[bNXN at-large berth: CORONA DEL MAR VS TORREY PINES
Torrey Pines:
-Stanford Invitational Team Champion
-Mt Carmel Invitational Team Champions
-CIF Division I Champions #8 all-time total team time
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STANFORD INV. GIRL'S DIVSION 1 THRU 5 COMBINED TEAM SCORES 5K
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1. 179 TORREY PINES (18:44.0 93:39.8)
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1 2 2241 Megan Morgan SR SDS 17:38.71
2 4 2237 Alli Billmeyer JR SDS 18:09.81
3 7 2239 Ashlyn Dadkhah SO SDS 18:16.01
4 67 2243 Soffe Watsun SO SDS 19:40.91
5 99 2240 Rachel Hiraoka SO SDS 19:54.41
6 (204) 2238 Tori Casella FR SDS 20:41.51
7 (258) 2242 Kelsey O'Connell FR SDS 20:56.91
8. 528 CORONA DEL MAR (19:43.9 98:39.1)
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1 5 588 Melanie Powers SR SS 18:11.73
2 73 586 Allie Hummelberg SR SS 19:43.03
3 88 584 Kristina Funahashi SR SS 19:49.93
4 120 589 Kristin Rivera SO SS 20:03.63
5 242 587 Shelby Perez FR SS 20:50.93
6 (330) 590 Megan Zwerling SO SS 21:21.13
At the MT SAC Invitational Corona Del Mar won the DIV 3,4,5 Team Sweepstakes with a 19:18 average. Torrey Pines placed 4th in the Team Sweepstakes. Great Oak was within single digit points of defeating Mira Costa. Corona Del Mar would not have placed in the top 10 in the Team Sweepstakes.
At the CIF State Championships ESPN Rise Fab-50 US#12 Torrey Pines raced against ESPN Rise Fab-50 US#11 Great Oak. The same Great Oak whom almost defeated ESPN Rise Fab-50 US#7 Mira Costa on two occasions. Torrey Pines rose to the occasion producing the #8 all-time total team time to claim the Div State Championship over Great Oak. A huge accomplishment for a team whom finished 2nd in 2008 to Dana Hills and watched as their NXN berth vanished. Now, with a win, and the 2nd fastest team time of the day it was thought an NXN berth was a lock. A three point victory between the #11 and #12 ranked national programs seemed reasonable.
Meanwhile, ESPN RISE Fab-50 #19 Corona Del Mar traveled to compete in the Division 3 championship against ESPN RISE #15 Orange Lutheran. Corona Del Mar had lost to Lutheran at the Stanford Invitational 52-100. At the CIF Southern Section Championships Lutheran again defeated Corona Del Mar 49-52. At the state final Corona Del Mar defeated Lutheran narrowly 76-81.
The question then comes when results are merged, is it possible that a team whom has never defeated defeated Torrey Pines in 2009 head-to-head match-ups would claim a berth over the Division I champions. Is it possible that the #12 ranked team in the nation according to the ESPN RISE National Rankings defeats the #11 ranked team in the nation Great Oak; the only team outside Saugus whom has competed evenly with Mira Costa and yet still gets snubbed?
It would seem this would be the case as Division III champion Corona Del Mar earns the final NXN Berth, stealing the show from a team whom has handily defeated them all season long. The same Corona Del Mar team who barely defeated a team whom had beat them every meet of the season in Lutheran. While Corona Del Mar could not manage to compete at Stanford, Torrey Pines won the meet. While Corona Del Mar would compete in the Div 3,4,5 Team Sweepstakes at Mt. Sac; Torrey Pines was racing in the largest race against US#2 Saugus, US#7 Mira Costa, and US#11 Great Oak and finished 4th.
At first I thought the NXN process was legit and based upon awarding a true national champion for high school cross country. Now I see the politics of it all, amazing enough that within hours of the meet being completed Dyestatcal Editor Rich Gonzales, an NXN At-Large Berth Committee member, had already posted the Cali at-large berths on Dyestatcal before they were even officially released nationally. Clearly Torrey Pines body of work is vastly superior to Corona Del Mar. One does not need to gripe and complain about legal competitors and state association rules to see the body of work for Torrey Pines and what that team did to claim the D-I title was NXN worthy.
However, as usual a team whom was 8th at Stanford; would not have placed top 10 at Mt. SAC; and whom lost to a team all-season that Torrey Pines had NEVER lost too gets the berth.
Way to go NXN! Here's to Torrey Pines getting screwed for a second year in a row. So you see, NXN is not based upon winning a state title or even beating a nationally superior ranked team to claim that title. NXN is based upon hypothetical race merging. It would seem more and more the season, and the state championships are meaningless. Torrey Pines got screwed.