New York HS XC 2026

Feds Predictions

Boys Teams

1. Ward Melville

2. Brighton

3. East Aurora

Girls Teams

1. Bethlehem

2. Guilderland

3. Saratoga

For boys teams, it’s looking to be close between the top 3 teams. Ward Melville qualified for NXN last year and they bring most of their guys back, though they are losing a few guys like Anatol. East Aurora and Brighton took 5th and 6th at Feds last year and only lose one senior.

For girls teams it’s looking to be close between the top 2 teams. Bethlehem will have an advantage because of their history. They return 4 of their scorers and will have two low sticks. Guilderland has improved from previous years and have a lot back, but they are losing Vellekoop and they don’t return as great of a front runner as Bethlehem

Just watch out for Andrew Senf.... I've heard the Ward Melville program as a lot of great mentors from the coaches to the kids. I'm not going to be shocked if he wins it all at NXR. Especially with guys like Anatol and Seyfert to look up too.

Another team to watch out for is Bronx School of Science. They lose Berman but they return 5 of their top 7 and will still have a really good front runner. Them taking 4th at Feds last year was much better than expected.

Northport is another boys team to watch out for. They took 7th at Feds. They return 3 of their top 5, as well as 9:38 and 9:43 underclassmen who weren’t in their top 7.

Ward Melville is winning states. Nobody wants it more than them and they are going to outwork everyone over the summer.

I agree. Wouldn’t be surprised if they are motivated to win both States and Feds, by getting second there last year, returning most of their guys, having a lot of depth, and having a very senior-heavy squad.

Nice name bro, Anatol is a decent runner but in my opinion a little overrated. He needs to do something bigger at the state/national level to be getting the recognition he does. His NXN race does not count.

Overrated? OVERRATED!!! Did you place 40th at NXN?
He easily has the best progression out of any runner in NY right now. He couldn't even break 11 as a freshman and now he's approaching the 9 min barrier. Also him and Senf just dropped 4:14 in the 1600m by themselves at the St. Anthony's Invitational. Just wait and see what he drops this Friday at Loucks.

East Aurora had a really good showing this weekend:

9:25.87
9:27.75
9:35.11
9:35.25

All of them are 10th graders too which shows a ton of promise. But do they have a 5th that can be relatively close? Or this going to be another NY team that just cant quite find enough depth.

Let’s just recap what Ward Melville did last XC season, they didn’t win states, didn’t win feds, and helped continue NY’s super embarrassing record of horrible finishes at NXN the last few years. The fact that North Rockland ran insanely bad at NXN doesn’t suddenly make WM good.

I probably just need to stop reading these threads because it drives me nuts to see teams hyping themselves up when NY overall is just so bad now.

The title of the thread isn't "which NY team will podium at NXN". Were just talking about the best teams in NY.

I know this may sound crazy to the lunatics of letsrun but for most schools winning a section championship is a big deal, let alone a state title. Every team mentioned in this thread has a good shot at winning a state title.

Stop talking about high school runners and get a job. Ward Melville went from a nobody school to one of the top teams in the state in just 2 years. Maybe they don't have the resources or time to be able to compete with the top private schools in the nation, but what they have been able to accomplish in these past years is nothing short of incredible. Their achievements are a testament to the determination and dedication of their athletes and coaches. You can talk all you want, but mark my words come cross country, Ward Melville is going to shock the world.

It pains me to 100% agree with this… but, I do.

It isn’t just that our guys have been down in XC for a few years… it’s compounded by our best teams (such as they are) running their worst race of the season at Championship-time. This is how a historically weak Xavier team qualifies a couple seasons ago, how NR utterly embarrasses the whole state by talking smack before emphatically DFL-ing last December, etc. It’s pathetic. Most of our best individual guys are sadly doing the same.

Talk is cheap. Somebody please sack up and perform.

Why is anyone talking about past NXN performances. We are talking about who are going to be the best teams this upcoming season.

I swear the people on this board are insane.

We are at a point now where you can't even say someone had a good race without the mobs coming in "YEAH BUT HE DIDNT WIN NXN!!!!! AND IF HE DIDNT WIN NXN I HAVE TO BE NEGATIVE ABOUT EVERYTHING"

I swear someone is going to comment on someone's shotput or long jump and you guys will still find a way to "BUT HE DIDNT WIN NXN" the conversation. Lmao

Show me where anybody posted “…didn’t win NXN”. Go ahead, we’ll wait.

Wait lmfao, Are you saying that this chain of logic is too difficult to follow?

If someone says "I'm sweating bullets" is your first response "THOSE ARE NOT BULLETS, BULLETS GO IN GUNS. THAT IS JUST SWEAT"

Also using an ad populum while you're getting downvoted is hilarious.

You somehow have figured out how to "BUT HE DIDNT WIN NXN" the conversation again.

EA has about 1.5 years to find a 5th runner.

It’s hard to find depth in small schools like this.

They have another sophomore who ran a 16:48 5k at the Sec. 6 ECIC XC Championships 2025, but he was still pretty far behind their top sophs.

One of those sophomores (Fraser) has 2 brothers in 8th grade. They are not as great as EA’s top guys but with a lot of time to improve, who knows

Just watch out for Farmingdale man. They got some guys who are ready for a breakthrough and a team that is hungry to be in the conversation. Could be a surprise come November. I’ve been right before and they have my pick.