Nike Team Nationals
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
This article is uncategorized.
Please help improve this article by adding it to one or more categories, so it may be associated with related articles (how?). Please remove this tag after categorizing. |
Nike Team Nationals (or NTN) is an invitational cross country meet that serves as the unofficial national championship of United States high school cross country. It was designed to highten competition between high school cross country teams nationwide. NTN is a part of the Nike Nationals Series, which includes Nike Outdoor Nationals and Nike Indoor Nationals for track and field. The event is sponsored by Nike.
Nike selects 20 teams from around the nation to compete in the NTN meet, which typically is held the first weekend in December. These selections are based on regional and national rankings updated weekly during the fall cross country season. Teams are selected on "Selection Sundays", typically following the finish of state meets. There are 8 regions across the country: Northeast, Southeast, South, Midwest, Heartland, Southwest, Northwest, and California. In addition, four at-large teams are selected, which can be from any region.
The event is held in the second weekend of December in Portland, Oregon, at the Portland Meadows throughbred racing track. The race features a man-made 5 kilometer course that is completed with three loops, following European cross country tradition. The venue has an enclosed 3,000 seat grandstand, allowing spectators to see the whole race, unlike normal cross country meets. The infield of the track, where the course is set up, is also open to spectators who wish to get a more close-up view of the race.
NTN has a reputation for being extremely muddy. The course is located not only in the rainy Pacific Northwest but also in a low area and a drainage basin. It is a common sight to see runners soaked in mud at the end of NTN races.
Contents |
[edit] History
NTN was started in 2004 along with the other two meets in the Nike Nationals Series in order to promote the national curcuit for high school competitive running.
[edit] NTN Champions - Boys
- 2004 - Kroy XC Club (York High School) Illinois
- 2005 - Saratoga XC Club (Saratoga High School) New York
- 2006 - Bridgetown XC Club (Coatesville High School) Pennsylvania
[edit] NTN Champions - Girls
- 2004 - Kinetic Running Club (Saratoga High School) New York
- 2005 - Hilton XC Club (Hilton High School) New York
- 2006 - Manlius XC Club (Fayetteville-Manlius High School) New York
[edit] Trivia
- A team from New York has won every girl's race at Nike Team Nationals
- Saratoga (New York) High School is the only team to have won both boys' and girls' Nike Team Nationals meets, the girls winning the inaugural meet in 2004 and the boys winning in 2005.
- Since Nike Team Nationals is not an official national championship for high school, schools must as cross country clubs. Often the school's name is simply inserted into "____ XC Club", but sometimes other names are used (for example, Kroy, which won the inaugural boys' race, was simply the school's name, York, spelled backwards).
