Anyone else do football and XC at the same time?

This is a cool story that I feel I can relate to a little bit. These kinds of athletes are probably more common than one would expect. I played football while running XC my freshman and sophomore years. While built like a thin distance runner, I started both ways on a solid JV football team. Freshman year was low 17:00’s XC and sophomore year was in the 16:20 range. I would run in the mornings before school a few days a week and practice everyday after school with the football team. I would usually miss one practice a week to go and run at an XC meet. Overall, I enjoyed the process of two sports in a season and I don’t think football really hindered my running much at all. I later quit football for my junior and senior years to pursue running seriously (while still continuing to play basketball in the winter). I don’t regret anything about the situation and am fortunate to have had a very good progression in times from year to year.

This topic seems to appear on the boards fairly often, albeit not always for football. IIRC there was a thread a while back talking about some All-State quarterback in California (1970s-1980’s) who was also a state champion in XC with some fast track times too.

American football???

american foot ball??? wrote:

American football???

Yes sir I said that he plays wide receiver/ safety and on Friday nights.

Opp wrote:

american foot ball??? wrote:

American football???

Yes sir I said that he plays wide receiver/ safety and on Friday nights.

I ran against a guy who did football and XC for a decently good school. He finished high up at state and went on to run 3:49 and 14:1x in college (maybe faster, that's just the results I can find)

In the '98, '99 and '00 Nick Setta was the field goal kicker for Lockport HS in Illinois, and also placed in the top 20 at the state meet all 3 years, once as high as 5th. (This was the same era as Jorge & Ed Torres and Don Sage, so it was as tough as ever, as Illinois always is.) Setta also won the state 800 in 1:52.24.

In college Nick Setta was the field goal kicker for Notre Dame, then had a long distinguished career as a kicker in the Canadian Football League.

Our top runner happens to be the 2 time state xc individual champ in our league and also a star football player. He runs every morning at 5 am and has football practice every afternoon and then plays Friday night's and gets up to run Saturday morning meets. I think his PR 5K is a 15:50 something.

Maxpreps says he plays wide receiver and s? For safety maybe?

I am surprised none of the MIAC posters ... . Anyway, Auburn Jimenez, Macalester, fall 2013. Look him up.

RunningRough wrote:

Our top runner happens to be the 2 time state xc individual champ in our league and also a star football player. He runs every morning at 5 am and has football practice every afternoon and then plays Friday night's and gets up to run Saturday morning meets. I think his PR 5K is a 15:50 something.

Wow, that's impressive. Are you a parent or coach of the running team? I'm surprised either coach is OK with this. This kid is clearly gifted, and since he's not being forced to pick, it's cool he's doing both. Do the rest of the kids on either team harbor resentment? as clearly he isn't making both practices regularly.

Yeah we all did. Read the story of Jake Merrell . You won't find him playing football this year as he made the mistake of going to baylor. Just kidding Jake.

Ole miss has one of these guys too but I can't find his story. Ran a 3:44 as a freshman last year.

Free Advice wrote:

In the '98, '99 and '00 Nick Setta was the field goal kicker for Lockport HS in Illinois, and also placed in the top 20 at the state meet all 3 years, once as high as 5th. (This was the same era as Jorge & Ed Torres and Don Sage, so it was as tough as ever, as Illinois always is.) Setta also won the state 800 in 1:52.24.

In college Nick Setta was the field goal kicker for Notre Dame, then had a long distinguished career as a kicker in the Canadian Football League.

Lockport was in our conference, so I raced against him a ton in high school. He kicked a 59-yard field goal, and I believe he was also all-state in the 300 hurdles and high jump. Great all-around athlete!

american foot ball??? wrote:

American football???

Yeah, you know...real emo.

Here's Jeff Adkins Friday/Saturday double from the fall of 1977. On Friday, as a high school junior, he played DB on Woodrow Wilson's (Beckley, WV) football team that defeated Fairmont Senior 6-0 for the State Championship (all classes) title.

On Saturday he came back to win the individual crown in XC.

http://www.runwv.com/records/cross.html

As a Senior, Adkins ran 8:52.4 (8:49.0 3200) for the 2 mile, defeating John Ziska in the process.

Coley Candaele was starting quarterback for his high school team which won three straight California state championships with a 38-3-1 overall record. He was named California state football player of the year his senior year in 1989. In 1990 he won the State 1600 in 4:06.26 (he was 2nd in 1989 and 3rd in 1988

No, I wasn't allowed to play football due to the presence of an extra X chromosome in my genotype. Seemed unfair and discriminatory to me at the time. Especially considering all the money and attention placed on football at the high school level. Lots of boys on the team secured lucrative scholarships for themselves having played football. I just sat on the sideline and watched the privilege unfold before my dainty, sad eyes.

Free Advice wrote:

In the '98, '99 and '00 Nick Setta was the field goal kicker for Lockport HS in Illinois, and also placed in the top 20 at the state meet all 3 years, once as high as 5th. (This was the same era as Jorge & Ed Torres and Don Sage, so it was as tough as ever, as Illinois always is.) Setta also won the state 800 in 1:52.24.

In college Nick Setta was the field goal kicker for Notre Dame, then had a long distinguished career as a kicker in the Canadian Football League.

I came on here to post the same thing. He even ran track at ND.

I had a teammate in hs play football. He ended up running 17:40 that season but in track ran 1:58 and was county champion. Another teammate who was a solid 215 lbs played baseball/basketball/XC/track and ran 2:00. In college I had another teammate who won state his first year in track after playing football and he was a solid 185. Ran 24's in the 8k consistently.

Drew Wibdle never did high school cross county and played football for four years.

No idea if you can get through the paywall, but:

https://www.omaha.com/huskers/plus/nebraska-high-schoolers-are-turning-away-from-football-and-embracing/article_7889847d-6ff0-5f18-a834-d88d4fe2426e.html