I doubted that Carmel had that many students so I looked it up. Sure enough, are 5,400ish students. That isn't how some schools in Ohio report their population, 7th to 12th grades, that's grades 9-12. I have never heard of a school that large in my entire life. The demographics of Carmel are similar to that of Mason in Ohio. Combine the student population, numbers and demographics, with decent coaching, and it would be nearly impossible not to have good athletic programs.
What is weird about Ohio is that most of the largest schools from a population standpoint are in SW Ohio, primarily in the Greater Miami Conference. The school districts in the Columbus and Cleveland/Akron areas don't have high schools with near the population. It seems that in NE Ohio, although the population of NE Ohio is greater than that of SW Ohio, the districts are smaller. In Central Ohio the districts are large but there are more school in the districts. Mason could easily have 2 high schools. It makes me think that if there were not so many schools in districts like Olentangy & Dublin that they would be competitive with Mason.
Last year at Obetz...
1. Sam Ricchuiti - 2nd (4:16/9:06/15:05)
2. Liam Shaughessey - 10th (4:17/9:08/15:12)
3. Weston Day - 17th (9:07/15:15)
4. Josh Razor - 19th (4:09/15:25)
5. Will McGraw - 39th (1:55/4:11/15:34)
(Non scorer... Geurrera - 9:10)
87 points... to Mason's 128. Yeah, I'd say Dublin would be pretty good.
At 2022 NXR...
1. Sam - 14th, 15:06 (8pts)
2. Liam - 19th, 15:12 (11)
3. Josh R - 32nd, 15:25 (17)
4. Weston - 43rd, 15:31 (22)
5. Will - 99, 15:52 (61)
Team Score: 119
They win NXR over Hinsdale, IN (121), Plainfield South, IL (141), Downers Grove, IL (175).
Essentially... if combined, Dublin would be NBP of the midwest, headed to NXN on the regular.
Amusing thought exercise! Let's play...
From NXR-MW 2023, a triple-Dublin (198 points, ~5127 students) would be scrambling for an at-large spot behind a Plainfield:North+South squad (118 points, ~4757 students) and a solo Downers Grove North (185 points, ~2186 students). They would soundly crush Carmel (346 points, ~5400 students). In fact expanding further (i.e Plainfields adding Plainfield Central and DG-North adding DG-South) wouldn't actually change anything mathematically for those squads because the incredible coaching and team cohesion have yielded such depth already.
Indeed. Let's play. I will go full circle and bring it back to Ohio and shine some light on what I feel is being overlooked.
I'll take this set piece of a Dublin Super High School (Coffman + Scioto + Jerome) and match it with a Massillon Super High School (Jackson + Perry).
Based on their results on November 4th at Obetz, how would the two super high schools stack up against one another? (I think I did the amended team scoring correctly with the addition of Ricchiuti, Reed, Guerrera, and Reese):
I'll take this set piece of a Dublin Super High School (Coffman + Scioto + Jerome) and match it with a Massillon Super High School (Jackson + Perry).
And I guess I should add Massillon Washington into the mix. So a 2023 super school from Massillon of about 4,700 students could definitely hold its own against a 2023 super school from Dublin of more than 5,000.
The conclusion that I draw from all of this is that what Jackson did this year at Obetz is truly special. Beforehand, I predicted Mason to win in 2023 simply because it was the safe bet. In the past two years Mason got it done, despite not running on all cylinders on the day it mattered. To have everything go right on the day that it matters is extremely challenging.
But what happens when everything does go right on the day that it matters? Jackson showed us that it can be done, which is the specialness of their accomplishment. Foolishly, only now, am I realizing that. A+ effort indeed.
This post was edited 3 minutes after it was posted.
And on an unrelated note (as after all, this is the X-C thread), but keeping to this theme of super schools, how would a 4x800 relay team from an Olentangy Super High School have fared in 2023?
In June 2023 in Columbus, Orange and Olentangy separately held their own with third and fourth place finishes with times of 7:47.42 and 7:47.69. Liberty was way back with an 11th place finish and a time of 7:54.32. But take Eckert from that squad and throw him into a super squad with Rudraraju and who else (Citro from Berlin?) and how fast would that June 2023 Olentangy Super High School 4x800 squad have gone?
And on an unrelated note (as after all, this is the X-C thread), but keeping to this theme of super schools, how would a 4x800 relay team from an Olentangy Super High School have fared in 2023?
In June 2023 in Columbus, Orange and Olentangy separately held their own with third and fourth place finishes with times of 7:47.42 and 7:47.69. Liberty was way back with an 11th place finish and a time of 7:54.32. But take Eckert from that squad and throw him into a super squad with Rudraraju and who else (Citro from Berlin?) and how fast would that June 2023 Olentangy Super High School 4x800 squad have gone?
Really fast! That would have been a great relay, lots of 800m strength in those combined schools. Fun to think about
News Release – Ohio High School Athletic Association Executive Director Doug Ute www.OHSAA.org | www.twitter.com/OHSAASports | www.Facebook.com/OHSAASports For Immediate Release – Dec. 13, 2023 OHSAA Contact – Tim Stried, Dir...
Caleb Brown - Before Oregon: 2019 New Balance Outdoor national champion for two miles (9:04.18) … three-time OHSAA Division II outdoor state champion … won both
Not true, lots of middle schoolers ran the time trial when Doug Soles coached at Great Oak. They liked seeing how they stacked up to the high school kids!
