{"comments":{"926419":{"pb_id":"49498","pb_type":"members","likes":"0","parent_id":"0","pid":"926419","comment_id":"926419","member_id":"49498","comment":"I actually don't like that individual qualifiers are decided solely on time at the state meet. I think that any divisional winner should be bumped up ahead of someone who did not win their division, provided the winner is deemed to be of national caliber. Ways of determining "national caliber" are the athlete's performance at invitationals, national\/state rankings, and how much slower they ran in the state meet compared to the non-winner of the more competitive race. I don't think there was anyone that screams out as an example of this for this year, but in general I think this should be considered.","date_added":"Dec 2nd 2013, 3:08am","nest":0,"liked":false,"member":[],"can_delete":false,"item_id":196742,"item_type":"news","pb_image":"i\/no_avatar.png","pb_title":"MatthewXCountry","pb_url":"profile.php?member_id=49498","pb_url_dns":"https:\/\/MatthewXCountry.runnerspace.com\/","pb_wally_id":"1194309"},"926416":{"pb_id":"44418","pb_type":"members","likes":"0","parent_id":"0","pid":"926416","comment_id":"926416","member_id":"44418","comment":"Everyone would be more comfortable with a level playing field, but the system that's in place is the one we're stuck with.
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\nDepending on what state you live in, you either have a hard choice or an easy choice.
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\nIn Texas, which essentially has its own NXN regional (along with a few states that do not attend well), you have a great opportunity to qualify. And then, you can also go to Foot Locker South.
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\nIn Maryland, which is part of the NE for Foot Locker qualifying, you see almost everyone choose NXN Southeast (while most top kids in the SE still consider Foot Locker the more favorable national meet). And Maryland killed it at NXN SE on Saturday.
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\nIn California, based on your state meet result you could be invited to NXN and then be faced with the dilemma of turning down a sure thing in order to risk an attempt to go to Foot Locker that doesn't always pan out. In fact, Makena Morley of Montana and Lucy Biles and Sarah Feeny of Utah have turned down trips to NXN in order to run at Foot Locker West. And they have very good reasons.
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\nIn the Heartland and Midwest, like Texas, you can push your chips into two regionals meets and hope to qualify for at least one of the national meets.
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\nIn New York, which again has its own NXN regional, qualifying for a national meet might be easier than anywhere. New York is sending 5 teams to NXN and 14 individuals to NXN or FL. That's almost 50 kids.
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\nIn Wisconsin, which is part of a tough region, zero made it through.
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\nOn it goes.","date_added":"Dec 2nd 2013, 3:02am","nest":0,"liked":false,"member":{"wally_id":"1082747","email_settings":"4294967295","email":"dbind4@aol.com","address":"DougB","gender":"u","member_id":"44418","member_name":"DougB","avatar_location":"av-44418.jpg","avatar_type":"upload","avatar":"\/\/www.runnerspace.com\/forum\/uploads\/av-44418.jpg"},"can_delete":false,"item_id":196742,"item_type":"news","pb_image":"\/\/www.runnerspace.com\/forum\/uploads\/av-44418.jpg","pb_title":"DougB","pb_url":"profile.php?member_id=44418","pb_url_dns":"https:\/\/DougB.runnerspace.com\/","pb_wally_id":"1082747"},"926402":{"pb_id":"53231","pb_type":"members","likes":"0","parent_id":"0","pid":"926402","comment_id":"926402","member_id":"53231","comment":"