The McGorty (FL South winner) conundrum, what would you do?

clarity in a muddled world wrote:

There is only one Footlocker National Championship cross country meet every year.

Thanks for pointing out the obvious?

I'm pretty sure that can be said for pretty much every meet...

watchout wrote:

I'm pretty sure that can be said for pretty much every meet...

Actually no.

Only the Footlocker National Championships can be called the Footlocker National Championships.

Great story Bro.But you forgot the part where you got online in multiple places and whined like a little girl about how you got 3rd.

my senior year i ran nike with my team, team didn't do great, i almost made it. may have had a better shot at footlocker, didn't even think about it.

looking back, i have no regrets. the kid seems like a scumbag

****Down the way in Cary, his team's 2-6 runners ran a helluva race to tie for 2nd at the NXN southeast regional, losing out on the 6th man tiebreaker to another VA school, Blacksburg. they only ran 5 guys.****

Admittedly, no idea how NXN works....only the winning team moves on? Doesn't seem quite right. How many regions? 6? 8? Sets up a pretty boring (and small) national final doesn't it?

Lets keep in mind that neither Footlockers nor NXN are national championships. They are corporately sponsored tournaments. The only governing body with the ability to establish a national championship is USATF and they have in the form of the Junior Olympics. While I agree that they have not as good a job at attracting national level runners (though schools such as Arcadia does compete in their nationals), they are the only official national championships. This does move the conversation a bit. If USATF JO is not a viable option for a runner such as McGorty (or the other VA runner in a similar position Sophie Chase from NXR 4th place Lake Braddock), then the choice is between which corporately sponsored tournament they choose to compete in.

As a HS coach, my philosophy puts the team as the organizing principle. So I have a hard time understanding the rationale behind the position to place individual above team. Add that to the fact that the NXN tournament is better organized and more inclusive and the decision for my team is clear.

Top 2 move on, then there are a few at-large bids that are based on rankings.

worst poster wrote:

**Admittedly, no idea how NXN works....only the winning team moves on? Doesn't seem quite right. How many regions? 6? 8? Sets up a pretty boring (and small) national final doesn't it?

For both boys and girls, 2 teams from each region auto qualify, plus another 4 at-large from any regions. So, 22 teams. Great sized race, and no it's not boring.

OK 22 sounds reasonable.

This is a comment made by the Chantilly coach (Mcgorty's coach), on the VA running forum at milestat.com:

Respectfully, the decisions made in regards to NXN and Footlocker were very much team decisions, including input from the coaches and runners alike. Sean has supported the team all season, and in return his teammates have respected his goals after states. Footlocker was to be our primary focus all along, and we sent a team to NXN to allow the other members to continue their season, and try to roll the dice as it pertains to qualifying for Oregon. We ran 6 runners this weekend in the two meets and all if them ran personal bests, or close to them. We were certainly disappointed that the NXN chose to ignore our boys performance this weekend, if not the whole season, but that was not something in our control. It is certainly not a slight on his part, the coaching staff, or anyone else...it was not our decision to make. In the end, there are only so many races you can run, or trips you make and we don't regret our teams choices in this regard.

We are proud of all of the team success this fall, and everyone from CHS is whole-hearted lay supporting Logan in Portland next week, and Sean in San Diego the week after.

Can someone explain how Chantilly lost the tiebreaker? Wouldn't having a 6th man finish automatically make them beat Blacksburg?

McGorty really screwed over his team. If my team had a chance to go to nationals all together then I would chose NXN. Personally knowing I get to experience a national meet with 6 other people on your team that you have trained with for the last 4 years of high school would be better than going individually to footlocker by myself.

NXN is a great marketing move by Nike. It gets kids and parents of good high school teams talking about Nike and wanting to win a free trip to Portland. What kid doesn't want a free $1000? (airfare, hotel, nike gear). Nike is spending hundreds of thousands to buy the loyalty of the top high school teams.

Footlocker has a ton more tradition, and is the only thing runners not closely tied to the high school scene relate too. Long term that could change.

The concept of a high school national cross country team championship only interests the teams and school involved.

At the high school level, the individual winner is more important. Who is the best runner in the country? Nike has taken a few runners away from the top teams, but clearly this kid showed Footlocker's still means a ton. Good for him.

Anyone know the total tab on what Nike spends on NXN? They are spending a ton to reach just the top teams. It's a very narrow strategy but they're marketing department is good.

I bet that I can tell you who the best high school runner has been each of the last 10 years. I can't tell you who the best high school team has been any of those years.

Chantilly only ran 5 guys at NXN SE and Blacksburg ran 7

steve dildarian wrote:

I bet that I can tell you who the best high school runner has been each of the last 10 years. I can't tell you who the best high school team has been any of those years.

I'd imagine the same would be true for NCAA XC, but I think there's pretty much a consensus that NCAA XC is about the team.

The vast majority of runners wouldn't even consider choosing an individual meet over their teams. Ditto for high schoolers, but because of the messed up system that currently exists, you get an occasional guy who cares more about his dreams of Footlocker than the teammates he's screwing over.

Running is an individual sport. He doesn't owe them anything. Good for him for making this decision. Footlocker IS more important to individuals. He will either be first or second there, and have the distinction of "Footlocker finalist." Only 40 boys per year have that. How many in NXN? Roughly 180?

No, I absolutely know who wins the NCAA team title every year.

The best runners run at Foot Locker. He didn't screw anyone over.

Head Pleasure wrote:

http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?board=1&id=2803189&thread=2801868

All covered in the above thread a few years ago. If FLocker/Kinney had the fore thought back 1979/80 to include the team element this would be a mute discussion. Nothing left but to start counting down till its all about Nike and their mud run warrior dash; 3-5 years...no doubt.

With logic like yours, you should limit yourself to "mute" discussion!