what is the difference?
what is the difference?
Some people refer to the Group Championships as "the state meet". There are 6 groups: 4 public school groups, 2 private school groups. MOC is the entire state.
The Meet of Champions is the top 3 from the State meet (The Group Championships) plus the next two fastest team averages that don't make it. For individuals, it's the top 10 individuals in each group and the next 10 fastest that aren't going with their team. It's the best of the best for NJ.
Wait, it is the best of the best of NJ and CBA was able to win it with their JV team?
How did that happen?
Bearded Warrior wrote:
Wait, it is the best of the best of NJ and CBA was able to win it with their JV team?
How did that happen?
CBA is deep, very deep. Their JV avg was 16:30 at MoCs, which is incredible considering their varsity's top 7 avg at groups was about 16:10. They have AT LEAST 30-40 boys on that team.
Just from watching the video, 16:30 on that course is VERY stout.
Bearded Warrior wrote:
Wait, it is the best of the best of NJ and CBA was able to win it with their JV team?
How did that happen?
New Jersey sucks.
Their 6th kid who ran the race Wednesday ran 9:14 for 3200 last spring. Not a bad JV kid!
Isn't CBA a private school and don't they recruit kids for their team?
...zebra stripes
>>Old Bridge?
They are a private school, they don't recruit.
Jelly wrote:
They are a private school, they don't recruit.
why do fans of private hs teams so quickly dismiss recruiting as a possibility to explain year-end, year-out successes?
Mostly because recruiting 13 year olds to run is a hilarious concept. But also because if you knew the coaches you would know they don't recruit. CBA has been One of a handful of elite teams nationally year in and year out for a long time. It is just that the Last few years CBA has simply improved dramatically. They have broken pretty much every state distance relay record and now own almost every major XC course record. That being said there are 2 or 3 other teams in the US that are in the hunt to win NXN this year. Crazy good year for teams and maybe the best ever.
I ran for CBA and didn't know a single thing about their XC program before going there. I actually went to play soccer. There used to be some recruiting-type behavior on the basketball team, but none on the running side of life. When you go to that school, you WANT to be on the track team. No football, no girls, no distractions. There is a rich history and it is the most important sport at the school. If you went to a big time football school, you probably wanted to be on the football team. Same thing here, except all you needed was running shoes and a big set of lungs.
Same with York high school in Illinois. Ever since the movie came out, kids actually WANT to be on the XC team (wtf right??). A lot of them start running in 4th and 5th grade to get a head start and stuff.
How would you even go about recruiting for a high school cross country team? I don't think most of their guys were age group stars or anything like that.
zebra stripes wrote:
Isn't CBA a private school and don't they recruit kids for their team?
There are quite a few private schools in NJ, enough to split into two groups for the state. If recruiting were the key to XC success, wouldn’t more of these schools be powers by siphoning off talent from the public schools? There is obvious interstate recruiting in football and basketball, but that does not seem to be apparent in XC.
As another poster said, kids WANT to run at CBA. There is no need to recruit.
1. The coaching is VERY good.
2. The tradition of the program is difficult to beat.
3. If you get a hundred or so savage teenage boys trying to make 7 of the most sought after XC spots in the state, motivation is pretty abundant.
That is a pretty good formula for success.
As a New Jersey alum, I didn't like CBA very much when competing against them. I have some good friends now who ran on their teams against me, and I think the program is a great one, with a lot of enthusiasm from the athletes.
They also don't have a football team, so that isn't around to take kids away from Cross, and the sport is seen as "cool" in their school.
Also, who wouldn't run fast after being so frustrated by the lack of girls in your all boys high school?
Who cares jersey is a piece of junk anyway
also, every freshman does a 1.4(?) mile race at the beginning of the school year. the top placers are invited to the team and fall in love with CBA's history and traditions and therefore want to become a part of history.
Am I supposed to buy into the fact that 16:30 is good? A team of 16:30 guys would not come close to qualifying for many state meets, let alone win.