Wow: Japanese HS team has better top 7 5k average pb (14:01) than Syracuse (14:02)!!

Aren't those Japanese high school teams more or less recruited to run there? That would be an unfair advantage over American high schools.

Why doesn't Nike fly them over and let them try to compete at NXN?

dont believe it wrote:

I will believe it when the japs win any international competition, at any level ever. Youd think they would be racking up the junior world xc points if their high schoolers were actually this great.

Kenya and Ethiopia could both field a markedly better HS team (even if they used actual HS kids!). That is why Japan won't win an international competition.

dont believe it wrote:

I will believe it when the japs win any international competition, at any level ever. Youd think they would be racking up the junior world xc points if their high schoolers were actually this great.

The fastest high school distance runners on Earth are from Japan.

It's fairly obvious that the top "junior" African times are all run by 20+ year old cheats. Hell, even Footlocker is won by an import age cheat on a regular basis these days.

Eliminate the age cheats and dopers and Japan would clean up at all international championships.

josp wrote:

Aren't those Japanese high school teams more or less recruited to run there? That would be an unfair advantage over American high schools.

Having JH runners train and race on your team is an unfair advantage domestically no?

Soul Blazer wrote:

dont believe it wrote:

I will believe it when the japs win any international competition, at any level ever. Youd think they would be racking up the junior world xc points if their high schoolers were actually this great.

The fastest high school distance runners on Earth are from Japan.

It's fairly obvious that the top "junior" African times are all run by 20+ year old cheats. Hell, even Footlocker is won by an import age cheat on a regular basis these days.

Eliminate the age cheats and dopers and Japan would clean up at all international championships.

Dude, even if they're 20 now, they were 18 at some point. You don't go from 14:10 to 12:56 in 2 years.

Soul Blazer wrote:

dont believe it wrote:

I will believe it when the japs win any international competition, at any level ever. Youd think they would be racking up the junior world xc points if their high schoolers were actually this great.

The fastest high school distance runners on Earth are from Japan.

It's fairly obvious that the top "junior" African times are all run by 20+ year old cheats. Hell, even Footlocker is won by an import age cheat on a regular basis these days.

Eliminate the age cheats and dopers and Japan would clean up at all international championships.

The only confirmed age cheat to win Footlocker is probably Solomon Haile. It's possible that Cheserek and the Ethiopian girl who won this year may not know their true age, but no one can prove that they were intentionally falsifying their ages to get an advantage. In Cheserek's case, it's actually very unlikely, since he didn't compete in a single event that was age-restricted (Junior Olympics, World Juniors, etc.).

As far as Solomon Haile goes though, it went as follows:

- He arrived in the country, and registered for multiple road races (6-10 total) claiming that he was 20 years old in 2007. **Note: He went by the last name Semunguse at this time**

- In 2008, he enrolled in a US HS and claimed he was 18.

This is a VERY obvious case of age-cheating. The others, not so much.

Solomon Haile actually tried to enroll in Fairfax county schools with his real age and was rejected. No problem. He just went across the river to Montgomery County with a new age.

Japan doesn't do well outside Japan. That's why. At least winning or getting podiums.

They would smoke us in japan though. Their college ekiden (Hakone) is like our all our NCAA distance events COMBINED (jndoors, oudoors, and cross) in terms of importance. put outdoor 5k and 10k together with all indoor NCAA distance races and our cross champs and you are still not at the level of importance as their one top ekiden race.

it is covered on live national tv for about 14 hours STRAIGHT over 2 days. it is everything here. passes by my house in japan. it is the top of most of these guys' running careers...

if we sent an all star team of our best college runners over, they would get beat. not even a top 3 place. if we took teams from syracuse, CU, Oregon, Stanford... they wouldn't even get top 5.

dont believe it wrote:

I will believe it when the japs win any international competition, at any level ever. Youd think they would be racking up the junior world xc points if their high schoolers were actually this great.

Um, yeah, look at the results, they do.

LetsRun.com wrote:

http://japanrunningnews.blogspot.com/2015/12/sera-hs-going-for-history-at-national.html

Why doesn't Nike fly them over and let them try to compete at NXN?

Of course then they'd have to change the name to "NXI." I don't believe turning NXN into an international meet would behoove Nike, especially with the constant threat of runners going to Footlocker. I believe Japan has some pretty good collegiate teams too and I also doubt NCAA is considering sending them invites.

Yeah, they are racking up points, like 200 to Kenya's 19 and U.S. 132, for 9th team overall (U.S. 6th). Their #1 guy would be #4 for U.S., and that is without Fisher or McGorty. Of course if this was run in Japan they would be #1 lol.http://www.iaaf.org/results/iaaf-world-cross-country-championships/2015/iaaf-world-cross-country-championships-2015-5540/men/junior-race/final/team

survey says wrote:

dont believe it wrote:

I will believe it when the japs win any international competition, at any level ever. Youd think they would be racking up the junior world xc points if their high schoolers were actually this great.

Um, yeah, look at the results, they do.

LetsRun.com wrote:

http://japanrunningnews.blogspot.com/2015/12/sera-hs-going-for-history-at-national.html

Why doesn't Nike fly them over and let them try to compete at NXN?

Those Japanese kids run 100+mpw, and most of them burn out after college.

Soul Blazer wrote:

dont believe it wrote:

I will believe it when the japs win any international competition, at any level ever. Youd think they would be racking up the junior world xc points if their high schoolers were actually this great.

The fastest high school distance runners on Earth are from Japan.

It's fairly obvious that the top "junior" African times are all run by 20+ year old cheats. Hell, even Footlocker is won by an import age cheat on a regular basis these days.

Eliminate the age cheats and dopers and Japan would clean up at all international championships.

Hahaha except the last times footlocker was won my Grant Fischer twice and the Hunter this year. Both 17 or 18 year old American kids. Verzbikas also won it 2 years in a row and he was 16 or 17 both times and not African. Lol "these days".

Verzbicas is an import as well and he was over-aged until he re-classified. He won twice. Cheserek won after him, right, and he is likely a year or two older. Solomon Haile won. And Weini Kelati, who says she is 19, also won. I believe that is it for foreign imports winning going back quite a few years.

She is from ERITREA and has had her age verified by not only IAAF, but Virginia High School League using her BIRTH CERTIFICATE!

In the U.S. only the top five score. Syracuse's top five average 13:50, while the Japanese team has a Kenyan far beyond everyone else, so I am not counting him. Then the Japanese top five, counting only Japanese, averages 14:11. That's a 22 second margin and we expect major improvement by Syracuse this season. Nevertheless, the Japanese hs team is very impressive for hs, even if they are already training over 100 mpw and Syracuse probably has no one at that level consistently.

21 second margin. and I am counting Knight for Syracuse because he comes from a town within 100 or 200 miles from Syracuse.

jjjjj wrote:

In the U.S. only the top five score. Syracuse's top five average 13:50, while the Japanese team has a Kenyan far beyond everyone else, so I am not counting him.

No duh removing the fastest runner on the team is going to damage the overall team average...

Why on Earth are you discounting their Kenyan for being fast? If he's eligible and on their team, he counts. It would be like averaging the top 5 times for Oregon and deciding to discount Cheserek, despite the fact that he'll clearly be in their results.