Top 50 Appetizer

By Jarrett Felix

We are closing in on the release of the Top 50 list and hope you are excited to see the unveiling. As mentioned before, the list will be posted in groups of 10. Although the order has not been officially determined, the 50 names involved have been decided upon.

So before #the50 is released, I thought I'd give you a sneak preview of the list and some of my early thoughts.

Based on my knowledge of class years, this list will feature 35 Seniors, 13 Juniors and 2 Sophomores (with 0 freshman). I'm not particularly thrilled with those numbers as I would like to see more sophs and juniors on the list if it is going to correspond to past results at the state championships, however at this point there is more evidence in support of the Seniors who have racked up as many as 3 years worth of accolades.

A few sophomores who just missed the cut that felt deserved an honorable mention here (in no particular order): Liam Conway, Christian Babo, Morgan Cupp, Tristan Forsythe, and Rusty Kujdych. That whole crew made my top 100, just couldn't quite crack the top 50.

Over the course of the season, I expect this class distribution to even out a bit more as more young runners mature and take a leap.

In addition, based on my understanding of the current classification system the list will include 4 Independent Leaguers, 5 from A, 7 from AA and 34 from AAA. This seems a little high in favor of AAA honestly, but again that is simply what evidence pushed me to decide. So I'd like to give a shout out to a few other honorable mentions from the small schools:
Blake Behney, Matt Murray, Jacob Tockzo, Quincy Amiabile and Ben Bumgarner among others cracked my Top 100 but just missed out on a top 50 spot.

Out of those AAA athletes, we have 2 D6, 3 D11, 3 D12, 6 D3, 6 D7 and 14 D1. This is a pretty solid ratio based on past trends give or take a few here or there. So overall I'm satisfied with those numbers. 

A few teams were strong enough to warrant multiple runners from their team on the list. I don't recall the exact number off the top of my head but I know of at least 5 teams that fit this description off the top of my head. If we go out to a top 100 there a bunch more. 

So hopefully that gets you excited for the release! Feel free to ask more questions below, but I won't be giving away any of the secrets of the list if I can help it. Also I won't be releasing anything past 50 so don't get your hopes up for that. 

7 comments:

  1. Sometimes it takes sophomores a full XC season to come into their own.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Completely agree. Sometimes even a whole year. Just look at some of the breakthroughs by freshman and sophomores during track season compared to cross (although part of that is also just the simple difference between track and XC)

      Delete
  2. Honestly I'm surprised there are any sophomores on the top 50 list. One would think that if it was close between a junior and a sophomore, the junior would get the nod. I would be amazed to see that there are any legitmate sophomores deserving to be there.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Haha I think the two that made the list are quite qualified if you think on it haha

    ReplyDelete
  4. I definetely know who they are. Hope they don't grow 5 inches or gain 30 pounds over last year. Thats how this sport is. In swimming or other sports would be a plus.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yup both of the top 2 sophomores in the state are both in the National division of the Chesmont league. Throw Liam Conway in there and the state's top 3 sophomores are all in D1. It should be a fun next e years to watch.

      Delete
  5. I think there's no way Brophy isn't #1, I think Henderson should be top 5, I think Ryan James gets a lift love, but not a lot. Though I wouldn't call it a "breakout", I think ryan james could be in big contention for a top spot in the state. He's trained under his brother, and has seen the highs and lows of an elite-caliber runner. He has the possibility to be something big, and maybe get a coveted title, just to give the family an individual championship, which they deserve. I think at this point, the rising seniors have made a point was to where they are, for the rising juniors, I think Barton from DTW will be interesting. I'm quite frankly more interested to see how Alansky returns. He was faster than Barton as a frosh, but hindered form injury, he couldn't make an appearance in the fall this past season. It's a real shame Dahl is independent, the kid's a true talent. Lastly, I think Soliman is also in contention for a title, especially with the moving of D3's course, and I think McMenamin was in the shadow of a great field of D1 runner this past year. Hoey vs Smucker, and a dwindle of hope that new freshman can create a new bunch of young talent. All in all, should be a fun season.

    ReplyDelete