Following Week of Saturday, September 19
This is the first State rankings of the season for MileSplit, and it follows a very exciting weekend that saw Monroe-Woodbury hosting the Pre-States meet course preview during the Crusader Classic. Other major meets were held at New Hartford, Galway, Bob Pratt, East Syracuse-Minoa, Suffern, Ballston Spa, Fort Plain, McDaniel-Baxter, and Regis, among others.
This early part of the season is a very challenging time for rankings because some teams including major powers like Pittsford Mendon and Fordham Prep have not yet run, many other teams have only run with a partial squad or have only run at a meet like the Jordan-Elbridge Kamikaze that have no Tulley Runners speed rankings. Team speed ranking averages are thus much less applicable than they will be in later weeks.
Another major challenge for both runners and rankers were the hot and sun-scorched conditions at the giant Crusader Classic Pre-State meet, as the increasingly tougher conditions changed the stress level by huge bounds between the initial Varsity 1 race and the final Varsity 5 run. In general, most teams who ran at Crusader saw their speed rankings plummet from any they had achieved on September 12 as guys at the back of the squad were badly affected by the heat while the top guys still ran strong.
We have tried to factor in the varying circumstances for the teams. The shy squads who have not yet run remain pegged at their preseason estimates. The teams that braved the rigors of Crusader are hopefully not punished too greatly for their ordeals on the hills there, but the teams that busted out big-time are recognized. The team results merge place for the Crusader is included in parentheses after the race results for each team that was at Monroe-Woodbury, but they need to be used carefully because the teams in the later races were at a sometimes severe disadvantage as their shade completely disappeared. Note also that a Week 2 (W2) mark next to a meet result means that the event occurred on September 12.
What it all amounts to is that the pre-season pick for the top team is still at the head of the class, but there have many other changes as a couple of teams have forced themselves into the limelight.
Cheers to all.
