The Cavaliers of Durham Academy have the most titles, but are they the best program in state history? YOU decide?
Earlier this month we debated the best female athlete in North Carolina history. This week, we turn our attention to the idea of the best cross country programs ever in our state. This time, we're using a bracket-style tournament of voting to get your opinion over the course of this week, before we reveal our own picks over the weekend!
As with the individual girls, there had to be some sort of standard to narrow down the large pool of strong programs in NC history. I decided to start with number of state championships won, and then consider other factors that might adjust a team's place in the overall rankings. Longest win streak, years since the most recent title, the classification of the school when the titles were won - all of these things affect how I think about a particular program's legacy. It would be really interesting to use post-state meet national competitions or national rankings, but there is a big problem with that approach: the availability of the meets has not been consistent over all the years that we have had the sport in our state, and likewise for the possible sources of national rankings. State championships are verifiable and quantifiable, and they're available to every cross country program in North Carolina, so they seem like a good backbone for these rankings.
Below you'll find the 16 programs I selected to be in this week's tournament, along with some of the data I gathered on each team. The teams are not presented in any particular order within each group of equal seeds, and I sure there are many intelligent cross country fans that could come up with other ways to seed these teams. Feel free to list your own top 16 (or whatever) in the forum.
VOTING STARTS TOMORROW!
Round 1: Tuesday
Quarterfinals: Wednesday
Semifinals: Thursday
Final: Friday
IMPORTANT NOTES:
- To make the tournament, a school had to have a minimum of 6 state championships in its history. Interestingly that gave us exactly 16 teams to work with.
- Once I had the pool of 16, I seeded them using a formula that accounts for number of titles, classification of titles, longest title streak, and years since the school's last title. I could have seeded them 100 different ways and spend days spinning my wheels, but I don't have that kind of time. All 16 teams belong, and the seeding is relatively meaningless. Vote for the underdogs if you don't like how they were seeded!
- Boys' cross country has been around (in the NCHSAA) since 1956, whereas girls started competing in 1980. For that reason, many more boys' teams have had the chance to earn state titles. That is reflected in the fact that we have 9 boys' teams and 7 girls' teams among our top 16 programs.
#1 Seeds
Cardinal Gibbons Girls
- Total number of titles: 15
- Longest title streak: 6
- Years since last title: 1
Durham Academy Boys
- Total number of titles: 17
- Longest title streak: 13
- Years since last title: 7
Cardinal Gibbons Boys
- Total number of titles: 12
- Longest title streak: 8
- Years since last title: 2
Carolina Day Girls
- Total number of titles: 11
- Longest title streak: 8
- Years since last title: 1
#2 Seeds
Chapel Hill Girls
- Total number of titles: 10
- Longest title streak: 3
- Years since last title: 1
Green Hope Girls
- Total number of titles: 6
- Longest title streak: 6
- Years since last title: 2
Providence Day Boys
- Total number of titles: 8
- Longest title streak: 5
- Years since last title: 2
Broughton Boys
- Total number of titles: 6
- Longest title streak: 4
- Years since last title: 2
#3 Seeds
Science & Math Boys
- Total number of titles: 6
- Longest title streak: 3
- Years since last title: 1
T.C. Roberson Girls
- Total number of titles: 11
- Longest title streak: 5
- Years since last title: 8
Chapel Hill Boys
- Total number of titles: 9
- Longest title streak: 4
- Years since last title: 6
Sun Valley Boys
- Total number of titles: 8
- Longest title streak: 5
- Years since last title: 17
#4 Seeds
Myers Park Boys
- Total number of titles: 9
- Longest title streak: 4
- Years since last title: 47
Durham Academy Girls
- Total number of titles: 6
- Longest title streak: 3
- Years since last title: 20
Surry Central Boys
- Total number of titles: 6
- Longest title streak: 5
- Years since last title: 12
Murphy Girls
- Total number of titles: 8
- Longest title streak: 3
- Years since last title: 20