Mid-Season Speed Rating National Merge Returns

After a delayed start, the Speed Rating National Merge has returned. Teams all across the nation have returned to "normal," and are getting a full season of high-caliber racing after a stunted 2020 COVID-era affair last year.  While Cross Nationals may have been cancelled once again, RunningLane has stepped in as the de facto Team National Championship in 2021, while EastBay takes over as title sponsor for the Foot Locker National Championships, geared towards more individual pursuits.

With post-season competition now solidified, what better time than the present to take stock of the national landscape? The talk of the year has been the Newbury Park boys, who have put together one of the most exceptional earl season performances in the sports' history. On the girls side, the team title is more closely contested, with 2020's best rated squad Saratoga playing catch up to Niwot of Colorado, a battle that played out in the 4xMile last July. As the Championship Season ramps up for both squads, will we see big jumps in performances that make the pecking order more clear?  Stay tuned to find out.

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 the season progress.

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.

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.