<p>
<span style="font-size: 13.63636302947998px;">NCRunners is counting down the top 25 boys teams heading into the fall season. The full rankings will be released on the first day of official practice: Friday, August 1st. These are subjective rankings (not computer generated); they take into account returning team rankings, returning team averages, team rankings in the 1600 and 3200 from indoor and outdoor track, and a school's "Improvement Rating." Improvement Rating is a custom metric developed by researching the improvement in a team's 5-person average from year to year, in comparison to that same team's ranking. Improvement Rating numbers and methodology will be released on the weekend of August 2nd.</span></p>
Asheville's boys showed huge improvement last year, leading to a surprising 6th-place finish in the 3A state meet.
This is the biggest dark-horse candidate to potentially make the top 10 in the final 2014 cross country rankings. Asheville quietly finished 6th in the 3A state meet last year, and returns 5 of the top 7 from that race (including 4 of the top 5). The team will have 3 seniors in its projected top 7 this season, and the database ranks the Cougars 5th among returning 3A teams, with the top 4 definitely in range. This is a solid team without any major weaknesses; the returning top 5 are separated by just over a minute, and there is some depth behind them in case of injury. Despite the big jump in the rankings last year, Asheville's improvement in team average has been steady; however, it gets harder to improve when your team is already well-trained, and it will be a challenge for this squad to make the final leap into contention for the top 3. The Cougars did not display great depth or improvement during track season as a team, which is cause for some concern. Nonetheless, the returning team is strong enough to warrant a place in the top 15, and the rest is up to these boys to determine.
Important Data:
2013 XC Returning Team Ranking: 13th
2014 Outdoor Returning Team 1600 Ranking: 58th
2014 Outdoor Returning Team 3200 Ranking: 22nd
5-Year Improvement Rating: 4.535 (24th)
3-Year Improvement Rating: 4.733 (22nd)
Asheville's boys showed huge improvement last year, leading to a surprising 6th-place finish in the 3A state meet.
This is the biggest dark-horse candidate to potentially make the top 10 in the final 2014 cross country rankings. Asheville quietly finished 6th in the 3A state meet last year, and returns 5 of the top 7 from that race (including 4 of the top 5). The team will have 3 seniors in its projected top 7 this season, and the database ranks the Cougars 5th among returning 3A teams, with the top 4 definitely in range. This is a solid team without any major weaknesses; the returning top 5 are separated by just over a minute, and there is some depth behind them in case of injury. Despite the big jump in the rankings last year, Asheville's improvement in team average has been steady; however, it gets harder to improve when your team is already well-trained, and it will be a challenge for this squad to make the final leap into contention for the top 3. The Cougars did not display great depth or improvement during track season as a team, which is cause for some concern. Nonetheless, the returning team is strong enough to warrant a place in the top 15, and the rest is up to these boys to determine.
