Boys Team Race
Breakdown: Of all the races to predict, this one was surely the most difficult. There has been enough inconsistency in performances over the past few weeks, that our scores could be drastically off. It would seem that the race comes down to three teams on the surface. Burnt Hills has seen variability in all of their Top 6 members. At States, they had two guys go after the win, while two more a little closer to their fifth runner. Back at Sectionals, where these numbers are based on, they showed a little more effort, opening the gap. Burnt Hills could be treating this race a run-through on a course that will hold Regionals, or they could go all out, and grab their first ever Federation Title. The wiggle room here is a little less than it was at the Class B State Meet.
The next contender you have is Northport. They had a career best performance at Divisionals (where their marks were pulled from for these ranks), but fell back a week later at Sectionals. They managed to qualify two individuals for the State Meet, who may not have had their best races ever there either. But much of that can be attributed to the mud, and the rest of the team has had two weeks worth of training. If they run like they did at Divisionals, they could steal the race here, for their first ever Federation Title, only previously placing fifth in 2012.
The final team to be in contention is Xavier, who came just two points shy of the title in 2015. They've been one of the most consistent teams in the State all year, with some of the best team compression around. They may be a little outside the top ranks if teams are running true to form, but have the tools to arrange an upset.
There are plenty of other teams who are capable of making a big jump. Ithaca was a very strong team early on, and is bringing back a previously injured runner. They should make a jump. Fairport has been running on two weeks of slop, and could see their marks improve once on solid ground. These projections are extremely uncertain, so just get out there and race. Who knows what could happen.
Federation Merge
.png)