HS coaches/fans, can you explain to me how you choose between US juniors and New Balance Nationals Outdoor?

Lets face it. It's a regional meet for the east coast and most of the big names are not there. Season is over. Time to rest and gear up for xc.

I feel like if you're a run of the mill hs stud you would goto NBO for a chance at a national title and for the team experience. However if you're a talent that can compete with the best in the country or world under 20 (Kate Murphy, Katelyn Tuohy, Sydney McLaughlin, etc) then you should goto Jrs. I'm just not sure if Tuohy is even old enough for it.

I have had plenty of athletes make national teams, I know the stakes. Kids do not care about USATF Jrs. Don't blame me, I'm just the messenger. Blame USATF for not getting kids excited about it. Hell, I don't even LIKE NBN, they do a horrible job scheduling and seeding their races. I wish it was all under one umbrella and the top kids at the combined meet would go to Worlds. But, again, the kids I deal with do not even mention USATF Jrs when I talk about scheduling summer meets.

justturnedlefts wrote:

A part of me would love to see a regional type event that would then qualify them to a "national meet." Similar to NXN or Footlocker.

No, that would require more potential schedule conflicts with state meets and post-season big invitationals. There's only so many weekends in late May-June to run after state meets and most parents don't want to travel every weekend.

No first class ticket has ever been purchased for any flight for any Board Member of NSAF, of which I am one. ...Five Star Restaurants?? We wouldn’t know what to order unless they had burgers and dogs on the menu.

Now if you are referring to USATF the same thing cannot be said.

Place Team Time Sec (pl)

1 COW HARBOR TC-NY 7:31.62 3 (1)

2 WESTERN CARY TC-NC 7:32.06 3 (2)

3 EAST GREENWICH TC-RI 7:35.43 3 (3)

4 ST BENEDICTS PREP TC-NJ 7:35.87 3 (4)

5 LOS ANGELES CUBS-CA 7:40.67 3 (5)

6 HOPEWELL VALLEY TC-NJ 7:41.84 2 (1)

7 WARRIOR PROJECT-NC 7:42.23 2 (2)

8 NORTH CENTRAL TC-IN 7:42.45 3 (6)

9 WADSWORTH TC-OH 7:42.64 3 (7)

10 OLENTANGY ORANGE TC-OH 7:43.38 3 (8)

11 CORNING TC-NY 7:43.47 2 (3)

12 PLAINSBORO TC-NJ 7:43.63 2 (4)

13 HUNTERDON LIONS TC-NJ 7:46.54 2 (5)

14 WESTERN BRANCH TC-VA 7:46.58 3 (9)

15 HOUSTON TC-TN 7:46.70 1 (1)

16 SPIRIT OF PRE-MI 7:48.32 3 (10)

17 XAVIER TC-CT 7:50.22 1 (2)

18 SOUTH RIVER TC-MD 7:50.53 2 (6)

19 BETHLEHEM CENTRAL TC-NY 7:51.03 2 (7)

20 CARY ACADEMY TC-NC 7:51.05 2 (8)

21 BEES TC-OH 7:51.11 3 (11)

22 WARWICK TC-NY 7:53.17 2 (9)

23 GUILDERLAND TC-NY 7:53.21 1 (3)

24 FAIRPORT TC-NY 7:54.02 1 (4)

25 GLADIATOR TC-NY 7:55.22 1 (5)

26 TROJANS TC-FL 7:55.73 3 (12)

27 EHT TC-NJ 7:55.80 1 (6)

28 NOVI TC-MI 7:56.28 2 (10)

29 EAST BRUNSWICK TC-NJ 7:56.91 1 (7)

30 HANOVER TC-VA 7:57.04 1 (8)

31 JACKSON LIBERTY TC-NJ 7:59.21 1 (9)

Totally Evil Private Coach wrote:

Kids do not care about USATF Jrs. Don't blame me, I'm just the messenger. Blame USATF for not getting kids excited about it.

Good kids do. The ones who want to make international teams.

Juniors is the national championship you'd think they would have water and some shade for the athletes. Ask anyone there this weekend, neither of either one.

Y'all might take a look at the USA swimming (USAS) journey. It's mostly a good story that USA track might model

- Their national level meets are *sponsored by* the equivalent of New balance, Nike, etc. But they're * run*by USA swimming

-their mission is primarily, win at international level meets, and therefore requiring that they grow the base

- USAS sprung from the failures of AAU to remain relevant in the 80's. Recently, USAS has started becoming less relevant, and leading club teams have created a national level set of meets, called NCSA (National club swimming association), which now rival or are bigger than the USAS organized meets for age group kids. The Olympic trials is still USASs biggest thing.

-USAS swimmers dominate on the world stage. That said, the org is starting to sniff like what it sounds like USATF is. A shift from being in service of the athletes to one of being self-serving.

But, net, these are as most two national level meet orgs, which are led by the org, and both have lots of sponsors. The fact running does not have organization led meets, means that there is a void which companies have filled. Those companies will compete, and do what they think will help them achieve their fiscal goals - which just makes sense.