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

Maybe if the Rosas had Foot Locker experience, they wouldn't bomb at NCAA XC.

Dude needs to look after himself. I am curious howver if anyone defends him for this but busts on Verzbicas, and if so, why?

steve dildarian wrote:

Maybe if the Rosas had Foot Locker experience, they wouldn't bomb at NCAA XC.

NXN is a lot more similar to NCAA XC than Footlocker is. There's only 40 people in the field at FLN so it's not that crowded or hard to move up. It didn't even go out particularly fast the year I ran.

steve dildarian wrote:

Maybe if the Rosas had Foot Locker experience, they wouldn't bomb at NCAA XC.

So true, thank god none of the Footlocker runners ever bomb at NCAA xc. That sure shows what meet matters!

runner10lasjkg wrote:

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

I don't even have to say you seem like one, I know you're a loser who couldn't do anything of note on the competetive running scene. McGorty just broke a sub 13:20 runners course record. STFU

I didn't imply that. I'm saying that I don't see why he would want to listen on advice on FLN vs. NXN from 2 guys who led one of the worst underperformances at NCAAs. If someone has run FLN and bombed at NCAAs, I wouldn't expect him to take their advice on what high profile race he should've run to prepare him for college, either.

steve dildarian wrote:

I didn't imply that. I'm saying that I don't see why he would want to listen on advice on FLN vs. NXN from 2 guys who led one of the worst underperformances at NCAAs. If someone has run FLN and bombed at NCAAs, I wouldn't expect him to take their advice on what high profile race he should've run to prepare him for college, either.

sometimes there's just a right thing to do, regardless of which might possibly leave you marginally better-prepared for your first foray into NCAA XC

Fair enough, though I don't think anyone would say the Rosas weren't pretty good in HS (and as such, fitting with the point being made, that there are extremely good runners in both races)

I think the hope was that the people over at NXN would have awarded the team an at large bid. If you look at both the guys and girls NXN SE race their were runners from Chantilly and Lake Braddock that could have potentially qualified for Foot Locker themselves. Sophie Chase is in the same boat as Sean McGorty, both runners are poised to place top 3 at Foot Locker Nationals and both have teams that could have made the trip to NXN. I think Nike would have done well to open up special spots to teams in these situations. By having these regionals on the same day you are forcing kids to choose.

Best of luck to Sean and Sophie at Nationals!

NIke's Mess wrote:

I think the hope was that the people over at NXN would have awarded the team an at large bid. If you look at both the guys and girls NXN SE race their were runners from Chantilly and Lake Braddock that could have potentially qualified for Foot Locker themselves. Sophie Chase is in the same boat as Sean McGorty, both runners are poised to place top 3 at Foot Locker Nationals and both have teams that could have made the trip to NXN. I think Nike would have done well to open up special spots to teams in these situations. By having these regionals on the same day you are forcing kids to choose.

Best of luck to Sean and Sophie at Nationals!

Or Footlocker could invite top finishers from NXN, which would be a lot easier than trying to figure out which teams probably would have qualified had everyone run the NXN Regional.

Have there been other high-profile kids on top teams who chose Footlocker? I feel like everyone usually chooses their teammates and that's why this is getting so much attention.

NIke's Mess wrote:

I think the hope was that the people over at NXN would have awarded the team an at large bid. If you look at both the guys and girls NXN SE race their were runners from Chantilly and Lake Braddock that could have potentially qualified for Foot Locker themselves. Sophie Chase is in the same boat as Sean McGorty, both runners are poised to place top 3 at Foot Locker Nationals and both have teams that could have made the trip to NXN. I think Nike would have done well to open up special spots to teams in these situations. By having these regionals on the same day you are forcing kids to choose.

Best of luck to Sean and Sophie at Nationals!

more logically, Foot locker should have special invitations for team players or people that think Nike is preferred option - nick ryan and mary cain for example this year.

FL invited top 5 or something individuals for the first few years, so there is precedent.

A better solution would be to allow a few special invitiations if appropriate.

Cap the watered down regional invites to 9 for the regions that have conflict with nxn, if they are worried about the extra $$$.

Great response by McGorty's coach.

J.R. wrote:

Great response by McGorty's coach.

It is good that "sean supported the team all year" given that he is so much better than the rest of them.

Also commendable is the team for "respecting his goals" that dont happen to align with the team goals.

I am not sure why the team would make a decision like this, it must be that they are just thrilled and honored to be able to run aside such a talented runner all year long.

It sure sounds like all are happy, and this thread should end.

The Chantilly coaches and their athletes made the decision knowing that one was an individual event and the other was a team event. It was like going to Vegas and they almost won the hand they were playing. Glad NXN didn't cave and the precedent has been set.

NxN is useless. In the NCAA many, many people care who wins and who is tenth. Other than people at the high school, who really cares what team win NxN? Do you think colleges look to see if the team won or placed high?

I suspect that if Nike did not give big gobs of stuff etc. there would not be the level of interest.

26mi235 wrote:

NxN is useless. In the NCAA many, many people care who wins and who is tenth. Other than people at the high school, who really cares what team win NxN? Do you think colleges look to see if the team won or placed high?

I suspect that if Nike did not give big gobs of stuff etc. there would not be the level of interest.

Yes, I'm sure if Nike didn't give a whole lot of stuff out, that the teams that could make it to the meet wouldn't even care about the meet. They wouldn't want to bother challenging themselves. Wouldn't want to compete against the best, or finish off their season as national champions. They just don't care. The only people that care about anything are the 10 best individuals in the nation, and all they care about is what happens in San Diego.

Chantilly should have petitioned. They have the support of most of the state of Virginia and I'm sure people across the country would be sympathetic to a team that lost on a tiebreaker after running their 2-6.

Regardless of what happened, they managed to have a huge season after hardly being on the radar for most of last year so kudos to them. This team will certainly have to go down as one of the best in VA history.

26mi235 wrote:

NxN is useless. In the NCAA many, many people care who wins and who is tenth. Other than people at the high school, who really cares what team win NxN? Do you think colleges look to see if the team won or placed high?

I suspect that if Nike did not give big gobs of stuff etc. there would not be the level of interest.

I see. And absolutely no one cares what team wins NCAAs, just the individuals.

The beauty of school xc, be it hs or college, is the team aspect. Doesn't happen like that ever again.

I'm not saying this to criticize McGorty or Chase - they may have perfectly good reasons for their decisions, and the comment from the coach suggests the team is OK with it. Good for them. But many teams would love the chance to compete at the highest level as a team.

I don't see how McGorty can live with himself at this point. His teamates will forever have to live with having come so close but not getting to go. McGorty is going on to bigger and better things, but for his teamates this was a once in a lifetime experience. No matter what his teamates or coach say, how would you feel knowing you could have gone. Do any of you remember the feeling of not making state? Getting rejected from college? Multiply it by 10. How could he do this to his teamates? To his own brother??

And to answer the question, to years ago Walter Johnson did the same thing: tied for second place in the SE but lost on the tie-break. They were not picked at large either, and the two southeast teams were last and second to last that year. The Southeast will never get an at large bid because it is by far the weakest region and to pick a southeast team at large you would pass up a much more deserving midwest team.