which state is the best state for high school cross country

in all ser wrote:

Strong history, west to east:

West Coast - very strong for decades, CA, OR, WA

Rocky Mountains - UT and CO often under the radar but per capita they do well to very well. Hon mention to MT.

Plains states - not really, Texas due to sheer size and there are some excellent programs in that state (Woodlands).

Midwest - Illinois and Minnesota well ahead of others in the region.

Great Lakes - MI, OH, WI always tough and deep.

South and southeast - not so much other than VA, NC, and FL and those are more like the less deep Midwest states (e.g., IN, IA, MO)

Northeast and New England - Hotbed like West Coast and Great Lakes states, with NY, MA producing the most talent. But little NH and ME have had their share.

I would agree with most of this, with a couple of exceptions:

I'd include Indiana but not Wisconsin

I wouldn't include North Carolina or Florida for "OVERALL", but would consider at least North Carolina in some respects (a few solid individuals, and some solid girls programs with the occasional boys team mixed in). Florida has had a few individuals as well, though not as many (and certainly not on par if you consider the size of the state, though that doesn't seem to be a factor in your post).

I'd probably include Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and not even mention New Hampshire or Maine. Maine has had what? 3 or 4 notable individuals nationally in it's history? and no teams to speak of, while New Hampshire has had a couple teams strong on the regional level but rarely anything of note on the national level. Slightly better I guess if you look at individuals, but not so much as the other states you mentioned. Idaho and Alaska, for example, have arguably had better histories than Maine or New Hampshire.

UTAH! Not even a question. Next NXN look out it will be total dominance. Then

if they wanted to they could go run Footlocker and win it and who knows what they could do. Look out people they are coming.

Efraimson is the best high school miler of all time. To include the entire "Camas Team" is an insult to all of the great athletes/teams in the US. There top miler is 175th in the nation. Their top 3200m runner is 502nd. That should not be in the discussion. Now I will say that there distance coach sucks, considering one of their freshmen beat Alexa Efraimson's middle school record.

Yifter the shifter wrote:

the Michiganders will be out in droves pretty soon. It doesn't usually take them long to take over the a thread like this.

Because we have pretty rich tradition of producing some great runners!

NoQuestion. wrote:

UTAH! Not even a question. Next NXN look out it will be total dominance. Then

if they wanted to they could go run Footlocker and win it and who knows what they could do. Look out people they are coming.

Yeah, I have to concede to this guy. Utah is INCREDIBLE for cross. Grace Ping, Casey Clinger, the Davis girls, etc.

we had ritz for heavens sake

Indiana for the size definitely!!!! Futsum, Veatch, Chapa and extreme track and cross depth every year!

You might as well have asked: "Where did you go to high school? Tell me why you think they are the best"

Grace Ping is from Minnesota.

hahahahaha wrote:

Grace Ping is from Minnesota.

Grace Ping WAS from Minnesota.

NJ is up in the Northeast region that is pretty good we have some hard courses that a kid this year finished 31 sec behind the course record which is 14:56 and held by Edward Cheserek.

maxg9 wrote:

I was just wondering which states are the best and which are the worst overall.

Illinois.

Just to name a few:

Craig Virgin

Lukas Verzbicas

Chris Derrick

Evan Jager

Jorge Torres

Ed Torres

Don Sage

Tim Broe

Matt Withrow

This conversation is over.

montana- just about 1 million people in whole state- national champs and 8th place.

Just to name a few wrote:

Illinois.

Just to name a few:

Craig Virgin

Lukas Verzbicas

Chris Derrick

Evan Jager

Jorge Torres

Ed Torres

Don Sage

Tim Broe

Matt Withrow

This conversation is over.

Add these Illinois Olympians to the list:

Jim Spivey

Rick Wohlhutter

Mike Durkin

Robert Gary

Tom Graves and Dave Merrick not bad either. This years top 5 will be legendary as well. Knudsen, Kilrea, Jacobs, Aho and Kern I'd play those cards in any poker game

Responding to an old post, but factoring in population in this context is nonsensical.

Take, for instance, how nearly every state breaks up its State XC championships into divisions based on school size. Illinois, for example, is divided into 3 divisions, A, AA, and AAA. NOBODY in the right mind would EVER argue that the "A" (small school) division is better overall than the "AAA" (large school) division, regardless of the population difference between the two. Yes, the "A" division will occasionally produce a spectacular runner, coach, or team, but by and large, the runners and teams that come out of the "AAA" division are superior, EVEN if per capita, they come out worse off (which may or may not be the case).

Any attempts to claim otherwise are more or less the equivalent of trying to hand out participation trophies.

Observer of HS prep xc wrote:

Washington and Oregon are both super strong.

From Oregon we have Matthew Maton and Joshua Schumacher on the men's side, Ella Donaghu and Mackenna Schumacher and freshman phenom Ember Stratton on the women's side

Washington has produced Alexa Efraimson and the entire Camas squad.

Schumacher choked at the 2017 state meet. Ran only three races (state included) this season to the eleven races by 6A winner Alex Slenning. What's with these snowflakes running a couple of races during the season? Didn't work for Schumacher.

messi wrote:

California have 4 consecutive World Junior X-C champions in the seventies (1974-1977).

But only 1974 and 1976 were won by high-schoolers.

In the past decade, Missouri has had quite a good string of women XC runners, including three on the last WC team - Courtney Frerichs, Colleen Quigley and Emily Sisson. Add Diane Robison and Taylor Werner to that list. Hannah Long, too, who I think has been injured at Stanford?

Best: Ocean Springs, MS.