CA would win and they have the depth to field a B team that would be in the mix. Second would probably be Illinois. Hard to pick third place between MA, OH, CO, OR, MI and NJ. There are a few states like VA for example (Drew Hunter/Alan Webb) who have a nice 1,2 or 3 punch, but don't have depth. A side note; good luck picking between CA and NY for the girls.
I think you can take the Inland Empire course and throw those times out a window. The course is insanely fast, and rated as something like 33 seconds faster than the Firman/NXN course. His most impressive result is actually winning Firman. I think that if he follows up his cross season with a similar year, he makes the Idaho list. I'm not willing to bump pre-super shoes guys with better overall resumes and better track times (for now) off the list for him. I think you would need to consider a guy like Rafla over him, who ran 4:10 and 8:50 in the 3200 to take 2nd at Arcadia if one time state champs are in consideration.
I do feel like team Born-in-Oregon would do pretty well in a "historical track meet" because we have Rupp (distance & marathon), Ryan Crouser (shot), Mac Wilkins (discus), Prefontaine (distance), Dick Fosbury (HJ), Ryan Bailey (sprints), and Dan O'Brien & Ashton Eaton (multis). I would feel good going to a meet with those guys as my "team" for sure.
I guess big states like California and Texas could do better, but for a small state, to have these guys as locals is pretty special.
Idaho would be pretty good... Ian Waltz, Donovan Kilmartin, Landon Helms, Gatlin Bair, Slagowski, Nathan Green. Hell, Idaho may be the best HS multi event state. Kilmartin scored 7,486 in the dec, Helms scored 7,051, Jaxon Bair scored 7,496, Peyton Bair scored 6,913.
Btw, it is very hard to compare athletes accross eras because athletes train for and compete at the level of their era. There are athletes like Lingren, Pre, Virgin, Eric Hulst, Reuben Reina, Ritz and Mohamud Abdirizak for example who simply didn't lose and if they competed in this era, they would most likely be just as dominant. A final note, perhaps we put too much emphasis on winning Kenny/Footlocker and NXN. Athletes like Rudy Chapa, Galen Rupp, Ryan Hall, Alberto Salazar, Franklin Sanchez and German Fernandez for example. German Fernandez ran Footlocker with a foot injury and was sick 2 days before, Rupp and Hall simply had bad Footlocker races.
Btw, it is very hard to compare athletes accross eras because athletes train for and compete at the level of their era. There are athletes like Lingren, Pre, Virgin, Eric Hulst, Reuben Reina, Ritz and Mohamud Abdirizak for example who simply didn't lose and if they competed in this era, they would most likely be just as dominant. A final note, perhaps we put too much emphasis on winning Kenny/Footlocker and NXN. Athletes like Rudy Chapa, Galen Rupp, Ryan Hall, Alberto Salazar, Franklin Sanchez and German Fernandez for example. German Fernandez ran Footlocker with a foot injury and was sick 2 days before, Rupp and Hall simply had bad Footlocker races.
Ryan Hall was 3rd against 2 of the greatest ever, Ritz and Webb.