I thought there were some questionable choices this year as well, though Desert Vista wasn't one of them.
Beware: LONG POST AHEAD!
On the boys side, I think there were a few teams that were probably deserving of consideration to some degree:
Both SW teams, both SO teams, both CA teams, NW#3, MW#3 and SE#3 (for 9 potential invites).
I thought that SE#3 Green Hope had the weakest argument of those nine, and yet they got in over 6 of the others. Yeah, Manhattan was a mixed bag for them: only behind NE#1 (128) and NY#1 (140) with 168 points, but not really separated from a couple teams that weren't too good at NXR (182 for NY#6, 197 for NE#4, 207 for NY#2, 210 for SE#2, 238 for NE#10)... such a mixed bag I'm not sure what to think, beyond that the times themselves didn't seem too impressive. They were close in score at Great American, but not really competitive at all when you look beyond the scores (artifact of a weak field, perhaps?). Once again, times weren't all that impressive. They did finish close to SE#2 at NXR, but is that because Green Hope was good or Bolles just wasn't that strong?
Nothing else really pointed to Green Hope being a strong candidate IMO, and their "close" regional race wasn't nearly as close as MW#3 Lyons Township IL, SO#3 El Paso Eastwood TX or NW#3 Crater OR. And with a less impressive performance in a weaker region IMO.
On the girls side, I REALLY don't know how Saratoga made it in. It didn't seem like they had ANY argument, aside from "It's Saratoga!" or "New York!!" ... they got beaten pretty soundly at Great American to finish ninth (165 points behind SE#3 Blacksburg and 115 behind SE#2 DuPont Manual). What else did they do, aside from look bad against US#1 FM? They didn't make it to state, were barely ahead of mediocre teams at multiple invites, they went 1-3 against NY#2 Shenendehowa (which also didn't look like they would be competitive with the national elite in any meets), went 2-2 against NY#6 Niskayuna... and Chmiel looks like their only competitive runner (only 1 other ahead barely of FM's #6, and FM isn't that deep beyond their top 5). Their selection absolutely baffles me unless the selection committee really has a bias towards Saratoga and the NY girls in general.
I get the other three selections:
Blacksburg didn't race many during the season, but they had some good performances throughout, won their state meet, and were very competitive at NXR with both AQ teams. They didn't look all that great at the Adidas Challenge, but that's really the only mark against them.
Broomfield looked really good throughout the season, and only lost to SW#1 Battle Mountain and SW#2 Mountain Vista prior to NXR (and were very competitive virtually every time).
Claremont beat NW#1 Bozeman at Bob Firman, and were ahead of CA#2 Buchanan in the state meet merge (I guess they slipped behind in the CA Power Merge they use to determine spots?). THey looked good against CA#1 Great Oak at Mt. SAC as well.
Other teams that could have had a better argument than Saratoga:
SE#4 Pine Crest FL actually tied SE#3 Blacksburg at NXR. Blacksburg was invited, but Pine Crest wasn't. They blew everyone away during the season, although you could argue that was because they didn't race anyone.
NW#3 Summit was close at NXR and won their state meet, though they lost to CA#4 Vista Murrieta at Nike Portland. Seems a little like Lyons Township in that they had a great NXR race (not as close in points, but compared to the other girls teams it was comparatively close) but maybe didn't do enough during the season.
CA#4 Vista Murrieta beat NW#3 Summit, and had solid performances throughout the year, though also didn't look that competitive with Great Oak and Claremont. They did finish near SO#1 Southlake Carroll at Woodbridge (195-215) though, so a pair of good races in September but maybe not enough in November.
MW#3 Barrington looked like they had a good race at NXR, though once again a weak season might have doomed them.
SO#3 Hebron was close at NXR and beat SO#1 Southlake Carroll twice during the year including the state meet. They were VERY competitive with all of the Texas teams outside of Keller all year long, racing SO#2, SO#4, SO#5 and SO#6 many times. They were so consistent, and so close at NXR, I thought they'd have a great shot (maybe even better than Blacksburg).
SO#4 was also close, and also competitive throughout the season. If it wasn't for Blacksburg not getting an AQ spot, I could have seen them in the mix for a spot as well.
I think all 6 of those teams had better arguments than Saratoga for getting in. SW#4 Lone Peak might have had as good of an argument as well.
I don't know. Green Hope boys I can see, even though I would have thought a few others would get in ahead of them. The pick at least makes some sense (they were pretty competitive all year long). But Saratoga girls this year? I don't know what criteria led the committee to select them, because the same logic I see for the Green Hope boys should have been enough for the Hebron girls.