You can probably check out pictures, but I didn't see any kids not wearing spikes. I agree that if you hadn't raced in spikes all season, that would be a disadvantage for this race.
Just curious, anyone know how many wore spike and how many wore flats? Cali doesn’t allow spikes in high school meets, are other states like that. Mud and those conditions are going to impact regardless, but would be an interesting data point.. Not sure many Cali kids laced up spikes and if they did not sure how comfortable and confident they were in them. Many of those SoCal kids have never run in those type of conditions. I know Para and Bell have from Club USATF/AAU National XC meets..
Nike gave all the competitors Dragonfly XC's, although they were allowed to run in whatever spikes they wanted. I saw most kids using 3/8" or 1/2", although Carroll had 3/4" and some 1" spikes screwed in.
i noticed as well when Carrol was on stage to accept 3rd place, their spike lengths were insane, but they probably didnt have any issue with their footing out there.
Contrast that with American Fork which had what appeared to be 1/4" spikes and wearing the Nike NXN spikes. All with the exception of Danny SImmons who seemed to be wearing a different spike, maybe not even nike and his particular spikes were even shorter than his teammates. Not saying it impacted his or their performance, but not sure why he would opt for such tiny spikes on such a sloppy course.
Mountain Vista girls team has 3 transfers in their top 4
Not to mention that they have another transfer from Valor Christian CO who didn’t race at NXN due to injury
No one cared about Mountain Vista until now...
In all hoensty, Mountain Vista/ Denver should have been at NXN last year. This year, American Fork girls would have also placed higher than other teams at NXN. Maybe they just work really hard, maybe they have good coaches, maybe they have youth programs that feed into programs. Colorado is just really good, stop complaining. JSerra had a ton of girls that they "recruited" but they still couldn't beat Colorado.
Intense rain and racing made this national cross country championship at Glendoveer golf course in Portland one of the most memorable Nike Cross Nationals. ...
Milesplit rankings are subjective. This just shows how biased they are against the Southwest Region. Teams that raced head to head at Nationals should be ranked in the order they finished there.
Sorry if something like this was already posted, but just for kicks I scored NXN boys by region, combining the teams and individuals all as region representatives.
Southwest 1,4,6,13,17 (28) (34) =41 California 8,9,19,24,26 (40) (45) =86 Heartland 5,12,20,22,42 =101 Southeast 15,16,23,25,30 (47) =109 Midwest 2,10,27,35,46 =120 Northeast 7,11,29,33,41 =121 South 21,31,36,44,48 (49)(50) =180 Northwest 3,14,18,56,58 =149 New York 67,74, 92, 99, 111, 116 =535
Southwest was so much better there is nothing to add.
For all the talk about how bad California did (the teams), they look pretty good in this measurement (yes, it is flawed, but it is one measure).
Heartland did better than I expected.
New York did the impossible. They were worse than my already incredibly low expectations.
That SW “team” consists of six guys from Utah. Their score as a state is 63.
These ranking always underrate the Southwest, so ridiculous. Niwot was not a surprise at NXN; they had the 2nd best all-time performance at their Colorado state meet (behind Cheyenne Mountain 2021).
Sorry if something like this was already posted, but just for kicks I scored NXN boys by region, combining the teams and individuals all as region representatives.
Southwest 1,4,6,13,17 (28) (34) =41 California 8,9,19,24,26 (40) (45) =86 Heartland 5,12,20,22,42 =101 Southeast 15,16,23,25,30 (47) =109 Midwest 2,10,27,35,46 =120 Northeast 7,11,29,33,41 =121 South 21,31,36,44,48 (49)(50) =180 Northwest 3,14,18,56,58 =149 New York 67,74, 92, 99, 111, 116 =535
Southwest was so much better there is nothing to add.
For all the talk about how bad California did (the teams), they look pretty good in this measurement (yes, it is flawed, but it is one measure).
Heartland did better than I expected.
New York did the impossible. They were worse than my already incredibly low expectations.
NY sucked enormously, don't get me wrong... but no need to score 6 of their runners. The total for 5 is embarrassing enough.
Only one of the top 8 guys in NY (by speed-rating) qualified for NXN, for various reasons. That was McGinn, who had the lead very early then totally imploded. A pathetic showing for NY.
NY sucked enormously, don't get me wrong... but no need to score 6 of their runners. The total for 5 is embarrassing enough.
Only one of the top 8 guys in NY (by speed-rating) qualified for NXN, for various reasons. That was McGinn, who had the lead very early then totally imploded. A pathetic showing for NY.
The NY girls teams did very well though. 6th & 11th. And Northeast girls teams took 5th and 10th. Imagine what the region would look like on the girls side if these 2 regions were combined, which is what so many people want to see happen.
Monroe Woodbury beat one non-New York team and they return 5 of their top 6. How will they do next year?
i noticed as well when Carrol was on stage to accept 3rd place, their spike lengths were insane, but they probably didnt have any issue with their footing out there.
Contrast that with American Fork which had what appeared to be 1/4" spikes and wearing the Nike NXN spikes. All with the exception of Danny SImmons who seemed to be wearing a different spike, maybe not even nike and his particular spikes were even shorter than his teammates. Not saying it impacted his or their performance, but not sure why he would opt for such tiny spikes on such a sloppy course.
Danny has an NIL deal with New Balance and as such, is prohibited from wearing competitors shoes. He even had tape over the Nike logo on his American Fork team jacket. He wore New Balance shoes that have "built in" spikes that are not removable, and are not well suited for the muddy conditions on that day. I doubt it was the difference in the race for him, but could have cost him some time and positions.
All 3 of those teams use recruited athletes. No secret or surprise. All 3 coaches would admit to it also. It’s really the only way to compete anymore unless you get very lucky. Great run by Academy, unREAL!
All three schools use out of district athletes, but I think it's unfair to say they all recruit. Success breeds success and families seek out those programs or schools that they think will best serve their kids. The rich get richer, but that doesn't equate to "recruiting."