What does an "average" cross country teams times look like

I remember that our team was the epitome of average our last couple seasons, 3rd in a region of 5 teams, always 6th or 7th at the 15 team meets. This is what our spread looked like by the end of the year if I remember correctly.

15:30-16:00-17:00-17:00-17:15-17:15-17:30

Here's the average team I've seen:

1: Depends on talent, but typically between 16:15 and 16:45
2-4: if good, #2 is barely under 17; 3-4 tend to be a little over 17
5: 17:30-18
6: 18
7: 18:30+

But there's almost always a pack of 2-3 people and a clear #1.

The average team really isn't that great and there are many schools out there who really don't have any decent runners.

Here's a random sectional meet in a random state. A mid-pack team there averages about 19 minutes per boy.

1 Columbus North High School 19 1+2+3+5+8 (9+10) 1:12 1-5 Split | 15:43 Avg
2 Seymour High School 72 7+13+14+18+20 (28+29) 1:45 1-5 Split | 17:24 Avg
3 Brown County High School 73 6+15+16+17+19 (25+31) 1:49 1-5 Split | 17:25 Avg
4 Brownstown Central High School 121 11+12+23+27+48 (50+51) 3:23 1-5 Split | 18:19 Avg
5 Columbus East High School 164 22+32+33+37+40 (42+43) 1:10 1-5 Split | 18:49 Avg
6 Hauser High School 175 21+34+35+38+47 (49) 2:05 1-5 Split | 19:00 Avg
7 Southwestern High School (Shelbyville) 192 26+30+36+46+54 5:04 1-5 Split | 19:55 Avg
8 Martinsville High School 205 4+41+52+53+55 (56+57) 7:59 1-5 Split | 20:34 Avg
9 White River Valley High School 210 24+39+44+45+58 7:49 1-5 Split | 20:31 Avg

My senior year the top 6 (not counting the 7th as that'd oscillate) was 50% white and 50% Asian. Probably every other year we'd have someone Hispanic in the top 7. We did have few black people running, but one of our school's fastest runners ever was east African.

Average 5k XC Top 7 Pack

16:20-16:35 Girls

Average 5k XC Top 7 Pack

14:40-14:50 Guys

It's all about Pack Running

I feel like most people on this board do not understand what average looks like. An average team will have a guy in the 17s and the rest in of the top 7 will be in the high 18s and low 19s with maybe a few guys in the 20s. The runners not on the top 7 will be 21 plus guys. Most teams do not have a guy in the 16s. I ran 5 years of D1 track and was an all-conference mid distance runner, so I know how easy it is to think average is a team full of 15 and 16 minute guys but this is not the case. In fact, teams like that are the ones vying for a state title. Since most on letsrun are former college runners I think we forget what average looks like.

You may be correct but my team is in the largest class in the state so I don't really think much about small schools. An average team in our conference or section would be 17:30.

An "average" team usually has 1 person who is talented and trains some on their own, running a bit more mileage than their teammates. The other varsity scorers are usually decently talented runners who run 20-30 now and don't progress much. Everyone except maybe one person is just there to have fun.

CopperRunner, your training advice is always spot on but I think as others pointed out, you're wrong here.