Official Iowa HS XC 2023 Thread

Best recruiters in the state for sure. No advantage there at all.

I don’t think Dowling will need anyone to transfer in to win state this year.
Out of what they already have, they return 9:15, 9:25, 9:55, 10:03, 10:14, 10:20, 4:38, 4:46, 4:47.

That’s a lot of depth.

Which one of those knuckleheads are you? You going to make top 7 or just brag about being on an over recruited team?

I don't think you understand that they are all transfers.

The way I see it. Let's see your picks if you disagree

1. Dowling

2. WDM Valley

3. Ankeny

4. Cedar Falls

5. Johnston

6. CR Kennedy

------------- Big gap IMO

7. DCG

8. Waukee NW

9. Norwalk

10. DSM Roosevelt

11. Dub Hempstead

12. Urbandale

13. Southeast Polk

14. Pleasant Valley

15. City High

------------------------

Teams that could make it

Ames

Ankeny Centennial

Bettendorf

Cedar Rapids Prairie

Indianola

Iowa City Liberty

Iowa City West

Waukee

-----------------------------

Individuals to watch

Flori, Zuber, Merrick, Maloney, DeRocher

Yeah individual title is gonna be wide open this year

Im guessing he's on the team getting an early start for the hype/promotion in June. These guys just cant get enough of themselves.

I also know that many arent recruited but just have parents with money that figure out how to get them across the state and into the program so they dont have to be on an average team from wherever they are from. The rich get richer... This is how you treat the egos of all involved. "We are and deserve better" mentality. Screw the rest of the team you came from.

The Association and Union dont have the balls to just make a parochial class. Their distraction is to create an option for inner city schools to drop down a class to "even the playing field" while getting their palms greased at the same time their kids go to Dowling or DM Christian.

The funny thing to watch is handwringing parents that have gone to all the trouble and it doesnt work out for their kid because they are on a superstar team or get overtrained/injured racing every day.

A fair original post might be to ask or even take a stab at who could challenge Dowling. Nope. Just looks like an excited kid thats in a superstar program with a lot of resources. Believe me, theres not many outside of Dowling actually cheering for them.

Can’t forget about Kifle from Sioux City North. He placed 10th at Griak last year

You’re insane. 4:48 freshman milers aren’t being recruited or traveling across the state to run XC for Dowling. The school has a huge percentage of upper class white kids who are more likely to take up distance running than the kids at, say, Des Moines East. Some of these kids become pretty fast as upperclassmen because there’s a large pool, good program and coach. It’s ok if you root against them but if you’re an adult I wouldn’t do it too loudly—they’re high school kids.

Can Sioux City North qualify for state this year?
They return:
Kifle - 9:24 / 4:14 - 12
Kumbi- 16:57 5k - 12
Kling - 17:07 5k - 12
C Schultz - 17:22 5k - 11
K Schultz - 4:55 1600 - 11
Wilford - 17:46 5k - 11

I’ve thought about this. I’ll predict:

1. Dowling

2. DC Grimes

3. Ankeny

4. Hempstead

5. Cedar Falls

6. CR Kennedy

7. Valley WDM

8. Waukee NW

9. Johnston

10. Norwalk

11. Pleasant Valley

12. Ames

13. Linn Mar

14. DM Roosevelt

15. Bettendorf

And

1. Ethan Zuber

2. Jaden Merrick

3. Jack Flori

4. John Maloney

5. Natnael Kifle

6. Max DeRocher

7. Tommy Hensley

8. Luke Hartmann

9. AJ Schermerhorn

10. Jackson Bergman

DC Grimes potentially has the best depth of any team. Jack Every, Ben Every, Elias Arbuckle, Sam Mora, Cael Ramsey, Colin Mandernach, AJ Angus - all pretty interchangeable, any of them could be sub-16:20 guys this year. Mora, Ramsey, Arbuckle and Mandernach will all be sophomores or juniors so they could see jumps in performance. Similar genetics don’t guarantee similar success but you’ve got to keep an eye on Cael Ramsey, running 4:38 as a freshman and being the brother of recent best-runner-in-the-state Aidan Ramsey.

Teams:

1. Dowling Catholic
2. Valley
3. Ankeny
4. Cedar Falls
5. Johnston
6. DCG
7. Cedar Rapids Kennedy
8. Waukee Northwest
9. Norwalk
10. Dubuque Hempstead

Valley finished 6th and returns 21-23-39-55-103

DCG returners finished 29-79

Your predictions are not based on objective data. Chickenug's order is based on last year's results and returners.

Dowling returns 9-14-25-60. To say that any team has more depth is silly.i think their returners are 1-3-9 after pulling out seniors.

Whoa, buddy. Two people can make different predictions based on different sets of criteria. Believe me, I don’t have a dog in the fight.

Obviously Valley returns more kids from the state meet since DCG didn’t qualify; Valley beat DCG 60-78 at districts and were the better team last year. But DCG did put 5 returners in the top 19 at districts, and that was without one of their top-5 from early season, a sophomore who ran 4:32 this spring. The kid who qualified individually and finished 79th at state could be anywhere in their top 7 this fall.

https://onlineraceresults.com/race/view_plain_text.php?race_id=75380

^A quick look at DCG’s results from that early season meet shows the sort of potential they have if everyone is healthy and clicking, especially if the freshmen and sophomores make significant improvements.

The kid who placed 29th at state was DCG’s 6th fastest miler this spring at 4:44 and everyone ahead of him is returning. Arbuckle ran 4:35/9:54 as a sophomore. Ramsey ran 4:38 as a freshman and I expect he’ll be much better this coming XC season than he was last fall.

As far as “potentially the best depth,” I maintain that to be true if the 7 kids I mentioned are running well. Obviously Dowling has the best top-3 returners but that’s not what I think of as “depth” (though they’re certainly solid in that department too).

So yeah, just because I’m not tallying up returners from last year’s state meet doesn’t mean I’m not considering this objectively.

Individuals
1. Ethan Zuber
2. Jaden Merrick
3. Jack Flori
4. John Maloney
5. Natnael Kifle
6. Tommy Hensley
7. Max DeRocher
8. Aidan Decker
9. Jackson Bergman
10. Luke Hartman

Let’s add some girl’s predictions.

Johnston will win. They graduated nobody and they are bringing in a freshman who ran the 5th fastest time on the team at NXR last year.
Johnston will also have a chance to go to NXN.

Johnston

Hempstead

Dowling's 7th will beat DCG's 5th.