Footlocker WEST

You also aren't one of the 4 kids from Arcadia, California, or Carlsbad, since their top-7 went to NXN.

The list narrows...

P.S. Be in 18-20th at the mile and try to move up. Don't worry about college coaches looking at your 50th place disaster. They aren't going to look that hard and if they did, they'd know what happened. They ran once too.

Wow FLW is awesome. It's because of FLW that Los Angeles continue it's undisputed World Domination of track, field, and running for the past 100 years. Thank you to Footlocker and all the volunteers that put on such a wonderful competition for America's youth.

Rained all night, course is trashed, I'll talk to my coaches later as to what is going to happen, I'll update again later. Might be rain course? Idk how footlocker does it.

the list is getting narrow. you might be.....

john lawson: i still think u could have won d4

tyler hanson: i bet when u beat goltra at league u had no idea what was coming up

jack scranton: what happened to you last spring after sac moc??

I was a top 20 regional guy my senior year, top 10 @ state meet week before also @ Woodward. They only took 8 back then and the course was Woodward Park, not Mt. Sac. I have, however, run the Mt. Sac invite course several times and have always found that your position coming off of the switchbacks (1st hill) is about where you're gonna finish, give or take a few spots. The other 2 hills and the contant changing of pace kind of locks everyone into their positions. This means you need to be in the mix early and not let them get away. I supposed this would be true for just about any course, but it is especially true there.

Like the other posters here, and perhaps you, I knew I was in over my head at my regional. I had raced a lot of the same dudes the week before and gotten beaten pretty handily (15 seconds between me and 1st place), but told myself I could run with any of them for 2 miles, which is exactly what I did before dropping off the pace and back to the T-20 finish. I never had a real shot as I was probably top 11 or so though 2, but I ran a gutsy race and left it all out there. Sounds like with your time from last week, you're gonna have to find out how much you have in you and tap into all of it. You can cruise through 2 miles in the top 40 or so and run a respectable time or you can lay it all out there, be in the top 12-15 and just off the pace through and try and hang on. Only the latter way will give you any chance of getting a San Diego spot.

Good luck. Run hard.

Are you DLT? If so, don't go out so hard and you may have a chance.

The three who haven't run Mt Sac are Ryan Corvese, Trevor Reinhart, and Matt Schumann. However, it can't be Reinhart or Schumann because they are sophmores and wouldnt be worrying about colleges like the OP is. Therefore, the poor kid looking for advice is Ryan Corvese.

I'm down in Walnut now and the course SUCKS right now. I was slipping all over the place on the switchbacks (so was everyone else there). Maybe they'll run the rain course, but if they run this usual course then that could really change things up.

seriously, just leave him alone and stop with all the investigatory crap.

I, for one, am rooting for the kid.

Alright, "official word" is they are running the regular course no matter what. Though the course is really trashed and the course is going to be completely destroyed for the later races. Not really sure how this affects your racing plan.

since you're asking for advice: in my opinion, if you're hoping to finish in the top ten, you better start off in the top 20-25. i've been to most of the recent footlockers over the last 10+ years and, as posted earlier, some will die, but not enough if you go out too conservatively.

if you've got a 15:30-ish from state, collegiate coaches will look at that more than a bomb at this race; they know this one is feast or famine, and the list is long of potential contenders who finished outside the top 40. so, my other advice is this: have a contingency goal. if you find yourself in 20th after the 2 mile mark and no hope in sight of making the top ten, what are you going to do? yes, it's easy, even forgivable, to mail it in, but is that what you want? find something still worth fighting for. have someone get a 2 mile split and then have a last mile goal that's still worth fighting for. fight for top 24, for which there are awards. convince yourself to not get passed by more than 5 people.

good luck. i'll be in the open race in the morning; i'll try not to wreck the course too much for you...

