Boys XC Preseason Rankings: #6

<p> <span style="font-size: 13.63636302947998px;">NCRunners is counting down the top 25 boys teams heading into the fall season. &nbsp;The full rankings will be released on the first day of official practice: Friday, August 1st. &nbsp;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&#39;s &quot;Improvement Rating.&quot; &nbsp;Improvement Rating is a custom metric developed by researching the improvement in a team&#39;s 5-person average from year to year, in comparison to that same team&#39;s ranking. &nbsp;Improvement Rating numbers and methodology will be released on the weekend of August 2nd.</span></p>

Despite losing their top 2 runners from 2013 to graduation, Apex returns a deep team with great potential for the upcoming season.

 

	Apex (NC)
	1) Wyatt Miller		16:19.22	58
	2) Jonathan Seith		16:25.53	80
	3) Jordan Kokoska		16:26.00	81
	4) Erik Salgado		16:37.47	105
	5) Ben Savino		16:54.50	155
	Average Time: 16:32.54 Total Time: 1:22:42.72 1-5 Split: 35.28
	6) Jacob Townsend		17:11.62	225
	7) Derek Duin		17:20.50	267

The 2014 Cougars will be very different from the 2013 edition.  The top two runners from last year, Mihret Coulter and Carl Gieger, were both individual threats to finish high in any race, but they have graduated.  They leave behind an Apex team that looks much more pack-oriented, with one of the lowest 1-5 splits of any team in the rankings (only two schools have closer packs, and both are ahead of us still).  The Improvement Rating might underestimate this team's year-to-year development, because 3-5 years ago the team's rosters would be missing some graduation years, causing those runners to not show up in returning rankings (30-year veteran coach Roy Cooper just got an iPhone this summer, that's all I'm saying).  The Cougars have solid depth and are projected to have 4 seniors in their top 7, including the top 3 runners, which should add some intensity to this season's training.  The database projects them as the 3rd-best team in 4A, exactly where they finished last fall, and duplicating that result would be quite an accomplishment.  One final sign of improvement: the team has three guys back that broke 10 minutes for the 3200, a feat shared by only 3 other teams in the state; one of those sub-10 runners is returning #5 Ben Savino, and if he carries that over into the fall he will make a difference for the Cougars.

Important Data:

• 2013 XC Returning Ranking: 7th

• 2014 Outdoor Returning Team 1600 Ranking: 9th

• 2014 Outdoor Returning Team 3200 Ranking: 6th

• 5-Year Improvement Plan: 9.359 (10th)

• 3-Year Improvement Plan: 10.475 (7th)