<p>acgeaux, do what’s in your heart…do it because you want to, not because someone is telling or forcing you! With that being said, stevethebeav, XC and track are team sports and the purpose is to help the team, while helping your own individual performance…but the sole purpose shouldn’t just be to get in shape, though running, in general, accomplishes just that.</p>
<p>USNA69,</p>
<p>I disagree on your reasoning to do a “team” vs. “individual” sport. </p>
<p>First, cross-country and track are not just individual sports. In cross-country, five runners score and seven usually count. If any of the five runners don’t perform, the team score suffers. The other two runners act as displacers, meaning they still get a team scoring place (though they aren’t added to the team score) and “push back” other teams because they are now getting a higher scoring place than normal. The sixth runner is crucial in a tie, because the tie is broken by the place of the sixth runner (if team A’s sixth runner is 100 and team B’s sixth runner is 99, team B would end up in front of team A). Everyone on the team COUNTS!!! Not just the top five!</p>
<p>Now let’s look at the more details. Running is not just about physical toughness. It is about mental toughness. When you are two miles into a race and the fifth runner from another team passes you…are you going to keep going at your pace or pick it up and stick with him and try to outkick him? It is very easy to quit when you are racing…the question is do you keep going? are you more worried about yourself or the team?</p>
<p>Track is the same way. Now in track there are more evident, team events…relays. Each of them, again, like other team sports requires teamwork. Handing off a baton in a 4x100m relay is important…from starting at the right time to screaming the keyword for the runner to grab the button, to sprinting…oh did I mention that the baton has to be handed off in a specific zone? This is the same in the 4x400 and 4x800, though the race pace of these races aren’t “sprints”. Then add all of the “individual” events.</p>
<p>I can say for one thing, USNA Admissions isn’t going to look down at a cross-country or track runner. Most problems for the PRT is the run portion. If they have someone who can pass the run for 3 miles+, then they shouldn’t have a problem passing the run for 1.5 miles. I am sure this is something they take into consideration.</p>
<p>I can tell you from personal experiences of running cross-country and track in high school, that it is much of a team sport as any other sport. Not to brag, but I am a three time team state champion in cross-country and on a 4x800m relay state 1st place team. The 3 XC championships were never because we had talent. We spent the summers as a “team” and made sure we were all running together every summer night (when in town), we went to running camp for 1-2 weeks of the summer, and we had strong accountability for practices during the season. Again, for the most part, the majority of our seven runners weren’t talented. It was all about the seniors leadership that made us who we were. Guess what? There are at least 5 other current teams in my county that do the same thing as what we did.</p>
<p>USNA69, not only did we have great wins but we also had defeats. At the 2001, regional championship we placed 2nd by a significant amount to a team that shouldn’t have beat us (we were ranked #1 in the state in our classification). The first thing our captain did after everyone’s heart rate returned to normal was to have a team meeting…and ask about everyone’s races to see what went wrong and do some analyzing. What happened next week at states? We won.</p>
<p>Each experience is different, obviously. However, you will find that you win and lose as a team. You win and lose as an individual. You have
mental lessons learned.</p>
<p>The funny thing is…that almost every other sport is exactly the same but in a different fashion.</p>
<p>GoNavyXC…what about your experiences?</p>