Plenty of hype and excitement surrounds this weekend's third annual Nike Team Nationals, as the most of the nation's best teams will go head-to-head. But not everyone is thrilled with the names on the entry list. Several very legitimate contenders for some of the top positions in the national meet will get no closer to the action than the live webcast on their computer screen. Next year, however, there will be another choice.
BorderWar Sports has announced that in 2007 they will begin their own version of a high school team cross country championship. Officially endorsed by the AAU and sponsored by JetBlue Airlines (among others), the group will scrap the concept of subjective polls in favor of what many consider the only fair method: regional qualifying meets.
The group has decided to split the country into 11 regions--Kentucky being a member of the Great Lakes region with Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, and Illinois. Regional meets will have both large school (enrollment 1200+) and small school (enrollment 0-1199) divisions, while at the national meet teams will all compete in a single division. In all, 32 automatic large school and 11 automatic small school national births will be awarded from the regional meets. The group is also leaving the door open for a few wildcard bids, in case a region is particularly competitive (so that no deserving team gets left home). The national championship meet will be held on December 1, 2007 in Orlando, Florida.
Beyond simply trying to take subjectivity out of the national championship equation, event co-director David Taylor explains that this model will allow teams to focus on peaking at the right time (the end of the season) rather than having to compete at certain meets and at a high level all season long to be ranked high enough to qualify. The system will also, according to Taylor, allow each region of the country to be equally represented.
They hope that the idea will be quick to gain traction, and will be announcing all of the regional meet locations and other rules announcements on March 11, 2007. Going head to head with Nike is no short order, but the well-connected and experienced team of race directors and track nuts believes they can do it. And with the support of JetBlue Airlines and the AAU, along with some general discontent for some of the NTN picks this year, they might just have picked the perfect storm to get this concept in the air.
We will keep you updated with any future updates about this new national championship event. For more information you can also check out BorderWarSports.com. |
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