I was just in Anchorage for business last weekend. Saw the state cross meet was going on in town so stopped by. Let's just say those days are over. Two (2) boys broke 16 (not by much) and no one else was close. And only one (1) woman broke 19:30 (9:16). And six (6) total women broke 20. Yeah, sure, the course is always a sloppy muddy mess on XC ski trails...so let's look at their track marks: Those two guys were 9:32/4:26 and 9:31/4:27 guys from last track season. And that girl ran 5:10/11:19. All seniors. No one else in the state was close to these runners. Whoof. So I did some asking around as to what training standards were like. Typical answers were something like "yeah, our women don't run more than 25 mpw and men more than 35mpw because we don't want to hurt them/burn them out." Heard about that from several coaches/parents/spectators. And "well the state champs just train too hard so they're going to be burnt out when they go to their big DI schools." I didn't have the heart to tell them those aren't DI kids. Trevor Dunbar & Allie O please come back, AK needs you to show them what runners actually are!
The proof that Alaska is the softest is simple…. It’s when someone says”remember how Trev or Allie went to HS in Alaska!?” And you do a double take because like no way that’s right and then you’re like… oh yea they did. How?
that reaction= case closed
#2 is by MILES Nebraska
#3 tied with any southern state take your pick
#4 Hawaii
Not sure if we can say Nebraska. They had Seth Hirsch who graduated in 2017. Finished somewhere in the top 10 at NXN in 2016.
Last year, his alma mater (Millard West) got second at Heartland (first Nebraska team to ever finish in the top 2 at NXR) and at RunningLane they beat all the heartland teams.
CT had 4 boys at Eastbay / Footlocker last year and have three different individual winners on the woman’s side. Population 3million. CT Championships are on a real cross country course so very few sub 15 golf course times.
This. There probably be a case to be made that CT is actually one of the top-producing states on a per capita basis.
CT had 4 boys at Eastbay / Footlocker last year and have three different individual winners on the woman’s side. Population 3million. CT Championships are on a real cross country course so very few sub 15 golf course times.
This. There probably be a case to be made that CT is actually one of the top-producing states on a per capita basis.
Eastbay!? the B national race? Saying it could be a top producing state because they were at the Eastbay race is like saying "There probably be a case to be made Utah State is one of the top basketball programs because they made it to the NIT"
CT had 4 boys at Eastbay / Footlocker last year and have three different individual winners on the woman’s side. Population 3million. CT Championships are on a real cross country course so very few sub 15 golf course times.
This. There probably be a case to be made that CT is actually one of the top-producing states on a per capita basis.
No nationally ranked teams in Dyestat, NCAA division 1 or Division 2 men’s or women’s, with enough population to reasonably expect for there to be some. Utah has slightly less population and has 14 such teams.
This. There probably be a case to be made that CT is actually one of the top-producing states on a per capita basis.
Eastbay!? the B national race? Saying it could be a top producing state because they were at the Eastbay race is like saying "There probably be a case to be made Utah State is one of the top basketball programs because they made it to the NIT"
Are you 14? Eastbay, formerly FootLocker, formerly Kinney, is the premier individual Championship race.
NXN has filled a team void in XC, and its front-end individual battles have been epic at times (see Tuohy-Ewert-Sydney T), but Eastbay is deeper and more storied in that regard - getting the best 40 XC individuals each fall for a true national title.
Running Lane you say? Last year's race with NBP was fantastic, but that race is nothing more than an expensive postseason PR factory for anyone who can afford to go.
You couldn't be any farther off with your NIT comparison. Shoot, if Eastbay is NIT, then RunningLane is And-1 streetball with the Professor and Hot Sauce.
Eastbay!? the B national race? Saying it could be a top producing state because they were at the Eastbay race is like saying "There probably be a case to be made Utah State is one of the top basketball programs because they made it to the NIT"
Are you 14? Eastbay, formerly FootLocker, formerly Kinney, is the premier individual Championship race.
NXN has filled a team void in XC, and its front-end individual battles have been epic at times (see Tuohy-Ewert-Sydney T), but Eastbay is deeper and more storied in that regard - getting the best 40 XC individuals each fall for a true national title.
Running Lane you say? Last year's race with NBP was fantastic, but that race is nothing more than an expensive postseason PR factory for anyone who can afford to go.
You couldn't be any farther off with your NIT comparison. Shoot, if Eastbay is NIT, then RunningLane is And-1 streetball with the Professor and Hot Sauce.
Doesn't like exactly a cake walk to win state up there.
