Running the Numbers for Great State Expectations

If you're maybe getting the feeling that there is a State of Inevitability about whether New York comes out on tops at Nationals, you very well may be on the right Track. And when the big meet is held in the heart of New York City at the Armory, you know that NY athletes will be feeling right at home. And sure, the West Coasters have a long trip just as the East Coasters do for NXN, but as for the Southern teams, just remember that the drive to Manhattan for some NY upstate teams from Rochester such as Rush-Henrietta is just as long as for teams from Richmond VA.

In any case, there were 23 events in New Balance Indoor Nationals, and the action was very hot. An article back in March that summed up the scoring decided to exclude the Canadian athletes from the scoring, invented some imaginary athletes like a California pentathlete, divided the results into separate individual and relay summaries, and claimed erroneously that the NY girls were only 2nd in the individual event scoring. I could see no good reason to repeat any of these things, so I didn't.

The Virginia guys certainly flexed some big muscles at the 2016 Indoor Nationals, winning 8 events. The Lyles brothers of TC Williams were a big driving force in the Old Dominion surge with 1sts in the 60m and 200m and made up half of the team's 4x200m champs, but VA also got top places in the 60m hurdles. pentathlon, sprint medley relay, distance medley relay, and shuttle hurdles relay in a very balanced effort that netted the state a leading 111 points. The NY guys got just two 1sts with Rayvon Grey winning the long jump and Huntington taking the 4x400, but good depth all around kept them a fairly close 2nd with 95 points. The next seven states teams all packed in within 10 points of each other a long way behind, with Ohio at 50, Pennsylvania and Georgia at 47, Massachusetts at 43, Texas at 42, New Jersey at 41, and Rhode Island at 40.

And then there were those NY girls, blowing out the Armory doors and making sure that no one was going to do any chest thumping on their home turf. The Empire State Eradicators stormed to 5 1sts with Sammy Watson taking the 800m, Lauren Harris strutting off with the race walk crown, Watson's Rush-Henrietta squad capturing the sprint medley relay, and Mamaroneck and North Rockland running away with the 4x800m and distance medley relay titles. The places kept rolling in, and the final score 147, 5 points better than the squad did the year before when they were also the Armory Queens. The Virginia girls did a solid job supporting their guys with a 2nd place total of 83 that included wins in the 2 Mile, 5K, and 4x200m, but they were still a light year behind. Some speedy California girls flew cross country to sweep the first three places in the 60m along with a 1st and 5th in the 200m for a 3rd place total of 56. Pennsylvania was 4th at 48, New Jersey 5th with 46, and Texas 6th with 38.

The contest in the combined tally to determine the top state in track was a not close. NY's athletes pulled in 242 points, Virginia was way back at 194, Pennsylvania was 3rd at 95, New Jersey had 87, and Texas had 80.

So to repeat, we in the track world watching the action at CNS can be in a really great New York state of mind.