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.
Depth has been on the side of NXN for years now, because there is a relationship between being a good runner and being on a good team, and because NXR is often more accessible than FLR. Footlocker has done well to keep as many of the top handful of national athletes attending as they have, but eventually that is going to shift heavily into NXN's favor as well.
Lots of very good athletes are still attending FLN this year. On the girls side:
Rebecca Story (FLS Champion) is a sub-10 girl
Olivia Theis (FLMW Champion) is the Michigan State course record holder
Katelynne Heart (FLMW Runner-up) is the NXN-MW Champion
Tierney Wolfgram (FLN Qualifier) is the NXN-HL Champion
On the boys side,
Drew Bosley (FLN Qualifier) is the NXN-HL Champion
Danny Kilrea (FLMW Champion) is the NXN-MW Runner-up
Robert Cheeseman (FLN Qualifier) is the NXN-SO Champion
We don't know yet who is going to attend Footlocker from the West regional - for example, Claudia Lane opted for FLN over NXN last year, and might do so again.
In regions where athletes can do both (FLMW and NXN-South), it seems like almost half of the top athletes do try for both.
In the regions where athletes have to choose (FLW region and the east coast), it seems like it is split... more depth in general at FLS compared to NXN-SE, but the opposite story in the other regions, and the top end talent more or less split.