By Michael Newman

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Today’s Subject: The At-Large Selection Process for the Nike Cross Nationals

The week leading up to the Nike Cross Nationals brought us more questions than answers. While most of the nation was wondering who would step to the head of class for the team titles in Portland. The focus for most cross-country fans in Illinois was why the Downers Grove South Girls team ignored for one of the four at-large selections to the meet.

I got to the point of stepping away from social media the week before the meet. It became tiresome, sickening by the end of the day Sunday.

There was an online petition that was created right after the announcement was made. “Get DGS to NXN” it was titled. The problem that was stated on the petition was that “DGS Girls got snubbed by the NXN committee for NXN.” It was a good idea for support for Downers Grove South of what happened. It was a bad idea because it was not going to change the decision. Endless remarks on Twitter during that time possibly could hurt the team’s chances in future years. I hope that is not the case.

When I got to Portland to cover the meet for DyeStat and RunnerSpace, the thought that was in my mind was this selection process was all political. Once I started digging for the truth, I found out that was not entirely the case.

Let me explain a little more in detail.

The NXN Selection was looking at three things in the teams that they were selecting to race in the meet.

1 – The committee wanted to select the hottest teams to race in Portland.

2 – The committee was looking at teams that had defeated NXN Regional champions during the year.

3 – The committee was looking at teams and how they had raced against other NXN Teams (1^st or 2^nd place)

The meet webpage explained that a little more in detail. MEET PAGE

Let’s look at each of the teams that were selected before they raced at Portland. I had written an article the Wednesday before the selections estimating what could happen on that Saturday night.

(YOU CAN READ MORE ABOUT HERE)

The committee got it right on the Boys side.

Mountain Vista CO deserved to be in the meet despite the fact that they had not defeated any NXN teams during the season. They had run all year without their top runner Easton Allred who had transferred from Rock Canyon to Mountain Vista. He could not run during the state season but was told in July that he would be allowed to run in the post-season. Vista ran a great race in their regional getting close to American Fork UT who was among the top ranked teams during the season.

Lewis & Clark WA deserved to be in the meet. The team did not have their best race in their state meet finishing fourth. The following week in their regional race, they finished third just one point behind Central Valley WA who was a team that Lewis & Clark defeated numerous times during the season.

I thought it would be close for the third and fourth spots. Considering how strong California teams were during the season, if it were close in their state meet, I thought two at-large teams would get out of that state. In my heart, I was hoping that York IL would make it in. They were a hot team finishing fourth in their 3A state race and then third in their regional race just seven points behind Illinois 3A State champion Wheaton-Warrenville South. All in all, the committee got it right with Newbury Park CA and La Costa Canyon CA being selected.

In the race itself, Newbury Park led the at-large teams finishing sixth. Lewis & Clark was next in 10^th followed by La Costa Canyon (11^th) and Mountain Vista (12^th).

You could say that the committee got it right for the Girls meet AFTER looking at the final results of the Nike Cross Nationals race. It was a different story before the meet.

Boise ID deserved to be in the meet. They were one of the top ranked teams during the season before finishing third in their regional race. They did defeat California D1 State Champion Great Oak in the Bob Firman Invitational at the end of September.

Vista Murietta CA was a team that I questioned at first. They did not run in the championship races at Woodbridge and Mt. Sac during the year. Great Oak beat them in their conference meet 22-49. But at state, they were only four points behind Great Oak CA despite the fact that Great Oak did not run their best race of the year. I thought three California teams would get out. Vista Murrieta was the hot team and they were on their way to Portland.

With how close the competition was in New York towards the end of the year, it was no surprise that the New York region had three teams get out with Liverpool as the at-large.

I thought Downers Grove South IL would make it to NXN as an at-large. In the two meets prior to the Midwest Regional race, South had finished third 23 points behind Yorkville at the Naperville Twilight Meet and 40 points behind Yorkville in the 3A State Meet. Remember, Naperville North and Yorkville were ranked among the top five national teams most of the season. In the regional race, South was 44 points behind in third behind those two national powers. Add in the fact that Downers Grove South finished third behind those schools at the Roy Griak Invitational but finished ahead of NXN team qualifiers Wayzata MN and Edina MN.

I could not understand why Niwot CO was selected. They won their state meet ahead of Battle Mountain CO. In the regional race, the two teams switched spots. Niwot did travel to the Desert Twilight Meet in Arizona where they finished second behind Boise ID. They finished ahead of no teams that made it to NXN. Battle Mountain was an auto qualifier but had not traveled out of the state during the year. Colorado has a strong group of teams.

To their credit, Niwot took the trip to Portland as an opportunity and they ran great finishing fifth overall as the highest at-large finishing team. Vista Murrieta finished seventh followed by Boise (10^th) and Liverpool (15^th). Could have Downers Grove South had finished in the top 10 teams if they had the opportunity? Possibly. We can speculate on it, but we will never know for sure.

The committee did not get it right on that selection, but looking at it, their criteria that they used I can’t fault.

So, what happened? Should we change the selection process? Should we change anything?

Here are some of the things that I have heard. I narrowed it down to five points.

