Official Iowa HS XC 2023 Thread

Ankeny beat Dowling at conference. Kennedy beat Cedar Falls at the super conference.

Anything can happen at the Iowa state meet. Last year, Iowa City was going for the state title and were #2 or 3 in the state, but at the state meet, they finished 7th.

But at NXR they bounced back and finished in the top 10

Outside of a scant few, no one will remember that bounce back performance and city high is hardly celebrating how they missed running clutch by two weeks.

I’m neither, but for a smaller state, we just had some very talented runners graduate last year and now we have a group of 5 or so sophomores with as much or more talent then last year’s graduates. Next couple years to see how they progress will be fun to watch.

Freshmen class may be better

They are good as well, pretty sure 3 of the sophomores had quicker prs as freshman but it is cool to see freshman and sophomore classes.

XC PRs aren't a real thing except for naive JV runners.

True/Not true. Same kids run same courses every year if conditions are same shows gains from year to year. But hard to compare grades I agree, I was just pointing out I feel freshman class is a tick behind where the sophomores where. But Iowa distance running is very good right now.

True, and I won’t be too surprised however those top 4 shakeout (or if one of them bombs and finishes lower). But I don’t think those two results mean a whole lot come tomorrow. If Merrick had run/won the MVC Super Meet CF would have only lost by 2, but moreover they would have been .4 seconds away from beating Kennedy. Put those teams in a much deeper field and it’s a different ballgame. Ankeny beat Dowling by 2 at conference with a bad race by one of Dowling’s scorers, after Dowling crushed Ankeny at Fort Dodge and put 5 under 16.

Kennedy also has the smallest margin of error, as they fall off after #5, and I figure their #1 will finish behind the other 3 teams’ no. 1s—like Merrick probably places 1st-5th, but Gray could place 6th-20th.

It’s crazy how good Iowa City Liberty has gotten after getting 5th at the state qualifying meet last year and losing most of their varsity

One man short of podium

Johnston girls team is dominating at mile 2

battle for second is close so far

1. Johnston - 107
2. Valley West Des Moines - 122
3. DCG - 126
4. Pleasant Valley - 131

Dowling boys dominating at mile 1

DCG in 2nd, Cedar Falls in 3rd, CRK in 4th, Ankeny is in 5th.

CRK’s 5th man is far behind their 4th already