the coach for doing what he was told by the school. Going to the athletic director won't help, since it was most likely his idea.

With that said, I do think the coach needs to rethink his process for deciding which 8 kids to keep. First of all, as someone said, why are the time trials on a track and roads, instead of a cross country course. Second of all, at this age you should not be looking at times from previous years, you should be looking at the times the kids are running now. The two seniors obviously did not work hard enough and aren't one of the best 8 runners, so they should be cut, simple as that.

d2xccoach wrote:

Let me get this straight...Your team is going to start 7 in the big meets, correct? And the school is keeping 8 runners-1 more than a complete starting lineup? Is your Football team limited to 25 on the roster? That would be a similar ratio. Is your Basketball team going to go with a roster of 6? Is Baseball going to carry 10 or 11?

I thought a complete starting lineup in xc was 5 runners. Isn't that why a perfect score is 15?

don't cut wrote:

. Cross country should be a participation sport in high school.

While I agree that there should be no cuts in Cross Country for all the reasons posted, I find it ironic that on Letsrun the majority of posters feel that "participation" runners are "killing" the sport, yet have the soccer mom mentality when it comes to this.

Which is it?

5 score but 7 can effect the scoring by dropping down runners from the other teams.

I had a similiar situation but in college (smaller, decent DI program). I ran my freshman year, in which there were no roster cuts. We had 15-16 guys on the team. The next year, due to Title IX, the athletic dept put a roster limit on the men's cross team. The coach had no choice in the matter. However, he felt a loyalty to the seniors. They had worked hard for 3 years, and he wasn't going to hang them out to dry in their final year. So even though I had run some faster times, than a couple of the seniors, they got the spots, and I didn't. But I could understand the coaches point of view. That year our roster was 13 guys.

So I trained and came back next year. Now the limit was 10 guys. (Which is too few. A few injuries and you barely can field a full squad. I always felt 14 was fair. You can put 7 on the line at Nationals. So two full teams of 7 should be the minimum on a squad. Every other sport can field two full teams.) Once again I missed out. This time the coach left a spot open for a returning senior coming off a stress fracture. Ultimately, that senior never did run. But that year, I continued to train and in the opens at cross races and beat some of the guys on the team.

So by senior year, I worked my way onto the team. And than ran again as a 5th year senior.

I continue to run today, with a 2:35 marathon PR.

To disillusioned. If the roster limits came from the AD, the coach is in a difficult situation. He probably has a loyalty to the seniors. They have been around 3 years and he knows their work ethic and potential and may not feel that it's fair to cut them their last year, if this is a new policy. Continue running. Talk to the coach about getting into open races at meets. Stay positive. The one great thing about running is you can do it without a team. Continue to train and come back next year, stronger and faster, and earn your way on to the team. (but don't be an a-hole about it like most Let'srun posters suggest).