Foot Locker 2014 Is Going to Be Legendary

Mark my words, Matthew Maton will not be at Foot Locker next year.

Assuming all of the returning guys are healthy next XC season. Not always the case.

The only way Matthew Maton will not be at footlocker is if his team gets alot better and qualifys for NXN as a team. Matthew will not go to NXN as an individual.

next year Austin Tamagno will be a Junior and is planning on running Footlocker. He will be a threat to win it!

Son, NXN took the top 3 using speed ratings. Sorry NXN wins.

Footlocker is basically a race between a couple really good guys. Anyone who holds to the illusion of continued FL dominance is either crazy or blind. FL now is not the same race as it was pre-NXN. The talent splits between the two races and that's the way it'll probably continue to be. If the wannabees don't see it, the shoe companies certainly do. Isn't FL on it's 2nd sponsor after Nike left? I predict it'll be another year or two, and you'll see post-Nike sponsor #3.

A lot of the FL thing depends on the region. In our region, the South, the guys get maybe 1 really good runner like McGorty and a bunch of ultimately overrated good-but-not-greats who think they're amazing because they can run a 3 mile course and convince themselves it was a 5k. Any good HS kid with half a brain will jump on NXN if they think it's an easier road to qualifying for the National, and that appears to be the case with at least several of the top runners over the last several years.

In Regions like the Midwest, where you can qualify for both races, you see a number of HS kids do that - even though it's fairly clear you can't double back very well. If HS kids in the Midwest viewed FL as the greatest thing since sliced bread, then they'd bail on NXN and go after the FL berth.

Who the f--- cares about "speed ratings"? Worst thing I've seen since Groundhog Day in predicting winters.

FootLocker cannot be rivaled because of the course. Tons of tradition and now with Asics's sponsorship and big $$$, it will continue to be at the forefront of US HS XC Championships.

NXN is too limited in scope. You want to know how deep FootLocker was compared to NXN? FootLocker had 20 guys come through the mile together, whereas NXN was already decided 1600m in both the boys and girls races.

FootLocker just has too much depth, whereas NXN panders to the 18:00 5K boys and 20:00 5K girls and "team charity" running.

Footlocker Nationals

= best cross country race in the country

Nike

= bad attitudes, bullies, terrible course, sucks to be them

They don't need to get a lot better. They are probably returning the second, maybe third, most amount of talent in the Northwest. That's behind Central Catholic and maybe North Central.

Now just where did Efraimson, Cranny and Baxter run?

Gcol wrote:

FootLocker just has too much depth, whereas NXN panders to the 18:00 5K boys and 20:00 5K girls and "team charity" running.

If you're an individual running at NXN, you're not running 18.00/20.00 for 5k. Maybe the seventh man on a team that fell through the cracks, but NXN is still legit. The top individuals may not be as deep at NXN as Footlocker, but the point of NXN is ultimately teams, not indivuduals. You need to have a great team to get to NXN.

Source?

Source?

Gcol wrote:

Who the f--- cares about "speed ratings"? Worst thing I've seen since Groundhog Day in predicting winters.

FootLocker cannot be rivaled because of the course. Tons of tradition and now with Asics's sponsorship and big $$$, it will continue to be at the forefront of US HS XC Championships.

NXN is too limited in scope. You want to know how deep FootLocker was compared to NXN? FootLocker had 20 guys come through the mile together, whereas NXN was already decided 1600m in both the boys and girls races.

FootLocker just has too much depth, whereas NXN panders to the 18:00 5K boys and 20:00 5K girls and "team charity" running.

Or 20 people were at the mile because they were running slow as hell.. even the announcers at the "All Great" FL realized they were going slow and mentioned it.

Gym Class Shuffle wrote:

Gcol wrote:

Who the f--- cares about "speed ratings"? Worst thing I've seen since Groundhog Day in predicting winters.

FootLocker cannot be rivaled because of the course. Tons of tradition and now with Asics's sponsorship and big $$$, it will continue to be at the forefront of US HS XC Championships.

NXN is too limited in scope. You want to know how deep FootLocker was compared to NXN? FootLocker had 20 guys come through the mile together, whereas NXN was already decided 1600m in both the boys and girls races.

