Foot Locker Watered Down This Year

The better runners are opting to qualify for NXN. At least in the NW region of the country.

I had the same thought. I only recognized a few, when I used to know of nearly all the qualifiers. I know that a lot of the runners have gotten a lot faster than last year, and are just now qualifying as a senior/junior for the first time. Speaking for myself, I’m probably out of touch. The times aren’t getting any slower for either race so that might justify it.

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Balance of Power wrote:

I was just perusing the foot locker qualifiers on milesplit and I realized I didn't know any of the regional winners so far, boys or girls. What is going on here. Are all the stars going to NXN now? Is foot locker losing is luster? Is this a weak time for high school, I guess it's kind of hard to beat last years seniors.
Or am I just out of touch with who is good now?

Discus.

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In PA/the Northeast a very odd thing occurred that was quite interesting to me. The team that won our biggest classification's state title had their number 1 runner (who is very fast) go to Footlocker NE and qualify. The rest of the team (2-8) went to NXN NE and got third, and then didn't get a wild card. If that #1 runner ran, there is a very, VERY good chance the team makes it. What happened?

The top 5 at NXR southeast was much better than top 5 at footlocker south although footlocker south was probably better 6-10.

FLMW was actually very strong on both sides, if times are the measuring stick.

And on the girls side, MI in particular had an incredible day.

5 qualifiers
7 of the top 12
and this is without Anne Forsyth, the FLMW Champion And 5th place at Nationals from last year!

The main reason that more top runners are going to Nike is simply because Nike gives them better stuff and a better overall experience.

Nike gives each athlete $800+ of Nike gear, which is 'cooler' than whatever footlocker gives their athletes. I'm not sure what footlocker gives its athletes but I'm fairly certain that Nike gives them more.

Also, I just looked and it seems that the footlocker gear is New Balance. Nike is 20x cooler than New Balance (not even up for discussion, that is a fact.)

Also every HS runner in the country wants to be steve prefontaine and go to oregon and nike and all that jazz. Nike takes them to the Nike headquarters in oregon.

Also, Nike has the team aspect to it, so any top runners that are on a good team will try to bring their team to nationals with them.

One of the primary reasons is that it's too risky for a lot of kids to try to qualify for Foot Locker due to the fact that Foot Locker is run by total amateurs who can't set up a logical qualifying schedule.

How could Foot Locker possibly compete with Nike when Nike's qualifying races take place for much of the country a week before the FL qualifier? Once an athlete has qualified for the Nike race, it's much more likely they won't bother trying to qualify for FL. It's a waste of energy for all but the absolute best kids to try to do both if they even can. And unless you have supreme confidence in yourself, if you qualify for NXN out of CA you are going to accept that spot even if you think you could do better at FLN because there is a risk in trying to qualify for FLN and not making it and also losing your spot to NXN since you can't do both.

Foot Locker is a better race to see who has the most fitness and who is most likely to be successful at the NCAA and post-collegiate level. NXN is run on a course that favors runners from areas of the country that are cold, wet and often run on very soft muddy terrain.

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Nike has more incentives wrote:

The main reason that more top runners are going to Nike is simply because Nike gives them better stuff and a better overall experience.

Nike gives each athlete $800+ of Nike gear, which is 'cooler' than whatever footlocker gives their athletes. I'm not sure what footlocker gives its athletes but I'm fairly certain that Nike gives them more.

Also, I just looked and it seems that the footlocker gear is New Balance. Nike is 20x cooler than New Balance (not even up for discussion, that is a fact.)

Also every HS runner in the country wants to be steve prefontaine and go to oregon and nike and all that jazz. Nike takes them to the Nike headquarters in oregon.

Also, Nike has the team aspect to it, so any top runners that are on a good team will try to bring their team to nationals with them.

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Nike has more incentives wrote:

The main reason that more top runners are going to Nike is simply because Nike gives them better stuff and a better overall experience.

Nike gives each athlete $800+ of Nike gear, which is 'cooler' than whatever footlocker gives their athletes. I'm not sure what footlocker gives its athletes but I'm fairly certain that Nike gives them more.

Also, I just looked and it seems that the footlocker gear is New Balance. Nike is 20x cooler than New Balance (not even up for discussion, that is a fact.)

Also every HS runner in the country wants to be steve prefontaine and go to oregon and nike and all that jazz. Nike takes them to the Nike headquarters in oregon.

Also, Nike has the team aspect to it, so any top runners that are on a good team will try to bring their team to nationals with them.