1 – Illinois teams need to run in more out of state meets to get more national exposure.

Give me a break. Illinois sweeps the top three teams at the Roy Griak Invitational Girls championship race. Neuqua Valley Boys team travels to Missouri and wins the championship race at the Forest Park Festival. Lyons Township and Neuqua Valley Boys teams finish 1-2 at the Culver Academies Invitational in Indiana. Wheaton-Warrenville South traveled to Centerville, Ohio to compete in their Twilight race.

The competition between Illinois teams is so strong within this state. Why aren’t schools outside of the state traveling to Illinois to compete in meets? Credit Fishers IN and Burlington IA who run at the First to the Finish Invitational, Pleasant Valley IA who runs at the Richard Spring Invitational, and St. Louis University MO, St. Xavier KY, and Assumption KY who race at the Palatine Invitational are among the teams that travel in to race in Illinois. I would like to see some more teams out of state travel to Illinois to run in one of the races in Peoria or perhaps a race in the Chicago area like the Naperville Twilight Invitational.

The cost for traveling out of state during the season can hot the pocket book pretty hard. It’s not an excuse of traveling to a big meet outside of Illinois, but it is something that coaches and parents consider during the season. Great Oak CA is a good team example. They take one trip out of state every year. Two years ago, the Wolfpack traveled to the Roy Griak Invitational. In 2018, Great Oak traveled to the Bob Firman Invitational. The rest of their races are within their state. Their Boys team finished second at Nike Cross Nationals.

Look at Naperville North’s Girls team. They were scheduled to travel to Bettendorf, Iowa to run at Pleasant Valley. Then they travel to the Roy Griak Invitational at the end of the month. The rest of their races are within the state. They finished second at Nike Cross Nationals for the second year in a row.

2 – Get rid of the committee?

That won’t happen. I had an idea of getting rid of at-large selections, have three teams from each regional qualify for the Nike. Teams would not be hanging in the wind for as much as three weeks waiting to see if they will race in Portland.

I thought the Glendoveer Golf Course could handle five extra teams. The first turn just after 400 meters is just as wicked as the turn at Detweiller Park. Three runners from Kamiakin WA fell trying to navigate the turn at NXN. It is usually slippery at that point. That turn can’t be changed. 210 runners may be the limit to navigate it. It could be even messier with close to 240 runners.

If you look at it like we did before the committee met, they pretty much nailed the at-large team with the exception on the Girls side. The committee won’t be going away.

3 – More accountability from the Committee?

I would like to see that happen perhaps on how the votes went. I don’t know if it would be a good idea to put the names out there. Can you imagine parents from at-large teams lobbying committee members wanting their kids the opportunity to run at NXN? It would be a NIGHTMARE!

Doug Plunkett, coach at Downers Grove South, suggested that a ranking system be released every week similar to what happens during the College Football season.

It is an idea that I would like. It should be released every Wednesday evening starting towards the end of October. The rankings should be commissioned by Nike and independent from any running website’s ranking pages. It should be someone who has a current “in the know” of the teams and runners throughout the nation. I would not recommend someone who has a historical background doing it. Perhaps that would spring even more interest in the event. It could give the every day fan more information of what the committee is looking at. Have a top 25 national ranking. Have a top 10 ranking list of each of the regionals.

4 – Change the teams in the regionals?

I heard that a lot in state and in Portland. Should New York be merged with the Northeast? Should teams be switched around between the Heartland, Southeast, and Midwest?

It’s a subject to investigate, but not now.

5 – Change the committee members?

Again, something that I have heard from Illinois people and from other states when I was in Portland. Lyons Township’s Boys team was deserving to go to NXN in 2017 as they were hot at the right time but were overlooked and a team from the Southwest was chosen. The same thing happened this year as a southwest team Niwot CO was chosen ahead of Downers Grove South IL.

There had to have been collusion because everyone hates Illinois teams. The Midwest is on an island. That has to be the reason.

I don’t think so.

Look at how well Illinois and Midwest individual athletes have competed in the national meets especially Saturday at Foot Locker and the week before at the Nike Cross Nationals.

It could be that the Southwest committee member made a better argument when the committee met for the final time on that Saturday night. It is the lawyer in a court that usually wins their case with more persuasion and more passion within the argument. Even though Downers Grove South better met the criteria on their resume, Niwot was the team that was selected.

That might be the case in this situation. I have heard from coaches that it is time to overhaul the committee similar to what happens with the IHSA Advisory committee that rotates their members. I would not say overhaul but maybe change individual pieces within the committee.

All I can do is speculate. There are sometimes I wish I was a fly on the wall or bug in the phone to hear those conversations. I love hearing a point argued for and against on a subject.

Subject Conclusion: The criteria that the NXN committee uses is strong and I would not change a thing regarding that. It may be something in the five points that I mentioned above that needs to be tweaked.

So, time to drop the subject for this year. It’s time to enjoy the moments from the last season and move on. I know that the coaches and athletes are already looking ahead to action on the track in 2019. I hope it is the same with the parents and they are ready to move on from the past couple of weeks.