1) Mason (A lot of people think Massillon Jackson, but they just can't get it done)
2) Massillon Jackson
3) St. Xavier
4) Worthington Kilbourne
5) Chardon
Seems like a down year on the team side for the boys.
Mas Jackson has almost no seniors on the team this year so they had nothing to lose during the state meet. Next year I can see them try to be more focused to win since it will be a very senior-built team
This meet is loaded. Essentially a NXR preview. Most of the best teams from Indiana and Illinois. A few nationally ranked. Looks like Mason, Springboro, and St. Xavier will be representing Ohio.
When the team that wins this meet gets 4th at RunningLane, and when the team that gets 2nd here gets 5th at NXR
The only top MW team I don’t see on here is Kickapoo MO. I don’t think that they are in contention for an NXN berth or even an at-large but they were ranked #18 nationally preseason according to TullyRunners. I read somewhere that some of those guys didn’t run track (either they were sick/injured or play another spring sport?), but it seems like everyone who was expected to be on varsity is on varsity, and everyone who is expected to be scoring is scoring, based on last year’s results. Also all 7 of those varsity guys are seniors, so hopefully they have a good ending to this season at state and NXR since this looks to be a “last go-around” for this program for at least a while. I do see that their top JV is a bunch of sophs. Next year it will be a rebuilding year for them, but the year after that they will be good again I guess (maybe not at a regional/national scale but we will see).
Kickapoo isn’t even the #1 team in Missouri this year
Marlington is probably the 2nd best team in the state, but since they're D2 there's really not a whole lot of point in talking about them. The only question is how much they will win by. Would be interesting if they run NXR though, they did last year.
I think Lancaster was better than Marlington this year. Lancaster beat Marlington at NXR
I’m more interested in seeing how Mason stacks up against Carmel since Carmel was not at the Mason Invitational this year and they have attended it in the past.
Mason has a very good team, but Carmel is on another level. This might be one of Carmel's best teams ever, and that's saying something.
Carmel beat Mason by only 17 points this year at NXR. Carmel was missing their #3 from NXR, but Mason was missing Neuberger, their #1 returner from last year. Neuberger ran this year but was not in top shape
Maybe Hilliard Davidson just peaks late in the season?
And was Solon underrated in the polls? They are ranked in the 50s based on returning 5K and 3200 times. They didn’t even make state and lost their 1,5,6,7 from regions.
But 12th based on 1600 returning times.
they also did seem to find 2 more guys to add to their top 3 returners
No. Davidson isn't the same. They are they are. If anything, they tend to be very race-ready early.
So Davidson went from 4th in the first invitational to 5th at D1 state. I would call this huge improvement and peaking at the end of the season. They just lost to 4 teams that are better than them at state
What are people in Ohio looking forward to seeing this fall? Is it just the behemoth Mason & their 250 runners and then everyone else on the boy's side? What individuals will be fighting for top 10 spots? Any new up and comers to pay attention to?
So apparently Davidson has only 24 boys on the team and only 1 junior and 3 freshmen total
I find this unbelievable for a school that size and program that's been very good for a long time. How is this possible?
It also looks like they have 10 seniors. That team needs some freshmen or else their time as a top team is over.
They have a very solid looking sophomore class potentially though, but if they don’t win with that team, that could be it for their coach I’d guess. No point in coaching the program back up again from the bottom
Well, they run a LOT. Grinding 2 runs a day, 70+ per week isn't for everyone. If you have the horses, it works wonders and you can be a perennial top five program. If you don't, kids will bail.
Over the past year, they've had a stud kid outright quit running (Puhl) before track, and one of their other runners (Boyd, the only junior) deal with repeated injuries.
But one, Ackley, just won a state title & finished 5th at Champs Nats, and there are always others who seemingly come out of nowhere and run 9:40 (Kafka).
Again... high mileage is definitely a double-edge sword kinda deal. If he can get kids to buy in to his program, they can rebuild. It just doesn't sound like it's happening with the crew he has right now.
Well, they run a LOT. Grinding 2 runs a day, 70+ per week isn't for everyone. If you have the horses, it works wonders and you can be a perennial top five program. If you don't, kids will bail.
Over the past year, they've had a stud kid outright quit running (Puhl) before track, and one of their other runners (Boyd, the only junior) deal with repeated injuries.
But one, Ackley, just won a state title & finished 5th at Champs Nats, and there are always others who seemingly come out of nowhere and run 9:40 (Kafka).
Again... high mileage is definitely a double-edge sword kinda deal. If he can get kids to buy in to his program, they can rebuild. It just doesn't sound like it's happening with the crew he has right now.
Are we sure Puhl quit and wasn't just hurt? He ran indoor his senior year. Grinding through the Ohio winter is the hard part.