Opening weekend has come and gone for the 2017 cross country season. More than half of our national preseason ranked teams and individuals have opened their seasons, joined by some new names to the national scene. What better time to start looking at the sport's landscape?
We've merged the best performances of the early season to see where all the big names are. These are purely reflective of what has already happened, so if a team hasn't raced yet, it wasn't included in the merge. We'll be doing a top 22 for the teams (the size of the field at NXN), and a top 25 for individuals, (over half the field at Foot Locker, to account for NXN Individuals). They will be updated every Thursday as more and more teams open up and performances continue to improve.
What Is The Speed Rating National Merge?
MileSplit NY has partnered with TullyRunners to provide a running merge of the nation's top performances. In short, a speed rating is a number attributed to an XC performance, roughly one point per three seconds, adjusted for overall race quality and depth. Using these numbers, we can compare performances on an apples to apples basis -- in terms of XC times and teams. It provides an answer to the hypothetical question, "What would happen if the best teams in the nation all raced at once?" However, these do not predict the outcome of NXN.
A speed rating is a number attributed to an XC performance, roughly one point per three seconds, adjusted for overall race quality and depth.
The merge predicts the outcome assuming every athlete had the best race of the season. NXN has many variables that will impact that outcome. More can be read about the calculation of speed ratings by clicking here.
Without further ado, here they are...