looking at SW wrote:
I see your argument for New Trier, but I'm not following at all how you see a possibility for Simi Valley to leapfrog Saugus, unless I've read the wrong CA merge.
Holy Names slipping or not, East Aurora got #3 in NY. It's pretty much obligatory that NY gets an at-large, but it's a real stretch to go to four from NY this year.
In any case, I certainly hope NY gets an at-large because the caterwauling and howling for the next year will be insufferable if they don't.
Xavier gave out too many reasons late in the year to pass them over.
Sorry, I don't know how the final merge works in CA (someone described, above), and whether they're allowed to leapfrog. Simi had faster avg times (courtesy of Baxter); but I think Nike rules are you can't take a 4th over 3rd, so you may be right, assuming the final NXN merge goes: Great Oak, St F, Saugus, Simi V
I also agree that NY as a region has been highly-deserving. But the performances today just weren't that great. Holy Names seems to have slipped last few weeks of season. Was E Aurora's performance alone enough, or does the strong region give them a boost past other teams that actually performed better at regionals? [And NY won't be the only region caterwauling if CA gets 2 at-larges!!!]
I don't know if Xavier ran themselves out of it. You could say they have the same issue as Holy Names, slipping toward the end; but they were faster and closer to 2nd (both placed 4th) than Holy Names. I do agree New Trier has the edge on Xavier, but it's slight.