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@Howard
I'm assuming they - in the US - were running cable pull discs.
I'd expect the problem is not to do with the use of disc brakes, rather that the cable pull brakes they used are not self adjusting.
Meaning as the pads wear down, the gap between the rotor and the pads grows. The inside pad can wear enough so that when the outside pad pushes against the rotor, the rotor no longer contacts the inside pad, but the caliper body instead. At this point the brake simply ceases to function.
It's possible to remedy this by stopping and dialing in the inside pad. The outside can be dialed in using a handlebar barrel adjuster.
This has happened to me in two races this year. In both the conditions were utterly extreme. It didn't really matter, guess I'm too slow to need brakes.
Could this happen with hydraulics?
Yes. But you'd have to be riding your bike for a lot longer than an hour; I've had complete brake failure at Swinley after about two hours riding with some heavy braking. But the riding isn't really comparable to a cross race.
TL;DR - hydraulics will work just fine, cable pulls suffer because they don't self adjust.
And who turns up at the US Nationals with the wrong brake pads?!