Yeah the rankings are subjective and have been off all year. Who did Carmel beat??? Bridgeland beat SLC at the TX state meet. Did Carmel beat any AQ’s? Curious as I honestly don’t know the answer.
Webb of Knoxville was ranked ahead of Carmel in those rankings. Webb seems to have been forgotten, third by 1 point at NXR.
Accounting for the 3.1 miles they had better times throughout the top 5 than JSerra (over a minute on #1), and were ranked ahead of them too (different courses though).
Not sure how they are not on those 4 at-large. CA, had very little after the top 2 today. SW had a locked 4 after NXR.
Wonder what else the committee looks at.
This post was edited 1 minute after it was posted.
I am wondering how to run 5:12 (16min) pace at Bowdoin. I did see something on this sight from 8 years ago. I noticed some national caliber runners running the second half of the race slower than the first. The winner this year ran an even split. I only saw the course once and may have walked the loop on top backwards. There is a narrow section early and the hill starts sometime after 800M. It goes up to about 2500M. I forgot about the narrow path up top. Is it possible to pace early in a national qualifier? Are athletes taught how to run downhill? Can a 4:40 open miler handle running a 5:15? I also forgot about the mud. The spike situation is tough as a section of the hill is road. What spikes are worn?
I have heard coaches say other things, but lower your arms and take big steps works on the downhills.
Just curios how to do this. please help a retired jumps coach with a specialty in the throws.
They won Nike Town Twilight. I think some people forget that not every team can just pack up and go to huge national meets mid season. Given their ranking and performance at NXR I do think they deserve to go. A lot of people focus very heavily on times at regionals but in my opinion the times are very incomparable given the differential in course difficulty among the regional courses.
Looking at the Carmel times from NXR, they are over 1 min slower than the Webb girls at #1, slower on all others but #5 (1 second faster). There has to be something else they look at other than some other Nike race when they ran against limited/no competition.
If I could describe this in word one it would be disappointing. Rocky has been one of the top teams in the nation for years now. Yet they have always managed to just barely miss qualifying. Especially after the robbery in 2022, another? Seriously outrageous.
If I could describe this in word one it would be disappointing. Rocky has been one of the top teams in the nation for years now. Yet they have always managed to just barely miss qualifying. Especially after the robbery in 2022, another? Seriously outrageous.
Rocky can only blame themselves. Their top 2 were too aggressive at the start and their 5th guy was too far back
Santiago isn't getting an at large. Their performance also shows California may have been overrated.
California girl teams are Overrated? Nah. But it is very disappointing to not see Ventura or Santiago going to NXN.
This was an epic year for the state. Trabuco is historically good. They're absolutely outstanding, and so is Buchanan. J Serra earned their berth today with balanced depth. Santiago had it in their reach, but definitely didn't earn the berth today despite Blade and Combe finishing 1st and 3rd and earning individual invites.
Running Mt Sac back to back before running a rough Woodward course may have taken a big toll on Santiago, but Trabuco and J Serra managed to thrive through it. Congrats to everyone who made it. Good luck at NXN!
If I could describe this in word one it would be disappointing. Rocky has been one of the top teams in the nation for years now. Yet they have always managed to just barely miss qualifying. Especially after the robbery in 2022, another? Seriously outrageous.
How could the committee justify picking Rocky over Taylorsville? In their only head to head Taylorsville crushed Rocky. Not even close.
Santiago isn't getting an at large. Their performance also shows California may have been overrated.
California girl teams are Overrated? Nah. But it is very disappointing to not see Ventura or Santiago going to NXN.
This was an epic year for the state. Trabuco is historically good. They're absolutely outstanding, and so is Buchanan. J Serra earned their berth today with balanced depth. Santiago had it in their reach, but definitely didn't earn the berth today despite Blade and Combe finishing 1st and 3rd and earning individual invites.
Running Mt Sac back to back before running a rough Woodward course may have taken a big toll on Santiago, but Trabuco and J Serra managed to thrive through it. Congrats to everyone who made it. Good luck at NXN!
Ventura has been dealing with some injuries, but it happens
If I could describe this in word one it would be disappointing. Rocky has been one of the top teams in the nation for years now. Yet they have always managed to just barely miss qualifying. Especially after the robbery in 2022, another? Seriously outrageous.
How could the committee justify picking Rocky over Taylorsville? In their only head to head Taylorsville crushed Rocky. Not even close.
And Santiago crushed J Serra in their head-to-head at Woodbridge. And guess what? Santiago had a faster team time than J Serra did yesterday. So try explaining their picking J Serra ahead of Santiago.
This at large bid brings politics into cross country which is a shame. If it is promoted to travel to find the top teams or beat a top team or run a strong third place they have opened a large can of worms. The experts are routinely wrong.
Good teams often do not run everybody and rankings will be wrong based on performance that day. It is not fair to compare different races unless a clear formula is presented and followed. That formula may have ten or more variables.
Solution How about the at large bids are based on previous years results. the top 4 regions based on place of top two teams get an at large bid the following year. This will be fair and great teams can hold their heads up without feelings of being snubbed. And the cross country family will be happy.
I think your solution already is a large part of the criteria. Keep in mind that Nike puts these meets on and can do what they want. People seem to think this is some type of sanctioned national meet. It is not.
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