Why is it that when we ran in HS we had fans/parents screaming at us to run hard, but in college our fan base is crap?

"But probably it’s just the d1 women’s team cheering him on ..."

Most guys would be content with this level of spectators at an XC race.

Because now you go to invites that are far away, as opposed to your rinky dink high school league races. Did you think your parents just magically teleport to the course?

A good XC race will be in the woods and away from any crowds. I always thought those were the best races and most challenging courses. I also liked it quiet out on the course for most of the race. I like being able to hear who is breathing hard and who is running smooth and easy.

I wonder if Manchester United and Real Madrid payers get orange slices and juice boxes at have time. And then their parents make a tunnel after the game?

josh35 wrote:

Probably because by the time you're 20 you should have better things to do than run laps and hope someone cheers for you.

Like what?

Because in college XC is a job. Races go off, everyone is in a big group, some fall off, it breaks up a bit and someone wins. It's sort of like the presidential race, it comes down to a handful of people in the middle of the group making the difference for the whole.

In high school, you've got a bunch of unknown kids, some may be good and just don't know it. Encourage them, and they might run faster, then get to have a job of running XC in college.

It can't help that schools like UW run a home meet like a tempo run....I know they are not the only ones....I'm not trekking to a course to watch my team jog at their only home meet.

What do you call a cross country fan?

A parent.

That's why.

SWAZ wrote:

It’s probably because most HS meets are within an hour’s drive from your parents’ house, but in college your parents might live hundreds or thousands of miles away.

This is the obvious and correct answer. Spectators at HS meets are teammates, family, and friends. All you're going to have at a college meet at teammates and friends. I don't understand why someone would bother suggesting a different answer.

Like others have said, the main reasons are the traveling distances and the amount of boys and girls on a team getting cut from 100+ to 30 max.

I think parents( usually moms) also feel a lot more connected to the teams. They know all the athletes and how they rank up, they help out with booster clubs, pasta dinners, meet volunteering, and so on. This connection helps bring the rowdiness out in them. It is also a lot more fun to see kids break-thru and run amazing races above their known capabilities, which happens a lot more often in high school.

FFF wrote:

Because in college XC is a job. Races go off, everyone is in a big group, some fall off, it breaks up a bit and someone wins. It's sort of like the presidential race, it comes down to a handful of people in the middle of the group making the difference for the whole.

In high school, you've got a bunch of unknown kids, some may be good and just don't know it. Encourage them, and they might run faster, then get to have a job of running XC in college.

If you are winning college XC races, there are tons of people yelling and cheering for you. If you are outside of the top 5 in a race, the crowd doesn't care - they are running off to the next spot to see the leaders.

There are plenty of spectators but they aren't going to get excited about a 25 min 8k or a 21 min 6k. If you put on a show, people will watch. But you have to be worth watching, first.

Most of my races in HS were within 30 minutes drive of my parents' house.

All of my races in college are more than 2 hours flight from my parents' city.

Seems like a no-brainer.

One idea is merging HS and College meets in proximate regions.

Great, admirable post. Made my day with the 300 parents cheering analogy :)

The OP will also be shocked to find that while in Kindergarten he was given “star stickers” to make him feel good .... His real-world boss may not be as accommodating ....

College XC has a bigger fan base than HS (parents are not fans). Far more people who have no direct connection with a program will follow a college program.

But bigger does not mean big. XC in general has a very small fan base. As others have noted parents come out to local HS races to increase the turn out. Far fewer parents at college meets.

A DI conference can draw an enenergetic support crowd of a few hundred or more. Some parents, but also a lot of local enthusiasts and people vaguely connected to the program who come to check it out.

For that to happen though you need a host institution with a strong history of success and support as well as coaches and admin who really hustle and encourage people to come out.

Even worse, CU drops their home course time trial and lone home meet and stop competing in CO at all because they can't find meaningful competition that will help their team goals. So parents of CO runners recruited to CU and local area fans never get to see the team compete unless they travel far. Seems like missed opportunity to maintain and grow fan interest in the sport, and probably isn't isolated to just CU. CU could hold a big xc carnival that celebrates their teams, brings in top CO HS teams, and serves as a fund raising event for their program, helps their in-state recruiting. More and more, the best HS runners in CO are funneling up to CSU or out of state. This will only perpetuate that trend. But maybe Wetmore's staff just wants more excuses to recruit out-of-state athletes and turn their back on the CO taxpayer base. This is tangential rambling, but the trend of going far from home to school plus traveling far to compete kinda sinks having much of a supportive fanbase for teams at the college level. Might contribute to why comparatively kids at D2, D3, and NAIA levels have a really enjoyable experience competing in college and don't burn out or get eating disorders to the same degree, it feels more like a real team and less like a cutthroat, professional atmosphere.

Of course this had to come around to All Things Wrong With CU.

I just meant it as an example, I know the same sort of thing is going on across the country at distance powerhouses in D1.