It's that time again! One of the most anticipated yearly events on NCRunners is about to begin: the XC PreSeason Countdown! Started in 2012, it has become a summertime ritual for year-round fans of our sport, and my approach to the rankings has gotten more detailed every year. This time around, we will count down the top 30 boys and girls teams using a combination of statistical and subjective measures, with the final 5 revealed on July 31st (the day before the official start of cross country practice). As always, we will follow the subjective countdown with all kinds of statistical breakdowns in early August.
Honorable Mention teams will be posted this weekend, with the girls on Saturday and the boys on Sunday, and then we start with team #30 for both genders on Monday! Here are some things to keep in mind as the rankings are released:
- These rankings are partly subjective, and are my opinion only.
- Several statistical measures were used to rank the teams:
- Returning 5K Rankings from the 2014 fall season (greatest weight).
- Returning 1600 and 3200 Rankings from the 2015 spring season.
- Improvement Rating: a custom metric that measures a program's long-term strength.
- Teams were divided into tiers based on a combination of these statistics and a little gut feeling, and then ranked within the tiers to generate the top 30.