End of Season Finale
The XC season
for team competition wound up with a New York squad winning the NXN
National championship for the 12th time since the first meet in 2004 as
Fayetteville-Manlius captured its 10th title. The Hornets were at the
top in the state rankings for the full season, but that was the only
rock of stability among the leaders as Saratoga, North Rockland,
Shenendehowa, and Shoreham-Wading River all made bids for the second
spot, culminating in a result that would not have been expected at the
beginning of the season.
The rankings are based for the most
part on how the teams performed in their final meet of the season, which
for the great majority of teams was their section's state qualifier
meet or the Federation championship for the New York City schools, but
for the top schools also includes the state championship or the NXN-NY
regional meet. However, some teams competed in the Federation
championship without one or two key runners, so we have tried our best
to balance out the performances for teams that participated in more than
one post season meet. Liverpool is a prime example of a team that got a
boost above its sectional result because of stronger performances in
the Federation and NXN-NY meets.
After a truly fun time following the NY teams during a challenging and tumultuous year, we're ready to get going on the next one, which is just around the winter-spring-summer corner. Cheers to all.