When the top three teams are revealed on August 1st, the 2013 cross country season wil be off and running.
As we have the last two years, NCRunners will release a Pre-Season Cross Country Top 25 this month. One team will be released every day, starting with #25 Wednesday and ending with the top 3 teams on August 1st (the official start of cross country practice). These are subjective rankings, reflecting my opinion only, based on several factors. I began with statistical rankings, dividing the teams into tiers according to their points (separating where there were large gaps or where the entire tier represented more than a 20% change). Then, I adjusted for depth, development, strong front-runners, potential for pack-running (as evidenced by the returning 1-5 split), and program strength in recent years. There were also some other factors for individual schools, such as coaching changes or the addition of known talent (I do not attempt to predict the strength of an incoming freshman class, but where there are individuals that have posted results they can be factored in). The decisions have been made, the rankings are set on paper, and the only thing left is to reveal them. When the season starts, we can see how well I did!
Before we start the Boys Top 25, take a look at some of the teams that narrowly missed the cut, or that stood out for their improvement even though they did not make the list. All of these teams should be contenders to make the state meet, and should factor into the rankings for their classification:
Honorable Mention (Considered for the Top 25):
| Hoggard | ||||
| 1) Ben Schmidt | 16:43.00 | 96 | ||
| 2) Andrew Irrera | 17:11.00 | 185 | ||
| 3) Graham Parker | 17:19.40 | 227 | ||
| 4) Nathan Sudduth | 17:25.00 | 259 | ||
| 5) Robinson Snider | 17:33.00 | 302 | ||
| Average Time: 17:14.28 -- Total Time: 1:26:11.40 -- 1-5 Split: 50.00 | ||||
| 6) August Andrews | 17:47.04 | 379 | ||
| 7) Sydney Wiegman | 18:16.00 | 563 | ||
| Cedar Ridge | ||||
| 1) Jared Buddington | 16:28.91 | 57 | ||
| 2) Noah Hanley | 16:55.76 | 124 | ||
| 3) Patrick Fallon | 17:21.61 | 241 | ||
| 4) Nathaniel Bunner | 17:34.66 | 312 | ||
| 5) Jackson Carver | 17:45.26 | 370 | ||
| Average Time: 17:13.24 -- Total Time: 1:26:06.20 -- 1-5 Split: 1:16.35 | ||||
| 6) Henry Mandeville | 17:45.47 | 371 | ||
| 7) Ben Smith | 17:52.27 | 410 | ||
| West Forsyth | ||||
| 1) Garrett Farrimond | 16:27.00 | 53 | ||
| 2) Nelson Russ | 17:04.00 | 154 | ||
| 3) Vernon Espinosa | 17:05.00 | 157 | ||
| 4) Blake Koeval | 17:27.00 | 272 | ||
| 5) Andrew Hiatt | 18:14.90 | 552 | ||
| Average Time: 17:15.58 -- Total Time: 1:26:17.90 -- 1-5 Split: 1:47.90 | ||||
| 6) Jared Tousley | 18:49.00 | 787 | ||
| 7) Parker Cecil | 19:05.00 | 895 | ||
| Lake Norman | ||||
| 1) Patrick Sheehan | 15:36.00 | 8 | ||
| 2) Wyatt Fedorka | 17:15.00 | 200 | ||
| 3) Collin Emerson | 17:27.04 | 275 | ||
| 4) Ian Cook | 17:42.00 | 358 | ||
| 5) Kevin Craig | 17:44.50 | 366 | ||
| Average Time: 17:08.91 -- Total Time: 1:25:44.54 -- 1-5 Split: 2:08.50 | ||||
| 6) Bradley Bocker | 17:54.00 | 417 | ||
| 7) Wes Anderson | 18:04.00 | 476 | ||
Off The Radar (Could be better than their ranking):
| Myers Park | ||||
| 1) Joe Harbacevich | 16:56.00 | 125 | ||
| 2) Michael Gacevich | 17:23.00 | 248 | ||
| 3) Trent Besancon | 17:26.00 | 263 | ||
| 4) Robbie Whittle | 17:35.00 | 316 | ||
| 5) Zach Huffstetler | 17:41.00 | 356 | ||
| Average Time: 17:24.20 -- Total Time: 1:27:01.00 -- 1-5 Split: 45.00 | ||||
| 6) Yusuf Maow | 17:58.43 | 449 | ||
| 7) Tucker Smith | 18:11.83 | 535 | ||
| Reagan, Ronald W | ||||
| 1) Jay Spieler | 16:54.00 | 119 | ||
| 2) Miles Cabean | 16:59.00 | 132 | ||
| 3) Alexander Zimmermann | 17:21.24 | 240 | ||
| 4) Christopher Marsh | 17:31.00 | 291 | ||
| 5) Alexander Saylor | 18:14.00 | 549 | ||
| Average Time: 17:23.85 -- Total Time: 1:26:59.24 -- 1-5 Split: 1:20.00 | ||||
| 6) Mason Marsh | 18:29.00 | 654 | ||
| 7) Riley Oakes | 18:33.00 | 679 | ||
| Southern Alamance | ||||
| 1) Collin Loy | 16:09.17 | 23 | ||
| 2) Jose Gonzales | 17:29.40 | 279 | ||
| 3) Ryan Allshouse | 17:38.39 | 341 | ||
| 4) Teddy Frisk | 17:55.86 | 429 | ||
| 5) Tristen Isley | 18:36.27 | 700 | ||
| Average Time: 17:33.82 -- Total Time: 1:27:49.09 -- 1-5 Split: 2:27.10 | ||||
| 6) Spencer Loy | 18:42.10 | 741 | ||
| 7) Griffen Ellis | 20:00.67 | 1233 | ||