So should they have a separate meet for people that qualify without a team? People train their asses off for months on end and when they go AA it is pointless?
When people will talk about you 20 years from now they are going to label you as an AA maybe even a 6x AA, that is why they have the race so one can achieve that label. Without that then what separates the winner and the last finisher? Should they just hand out ribbons to all the finishers at the end like a fun run and call it a day and to team tallies an go home?
When you talk to people and they ask you how you were as a runner do you say i was "okay" or do you none conceitedly say i was an AA?
And if nothing matters besides the team, then why did you run track? Going out and running a race as an individual must have driven you crazy knowing that you were being compared to other individuals as well and where you placed in that race determined how you were labeled and not your team...
Team titles are important to me as well but to come on here and say that being classified as AA is pointless and that the only point of the race is to determine the team winner is bullshit in my opinion. There are shitty teams out there that train their asses off day after day dreaming of regionals for what? So that they can fulfill the dream of going to Nat's and their goal might be top 10, and if they get 9th is that pointless? They might not have a team full of AA's or Footlocker finalist but a team full of avg joes that had a dream and came together and did something that the winning team says is pointless? because your not first or second there was no reason to show up? The more people in the race make it less competitive? So how about the just take one team from each region and no individuals and so then there could be a handful and then we can determine who is the best and besides that its thanks for showing up your team is a piece of shit and doesn't deserve to be here and we won't record the results of anybody but the winning team because everything else doesn't matter, that is the dumbest thing I have ever heard. That guy that got last in the race maybe be proud of that race because he can at least say "hey i was there" and look up the results and show people, probally not, but there are people that I have heard personally that went to nationals and ran shitty and years later brought it up and said at least i made it.