California schools were 11, 15, 17. Probably didn’t deserve an at large
Glendora had a 15:27 average. They also beat an autoqualifier Menlo at Clovis. Maybe that’s why they were picked. 17th place is what Great Oak (at large team) got in 2023, and what Mountain View (at large team) got in 2022.
IMO, another possible reason why a CA team always gets picked is because the committee probably finds it unfair that the CA autoqualifying teams are determined based on the merge of the state meet races. Maybe California should do something (move some meets a week earlier) to add an NXR regional so that all of the top CA teams / individuals go head to head for NXN spots.
All I know is that California needs to get their sh!t together and be on the same page as everyone else
California schools were 11, 15, 17. Probably didn’t deserve an at large
Should they continue to get one?
The primary issue concerning the CA teams is schedule. Their season runs so late and have so many meets back to back to back, it is a wonder they ever finish well.
Not an at-large... but this year's Xavier squad may be the worst boys team to ever qualify.
The worst part of this is that there were actually some pretty good teams this year. The biggest challenge facing NY is that with the traditional powerhouses out of the picture, you have a lot of teams with talented athletes, but coaches that have never experienced success before. So they peak at mid-season invitationals, crap the bed at NXR. Colonie, Ithaca, Auburn, etc. all did this. And Xavier, a very mid-pack squad but with an experienced coach, makes it to NXN.
North Rockland has decent coaching and should be good next year. But after that, wow, there is nothing.
During the summer, some people thought that Saratoga boys team would be top 10 in the nation because 3 sub-9:20 guys are still there. But only one of those three ran a great race at NXR
I find it pretty surprising that open enrollment isn't mentioned more often regarding some of these schools in Utah and Colorado. I've heard coaches such as Dalby and Mostert speak, they seem to be phenomenal coaches and I refuse to believe for a second that they actively recruit BUT I can only imagine the powerhouse schools that would emerge if other states had the same open enrollment laws as CO and UT. I can't count how many times we've had local schools with excellent coaching and extremely strong 1-2 or 1-2-3 punches but without a 4-5. With open enrollment, those schools would rapidly turn in monsters such as Mountain Vista or American Fork. Of course, plenty of other states have their advantages; perfect weather, massive populations, affluence, ability to pull up 8th graders, but open enrollment is a massive, massive advantage.
You don’t have private schools or charter schools in California? You can (and do) do the same thing. You also have the most students of any state. California has about 1,300 high schools and 1.94 million students (about 1,490 students per school average). Most of the good ones have around 2,100 students.
Utah has 168 serving 214,800 students. (about 1,280 per school). Most of the good ones have about 2,500 students.
Colorado has 522 serving 279,830 students (average 540 per school). The good ones in Colorado range from about 2,500 students for Mountain Vista and Cherry Creek to about 1,200 for Niwot and Air Academy. Niwot is super deep, but most of those kids come from the immediate area. Many are kids of ex-CU runners (Ritz, Culpepper, Robbie, etc.) and it’s not like surrounding schools are suffering (Boulder and Fairview both have top level teams as well). If you look at the boy’s state championship, Niwot gets beat 20-48 if you combine the top kids from Highland’s Ranch (Mountain Vista, Thunder Ridge and Valor Christian) onto a single team.
And some of our small schools punch well above their weight. For instance, at Desert Twilight in The Championship division for the Girls. Salida High School (a public school with a little under 400 students, absolutely everybody from within the district) finished in second behind Rio Rancho, NM (over 2,500 students), just ahead of Durango, CO (1,369 students) and Liberty, CA (1,589 students), and well ahead of Palos Verdes, CA (1,417 students). They only got 3rd at Colorado 3A state (behind Manitou (public just SW of Colorado Springs with 425 students) and The Classical Academy (public charter school just north of Colorado Springs with 547 students).
His boys had an off year. Vista boys have podiumed at NXN. They are typically in the mix at nxr. His top boy is racing footlocker next week.
The boys team took 11th this year at NXR which was better than last year (rebuilding year) and better than expected based on what they’ve done this season. They lost 4 varsity seniors from last year and have a young team this year. They have a solid frosh/soph class and will probably get back in the mix to make NXN in 2026
Or maybe not, because Dalby won’t be coaching Vista anymore
He still coaches. FM boys team is extremely young this year - 1 senior, 5 freshmen, and 6 sophomores, which is actually a really decent group of underclassmen.
4 sophomores and 4 freshmen 18:00 in a 5k or under. Also a freshman state qualifier who ran a 15:53 (which is a freshman school record and #5 all time freshman in NY according to Milesplit). Better than last year without question. So this program is off to a good start, in terms of building its old self back up.
Only a couple of those guys are under 17:50, and outside of Heller they return exactly one all-time SR performance better than 140.
John Heron and Owen Kimple aren't walking through that door anytime soon. Be honest... FM is a loooong way from being competitive again.
FWIW, 4 FM freshmen did better than McGinn did freshman year. And many people take huge leaps from freshman to sophomore year. At some point they will probably be competitive at the state level, but maybe not so much at the national level.
What happened to Corning? In 2022 they had the best team there’s ever been at NY in the last 5 years, taking 10th at NXN that year.
The worst part of this is that there were actually some pretty good teams this year. The biggest challenge facing NY is that with the traditional powerhouses out of the picture, you have a lot of teams with talented athletes, but coaches that have never experienced success before. So they peak at mid-season invitationals, crap the bed at NXR. Colonie, Ithaca, Auburn, etc. all did this. And Xavier, a very mid-pack squad but with an experienced coach, makes it to NXN.
North Rockland has decent coaching and should be good next year. But after that, wow, there is nothing.
During the summer, some people thought that Saratoga boys team would be top 10 in the nation because 3 sub-9:20 guys are still there. But only one of those three ran a great race at NXR
Even if Saratoga’s regular top 3 (Isenovski, Pasek, Blaisdell) went 1-2-3 in the team score at feds, they still would have only finished third behind Xavier. Their other two scorers ran a 9:52 and 10:00 last spring. This goes to show how different XC and 3200 track are
They may be down next year but better in 2026. They will have to go through Crater in 2026 to make NXN though. CDA will be a powerhouse that year
Which kid will be their low stick after Tuft graduates? Their current sophomore class doesn’t look to have that. Their top sophomore was only the 22nd fastest freshman or sophomore at the state meet. Their low stick moving forward for each year has been evident in their sophomore year, if not sooner.
There isn’t a single serious person who actually thought they wouldn’t podium at the state meet last year. They had too much with Lucas and Tuft with no programs outside of CDA, Boise and Mountain View returning enough to dethrone them.
It does look a bit more realistic with them returning 15:43, 15:59, 16:39, 17:06, 17:19, 17:19, and 17:25 on the Firman course. They were returning 15:28, 16:00, 16:36, 16:38, 16:58, 17:21, 17:32 last year and that’s with Goggins NOT counted. The 15:43 and 15:59 are graduating out after this 2025. Their top 5 returning average is 4th best heading into next year because Skyline is actually slightly faster out of a lower classification. Boise, Mountain View and Highland are all less than 10 seconds back on average time.
It’s not a silly take. It’s the correct take that Rocky is less loaded, they don’t look to have a low stick after this year, and the rest of Idaho is getting better.
I was thinking Jack Davis, but it looks like he hasn’t competed in track this year yet, and people are saying in other threads that he might have quit the team or something