NXN 2023 Way too early preview: Dawn of a new Era

at larges: 1st brookline, 2nd niwot, 3rd franklin, 4th san clemente

first one left out is union catholic

0 southwest teams outside of AF/Herriman make it into the top 30. Niwot is 15th. Apparently Northville Michigan would wreck the entire southwest region, now that's impressive. The teams this year must be super stacked.

Tennessee state championship speed ratings. Farragut - 189, 178, 174, 174, 161

http://www.tullyrunners.com/XC2023/Ratings_Nov11.htm#Tenn

The northeast is completely overrated in these rankings.

Why? They’ve had some pretty impressive performances this season.

Niwot is a relatively untested young team, they ran the second fastest avg ever on the the 2015- Present colorado state course. They rolled everyone at desert twlight. Its hard to belive they are not a legit top 15 or better team rn.

I was being sarcastic. NXN and Runninglane will show that Southwest teams and California teams are being disrespected. Either that, or all the other regions just got insanely better in a 1 year span.

Runninglane is a joke meet for time-obsessed Milesplit junkies. Bogus course tailor made for super fast times. That's their claim to fame. We've got indoor and outdoor track for that. Cross is about racing on real courses that actually present a challenge.

Milesplit promotes it as a partner because it will drive people to look at their ridiculous content.

At least for California, these rankings matter too much. The Woodward Park course will show teams' abilities in the postseason to the NXN committee. The course is consistent and remains the same, so any teams achieving team times around 77:xx will be a nice boost to their resume. In the past, 4th at-large bids have gone to California teams with times of 77:xx, and they consistently go top-10 at nxn.
I have concerns for the Southwest. They have changed their regional course again, and the NXN committee might struggle to differentiate between fast and slow team times. Teams like Herriman, Niwot, and American Fork may make other teams look worse than they really are. Just my thoughts. It is possible teams are better this year and other regions have improved.

There aren't really that many great track meets in this time frame. Lots of states have regionals/states on non-pr courses, CA has like a month of regionals. If I have a kid who I think is poised for a big break through (but not ready to make NXN) and has been running well on tough courses, yes, it makes sense to take them to this meet. You never know what will happen in the spring (Injuries etc). If they are ready for a big performance rn (especially seniors), I'm going to take them to RLN so they can show their fitness. Also kids like running fast, but I'm not a huge fan of going to fast courses in season, i prefer courses that are as or more difficult than the state course. A tough course schedule is an easier sell to kids when I tell them we will go for time post season.

Belen jesuit ran 15:14 average at Great American in some humidity. I have that as a 76:15. I missed this one

If true, Northeast’s Ridgefield is at (78:10). You sure it’s not 76:45?

Come run at Holmdel, Bowdoin, VCP, or Wickham. Let's see what happens to your 5-man avg.

Union Catholic just got perfect scored and you think they’re the first team out?

What do people think? How many Southwest/California teams will get beat by Christian Brothers and Westfield at NXN?

Zero

Union Catholic's average time gets a lot of help from Jimmy Wischusen when he isn't injured. When he doesn't race or DNFs, they don't make much noise. Even if Jimmy beat all of the CBA guys, CBA still would have crushed them.

Come run your state meet up a mountain at high altitude and see what happens. Northeast is way overrated. Northeast will get crushed at NXN.