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Footlocker Finalists get to stay at the Hotel Del Coronado, literally one of the nicest hotels in America.

Additionally, the history of Footlocker is quite significant. Just look at the list of qualifiers, it’s chock full of Olympians, NCAA champs, etc!

NXN keeps trying, but Footlocker’s not dead yet. In fact, I feel it’s been on an upswing the last few years after a few down years.

In our state the best runners (pretty much every runner who made the podium this year at State boys/girls) all run at the NXN regionals and then the ones that don't make NXN go on to try to run at FL which is why it is watered down. Only top 5 individuals make it to NXN so then you have the ones that didn't place in the top 5 go on to try to make FL. So, the top runners at that point are already doing NXN.

You must be joking about the Hotel Del Coronado. For anyone that isn't over the age of about 50, they'll have no idea of it's history and the hotel itself is run down and extremely outdated. The ceilings in the rooms feel like they are about 7' tall. The window panes are all worn out and look to have been painted about 100x the paint is so thick.

The Hotel Del Coronado is the perfect example of why Foot Locker is dying: people trying to hold onto the past as the present passes them by. There are exactly 0 kids that are more impressed with the lodging at Foot Locker. There are 0 kids more impressed by the organization of FL v. NXN.

There is only about 15 to 18 minutes of the FL experience that compares with the NXN experience. Outside of the race, NXN makes FL look like it's being put on for elementary school kids by their grandparents.

FL is out of touch with their constituency. Plain and simple.

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Been to both wrote:

Footlocker Finalists get to stay at the Hotel Del Coronado, literally one of the nicest hotels in America.

Additionally, the history of Footlocker is quite significant. Just look at the list of qualifiers, it’s chock full of Olympians, NCAA champs, etc!

NXN keeps trying, but Footlocker’s not dead yet. In fact, I feel it’s been on an upswing the last few years after a few down years.

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Yep, timing plays a key role for many states. Our region has NXR qualifier 3 weeks before FL qualifier and then the FL qualifier is same day as NXN. So if you make NXN, you go to NXN. It's a pretty clear cut situation in our region...those that don't make NXN go to FL.

Warmup jacket
Warmup sweatpants
Singlet
Shorts/half tights
Arm sleeves
Socks
Spikes
Trainers
Backpack

Not sure of the individual prices for each item, but it comes out to about $600 for everything, not the $800+ the other guy was saying.

This may be an old discussion or a simple question but if Nike spends hundreds of thousands of dollars on this event why can they not buy out footlocker. I know footlocker has history but two national championships are bad for the sport and if footlocker won’t add teams to a team sport then Nike seems to be the only one capable of making a proper national championship.

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NXN Gear wrote:

Warmup jacket
Warmup sweatpants
Singlet
Shorts/half tights
Arm sleeves
Socks
Spikes
Trainers
Backpack

Not sure of the individual prices for each item, but it comes out to about $600 for everything, not the $800+ the other guy was saying.

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I recruit these kids for a living. Whenever I ask why they choose NXN over FLN, the answer is almost always the same: cooler stuff (at least the more candid ones). And of course the rare few that don’t necessarily prioritize cooler stuff are still sucked in by the greater depth & talent that the cool stuff attracts. That said Claudia Lane is racing FLN...must be a special kid beyond the obvious talent. That said FLN is probably much more convenient & conducive to what she’s used to...

I will say that from a recruiters perspective, we see more female talent go to NXN then male. I’d say in any given year, only the top 5-10 women at Footlocker are high school legit (note I said high school...god only knows how they are going to pan out in college) & will be recruited by most everyone aggressively. Whereas I’d call the top 25-30 high school legit at NXN. But we’re also aware some weird stuff happens at NXN because of the course & conditios & size...

On the men’s side, I’d say the top 20-25 are legit & probably similar on the NXN side...just my two cents. Somehow Footlocker keeps hanging on & it’s good to see. Also can be one helpful character screen based on who doesn’t just go for the stuff. Obviously many other factors to that though...

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its mfing nike wrote:

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NXN Gear wrote:

Warmup jacket
Warmup sweatpants
Singlet
Shorts/half tights
Arm sleeves
Socks
Spikes
Trainers
Backpack

Not sure of the individual prices for each item, but it comes out to about $600 for everything, not the $800+ the other guy was saying.

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Plus a tour of the nike factory, possibly with your best buds

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The fact is that awesome runners go to both meets.

Also the two events are entirely different, in a number of different ways.

So let's let the runners themselves decide which one of the events that they'd like to attend.