I was just in Anchorage for business last weekend. Saw the state cross meet was going on in town so stopped by. Let's just say those days are over. Two (2) boys broke 16 (not by much) and no one else was close. And only one (1) woman broke 19:30 (9:16). And six (6) total women broke 20. Yeah, sure, the course is always a sloppy muddy mess on XC ski trails...so let's look at their track marks: Those two guys were 9:32/4:26 and 9:31/4:27 guys from last track season. And that girl ran 5:10/11:19. All seniors. No one else in the state was close to these runners. Whoof. So I did some asking around as to what training standards were like. Typical answers were something like "yeah, our women don't run more than 25 mpw and men more than 35mpw because we don't want to hurt them/burn them out." Heard about that from several coaches/parents/spectators. And "well the state champs just train too hard so they're going to be burnt out when they go to their big DI schools." I didn't have the heart to tell them those aren't DI kids. Trevor Dunbar & Allie O please come back, AK needs you to show them what runners actually are!
Well last year was presumably won by an 8:50's guy (Merchant)....and the year or two before that (if they had state) would have been another another 8:50's guy in Prosser..
Not saying Alaska is a great state for CC, especially depthwise, but they've had at least 2 guys in the 8:40s and two in the 8:50s since ~2007....if you give them each 2 years around that level that means that nearly half the time since 2007 you'd be competing against guys with ~sub 9 talent in order to win state. I have a hunch that wouldn't rank as the second easiest state to win XC in, as was proposed earlier in the thread.
I ran at the State meet in Florida. The course is absolutely not short. And there were 27 people sub-16. Not to mention the 11 TEAMS that AVERAGED sub-16:40, which you're claiming would win individually.
You are being a homer. Take a deep breath.
From all those 27 "sub-16s", can you a) list the results and b) show me a collection of tfrrs profiles to back up their sub-16 talent?
Where I come from, if someone runs sub-16 the 4:20/9:20 barriers are in their wheelhouse. I get the feeling where you come from, those sub-16s translate to 4:35s, 10:10s and 27-minute 8ks in college XC.
Florida does not have a high success rate in college. Flordia does not have an honest style of xc.
Moreover, the Florida academic system is joke-ish. I was in Floroda for 6 months. Beautiful beaches and women.
But the thing is, in places like Orlando, for example, you often have a sub-group of 20 year olds walking around claiming to already have earned undergrad degrees and are now enrolled in fastrack master's programs they can finish before 21. And these are from private school paper mills like Fullsail University and Rollins College.
I view the college issue to be the same as the 27 "sub-16" cross country issue. The piece of paper attempts to verify something except everyone knows it isnt legit.
From all those 27 "sub-16s", can you a) list the results and b) show me a collection of tfrrs profiles to back up their sub-16 talent?
Where I come from, if someone runs sub-16 the 4:20/9:20 barriers are in their wheelhouse. I get the feeling where you come from, those sub-16s translate to 4:35s, 10:10s and 27-minute 8ks in college XC.
Florida does not have a high success rate in college. Flordia does not have an honest style of xc.
I am not a Floridian but have property there in the upper panhandle.
I will not say that your assessment of Florida not having good colleges and universities is entirely accurate. If you're referring to XC, which by how you wrote your post above and your following one, I would agree. If you're saying that Florida has no good schools for academics I would probably disagree. UF is one of the best public universities in the country. FSU can also hold its own. And while Miami is a private university, it is also excellent. There are also a lot of smaller schools that are decent.
I'll agree that Florida is not as flush with top ranked universities as some other states that have the population of Florida or are even smaller, but to say that there is not a high success rate is not entirely accurate. More than likely it may have to do with the large elderly population.
But the thing is, in places like Orlando, for example, you often have a sub-group of 20 year olds walking around claiming to already have earned undergrad degrees and are now enrolled in fastrack master's programs they can finish before 21. And these are from private school paper mills like Fullsail University and Rollins College.
I view the college issue to be the same as the 27 "sub-16" cross country issue. The piece of paper attempts to verify something except everyone knows it isnt legit.
I would not equate Rollins with Full sail. The two are not analogous in any way.
Full Sail is a for-profit school with a 100% acceptance rate. High quality academics are not a thing at Full Sail and it is a diploma "millish" type of school.
Rollins is an actual university. It is not at the level of UF but one can get a decent education at Rollins. ACT scores at the 25th percentile are 24 and at the 75th they're at 29.
As a runner from sc, the state course is a legit and pretty tough it’s every other course leading into that race. For example, pawleys island is crazy short, less than 3 miles, and star light is just a glorified track “5k” which is some how less that 5000 meters. The guys who race out of state the most are the best and the rankings don’t show that.