Charting Cross Country Depth and Progress Through the Year

With some creative and unusual ways of looking at track data, we can learn a few things that will improve the cross country rankings.

 

As NCRunners gears up for the start of the Cross Country Preseason All-Classes Top 25 (beginning Monday, July 8th), the same question comes up as it has in past years: how can you evaluate the progress that a school has made since November?  It is impossible to measure or predict the effect of summer training (although certain schools seem to consistently make the most of those two months), but fortunately we do have one tool that can help us keep up through the winter and spring.  By looking at track times, particularly in the 1600 and 3200, we can obviously chart individual improvement and consider how it will impact the team come fall.  With a few special tweaks of the database, however, we can also track the progress of schools as a team.  Of course, as I'm preparing these reports to inform my preseason list, I figure I should publish them for everyone else to consider, as well.  :)  Here are some of the factors that I've considered in planning these:

  • Scoring: cross-country-style (place all the times into a pool like one giant race, then award points based on place)

  • Returning athletes only (reflecting losses to graduation)

  • Events: 1600 and 3200 team rankings (reflecting stamina analagous to the 5000)

  • Seasons: Winter and Spring Rankings (reflecting progress for year-round runners or the discovery of new talents)

  • Runners: 4-person and 5-person rankings (reflecting the develpment of depth, but acknowledging that some teams spread out their distance runners)

Putting these reports together with returning team and individual results from cross country season, and adding some consideration for a school's past history concerning summer trainings and winning championships, and hopefully you can arrive at a decent set of rankings.  That, of course, will be up to you to judge in the end!