American Fork UT Grass Relays Results

Results from this year’s first major showdown, the American Fork UT Grass Relays are posted here:  https://sites.google.com/site/timomostert/2012xcresults

More details of the meet can be found here (including All-Time lists): https://sites.google.com/site/timomostert/americanforkgrassrelays

US#3 Davis UT faced off against US#6 American Fork UT. The format is a 5x2 mile relay over hay bales at an altitude of 4670 feet, and has been a staple season opener for many of the best teams to come from Utah over the past 15 years. This year, the Cavemen of American Fork defended their home turf to win the relay with a time of 51:46 to Davis’ 52:33. American Fork’s time was a new course record, beating their own 2010 team time of 52:14. Davis is up to #3 on the all-time list, edging last year’s American Fork squad of 52:48 and beating their own time from last year and previous school best (53:53) by 1:20. It should also be noted that US#26 Herriman UT was also in the field, but likely not racing hard as they just raced the day before on the state meet course at the Highland Invitational (where they finished third to US bubble Ogden UT and unranked Riverton UT). US bubble team Mountain View UT finished third with a time of 53:21, good for #7 All-Time behind the quartet of recent American Fork/Davis teams and the Mountain View teams of 1999 and 2002.

On the girls side, US#14 Davis UT reigned supreme with a team time of 62:41 (#2 All-Time), only 9 seconds shy of the course record set by the 1999 Bingham UT squad. Mountain Crest UT (63:46), Orem UT (63:52), and American Fork UT (64:08) finished with All-Time team times #5-7, beating 2005 Fremont UT’s (NTN#10) time of 64:19.

Individually, no one touched Luke Puskedra’s boys course record of 9:41, but Timpanogos’ Jake Heslington ran the second best leg ever on the course at 9:57, while American Forks’ Connor McMillan (10:07) and Brayden McLelland (10:15) ran the #8 and #14 marks. On the girls side, a new record was set as Orem standout Summer Harper blazed a 11:36 on the course, besting the previous record of 11:41 by Heidi Magill (Mountain View UT 2002). Davis’ Ellie Child (11:59) comes in at #5 on the all-time list, while Mountain Crest’s Tori Parkinson (12:04) and Lone Peak’s Amanda Harvey (12:05) also make the top ten at #8 and #10.

Ratings for a 2 mile course is always going to be questionable, but based on these results and results in the past, a mark of 9:33 = 200.0 seems to be a pretty good conservative fit (but it could also be about 8 seconds slower, meaning 4-6 points higher for boys and 5-7 for the girls). Using that estimate, here are the top ratings for this race.

Boys:

9:57 - Jake Heslington - Timpanogos - 187

10:07 - Connor McMillan - American Fork - 182

10:15 - Brayden McLelland - American Fork - 178

10:17 - Kramer Morton - Alta - 177

10:19 - Paxton Patey - Maple Mountain - 176

10:20 - Alex Hedquist - Davis - 175

10:20 - Jaydn Asay - Mountain View - 175

10:25 - Skyler Williams - Davis - 173

10:25 - Zac Jacklin - American Fork - 173

10:25 - Caleb Thompson - American Fork - 173

10:26 - Chuk Mitchell - Herriman - 172

10:28 - Hunter Weintz - Copper Hills - 171

10:29 - Nathaniel Wilcox - Timpview - 171

10:30 - Jerrell Mock - Logan - 170

10:32 - Tyson Green - American Fork - 169

10:07 - Connor McMillan - American Fork - 182 - Varsity

10:15 - Brayden McLelland - American Fork - 178 - Varsity

10:25 - Zac Jacklin - American Fork - 173 - Varsity

10:25 - Caleb Thompson - American Fork - 173 - Varsity

10:32 - Tyson Green - American Fork - 169 - Varsity

10:39 - Spencer Herzog - American Fork - 165 - JR/SR

10:43 - Hunter Wilson - American Fork - 163 - JR/SR

10:20 - Alex Hedquist - Davis - 175 - Varsity

10:25 - Skyler Williams - Davis - 173 - Varsity

10:32 - Brayden Cromar - Davis - 169 - Varsity

10:34 - Jackson Sagers - Davis - 168 - JR/SR

10:37 - Andrew Aposhian - Davis - 166 - Varsity

10:39 - Hayden Hansen - Davis - 165 - Varsity

10:44 - Seth Thompson - Davis - 163 - JR/SR

10:20 - Jaydn Asay - Mountain View - 175 - Varsity

10:34 - Gordon King - Mountain View - 168 - Varsity

10:43 - Alex Brown - Mountain View - 163 - Varsity

10:52 - Ethan Nielsen - Mountain View - 159 - Varsity

10:52 - Sam Sorenson - Mountain View - 159 - Varsity

10:59 - Trevor Patton - Mountain View - 155 - JR/SR

11:35 - Matt Lawyer - Mountain View - 136 - JR/SR

Girls:

