NXN 2024 at-large bids

They lost to a team that doesn't have a 5th runner. They deserve nothing. Get ready for track.

Saratoga girls beat Shen in the merge in section 2, but for the Section 2 Class A race alone, Shen beat Saratoga by 3

Vandegrift didn’t look good there, but the committee looks at the races before this too (particularly the later ones like the state meet). They beat Bridgeland at state and were ranked in the top 10 for much of the season. The 4th at large spot looks to be up for grabs

The “Rocky OVER Taylorsville” argument makes zero sense. Rocky got beat by Taylorsville literally head to head the one time they raced

The supposed arguement is that Taylorsville got 4th by like 100 points, while Rocky was only 3rd by like 30.

I'm a Rocky fanboy but I disavow anyone who argues that Rocky gets in over Taylorsville

The advantage that California has is that the state has multiple big meets (Mt Sac, Clovis, Woodbridge) and most of the top teams in the state go to them and compete against each other there. And because it’s its own region, there are more opportunities for potential third place teams to beat potential autoqualifiers. Heck, sometimes some of the best California teams are in each other’s section / prelims / league / small invitational races too. So even more opportunities to make their resumes better.

The disadvantage is that because the state meet is the NXN-qualifying meet, not all teams go head-to-head. There are 5 division state meet races per gender so who knows, the temperature differences could affect the results. We need to see how the merge turns out at the state meet. There are really good teams in several divisions. There are a lot of 5-man boys teams at the top of California this year, so we need to see which ones have all 5 come through on race day

If there are any specific California boys teams that deserve an at-large if they get third in the merge somehow, that would be Arnold Beckman and Jesuit. Both ran very, very well at Clovis.

Beckman was like 22th at Woodbridge and Jesuit dodged the woodbridge competition to go to a race in the Northwest with zero competition.

Most arguments about why Rocky Mountain should get a bid doesn't make any sense.

I don’t think the committee will count Woodbridge against them especially because it was early in the season. I think they will take the Clovis meet more seriously

Vandegrift does a very strange slow start and move up concept that is problematic on the Nike South course. It is very difficult to pass there and this strategy backfired bigtime.

The course penalizes slow starters and may have also affected Bridgeland Girls normal 4.

Look at the number of state champion or Texas podium teams that bomb there. Who did well? Southlake. They have paavo ties and do the punch and hold method. It makes sense.

Vandegrift’s #1 guy of the last 2 seasons was their #4 guy in the last 2 races. But even with that, they almost beat Southlake Carroll and beat Bridgeland.

And yeah, they always start slow at the beginning, and it’s strange

I wonder if the Timberline girls team has a good chance to get a bid. They missed autoqualifying by 4 points and beat NXR champs Rocky Mountain at Vallivue.

They also beat JSerra at Bob Firman, so if JSerra gets 4th in the merge at the CA state meet, Timberline will probably have a better chance

Yes

Not sure I would put alot of stock into how J Serra ran at Firman. The team they ran there was a slit squad. Team that will line up at State for them is vastly different. So, comparing teams from that meet isn’t one I would make.

It's a shame that any team comes out of the Midwest when you consider that probably 4 non-qualifying teams in the SW and West would leave Downers North in their dust. And Romeo has been overrated all year. Downers' first girl finished 33rd, then the rest finished #46, 56, 86, 89. Romeo's finished #36/51/55/76/96. Those aren't National-worthy teams... but Downers is getting the trip of their lifetime for it because the race they won was a pillow fight.

And Plainfield North’s 5th man was pretty far back at NXR too

that's not true downers grove is a very good team. A candidate to be top 6