The snowcapped and ice laced trails could not stop some of the best runners in the Midwest from reaching their goals in Kenosha, WI
The Illinois high school season ended on Saturday November 8, 2014 with the state championship at historic Detweiller Park in Peoria. While it concluded for the majority of the runners, coaches, and fans on that day, there was still another season left for the elite runners. The season is simply known as “the post-season.”
The post-season is now a month old-
The post-season for me has been going on for 20 years now. It started in 1994 when I agreed to coach my brother-law’s junior olympics cross country team. We participated in several meets that stretched to the Thanksgiving Holiday break. Little did I know at the time, I would be spending the next 20 Thanksgivings in some capacity with the sport.
Most kids today either choose Nike Cross Country or Footlocker or both for their post-season pleasures. The first meet of the newfound season was the Nike Cross Nationals Midwest Regional Championship that took place in Terre Haute, IN on November 16. There were a record number of entries (1700) that encompassed runners from five states. In fact the meet was so competitive that the meet director Geoff Wayton had to distinguish who would compete in the championship race. In the past he was liberal about letting kids run in the big race, but after getting flooded by some quality teams and individuals he felt it was wise to put a cap on it. The results did not disappoint as the winning boys time was a very solid 16:01 by junior Dan Laskero of Sandburg, IL. Senior Madeline Lilly of Twin Lakes, IN won the girls race in 18:56. She was a state final participant in her state meet but relegated to the open race. This is how competitive the meet was.
The Footlocker Regional meet was exciting-
This past weekend up in Kenosha, WI was the Midwest Footlocker Regional Championship. Upon arrival at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside National Cross Country course we were all greeted with several inches of snow on the course. Fortunately or unfortunately the runners had to run in it while I did the observing. I was there with MileSplit National Editor Brendan Miles, my photographer Colin Boyle, and my good friend Danny Sopena. We all assisted Brendan in covering the meet. I did some tweeting of the seeded races and interviewed various athletes who made the national finals. I also spoke with coaches, parents, and general fans of the sport.
It was also great to see Illinois legend and past Footlocker champion Jorge Torres act as an ambassador for the event. For the few out there who forgot or don’t know who Jorge Torres is, he won three state titles competing for Wheeling High School- among his exploits was the 14:00 clocking his senior year in 1998. That was year that Torres brought home the Footlocker crown down in Orlando, FL. I actually attended that race as a fan- and running around the course like a crazed nut cheering him on.
We are fortunate enough as Illinois fans to have three finalists that qualified this time around.
Maryjeanne Gilbert (Jr., Peoria Dame) earned her spot with a third place finish in 17:29. She performed admirably in her first nationally lace race and will no doubt represent the state well in the girls race.
Jesse Reiser (Sr., McHenry) and Jon Davis (Jr., Oakwood) placed third and eighth respectively- running 15:09 and 15:17.
Reiser took his placement like a champion despite not crossing the threshold first. He will be in the mix in two weeks down in sunny San Diego . He is expected to finish in the top five as most who are close to the sport believe.
Davis was pleased with his results that also resulted in advancement to sunny California. Davis didn’t appear to be worried about moving on as he ran the race of his life with precision and patience. He made a strong last move in the final half mile and glided home with a sigh of relief.
As for the Midwest boy and girl winner, the forecast is looking pretty sweet. The girls’ winner is senior Anna Rohrer of Mishawaka, IN. The boys’ winner was Grant Fisher of Grand Blanc, MI.
Rohrer is the 2012 national champion who happened to miss the 2013 cross country season with a series of setbacks with foot fractures. After the long tough battle back she is primed and ready to make a run for the title again. Rohrer crushed the competition with 5:37, 10:49, 16:22 mile checkpoints. The final verdict was a 16:57 time that just barely missed her course and meet record 16:54. Remember Rohrer ran this incredible time in less than optimal conditions- no make that terrible conditions on a course that was covered in ice and snow in shaded areas and when the temperature rose to 45F at game time, there was mud and mush everywhere! Of course it won’t be easy with the likes of an emerging force known as senior Ryan Frazier out of Raleigh, NC. She smoked a 16:27 at the South regional. Three other girls broke 17:00 in that meet. Let’s be fair though, the McAlpine course in Charlotte is like running on a race track. I don’t think anyone in that race other than Frazier is a threat to Rohrer.
