Let's talk Ohio HS XC

Huge days for Pick. North and Dublin Jerome.

XC is a cool sport. It has been mentioned prior, but every course is different. Some hilly, some flat, some narrow, some wide, good turns, sharp turns, mud, dirt.. It is not about times but rather head to head. For example we look at meets such as Riverside or Seneca or Celtic, H.D Summer bash, that are called seemingly fast, but then comparing it to other meets such as Tiffin or this past weekend (Strongsville), the times are pretty similar, if not faster than the "so called" faster meets. For example, Strongsville this past weekend, looking at results, many many many had Career PRs, if not season PRs..and those that did not, were within 5-15 seconds off of their "fast" times from meets such as Seneca or Riverside or H.D summer bash.

I am not sending this to say a course is flat or short or does not count, but rather seeing who wins these "fast meets" as a team and individually..that is the best indication right?..who ware the teams and runners competing the best against the other teams.

I look at Seneca and Riverside, Celtic or Hilliard Summer Bash and the other many meets that are called short or too fast or unfair, and all I look at are the teams that win those meets, the runners who place well and then obviously the other teams who place well and individuals that place well. Enough with the "these time's dont count" BS or "that course is fast or flat" as all that matters is how you place/who wins, whether that time is deemed fast or slow. as a 19:00 5K is 5th one meet but 55th in another..but 5th place is always 5th place no matter the course, times, competition, or if a course is easy or fast or slow or hilly or etc

When making rankings or talking about the top teams (I have seen this already on this thread) look at the head to head..how do temas do against one another and NOT the team's season/career PRs and times as unless they race at the same meet(s), then the times truly are irrelevant.

Girls:

oh.milesplit.com

Strongsville Fleet Feet XC Invitational 2022 - HS Girls Varsity

MileSplits official HS Girls Varsity formatted results for the 2022 Strongsville Fleet Feet XC Invitational, hosted by Strongsville in Strongsville OH.

Link:oh.milesplit.com/meets/503028-strongsv...

Boys:

oh.milesplit.com

Strongsville Fleet Feet XC Invitational 2022 - HS Boys Varsity

MileSplits official HS Boys Varsity formatted results for the 2022 Strongsville Fleet Feet XC Invitational, hosted by Strongsville in Strongsville OH.

Link:oh.milesplit.com/meets/503028-strongsv...

Just FYI, Weston Day finished 4th in that race, just 2 seconds behind Gableman in 15:41. Someone earlier in this thread said Weston wasn't in the same "category" as Gableman. I think 2 seconds is in the same category.

Like I said earlier, don't sleep on Weston Day. I know more than you.

Girls: We saw Westlake prove themselves beating Perrysburg who won it all at State last year, as well as beating last years #4 Beavercreek by a wide margin. Westlake and Perrysburg clear #3 and #4 in the State (I saw someone say how did Westlake jump Avon a few weeks ago in the rankings...this is why).

Boys: Chardon and Solon battled it out, with Chardon winning by 22 points over Solon. Chardon's #5 was 28th, with Solons #5 47th. St Iggy has two great runners and then distance #3-7, similar to Beavercreek. Chardon has a lethal time and their top 5 pack is closely packed up, similar to Medina's but faster.

Thanks Weston.

Not Weston. He doesn't even know who I am.

When Weston runs 4:12 or finishes 27th at the state meet as a soph, let me know.

The Lancaster Invite in mid-September isn't quite at the level of these two performances, particularly if Gabelman is coming off an injury and Weston has been running tempos the last several meets, making him fully rested and raring to go.

Obviously fast conditions weather wise on Saturday AM but curious on this course.... was it the same as it had been in years past?

I know they changed up the course a little bit last year..I am not sure if this year was different than last year's changed course. Times were not super crazy fast but looking at the top 20-25 runners from both boys and girls, definitely there were many career PRS or season bests by 20-40 seconds..with many being faster/very close to Riverside or Seneca times (both those meets supposedly being very fast meets), as well as faster than Tiffin times. It is just so hard to gauge every course and how to compare it ya know

The course has the one hill in the back corner (200m), but you get 600m - 800m of down hill running after. Definitely faster than years past.

This year the start was moved to the middle of the course compared to last years course. The rest of the course is the same, minus not cutting through the woods before the hill. I do know of some people that cut the course in the JV race, but it wasn't a huge cut. I also don't think any of the top finishers cut the course.

A solid NEO meet upcoming to help us determine what teams are legit or not is on October 8th in Medina. Teams that attended LAST YEAR that I assume are coming back this year 9who knows what other teams will go this year/teams that won't go)

Girls: Medina, Westlake, Mentor, Avon, Woodridge, St Joe's, Strongsville, Brunswick

Boys: Woodridge, Medina, Chardon, Brunswick, Nordonia, Strongsville, Medina-Highland,

The start-finish area was moved due to construction activity. We were able
to approximate the arrangement of the earlier start and finishing plains in the new location, there was nothing like the previous initial uphill/downhill to the 1K mark at covered bridge. This up/down is replaced in the new course by the upgrade after the new mile mark. All considered total up/down and net elevation change are nearly the same for the previous and current course. And, of the total course length, 4100M (more than 80%) is the same as previous years. Runners reach the significant climbs in the “south meadow” much earlier (and presumably fresher) in the race.

The course was mowed 3x (to 2 1/2") in the 8 days leading up to the meet and rolled (repeatedly on the new sections) on Friday. Final "as built" course measurement (by wheel) was 4994 Meters... the average of several measurements by two different people, shoulder width off what we each believed was the best possible line.

Accounting for the weather conditions, and assumed training effect, our math says the new course ran 0.9% slower (0.5% faster due to the cool temps) than a neutral course, which is about 1.5% faster than the previous course... probably due to running the back hills earlier in the race.

Someone tell me how to do it and I'll post a course map, elevation charts and maybe even some pictures. We are proud to host a great group of competitors on a beautiful, spectator-friendly course!

And... this is why the Lancaster meet is held in such high regard. Thanks Coach.

Get regionals back to this course, imagine that

Mason OH will be computing against the top Midwest teams

athletic.net

Track & Field, Cross Country Results, Statistics

Meet results and team scores.

Link:www.athletic.net/CrossCountry/meet/207...

Nike XC Town Twilight, Oct 1

This meet is loaded. Essentially a NXR preview. Most of the best teams from Indiana and Illinois. A few nationally ranked. Looks like Mason, Springboro, and St. Xavier will be representing Ohio.

The only top MW team I don’t see on here is Kickapoo MO. I don’t think that they are in contention for an NXN berth or even an at-large but they were ranked #18 nationally preseason according to TullyRunners.
I read somewhere that some of those guys didn’t run track (either they were sick/injured or play another spring sport?), but it seems like everyone who was expected to be on varsity is on varsity, and everyone who is expected to be scoring is scoring, based on last year’s results. Also all 7 of those varsity guys are seniors, so hopefully they have a good ending to this season at state and NXR since this looks to be a “last go-around” for this program for at least a while.
I do see that their top JV is a bunch of sophs. Next year it will be a rebuilding year for them, but the year after that they will be good again I guess (maybe not at a regional/national scale but we will see).