Boys XC Preseason Rankings: #18

<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>

The 4A West is ripe for the taking, and Lake Norman returns enough talent and leadership to be a contender for the title.

 

	Lake Norman (NC)
	1) Ty Sauerbrey		16:28.00	86
	2) Jack Mastandrea		16:42.00	124
	3) Wes Anderson		16:56.00	160
	4) Wyatt Fedorka		17:07.00	199
	5) Jacob Ennis		17:13.00	231
	Average Time: 16:53.20 Total Time: 1:24:26.00 1-5 Split: 45.00
	6) Jack Mueller		17:24.00	285
	7) Bradley Bocker		17:37.00	341

Sometimes a team changes spots in these rankings because of something about that specific team - moving up by demonstrated improvement, or dropping due to the loss of a big senior class, for example.  In other cases, a team changes places because of something about the teams above or below them.  This is the second case: in a situation where the next 4 teams in the rankings are very similar, Lake Norman simply got leapfrogged by a few teams that showed more impressive signs of improvement.  Nonetheless, this is a solid team and an underrated program that has been steady in its improvement over the last 3 years.  If some of the work ethic shown by graduated senior Patrick Sheehan has rubbed off on the younger runners, then this team has the potential to win a wide-open 4A West regional with no clear favorite entering the season.  The Wildcats are even capable of finishing in the top 10 in the 4A state meet with a strong performance, which would be impressive considering the team lost 3 seniors from the 11th-place squad in 2013.  Despite those losses, the team is still quite deep, and it is very likely that Lake Norman will have at least 5 guys that are well under 17 mintues this year.  There are 5 more seniors in the returning top 7 that will be leaving after the upcoming school year, and a two-year loss of 8 graduates may herald a down year in 2015.  For thta reason, the motivation should be very strong to max out the team's potential success this fall.

Important Data:

• 2013 XC Returning Ranking: 15th

• 2014 Outdoor Returning Team 1600 Ranking: 27th

• 2014 Outdoor Returning Team 3200 Ranking: 23rd

• 5-Year Improvement Rating: 4.238 (26th)

• 3-Year Improvement Rating: 5.127 (21st)