EzellGazelle wrote:
Ive wondered who has the history of being the state that produces the best athletes
It is in no way definitive, but if you just look at the 40 Boys and 40 girls from Footlocker Nationals, here is your answer on a per capita basis.
1. Montana (By more than double any other state)
2. Alaska
3. Connecticut (I was not aware this state is so strong)
4. Utah
5. Rhode Island
But note that, especially in the guys race, the Northeast sent some of the weaker runners to FL Nationals, So there were probably even more runners in the West that were stronger than the Northeast finalists, but did not make it to Nationals.
Obviously, there is also the NXN thing. Unfortunately the NXN site doesn't list states and I'm too lazy to figure it out, but if someone wants to go through the NXN regionals and pull out the top ten in each region, I will put them in too after removing repeats (IE the Montana girl runners, Hacker, etc) We'd also have to adjust for NY, which has their own regional.
I can tell you from looking at the numbers though that a State like Vermont or Wyoming, even if they only had 1 NXN qualifier, would skyrocket to the top and be just below Montana. Alaska would be up there also and may challenge Montana for top spot. I also suspect Utah (which sends much of their top talent to NXN) would be even higher.