Cross Country Running is Tougher Than Football or Wrestling?

I was speaking with a high schooler a year or so ago who participated on her high school cross country team.  We were talking about football and wrestling since I coach it when I have the time. 

She felt football involved nothing more than brutes crashing into each other mindlessly.  Her view, much distorted by her parents, was that football had less strategy involved than her beloved sport, cross country running. 

Needless to say, I was amused. 

Wrestling too, in her naive view, were men rolling around mats with no apparent strategy involved either.  Having never been a cross country runner, I cannot comment on her sport though it does seem to be just a lot of running. 

Am I wrong? 

Are there blocking patterns in cross country to cut off other runners so that teammates can advance? 

I have no idea, but I simply noted her comments as someone sourly influenced by parents with no real idea.  In fact, I discussed this with her parent who admitted to never having played tackle football nor wrestled.  His sport was soccer, which is a completely different sport involving a lot of endurance with all its running. 

I am not saying one sport is better than another, but I will say the level of physical combat is obvious when considering football, wrestling, running and soccer.  My only hope is the runner who is now in college has learned to think on her own and come to her own conclusions without being overly influenced by others.