Let's talk Ohio HS XC

I think the team that was the most mad was Lancaster. Their 1-3 were stellar but their 4-5 underperformed. And on top of that, another guy on the same level as their 4/5 ran his only race of the season at NXR. They haven’t won state since the 90s. It’s not like they gave up their hopes of beating Mason, but they probably felt pressure, were nervous and underperformed

wonder if they can crack the top 10 next year again. They had guys come out of nowhere , but losing the 3 lanoys and thress will be a tall task to make up for

And Mason / St Xavier don’t just reload. They are always deep. They have so many guys on JV under 17 minutes. Those guys would be varsity for 90% of the schools. and then the next year they jump in and help the team right away

I remember seeing some talk in this thread that Ben Gabelman’s team will be in contention to win it next year. They didn’t even make state this year

But Gabelman himself did great at NXR and could possibly make NXN next year

Lancaster is a great program with a great coach. There’s a reason they are typically in the mix. And not to say 3rd place is anything to look down upon. It stings that 2nd get’s a trophy and their moment on the podium, and 3rd gets nothing.

Has Mas Jackson ever won a state title in the sport?

Not in Cross-Country

Via Wikipedia:

Boys Basketball: 2011, 2017
Boys Baseball: 2010, 2017

Wow that’s not very many

but anyways, I think Mas Jackson will have a better chance to win it than Lancaster would have.

Because:

1) lancaster finished lower last year than Mas Jackson did this year

2) lancaster lost their 5-7 so they actually needed some midpack JV guys to step up from last year, something that Mas Jackson won’t have to deal with as much, because they aren’t losing any scorers

3) Mas Jackson actually had a scorer or 2 missing during the race

4) Mason is graduating more this year than they did last year

5) it’s harder to 3-peat than it is to 2-peat

Honestly, I'd have to think that Jackson was very happy with how they raced at State. If Prato finishes that race, they are at least second. They had not been running very well the few weeks leading up to State (their Regionals performance, where Prato did finish, would've had them finish right around where they ended up finishing @State without him), but it's encouraging to see that they were able to turn it around when it mattered most. If they all stay healthy (they don't have the depth that Mason has) and improve in the Spring (other than Ilg, they underperformed on the track last year in my opinion), I see them as the favorite for next year.

Yeah they have everyone back, and next year is their year. So they have nothing to hang their heads about. They might has well have used this as a warm up year for next year

They might even have a chance to make NXN next year. Lakota west was mediocre in 2019 and had a couple of seniors, and had 1 guy quit after that season. In 2020 it was all seniors at lak west and they became top 2 in the region, and one of the best in the nation

They need all 5 guys to not only stay healthy but to run well at the state meet. Those are two big ifs; Lancaster had the healthy piece but their 4/5 blew up, Jackson had Prato DNF and they finished 7th. By comparison Mason had Schachleiter DNF and finished first. I would assume Mason is going to find 7 guys in the low 16s every year.

Mas Jackson can actually be 7-deep next year
They return 7 guys below 16:33

“Besides that Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?”

Girls XC 2023 State Predictions

1. Mason

2. Hilliard Davidson

3. Perrysburg

4. Loveland

5. Lakota West/Avon/Westlake

Dublin Jerome also could be #5 forsure

Thank you for that list--was interesting to look at. A lot of students going to OSU.

The age-old question: (when) will OSU cross-country be relevant on the national stage?

I did see that OSU's Addie Engel got 10th.

OSU women are very relevant and had a great team this year.

OSU men, not until they have a coaching and philosophy change. They put no money into CC and put it all in sprints and field events. Their CC team is basically the best kids in Ohio who were probably going to OSU anyways so you might as well run for them too.

To be fair, they have won Indoor and Outdoor Big 10 titles like this.

But it’s very sad, I wish Ohio had a great collegiate program kids could aspire to. When was the last time a D1 Men’s college team made it to Nationals?

They now have the same coach for both programs (Vergote), so coaching isn’t the issue. Think they’ll be in a better spot in a few years with her now running the show. Age old issue of keeping runners healthy and stacking solid blocks of training prevented the men from having a respectable season this Fall.

I have very little respect for most college coaches for this reason. Most HS coaches have no issues keeping their key runners healthy all season and when it matters. Then they go to college and it seems like 50% of runners don’t develop or improve at all. Sure, there are other factors, namely kids going to college and making poor decisions. But the responsibility lies with the coach.

The reality is there are better coaches, on average, at the HS level. Sure, at the very top, Mike Smith, Dave Smith, Mark Wetmore, etc. are the best in the world. I’m not talking about the coaches who were at NCAAs yesterday.

But in the middle and lower level, it’s atrocious. Unfortunately, it makes sense though. The teacher or other professional who coaches for fun and the love of the sport is going to beat the person choosing to get paid 30K a year, trying to inflate their resume, and hoping making a freshmen run 100 mpw (when they ran 50 last year) is going to miraculously create a national champion and be their ticket up.

marlington 3 peat and 1-2?