The fall season doesn't officially start until NCRunners finishes revealing the teams on the All-Classes Top 25.
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 Tuesday and ending with the top 2 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 Girls 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):
Off The Radar (Could Be Better Than Their Ranking):
The fall season doesn't officially start until NCRunners finishes revealing the teams on the All-Classes Top 25.
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 Tuesday and ending with the top 2 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!