I am looking for examples of current great cross country programs that that aren't private or have big student bodies. I would be interested in stories of schools that are make it to nationals or beat the large schools in their state. Not as much interested in small schools that dominate only other small schools.
Mahomet-Seymour boys XC team qualified for NXN in 2016. The high school is about 950 and the town of Mahomet, IL is only 7-8,000.
There are a ton of successful NY small schools that have made it to NXN and even got on the podium. The Argyle girls are the classic example, they're class D and have never even had a track program, but they were one of the best teams in the nation with mostly middle schoolers...too bad their XC program was cut and they all moved to other schools in the area. Burnt Hills boys are a recent example, they have around 1,000 students and qualified for NXN this year. Bronxville girls are a perennial 4x8 competitor, though they tend to perform worse in XC. Not only was it Mary Cain's high school, they've also had more sub-9:10 4x8s than any other school in the country afaik, including a school record of 8:49.
Winona Cotter, which is located in Minnesota, has 300-400 students in 7th to 12th grade.
Their XC girls team, which is lead by the Pings, has only 15 people on their roster and got 6th at Heartland NXR.
Their 1-5 consist of 4 sophomores and an 8th grader. One of those sophomores is a transfer who was not able to race varsity until NXR.
They might have a shot at qualifying for NXN in 2020.
It’s crazy how far they’ve come after getting 18th out of the 21 teams in section 1A in 2016. I know the Pings weren’t there that year but still.
Loudoun Valley comes in a bit over you criteria at 1300.
Redmond High school in washington
There was a small public school in Massachusetts a few years ago that beat up on most everybody on the girls side with graduating classes of around 100 per year, that is both genders. Bromfield.
Perham High School boys team in MN got 5th in the NXR Heartland Championship race in 2012 and beat all but 2 MN teams in that race. Their school has less than 500 students.