San Diego Foot Locker Nationals for California Athletes -

We had a super fall Cross-Country season in California this Fall. The State meet had depth probably beyond any in the meet's history since its start in 1987. Team times and times back at 10th, 50th or 100th places in some races were quite amazing!! The Regional competition a bit over a week ago had a pleasing three male and three female California athletes move on to the National Finals from our very competitive part of the nation. Mohamed Trafeh and Ruth Graham of the Californians who ran in the Foot Locker National Finals this past weekend were probably satisfied with their placings, but what is the story for others? At first glance one would have to generally summarize that the California athletes who made the Foot Locker National Finals held this past weekend in San Diego were probably a bit disappointed in their placings. There is a bit of a story to the Californians involvement in these races that is important to understand.

The first issue is the schedule of races for California runners. No other region has their qualifying competition the previous weekend. Athletes from the Northeast, Midwest, and South all had their qualifying competitions two weekends back, with athletes able to spend a week and a half recharging the competitive batteries and carefully planning training for a peak effort here. California athletes, certainly not guaranteed a spot in the very competitive western area last week, had to go home after a race on the tough Mt. SAC course, and really had less than a week to get ready for this meet and its hectic trappings in San Diego. On top of the two weeks since regionals around the rest of the nation, many of the top qualfiiers from around the country had their state competition before the regionals at least a couple of weeks prior to that competition, so many had a nice "every other week" or more casual approach to things in the last month. Only two states had their competition the weekend of November 23rd, while most California athletes were starting their rugged "three weeks that include Section, Regional, and Nationals." Cross-Country around the nation generally ends earlier than in California, which allows top athletes and their coaches from around the nation to more casually prepare for the Foot Locker series. Weather is such and the start of other sport seasons around are such that most state meets are November 2nd or 9th (check National Cross-Country schedule). At least the last three weekends were very tough races for the Californians involved, with State and Region races preceded by tough section action for some the previous weekend. With Section Qualifying and League competition, some had a month and a half of very tough competitions in a row in our area. Unfortunately, with Cross-Country elsewhere done so early, there is not much that can be done with this Foot Locker schedule, with the Western Regionals the weekend it is only due to the lateness of the California State Meet.

The Foot Locker weekend is like no other for preps. It is certainly the first "welcome to the big-time" for preps as far as trappings. The small total of sixty-four athletes allows the sponsors to do more for the students, with banquets, Olympic stars present in significiant number, and a setting at the Hotel del Coronado that is akin to a real holiday. It is challenging to focus on the race, and carry through with a top performance there after the distractions of the time here since Thursday. I would imagine that not too many in the field have spent two evenings in a bed different than home prior to any prep race they have run. Some have commented in previous years to me that their arrival at the starting line after the previous couple of days has left them in less than a state for a maximum racing effort.

The race day procedure contains lengthy introductions that interfere with a normal "finish the warm-up, go to the start, start the race" routine, with athletes 20 minutes prior to the event asked to stand in an area prior to intro's this year. The whole scene is different than normal.

The San Diego course is different than most "trail and cement" courses run by Californians. The San Diego section runs their Section Finals at Morley field, but most other Californians do not do their racing in parks which consists of three miles over 95% grass. There is a different feeling to one's legs while racing over grass when one is used to nice hard-packed trails or a small amount of concrete during the championship courses. Interestingly, Mohamed Trafeh of Duarte said long before Nationals that his favorite places to run were in a park barefooted, and he obviously thrived on the Nationals course, placing there one place higher than where he placed in the Regional competition (and he was coming off a period where he was fasting with Ramadan, following his religious beliefs)! Interestingly, the San Diego Nationals course runs fairly similar timewise to Woodward Park and the old Mt. SAC course, with one able to make some comparison on the quality of races off times from this past weekend in San Diego.

Excuses, certainly none of the athletes involved in this last weekend's Foot Locker Nationals need any excuses. The conditions were the same on the day of the meet for the 32 in each of the races. We did not hear excuses requested by anyone involved, nor do any of our athletes need any for their great years. But there are a number of subtleties that are involved in making the day at Nationals a pleasing success or going the other way and having it come out a bit short of expectations. The Foot Locker weekend is a tough one the first time through, especially if you are a senior (and you go to the bottom of the experience barrel at that level next year as a college athlete - oh well), with underclass athletes in San Diego certainly now establishing the resolve to come back next time and do a better job. Lots of folks in the past have dealt with the same situation on race day and during their careers and done well. Should anything be changed with the Foot Locker meet weekend, certainly not!!

The meet history is full of folks who, given the luxury of a bit of experience at this mind-blowing level, going from a frustrating experience one year, to a much better effort a year or two down the road. Louie Quintana (Arroyo Grande) made it to Nationals in San Diego as a soph back a decade or so, showed up sick, finished last, then found himself the National Champ two years later!!

Folks woke up after this past Saturday as the same people. They had completed a great Fall of running, and would continue to have some super seasons ahead. There are certainly some factors to consider when one looks at the race results from the Foot Locker Nationals summarized above that do make it a bit more challenging for the California folks than others around the nation as far as scheduling, etc.

is published by

Editors: Doug Speck and Rich Gonzalez
Publisher: John Dye

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