Below is article by former Lane Tech runner and girls track track coach Victor Gonzalez - (Lane Tech, class of 1989):
I am currently living in the Portland,
Oregon area, the Mecca of cross country and track. I decided to share my experience at Nike
Cross Country Team Nationals (NXN) because it is one of greatest cross country events.
As a runner, I never realized how difficult it is to find a course that is both
great for the athletes and for the fans.
As a runner, I enjoyed running races in moderately hilly courses where
most of the race took place in the woods.
It never occurred to me that from a fan’s perspective, that was not the
ideal place to run a race. NXN takes
place in the middle of a horse racetrack.
Before you roll your eyes, let me tell you why this is a great venue for
the high school team national meet. First,
it’s all about the fans. Yes, you heard me correctly; it’s all about the fans.
After you park your car, you can enjoy the race from the
fully enclosed grandstand or you can go to the infield of the racetrack and
enjoy the cross country atmosphere. The
boys raced at 10AM with the temperature in the high 30’s. I choose to watch the
first race from the grand stand. The indoor facilities provide good shelter for
athletes, spectators and team support staff.
A look at the course from the grandstand
Lower level of grandstand
Just about every table located in the grandstand has a
television with real-time broadcast of the race previews, race, scores and
post-race interviews. Cameras are
located in every part of the course along with some for the stage and the race
vehicle. All the athletes are
electronically monitored for position at every kilometer so the broadcast also
includes team scores periodically throughout the race. It is interesting to watch team scores change
especially in the last kilometer.
The real party is outside.
Every team is introduced about 20 minutes before the race.
Teams being introduced before the race while the band plays.
While watching the girls do their last warm up sprints I
realized that these girls were probably averaging 3% body fat. These girls
looked Lean and Mean. Every team was dressed in black warm up apparel. I assume
they are provided by Nike.
Fireworks as the teams go through the first 200 meters.
The course is relatively flat except for a man made obstacle,
hills and a hay bale series.
Manmade hills “Woopty doos”
At any time during the race, you can look back at the
grandstand for a view of the leaders on the giant screens. The two big screens
are displaying the front of the race and the other screen is displaying the
race time.
At the end of the race the top 3 teams are interviewed and
presented with their awards. The stage ceremony and post game interviews are
broadcast throughout the course and on the televisions inside. Of course, you
can count on seeing big cross country names when you are in Nike’s
backyard. Today, I got to tell Vin
Lananna, the Oregon
cross country coach, what a great job he is doing.
Final Thoughts
For the most part, I noticed that all the teams were happy
during the post race interviews. As a former Illinois
runner, I have always had a great admiration for the York cross country team. It must be mentally
tough to handle the expectations of winning all the time. For the second year
in a row, I have seen the York
team being interviewed only to notice how disappointed they were. It’s like the life was sucked out of
them. Last year they were runner ups and
this year they won the regional meet and finished 13th at nationals.
I love going to NXN. The only thing missing from NXN
is piñata and a mariachi band and I’m sure they are working on it. This is one event
where cross country does not live up to its name as the lonely sport
IHSA Cross-Country Advisory Board Minutes
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