Using Mt SAC as the Footlocker West qualifier is ridiculous. I realize the course has some history for California kids but its too gimmicky if a course to use as a general qualifier and doesn't produce the beat teams. I loce the Mr SAC invite but let's use a course similar to Balboa to qualify kids to Balboa.

Fat Kid wrote:

Using Mt SAC as the Footlocker West qualifier is ridiculous. I realize the course has some history for California kids but its too gimmicky if a course to use as a general qualifier and doesn't produce the beat teams. I loce the Mr SAC invite but let's use a course similar to Balboa to qualify kids to Balboa.

MT SAC -- first mile - flat

BALBOA -- first mile - flat

MT SAC -- 2nd mile -- long uphill right after first mile followed by a small strip of flat followed by long/steep downhill

BALBOA -- 2nd mile -- long uphill right after first mile followed by a small strip of flat followed by long/steep downhill. No poopout is a noticeable difference but its short anyways

MT SAC -- third mile -- long uphill followed by a steep downhill ~800m from the finish

BALBOA -- third mile -- long uphill followed by a steep downhill ~800m from the finish

You haven't run these courses have you? Balboa has one real hill that you run twice. Mt SAC has three STAGGERING hills on succession after the two-loop first mile which turns the first mile into an all out race for position. There is no other strategy but to go out too fast and hope it works. For kids outside of Southern California the odds of mastering this course in the first try are long.

Fat Kid wrote:

You haven't run these courses have you? Balboa has one real hill that you run twice. Mt SAC has three STAGGERING hills on succession after the two-loop first mile which turns the first mile into an all out race for position. There is no other strategy but to go out too fast and hope it works. For kids outside of Southern California the odds of mastering this course in the first try are long.

Of course, there are other strategies. If a runner is disciplined and psychologically strong enough to push from well off the lead, running a smooth steady first mile at Mt. Sac is absolutely the best strategy. Don't kill yourself on the switchbacks (the first hill) but run through them all the way to the top and then keep moving on the relatively flat portion and let yourself go flat out on the downhill. Repeat on poop out and reservoir. The key to fast times at Mt. Sac is gaining time and position on the uphills and downhills, which means you'll be gaining on everyone other than the top five or so runners in the race.

The tough part with any coming from behind plan is avoiding settling in with other runners for very long. It's okay to sit in a group on the flats but you have to gain on the ups and downs. And you can't have any let-ups going up or coming down. You have to concentrate and keep moving up and down.

Ultimately, though, you could put yourself 15-20 seconds off the lead in the first mile and never move close to the top 10. If the leaders are too good (and they will be good), you won't catch them but you will pass a lot of people from the start of the switchbacks to the finish.

Unfortunately, it is extremely difficult to run far off the lead and then even more difficult to run strong through the three hills and downhills. If you can pull it off, it will get you to a best possible time and give you a shot at 10th place.

Of course, given the amount of rain that fell on Friday and despite the avowals that they're going to run the normal course, it's possible they'll switch to the rain course, which makes the race a mostly flat road run. The good news is it hasn't been raining overnight and is not supposed to rain at all through the morning at Mt. Sac.

Good luck.

Good luck, kid!

I'd go with even pacing now; at your age, I went out too fast and blew up. Pick a pace that you think will qualify and go for it; you'll be encouraged at the end of the race as you pick people off.

What always struck me about this course and meet was that it took a huge effort and toll to place top 10 and qualify, and with only a week to recover from those hills, it is plenty tough to turn in another stellar performance in San Diego.

But the trip to San Diego is worth it in any case - nothing like the Del Coronado at holiday time.

I disagree a bit with the person who wrote that only southern Calif. kids can expect to master the course - 2 Arizona guys recently won the Foot Locker West race, and I don't think either of them had ever run the Mt. Sac course except at Foot Locker. The way it plays out, it seems like the top 5 seeded guys usually perform about as expected, and the next 5 could come out of nowhere to get a spot.

Wouldn't be surprised if Austin Goins or Garret Corcoran made it.

Gl man. Rooting for ya