New Favorite wrote:
A team that can average 15:42 at Holmdel is definitely the favorite at NXN this year. Only the best Newbury Park teams could have gone faster. Herriman is quite good, but not 2024 CBA good. Wow.
A truly remarkable performance. In a state as competitive as New Jersey, it is incredible that their lineup would have beaten the rest of the field combined. This CBA team has the personnel to win a national championship, but they are no lock. There have been some talented CBA teams over the years, but only one has won the national championship. The others have often performed below expectations.
The schedule for CBA has always been daunting in November. They have the state meet and Meet of Champions at Holmdel in back to back weeks and then the regional meet at Bowdoin. Those are three races on three courses that take a toll on the body. Now, I get it that the regional meet is a week earlier this year and they have two weeks to get ready for nationals. But you are still talking about three races over the span of the month on three very difficult courses. And let's be honest, CBA said they ran last week at tempo pace but we all know that it was still a race effort for most of them. They were only about seven seconds a man faster today.
Not only is the racing itself hard in November, but making it to the line in Oregon without getting sick is a challenge in itself. You can't go out in public for 10 seconds without hearing someone hack up a lung these days. Everyone is coughing. Then you add in Thanksgiving and all it takes is the cousin that you only see a few times every year slobbering all over the mashed potatoes to spread the flu around to everyone.
The point is, it is very difficult to win it all. The team in Utah will be tough. This CBA team's biggest strength is that they have five guys who are good enough to be a #1 runner. They have 6th and 7th runners who can fill in easily if one of the top five has a bad day. Hopefully they survive the brutal November stretch, make it to the line healthy, and get over the hump.



