spectator wrote:
The fact that club track/XC is an isolated (and often pilloried) adjunct (often seen as subservient) to the school season is a sad reflection on the priorities of the sport.
You are the one with the priorities in the wrong place. The main focus of high school athletics is not about "the priorities of the sport." It is all about the high school experience. If someone happens to display the ability and willingness to take it to the next level, that is great. But the overwhelming majority of high school runners are rightfully in it for reasons other than advancing the status of American distance running.