Girls XC Preseason Rankings: #1

<p> <span style="font-size:14px;">NCRunners is counting down the top 25 girls 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>

Getting to the top is hard enough, but staying on top can be even harder, and that's what makes the Green Hope girls special.

 

	Green Hope (NC)
	1) Elly Henes		17:42.88	2
	2) Theresa Enright		18:25.09	17
	3) Kelly Fitzgerald		18:45.05	26
	4) Katie Tomasi		18:45.92	27
	5) Reilly Caldwell		18:55.45	42
	Average Time: 18:30.88 Total Time: 1:32:34.39 1-5 Split: 1:12.57
	6) Elisa Sargent		18:57.25	46
	7) Sarah Taylor		19:02.90	50

There isn't much left to say about the program that has been on top of 4A for the last 5 years, during which time Green Hope has finished first in the final All-Classes Ranking four times (they were second once).  Nobody develops depth through year-round running better than the Falcons, as evidenced by their returning cross country and track times.  The team won't actually be quite as deep as they appear; though there were no seniors in the top 8 from last fall, Reilly Caldwell has changed schools (as has returning #10 runner Sarah Bodmer).  There's still a ton of depth, though, and this edition has the potential to be the best Green Hope team so far - only the 2011 squad had a returning top 5 average (18:32) in the same range as this team.  Elly Henes is the #4 returner in the 3200, and #5 in the 1600, in the state, and the Falcons always seem to have one or two less-heralded runners step up to join the top 7.   Did I mention that there are only 2 seniors in their projected top 10 for this year?

Important Data:

• 2013 XC Returning Ranking: 1st

• 2014 Outdoor Returning Team 1600 Ranking: 1st

• 2014 Outdoor Returning Team 3200 Ranking: 1st

• 5-Year Improvement Plan: 21.179 (1st)

• 3-Year Improvement Plan: 15.011 (4th)