Fisher is the defending champion and the heavy favorite to repeat. Fisher is also the #1 runner in the country just like Rohrer according to MileSplit’s Saucony Flo 50 Rankings. And just like Rohrer he won his race comfortably. The race for Fisher played out more conservative with the first mile in 4:45. There is some belief that the cattle herd pack had something to do with the course unthawing at the wrong time. It was treacherous to say the least out there. The next mile slowed down even more as the leaders past the 2m post in 9:42. Fisher showed off his mite in the final mile and won by 9 seconds in 15:00. All in a day’s work I suppose. It will be a different take in San Diego in two weeks when a stellar field is assembled. I will be watching.
How the NXN at-large selection process works-
Although the NXN at-large selection appears to run like the NCAA cross country selection in that teams are picked by a group of sector heads but the process is better associated with basketball.
The NCAA basketball tournament has an at-large process in determining its field for “March Madness” and for many years I have often wondered how the committee selection works. I am a big basketball fan and I used to get anxious followed by anger when I felt my favorite team got jerked by either not getting selected or placed in a bogus tournament region. The worst part of the entire ordeal was no accountability. The selection committee was this nameless group that met in Absentia and made all the decisions for better or worse.
I will give you the run down within good reason and I hope that it can help moving forward in seeing how things run.
1) There are nine (9) NXN regionals: Northwest, Heartland, Midwest, Southwest, South, Southeast, Northeast, New York, California. Each regional gets two automatic team qualifiers and the top five runners not on a qualifying team advances. So there are 18 team automatic qualifiers to Portland.
The California regional automatic teams are selected by an overall team merge at their state championship. The California state meet is the weekend before the NXN championship and it would be impossible for them to have an actual qualifying regional; qualifying out of California determined based on the classifications and the overall teams selected according to a total team time.
Each region is assigned an ambassador and their job is to basically monitor activity of the teams in its region throughout the season. There is also a head arbitrator who keeps order for the committee. Nike Cross Nationals uses Runnerspace.com as a primary regional ranking tool- it’s a baseline. However, rankings itself are not the sole determining factor in selecting at-large teams to Portland if at all. The rankings are more of a guide to see who the top teams are during the season.
In order to be considered for an at-large bid each team must compete in the regional round and that performance weighs heavy. The committee also looks at how the pool of teams have done during the regular season, and then the post-season such as the state meet; there are other factors as well too like intangibles. They take in account such factors as line-ups ran and when they ran them; competition faced head to head, injuries to key runners, and possibly weather at a particular venue if it indeed played a significant outcome in a team’s performance.
Each regional ambassador is asked to give a presentation on his/her team (s) and present the facts. Why should the team (s) be selected? There are ambassadors from other regions who can weigh in to either dissent or affirm on the presenter. The meeting can get heated- it rarely goes as planned- pack a lunch. The job is to get the best deserving 8 teams to Portland (boys and girls).
After the presentations are completed there is a round of votes for the teams- an elimination process if you will. The teams with the most votes move on. There may even be one last presentation if need be for the final round. But there are only four boys and four girls teams getting selected to go to Portland. The final round completes the process and the teams are selected. The arbitrator does a follow up to make sure the teams that were voted in are indeed the right ones. Once the committee’s job is complete, the arbitrator moves forward to let the powers that be who are the selected at-large teams.
I have read with interest from just about everywhere about the committee having a bias for a particular team or region. But the fact is that is not true. It can be what ‘have you done for me lately’ in some instances and the entire body of work in some other cases. Personally, I don’t think anyone says “well this team’s region sucks every year for at-large consideration.” I have never heard that. And it should not matter. It’s about getting the best teams for the national championship. Keep in mind that the committee has access to info on teams that the general public does not- some very personal and sensitive information that may affect why a team performs a certain way. I hope all of this helps you understand the process of at-large team selection.