Mike Fout wins Footlocker

I am not in the least suprised, as soon as the conditions turned into "real xc" the midwest guys took over. so much for the hard as a rock fast course....Great race and guts.

It really had nothing to do with course conditions. In both the men's and women's races the leaders, who ran hard first miles, got run down by people who ran tactically smarter races and made their moves on the last hill.

Yeah, but it looked like Fout was not that far off the pace early on. He ran pretty hard from the gun.

seabiscuit wrote:

He ran pretty hard from the gun.

brilliant observation

How many of the people on this board are from somewhere other than Cali?

German runs a Cali state record and gets his nuts sucked on for days, then gets stomped by some dudes from the midwest, and this is all the response?

Bwahahha!

Fernandez forgets his spikes then busts a 4:28 first mile. Hmmm...is he academically eligible for college?

Fout ran awessomely smart and strong, but I would like to see him against Derrick if he hadn't run NTN.

What a great group this year..bring on the track!

brillo wrote:

How many of the people on this board are from somewhere other than Cali?

German runs a Cali state record and gets his nuts sucked on for days, then gets stomped by some dudes from the midwest, and this is all the response?

Bwahahha!

I love it! I am glad German got worked and how do you forget to bring your spikes to a RACE!!!

Pukestra runs a 4:28 first mile just to get on TV, says he did what he set out to do, fades badly, has to have the worst strategy ever, Hernandez averaged 4:39/mile at state yet this 2nd mile has him by the balls, can't surge or even respond, has to be the most disappointing FL finals race ever. Can't believe a race of that caliber has a 5:00 middle mile and only Fout has the answer.

I am not sure what you mean by "got worked." If you mean running competitively but never leading a national championship race and getting 3rd 19 seconds back, then you will never have to worry about getting worked in your running career.

Don't get started with that "forgot his spikes" crap, I heard enough about that on the Stat. He wore the same shoes that he wore at the CA state meet, they're Nike Waffle racers without spike wells in them- hardly a disadvantage on the course. Watch the video and tell me there were any spots where he was at a disadvantage wearing flats. There was nothing on the course that would have been any easier to run on in spikes. Yes, he slipped at the start line, so did a handful of other guys who had spikes on.

Fout ran the best race of the day. He held off just enough in the beginning to move at the end. If Derrick had stayed a little closer to the leaders and not let himself get gapped by the first mile, he might have made a race out of it. If Fernandez hadn't tried to stick to a 4:28 first mile, he might have made a race out of it. Neither one of them did, and I say good, they'll both learn from it and be better racers in the future. Fout took a page out of history and moved at the same spot in the race as Withrow did in 2003, in a similar race where he was not considered a favorite(except he held his move, instead of having to kick for the win like Withrow did). And to that, I also say good, he is a smart racer, and whether he meant to mirror another Midwester or not, he ran a very calm and collected race for suce a young runner. I was incredibly impressed with many performances on Saturday, but none more so than Fout.

Californians have a state meet that's basically as tough as FL Regionals, then they have Regionals and then Nationals. No rest. Everyone else gets a break.

If the Western region had two weeks rest, they would have been much more competitive.

Poor California; they get to run the national championships at home every year. What will someone do next? Make them travel to the east coast and run in the snow?

lolo wrote:

I love it! I am glad German got worked and how do you forget to bring your spikes to a RACE!!!

You're a very sad person if you're excited that a HIGH SCHOOL runner, that you've most likely never met, didn't run well in an important race.

The 'fanboys' are annoying, I agree with that much, but what did Fernandez do to you? You either have a personal problem with him or issues you need to deal with.

What a humble winner. Congrats to Fout!

http://www.milesplit.us/videos/1336756237

I don't think your allowwed to wear spikes at the Ca state meet? Can someone clarify?

Huckabee wrote:

Poor California; they get to run the national championships at home every year. What will someone do next? Make them travel to the east coast and run in the snow?

You are aware that San Diego and Morley Field were not "home" or the "home course" for any of the California runners this year? Several of the Southern California counties are larger than all but a handful of the states in the rest of the country. The distance that Fernandez had to travel to FL was about the same as from New York to North Carolina.

Fout has gotten a lack of credit all season no matter what level he was running at.

He beat Derrick before NTN... and then suddenly Derrick was "coasting"... then he beats Derrick again but Derrick was worn down from NTN. Listen to Derrick's interview and he gives all credit to Fout.

And I don't know much of anything about forgetting the spikes... but if you can forget the spikes before the national meet where you are the favorite... what in the world could you be thinking? I'm guessing he didn't 'forget' any spikes... just didn't race in spikes.

Fout is humble, and one of the classiest guys I have ever had the pleasure of "competing" with. He has over come a great deal of injuries and doubters in his years, and will continue to do it on the track this spring.

You sir are a moron.

At least check outlandish facts before you post them.

San Bernardino, California's largest county is 20,052.50 square miles.

http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/06/06071.html

The only states it's larger than are:

42 Maryland 12,407

43 Hawaii 10,932

44 Massachusetts 10,555

45 Vermont 9,615

46 New Hampshire 9,351

47 New Jersey 8,722

48 Connecticut 5,544

49 Delaware 2,489

50 Rhode Island 1,545

http://www.wisegeek.com/how-big-are-the-states-in-america.htm

at any rate, i agree, the 'only a weeks rest' (which many others had who ran in a much more competitive ntn along with the travel for that event) is balanced by the proximity of FL nats.

i traveled and flew alot in college and i'm sure we had more days to 'acclimate' than these hs kids did (in the middle of the school year, i'm sure they weren't there for 4 or 5 days), and it's hard on you to travel and race.

one more thing: the CA runners race three weeks in a row. States, regionals, and nats. many of the rest of the country has run four. states, FL regionals, ntn, and FL nats.

get over yourself. excuses have no place when you're outmatched.

props fout!

And Californians also get to run in 70 degree weather in October and November. Fout has to run in snow and freezing temperatures and at times it's too bad to even train outdoors. The typical California runner wouldn't have a chance.....