Tanner Anderson won an NXN title in his final high school cross country race, yet he won’t face off against the likes of Grant Fisher and Matthew Maton at the Foot Locker Championships this Saturday. Since Anderson wanted to run with his team at NXN last Saturday, he had to forego the Foot Locker West regional that would’ve qualified him to run against the best in San Diego. 

It’s not Anderson’s fault. Foot Locker and NXN compete against each other to try and keep the best athletes from attending the other’s meet. NXN advertises itself as a team race, while Foot Locker is a showcase of the best of the best individuals. Of course, NXN has individual qualifiers and Foot Locker has the regional team competition, but common knowledge suggests that the participants split along those lines. 

Ever since the inception of Nike Cross Nationals (formally Nike Team Nationals) in 2004, the top high school talent around the country have had to make a decision- go to Foot Locker or NXN? Yes, certain brave souls have attempted to run both, with Lukas Verzbicas being the only person to win both races in the same year, but most top preps ultimately have to make the Portland/San Diego decision. 

With these two meets being in direct competition with each other, regional scheduling forces certain athletes to choose Foot Locker or NXN. Another great example of this dilemma is Brea Olinda (CA) junior Austin Tamagno. Tamagno, the course record holder at Mt. Sac, had to decide between joining his team in Portland for NXN or running in the Foot Locker West region to qualify for San Diego. It’s ridiculous to think that a high schooler would be forced to choose between running with his team at the biggest race of their season or facing one of the deepest Foot Locker fields in recent memory. The conflict between NXN and Foot Locker not only affected Tamagno, but it also made Brea Olinda finish much lower in Portland than they would have if their star had run. 

Ultimately, Tamagno chose Foot Locker, but surely this scenario can be avoided in the future. We’re not saying that either NXN or Foot Locker should be eliminated, just simply that they should work together in the future so that Tamagno and Anderson’s dilemma doesn’t continue to be repeated by high schoolers year after year. Nike and Foot Locker need to be cohesive in order to maintain the integrity and quality of the national championships. After all, the purpose of a national championship is to showcase the best in the country, not divide the athletes by using two separate marketing schemes. 

Fixing this problem would require an overhaul of the current system, and that’s exactly what should happen. All of the top athletes should have equal access to both NXN and Foot Locker if they so choose, but doing so requires NXN and Foot Locker to produce a regional system that has the athlete’s interests in mind. Here’s our solution:

Status Quo
-Keep all of the NXN regionals right where they are, including the CIF Finals. These meets occupy a three week window in November, and are scheduled according to the state meets in the region. The same qualifying system of two auto teams and four at-large squads to be decided by a committee would still be in effect, as well as the five individuals from each region. 

NXN as a Foot Locker Qualifier
-The top 12 individuals from NXN would qualify for Foot Locker, while seven individuals each would qualify out of the FL regionals. Those that wish to run at both events can qualify without having to run both Nike and Foot Locker regionals to do so. Also, having more qualifiers come out of NXN than the FL regionals gives the athletes an incentive to run at NXN. 

Top 12 at NXN + Top 7 at 4 FL regions (NE, S, MW, W) = 40 runners


Do you have a better solution? We want your responses! Let us know in the comment section below.

Editor's Note: Here is who would be in the 2014 Foot Locker Nationals and who would be out of the 2014 Foot Locker Nationals if this method was applied...

BOYS' SCENERIO:

OUT of Foot Locker Nationals:
Jeriqho Gadway (8th at FL Northeast)
Jack Jibb (9th at FL Northeast)
Shawn Hutchison (10th at FL Northeast)
Steven Cross (8th at FL South)
Nicholas Diaz (9th at FL South)
Alexander Rogers (10th at FL South)
Josh Collins (8th at FL West)
Garek Bielaczyc (9th at FL West)
Colin Burke (10th at FL West)

IN to Foot Locker Nationals:
Tanner Anderson (1st at NXN)
Caleb Webb (3rd at NXN)
Eric Hamer (4th at NXN)
Adam Barnard (5th at NXN)
Casey Clinger (8th at NXN)
Blaise Ferro (9th at NXN)
Phillip Rocha (11th at NXN)
Connor Olson (12th at NXN)
Ryan Nameth (11th at FL Midwest)

GIRLS' SCENERIO:

OUT of Foot Locker Nationals:
Sarah Kettel (8th at FL Midwest)
Amy Davis (9th at FL Midwest)
Morgan Florsheim (10th at FL Midwest)
Kelsey Potts (8th at FL Northeast)
Gabrielle Richichi (9th at FL Northeast)
Eve Glasergreen (10th at FL Northeast)
Logan Morris (9th at FL South)
Abby Gray (10th at FL South)
Kendall Derry (8th at FL West)
Grace Ling (9th at FL West)
Kimberly Coscia (10th at FL West)

IN to Foot Locker Nationals:
Allie Ostrander (1st at NXN)
Danielle Jones (3rd at NXN)
Fiona O'Keeffe (4th at NXN)
Megan Hasz (5th at NXN)
Katie Rainsberger (6th at NXN)
Lucy Biles (7th at NXN)
Taylor Cuneo (8th at NXN)
Bethany Hasz (9th at NXN)
Ella Donaghu (10th at NXN)
Devin Clark (11th at NXN)
Lindsey Bradley (12th at NXN)