That 16:48 might be close to a 160 speed rating.. took down Alexa Efraimson’s course record which we thought would last forever.
The speed ratings are not consistent to make historical comparisons. They will tell you they aren’t meant to, and yet, every now and then they actually do try and use them to make historical comparisons of finishing time. But they are biased and bogus for that.
Colorado has open enrollment and DougCo has lots of high schools within boundaries. The 4 main public high schools in Highlands Ranch are mere miles from each other. What boundaries? Just enjoy the sport.
I just Googled how much elevation gain the NXN course has. Trying to understand to what extent it favors the speedsters vs. the strength runners.
Since Google is no longer Google, but instead a stupid, incompetent AI factory, it spat out this:
The Nike Cross Nationals (NXN) course at Glendoveer Golf Course in Portland has *17,000 feet* of vertical gain. The course is considered a challenging championship venue. (emphasis mine)
Challenging venue indeed.
If you ever need to get some runners good at hills have them do 5k repeats at Glendoveer. 3 Repeats of this and you got 51,000 feet of vertical gain and they will not feel hills anymore.
Nobody is "refusing" any other state. We're just REFUTIING this particular horribly biased logic behind supporting the #49 team in the country (on paper) being given the current #1 ranking, while they happen to be from the same state as the "journalist".
It's just a blatantly biased statement that every team he ranked below them (which is every team in the top 48) is shaking their head about.
Do you know ANYTHING about cross country? The times are practically irrelevant unless you’re comparing two athletes on the same course. California kids run on pancake flat soccer fields and perfectly packed dirt and the Colorado kids ran a literal road race that’s viewed as legitimate because it’s at elevation. Have them run at Bowdoin Park and they will crumble. Wait until NXR and NXN and we will see who is right.
But even compared to historic FM/Saratoga teams they don't come close. Mountain Vista ran a considerably faster effort compared to 2021 Niwot who won Garmin. Times don't really matter too much but in a dual meet on the state course they would have gotten 20 points on Niwot. They are super good and Bethlehem are being misrepresented because they are dominating in an off year for NY.
But even compared to historic FM/Saratoga teams they don't come close. Mountain Vista ran a considerably faster effort compared to 2021 Niwot who won Garmin. Times don't really matter too much but in a dual meet on the state course they would have gotten 20 points on Niwot. They are super good and Bethlehem are being misrepresented because they are dominating in an off year for NY.
Send a note to the rankers, who offend you, or publish your own list.
Bethlehem running comparable times to former champ 'toga and FM teams. (At both Manhattan and SPAC)
Fortunately, will be settled in a race, and both CO and NY teams run well at Glendoveer in all conditions.
14:13 to 14:38 for FM ladies vs. 2024 Bethlehem top 5 of 14:40 to 15 flat with 4 running at 15 flat.
Also, if you did not know, SPAC course has changed. A major hill right after the 2nd mile is gone. It is now a smooth normal hill rise that substantially helps keep a good pace going. For 2019 SPAC, Saratoga girls ran on the older 'much much tougher' course with top 2 running 17:02 and 17:24. Other Saratoga girls times were: 17:41, 17:47, 17:53, 18:01, and 18:07 (7th runner was Emily bush who would go on to become USA #1 5th runner at NXN 2019 to secure the Saratoga victory). Bethlehem just has 5 runners. Further, the 2019 edition of Sectionals blasted out super hard; it was not an even paced race with perfect weather like the 2024 suburban council champs or Sectionals (Queensbury).
For fall 2024, I have never seen so many days full of limited rain and hard packed XC surfaces. Again, the fall 2024 Bethlehem team is very good, but no where near the FM fall 2017 team or Saratoga fall 2019 team. Peace!
JSerra's great performance at Clovis gives them a deserved, but likely a temporary bump. How good would they have been with Summer Wilson still there? Possibly #2 in the country?
Santiago falls from #5 to #7 but their speed ratings and team times tell me that they're still better than JSerra thanks to their outstanding top 2, and what would appear to be a couple girls off to slower starts than expected.
Buchanan jumps to #4 after their youngsters carried them on their home course. We see Buchanan Freshmen come in and kill it immediately, every year, followed by regression or limited improvement in high school. Will these girls end that trend? They're very good, regardless.
Seems like next year Buchanan and JSerra will be early favorites in California.
Ventura, Trabuco, and Santiago Corona are losing some front runners, and don’t return as much depth as Buchanan / JSerra, but still return a decent amount.
I wonder if any other CA team will step up and potentially beat Buchanan / JSerra next year. It’s gonna be tough to do. Maybe Tesoro and El Toro will have a shot? These teams return a good amount, and Tesoro returns all their scorers, and El Toro was close to JSerra at Orange County
i'm from NC so i'm biased but Cardinal Gibbons at 18 is absolute nonsense
Not from NC and I completely agree. That doesn’t make any sense
The individuals doing the rankings don’t put a lot of effort into it. Wayzata has the benefit of having run in the first NXR meet on a fast course, so they are top of mind. That course is probably :45 faster than the Colorado state course when you take into account hills and altitude. Air Academy and all the other Colorado teams are seeded lower because of their performance at Woodbridge, a race they ran on short rest without two of their top 5 runners.
14:13 to 14:38 for FM ladies vs. 2024 Bethlehem top 5 of 14:40 to 15 flat with 4 running at 15 flat.
Also, if you did not know, SPAC course has changed. A major hill right after the 2nd mile is gone. It is now a smooth normal hill rise that substantially helps keep a good pace going. For 2019 SPAC, Saratoga girls ran on the older 'much much tougher' course with top 2 running 17:02 and 17:24. Other Saratoga girls times were: 17:41, 17:47, 17:53, 18:01, and 18:07 (7th runner was Emily bush who would go on to become USA #1 5th runner at NXN 2019 to secure the Saratoga victory). Bethlehem just has 5 runners. Further, the 2019 edition of Sectionals blasted out super hard; it was not an even paced race with perfect weather like the 2024 suburban council champs or Sectionals (Queensbury).
For fall 2024, I have never seen so many days full of limited rain and hard packed XC surfaces. Again, the fall 2024 Bethlehem team is very good, but no where near the FM fall 2017 team or Saratoga fall 2019 team. Peace!
2017 FM set the course record on VCP. Why did you use the most aggressive outlier to prove your point. The original claim was that this Bethlehem team has similar times to NXN winning toga and FM times.
2024 Bethlehem and and 2022 Toga have virtually the same Bowdin team time and '22 toga won nxn. I spent less than 5 mins on tullyrunners to confirm that.