Best boys HS XC team of all time?

There's somewhat of a bias here, but I'm gonna have to go with the 1999 York team led by Don Sage. This team scored 24 points at the state meet with their 5th guy getting 12th place and 14:46 for the 2.98 mile race track xc course in Illinois. Sage ran one of the fastest times of all time with 14:03, about 10 seconds behind Derrick/Lukas. Their 6th guy was 24th place and was also an allstater.

Phenom Man wrote:

There's somewhat of a bias here, but I'm gonna have to go with the 1999 York team led by Don Sage. This team scored 24 points at the state meet with their 5th guy getting 12th place and 14:46 for the 2.98 mile race track xc course in Illinois. Sage ran one of the fastest times of all time with 14:03, about 10 seconds behind Derrick/Lukas. Their 6th guy was 24th place and was also an allstater.

I could've sworn that the Peoria State XC Course in Illinois was lengthened in the late 1980s to become a full 3.00 miles.

It's why Chris Derrick was supposed to have the actual State Record. The course he ran on was longer than the Course Craig Virgin ran on by about 30-40 meters

I'd have to vote Mead (94 I believe) with Both Davis brothers at Footlocker nationals and some low 4 teen milers and low 9 guys as support. I used to know their numbers better but it's been awhile. I wouldn't stake my life on the argument but that would be my gut. Would be interested in what Watchout has to say.

I would stake my life on it. Mead gets screwed cause their 5th man ran terrible at the state meet. But when you look at how good that team was throughout the season and what those guys did that spring it's clear.

Use the search function. We've had a billion of these kind of threads. You'll get more info than you could ever want.

Berserker wrote:

I'd have to vote Mead (94 I believe) with Both Davis brothers at Footlocker nationals and some low 4 teen milers and low 9 guys as support. I used to know their numbers better but it's been awhile. I wouldn't stake my life on the argument but that would be my gut. Would be interested in what Watchout has to say.

If you're looking for a consensus, it would probably come down to a question of Mead '93, York '99, and Arcadia '10... maybe Lompoc back in the 70's or York '04 in there as well. I think I had Arcadia as the best.

One of the great overlooked teams was the 84 Conroe McCullough, TX (now The Woodlands)team. Scored 28 points at the TX 5a State Meet,led by Stacy Sutter who defeated Reuben Reina for the individual title, backed by Eric Henry, Scott Cramer, Shawn Barnes and Danny Green who the following year went 17:04 in the 4 x 1600.

Lompoc. There was also an Indiana school that had a 9:16 runner not in the top 5. Elkwood think. 76 or 77.

Did the McCullough team ever run on courses we can compare to today?

joe M wrote:

One of the great overlooked teams was the 84 Conroe McCullough, TX (now The Woodlands)team. Scored 28 points at the TX 5a State Meet,led by Stacy Sutter who defeated Reuben Reina for the individual title, backed by Eric Henry, Scott Cramer, Shawn Barnes and Danny Green who the following year went 17:04 in the 4 x 1600.

The Woodlands' 2003 team had 8 guys at 9:29 or better for 3200m and were ranked #1 in the country. Unfortunately for them, Nike Team Nationals didn't start until the following year.

The 1999 York team has to take the cake though. Scary good team!

Deerield, IL in the late '70s.

coach d. wrote:

Deerield, IL in the late '70s.

Thats the one I was trying to remember. Not Indiana. Deerfield had the greatest high school cross country team.

They ran the State Meet from 1980- early 90's at Southwestern University in Georgetown, TX. I'm not sure about some of the other courses? Sutter did finish as the #2 all-time performer on that course when it was moved.Sutter and Henry both went 9:02 that year, Cramer went 8:35 in the 3000, the other all ran some great track times as well.

watchout wrote:

Did the McCullough team ever run on courses we can compare to today?

Some stats to consider...

Roughly relative speed of the courses:

IL State (flat 2.97m) ~ 14:00

WA State (3m) ~ 14:20

CA State/FLW (5k) ~ 14:40

FLN CA (5k) ~ 15:10

NXN '10 ~ 16:20-16:30

Mead '93 -

#1 Matt Davis: 14:09 WA State; injured before the FL series and didn't recover for outdoor track, but still managed to run 14:58 at FLW (@Woodward) and finished 3rd at FLN to Goucher and Meb.

#2 Micah Davis: 14:46 WA State; 15:11 @ FLW, 10th at FLN (15:24), ran 4:12.7 and 9:07.8 that spring

#3 Rob Aubrey: 14:48 WA State; 15:27 @ FLW, ran 4:11.1 and 9:07.7 that spring

#4 Greg James: 15:13 WA State; 15:42 @ FLW, ran 4:10.0 that spring

#5 Skiy DeTray: 15:48 WA State; 15:58 @ FLW, ran 3:55.9 1500m and 9:06 that spring

York '99:

#1 Donald Sage 14:03 IL State; 15:05 FLMW; 2nd FLN to Ritz (@ Orlando); 4:00.29y and 8:42.89 that spring

#2 Adam Palumbo 14:34 IL State; 15:31 FLMW; 9:11.20 that spring

#3 Peter Cioni 14:36 IL State; 16:05 FLMW; 9:12.10 and 4:13.30 that spring

#4 Adam Roche 14:38 IL State; ??? don't know what he ran in track

#5 Peter Stasiulis 14:46 IL State; 4:18.10 that spring

Arcadia '10:

#1 Ammar Moussa 14:42.5 CA State; 16:16.3 NXN; 14:05.79/8:51.80y/4:08.05y that spring

#2 Sergio Gonzalez 15:01.9 CA State; 17:00.9 NXN; 9:16.13/3:54.60 1500m that spring

#3 Ryan Vargas 15:20.9 CA State; 17:14.6 NXN; 9:21.90/4:20.16 that spring

#4 Allen Leung 15:31.5 CA State; 17:22.8 NXN; 15:02.30/9:20.09 that spring

#5 Eric Garibay 15:33.8 CA State; 16:59.3 NXN; 15:06.61/9:30.92 that spring

oh, forgot FLMW (5k): ~14:55

Christian Brothers Academy 2011

I don't know that I'd put McCullough quite there with those 3,but it is surprising that particular squad gets overlooked a lot in these conversations. The program (and Coach Green) certainly have had plenty of props.

Going back 40 years, but Lompoc 1972 deserves a mention:

http://www.milesplit.com/articles/41049

Long article, well worth reading.

1972 Two Mile Postal (during XC season)

Lompoc

Williams: 8:58.4

Gilmore: 9:15

Shankel: 9:17

Warrick: 9:20

Nunez: 9:29

Williams and Gilmore went on to win the mile and two mile, respectively, at the 1973 California State Meet.

I understand track does not equal cross country but it's hard to argue against Mead with those track stats. I thought I remembered they had a 4:13 guy either not scoring or not on the team.