FootLocker just has too much depth, whereas NXN panders to the 18:00 5K boys and 20:00 5K girls and "team charity" running.

Or 20 people were at the mile because they were running slow as hell.. even the announcers at the "All Great" FL realized they were going slow and mentioned it.

Tactical race. They closed fast.

The real truth is that both meets are here to stay whether the NXN or FL fanboys like it or not. Both meets have their pros and their cons. Some years FL will be stronger and other years NXNs will be. Footlocker has more history and its course is much better. NXN has a definite best team.

the truth is hard wrote:

Footlocker is basically a race between a couple really good guys.

That's what the Olympics is too. We don't get to bring a bunch of 13:30 scrubs along in a big 5k and crown some team champ too.

Dennis Reynolds 2.0 wrote:

the truth is hard wrote:

Footlocker is basically a race between a couple really good guys.

That's what the Olympics is too. We don't get to bring a bunch of 13:30 scrubs along in a big 5k and crown some team champ too.

There is no cross country in the Olympics.

However, there is IAAF World Championships for Cross Country, and in that they do have "13:30 scrubs" running in the race.

Gcol wrote:

NXN is too limited in scope. You want to know how deep FootLocker was compared to NXN? FootLocker had 20 guys come through the mile together, whereas NXN was already decided 1600m in both the boys and girls races.

I take it you didn't watch NXN, then.

FLN was a continuous string of 3-5 wide at the mile (4:53).

NXN was a continuous string of 3-5 wide at the mile (4:40ish), though there were three guys just ahead of the pack: Michael Hall, who finished 15th, leading the way and Cerake (#4) just ahead of Tony Russell (#11). Everyone else was in that massive pack that was just as tight as FLN's race, despite the fact it went out 10-15 seconds faster.

If you wish to educate yourself, here are the videos to the races.

FLN:

(mile @ ~6:15)

NXN:

(mile @ ~6:00)

Also note that, at the ~2k mark, the announcers mentioned how the whole group (~40 runners) were within about 5 seconds from the leader. 39 runners were within 5 seconds of the leader (look at the splits), and 46 runners were within 6 seconds of the leader at NXN - hard to say FLN was really a tighter bunch.

NXN didn't string out until about 2.5k, when a group of five (Wilmot, Anderson, Russell, Geberkidane, and Haney) finally started to break away from the pack. Race time, it was about 7:40-7:45 when Wilmot went to the front. By 2.9k (8:55 race time), it was the lead pack of 5.

At FLN, it started to string out at about 2.6k when Hardy went to the front (race time ~8:10-8:20). By 2.9k (9:00 race time), it was a lead pack of 7 with one guy hanging on at the back.

In other words, the race broke open at about the same time at both events. FLN had a couple more guys hang on when the initial move was made, but by the end of the race more of those runners dropped off (at the end of the race, 11 guys were within 16 seconds of the winner at both NXN and FLN - with a smaller gap behind them at NXN as #6 was 10 seconds off the winner compared to FLN where 1 guy finished within 11 seconds).

Running is an individual sport so we're not sure what the big deal is with teams but if you must have them, then run teams with in FL, simple as that.Nike simply wants to start a new marketing behemoth and doesn't care if it stamps out a great tradition. There is absolutely no reason to have NXN, and frankly, no kid is going to remember their highs school team 20 years from now, but they will remember if they were best in the nation.

Ludwig Witgenstein wrote:

Gcol wrote:

FootLocker just has too much depth, whereas NXN panders to the 18:00 5K boys and 20:00 5K girls and "team charity" running.

If you're an individual running at NXN, you're not running 18.00/20.00 for 5k. Maybe the seventh man on a team that fell through the cracks, but NXN is still legit. The top individuals may not be as deep at NXN as Footlocker, but the point of NXN is ultimately teams, not indivuduals. You need to have a great team to get to NXN.

runn wrote:

Son, NXN took the top 3 using speed ratings. Sorry NXN wins.

The Tully speed ratings show that Footlocker has the best runners.

Nike is the one that is toast.