Reloading With Fresh Faces
An equal part of reloading a team is bringing in new members. With High School track starting in 9th grade, those who graduate up from modified are called "impact freshman." These are athletes who have never participated in the sport before, or had been undeveloped in modified training. Over the past fifteen years, Manlius has only received five athletes who started at an above average level as freshman. Going along with that hand-in-hand, New York State allows for the advancement of athletes whom are capable of running at the Varsity Level while still in middle school. Over the past fifteen years, Manlius has only brought up five such athletes, each of which was running at a varsity level.
The rest of the fresh faces come from sport transfers. Typically, an athlete plays a separate fall sport, and then competes on the Indoor and/or Outdoor Track team. After several years of improvement on the track, they realize they may be more competitive in cross country than they currently are in their current sport. They then switch over as upperclassmen. These make up a bulk of Manlius' "new blood."
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Many people believe that Fayetteville-Manlius' success is a self-fulfilling prophecy. Their success encourages better athletes to come out for the team, and they therefore get better. At Manlius, it would seem the opposite has taken effect. As their teams have become better, the number of athletes coming out for the team has decreased. The answer to how this arose is two-fold. Over the past fifteen years, sports specialization has taken root in high school athletics. Single season sports such as lacrosse, basketball, and soccer have transformed into year round commitments at the club level. In addition, a reputation of hard work as a path to excellence wards off those who are convinced that over-diversification of extra-curriculars is the guaranteed path to college admittance. All coaches deal with these issues, and are affecting the sport across the state.
The reasons above demonstrate why a majority of the upperclassmen "Fresh Faces" occurred before 2010. The only upperclassman 'new' runner in the past five years was Rebecca Walters, who joined her brother Joe Walters on the team in 2015. However, the lack of depth on the team only bolsters Manlius' resume. The depth of improvement is unparalleled. With only 15 members per gender, and an average of 10 runners per year making improvements to a State Level competitor, the density of improvement skyrockets. One only wonders what would happen if Manlius had teams the size of many of it's NXN competitors.
Fast Facts
- Of all the sports runners have transferred from, Soccer is the overwhelming pipeline for cross country runners.
- Of the five 8th graders brought up through selective classification, all of them would have placed in the Top 30 in the State their respective year, including a State Title win in 2015.
- Of the Top 20 new runners in the past 15 years, all of them went on to improve their second season on the team
- Of the Top 20 runners, only Kristen Taylor played a spring sport other than Outdoor Track. Taylor was an exceptional Lacrosse player, a two-time State Championship Game MVP, going on to play for North Carolina, to continued success.
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- No 8th Grader has ever affected the outcome of NXN. Adjusted NXN scores with 8th grade removal by year. 2006 (128pts to 129pts). 2011 (No Change). 2015 (55pts to 65pts)
- No transfer has ever affected the outcome of NXN. Adjusted NXN scores with transfer removal by year. 2010 (No Change). 2015 (55pts to 68pts)
- No combination of transfer/8th Grader has ever affected the outcome of NXN. Adjusted NXN score with both transfer and 8th grade removal. 2015 (55pts to 123pts, still wins)
- The only transfer that affected the score was in 2013. FM's top returner transferred away. She went on to finish as the seventh overall individual at NXR. Manlius would lose NXN by 12 points.
Key - 1pt is equal to a 3second improvement over 5000m
Average is the total weighted average at the end of the regular season, not including NXN Regionals or NXN
| Best Debut | |||
| Name | Grade | Year | Debut |
| Claire Walters | 8 | 2015 | 148 |
| Hannah Luber | 10 | 2007 | 146 |
| Jillian Fanning | 9 | 2009 | 145 |
| Hannah Smith | 11 | 2011 | 137 |
| Jocelyn Richards | 12 | 2007 | 136 |
| Katie Sischo | 9 | 2008 | 136 |
| Rebecca Walters | 10 | 2015 | 136 |
| Heather Martin | 10 | 2009 | 135 |
| Annika Avery | 9 | 2011 | 134 |
| Kathryn Buchan | 10 | 2006 | 133 |
| Jenna Farrell | 8 | 2011 | 132 |
| Mackenzie Carter | 8 | 2005 | 131 |
| Kristen Buchan | 10 | 2007 | 124 |
| Kristen Taylor | 10 | 2003 | 124 |
| Kathryn Fanning | 12 | 2009 | 123 |
| Phoebe White | 8 | 2015 | 120 |
| Courtney Chapman | 8 | 2006 | 118 |
| Mary Barger | 9 | 2011 | 114 |
| Molly Malone | 9 | 2006 | 114 |
| Jessica Hauser | 11 | 2005 | 112 |