NXN at Large, here ya go!

With LC going, that is 3 schools from Eastern Washington going to nationals.

Edina boys-state champs, griak champs, milaca champs, close behind Middleton at regionals.

No bid? Oof.

Terrible. The midwest got screwed. The midwest is the deepest region in the country and didn't receive an at large for boys or girls. The Downers Grove South girls deserved a bid over Liverpool. Liverpool lost the McQuaid invite to Lee's Summit West from MO. They were only 11th in the midwest region and that was without any of the top OH and MI teams competing! Liverpool is way over rated. California should never get at large bids because their teams always under perform at nationals. Give them the 2 auto bids and give the at large bids to the rest of the country that actually know how to run on grass in the rain.

Not only is it 3 schools from Eastern Washington, but it's 2 schools from Spokane! Five schools from Spokane have raced NXN through the years. All 5 have questions multiple years now that LC and CV have both qualified twice. No other city comes close.

Looking at what Dana and Claremont(two teams who actually came #5 and #7 in the CA merge and were not even up for NXN consideration) have done in NY(McQuaid and Manhattan invite) and Great Oaks performance at Bob Firman. I think the depth of California on the boys side justifies 2 at-large bids. I do agree that CA teams can underperform but they can also pull off 2 top 3 finishes like in NXN 2015. This year's CA state meet was cold and wet for CA standards so that should do something to mentally prepare teams at least.

P.S. don't sleep on Anderson, the man to soon end the Cali individual NXN drought

That's funny... the CA state meet was run on grass in the rain.

minnesota wrote:

Edina boys-state champs, griak champs, milaca champs, close behind Middleton at regionals.

No bid? Oof.

As opposed to the other teams that got in that were also close behind teams at NXR and won big meets?

There are no shortage of deserving teams. Someone is always going to be left out.

Remember, this is NIKE at work. Big NIKE programs. It's about support.

That's why Foot Locker will always reign supreme - no politics, just racing.

You obviously know nothing about how things work...no politics, no support...nothing.

FL is an afterthought.

the CA steet meet is entirely dirt with 200 m of grass at the start ...

And grass for most of the last 800m. It would be all grass if jerry brown didn’t put the state in a government-created drought which completely invalidates your entire point you Stromboli looking motherh*cker

Spokane Baby wrote:

Not only is it 3 schools from Eastern Washington, but it's 2 schools from Spokane! Five schools from Spokane have raced NXN through the years. All 5 have questions multiple years now that LC and CV have both qualified twice. No other city comes close.

Typical cocky Spokane kids. Your time is over. Good job making it to NxN but your dominance in the state is over.

DGS beat 3 auto-qualifiers in the season.

The four at-large teams combined beat 1.

So I guess we can rule out having beaten auto-qualifiers as a contributing factor to the mysterious NXN at-large selection process.

minnesota wrote:

Edina boys-state champs, griak champs, milaca champs, close behind Middleton at regionals.

No bid? Oof.

If this taught me anything, it would be that the committee probably looks more at the strength of the region the team’s in (and maybe the 5k averages or performance at regionals?) than on whether the team beat autoqualifiers and even eventual NXR champs

La Costa Canyon didn’t beat any autoqualifiers.

Input wrote:

minnesota wrote:

Edina boys-state champs, griak champs, milaca champs, close behind Middleton at regionals.

No bid? Oof.

If this taught me anything, it would be that the committee probably looks more at the strength of the region the team’s in (and maybe the 5k averages or performance at regionals?) than on whether the team beat autoqualifiers and even eventual NXR champs

La Costa Canyon didn’t beat any autoqualifiers.

If strength of region was a factor then the midwest would have gotten at large bids. The midwest is the strongest/deepest NXN Region in the country.

Not close, 90% of the Woodward Park course is on a dirt trail, totally uneffected by heat and drought. Have you been there?

LCC has three low sticks, which tends to help out a lot at NXN. You need a strong 4-5 to podium, but even an average 4-5 can place a team in the top half of the field with low scoring 1-2-3. They should do well.

Daddy owns you wrote:

And grass for most of the last 800m. It would be all grass if jerry brown didn’t put the state in a government-created drought which completely invalidates your entire point you Stromboli looking motherh*cker

Pretty sure this guy is trolling.. but for you non-CA people here is the truth: With 500m to go you cross a road and then get on grass for about 50 meters before getting back onto the road. *if you’re staying on grass the whole time you’re not running the tangents and are running on much slower terrain.* You finish on grass the last 100m.

The State Meet/Woodward Park course has been the same for about 30 years. It has never been and will never be all grass no matter how much rain and water supply there is. The course is mostly dirt with some patches of grass at the start, finish, and for about 150m at the half way mark. Then there’s a few short stretches of asphalt. Spikes are not allowed.

*Also it wasn’t raining at the CA State Meet. There was some “mist” at the very start of the meet and then nothing. No mud, no thick/sloppy grass. Dirt was smooth and packed down. Weather was perfect (about 52-60 degrees across all 10 races; practically no wind). Many CA courses are like this and weather is usually good, so sometimes CA runners don’t do as well if it’s a muddy, soggy course in Oregon and really cold/windy, but some CA runners handle it just fine. It’s just another variable.

Every decision that Nike makes is in an effort to maximize profit. They first charge an arm and a leg to enter NXR and then they keep trying to add more kids to the national meet knowing that parents and team members will show up and buy crap. They don't want Edina from Minnesota when they can get more local teams there who will obviously travel better. They make the rules so there is really no point in questioning their decisions.