There is a soph on the track team who runs a 49 something for the 400m and 22 something for the 200m, I'm a distance runner, others and I were trying to get him to come out and do cross country and quit football. Although, sprinters generally come from football players do you think his speed at track would be jeopardized by doing cross country? Should we stop trying to get him for cross country?
Well, considering what would be best for him... would turning out for cross country be better than turning out for football?
If, long term, he is going to be a 200/400 guy... football would probably be the better choice for him. It's the more explosive sport, and the workouts he does in football is going to help him become a better 200m guy.
If, long term, he is going to be a better 400/800 guy, then cross country would probably be the better choice for him.
It's not going to do a 200m/400m guy a whole lot of good choosing cross country over football, because they'll want to focus on becoming as fast and explosive as possible, rather than becoming (aerobically) stronger with better speed endurance. It's not that cross country would necessarily hurt him (if trained properly), it's that it wouldn't really help him.