by Larry Eder
Cross-country is one of the largest sports on the high school calendar, for both boys and girls! Each state has a state meet, and the buildup to the state meet is always exciting.
After the state meets (only NY and CA are not completed early in November), the NXR regional meets give athletes from all over the country the chance to qualify with their teams as well as individually for the NIKE Cross Nationals! NIKE Regional Qualifying had eight meets, and if the seven other regionals are any where near as successful as the 3,500 high schoolers who ran in 15 races in Mesa, Arizona for the NXR Southwest Regional, then, cross-country is just healthy as can be in the high school culture! NIKE had a great team managing the meet in Mesa and the athletes, families and frieds were treated to a fun, entertaiing and safe event in mid-November.
Brooks running rescued the legacy of the FootLocker series, as the FootLocker Champs, after 45 years, were cancelled without any notice. Brooks, joined by Fleet Feet Sports, announced a new series, built on the four decade success of the FL series, where athletes in high school, can go and run at 4 regional races, and if they place in top ten, they are off to San Diego on December 14! The new series came about in less than two months and there are confirmed reports that at least one other brand considered doing the same thing or something similar. The need of the sport and the ability of a brand to put together a new series surely tested Brooks, but the brand likes challenges and sees part of its future coming from these high school athletes.
But cross-country is not just a U.S. phenomenon; it is a global phenomenon! European Athletics Champs Cross Country will have over 59 federations competing on December 14. On January 10, 2026, all of the best teams in the world will descend upon Tallahassee, Florida, for the World Athletics Cross Country Championships!
Championsips in Africa and Asia have some of the best global runners involved in the sport that takes is heritage from the Hounds and Harrier runs in the 1850s in the U.K. in sports clubs. Those grand traditions, that global fan base, is part of the reason why World Athletics wants cross-country in the Winter olympics. The problme is that, at this time, the Olympic charter will have to be changed to allow this event to join the family of Winter Olympic events. One also wonders if the IOC will want to have such a powerful global brand as World Athletics move into the Winter schedule. The IOC still has not gotten over the WA offering $50k for gold medals in the Summer Olympics. That did not go over well, and is, strongly responsible for Seb Coe losing the IOC presidency earlier this year.
This is the first time, since 1992, that the World Cross Country is being held in the U.S.! The U.S. teams will be decided at the USATF Cross Country Championships, to be held on December 6, 2025 in Portland, Oregon, in conjunction with the NIKE Cross Nationals!
Up until 1924, Cross-Country was part of the Olympics. There were team races and individual races as well. Will it become part of the Winter Olympics? There seems to be some interest.
Seb Coe, President of World Athletics, is working to get cross-country approved in the 2030 Winter Olympics!
What do you think?