11:36 - Summer Harper - Orem - 136

11:59 - Ellie Child - Davis - 123

12:04 - Tori Parkinson - Mountain Crest - 121

12:05 - Amanda Harvey - Lone Peak - 120

12:14 - Whitney Paskins - Alta - 116

12:16 - Shea Martinez - Davis - 115

12:24 - Lucy Biles - Herriman - 110

12:25 - Makayla Stepp - American Fork - 110

12:27 - Sierra Malm - Salem Hills - 109

12:33 - Miranda O'Very - Mountain Crest - 106

12:34 - Caroline Neiler - Skyline - 105

12:35 - Millika Holbrook - Woods Cross - 105

12:37 - Candace Greenwood - Orem - 104

12:41 - Joanna Boyd - Davis - 102

12:43 - Brookayla Nelson - Mountain Crest - 100

11:59 - Ellie Child - Davis - 123 - Varsity

12:16 - Shea Martinez - Davis - 115 - Varsity

12:36 - Madi Garlock - Davis - 104 - JR/SR

12:39 - Kami Dixon - Davis - 103 - JR/SR

12:41 - Joanna Boyd - Davis - 102 - Varsity

12:43 - Mikell Wood - Davis - 100 - JR/SR

12:47 - Chelsesy Johnson - Davis - 98 - JR/SR

Girls Pre-Season National Team Rankings Top Ten

National Girls Pre-Season Rankings – #1-10

Here is the list of teams on the national top ten teams. Just a reminder on how I come up with my rankings, this is all based almost strictly off of what each team returns from their championship XC meets (State meet and NXN series, or in California’s case CIF Section Finals + State finals) and their best track times of the year from 1500m-5000m. In the national rankings, I do give a little more credit to how good programs have been over the past several years, but it is not overriding – it more or less just breaks ties between teams that seem otherwise very even.

 

Now, without further ado, here is the top ten!

 

1. Fayetteville-Manlius NY – The six time defending NXN Champions are returning five of their varsity runners from last fall in an attempt to make it seven in a row. Led by the second scorer and top five finisher overall in Portland last fall, the Stotans had five non-seniors in the top 45 overall and expect them to continue to have such a strong presence at the front of every race they enter.

2. Fort Collins CO – One of the strongest programs during the NXN Regional era (finishing as the top SW team in Portland each year and never worse than seventh during that stretch), Fort Collins again should be contending for a trophy as they return all seven from last year’s sixth place squad which finished a mere 23 points from the podium. The Lambkins are led by last year’s sixth scorer and top-15 overall finisher Erin Hooker and have a strong pack with five runners finishing in the top 60 in scoring.

3. Tatnall College Prep DE – Also a five-time qualifier during the NXN Regional era, Tatnall returns six of their varsity runners from last year’s third place squad. The one loss, however, was their #1 and NXN Runner-up Haley Pierce. Still, with three returners having scored in the top 60 last fall and two others who scored 100 or less, Tatnall is in good position to challenge for another podium finish.

4. Academy of the Holy Names NY – A big-time transfer from Saratoga takes Holy Names from a quality team to a great team with four runners under 10:25 for 3000m plus a fifth that ran 18:19 for 5k on the track. Holy Names was fifth at NXN-New York last year, but with the inclusion of Estela Smith they would have finished fourth and might have been discussed as a potential at-large candidate with all runners coming back for another shot this fall.

5. Carmel IN – Carmel finished in the top five last fall and returns four from that squad including three top-45 scorers. Expect the Greyhounds to reload as their JV was so strong that two of their runners would have even been scorers on NXN-Midwest runner-up and Nationals fourth place squad New Trier, or at least ran faster times on the at NXN-Midwest and continued to show that caliber of performance on the track with the projected #5 sporting a 3200m time of 11:37 this spring.

6. New Trier IL – In their first trip to Portland, the New Trier Trevians narrowly missed out on bringing home a trophy as they finished tied with eventual third place squad Tatnall. Their first three runners return, as do their fifth and sixth finishers at nationals, so expect this team to be in the mix again this fall for both a trophy finish in Portland and a regional title in Terre Haute.

7. La Costa Canyon CA

8. Grosse Pointe South MI

9. Saratoga Springs NY

10. Simi Valley CA

 

Boys Pre-Season National Team Rankings Top Ten

National Boys Pre-Season Rankings – #1-10

Here is the list of teams on the national top ten teams. Just a reminder on how I come up with my rankings, this is all based almost strictly off of what each team returns from their championship XC meets (State meet and NXN series, or in California’s case CIF Section Finals + State finals) and their best track times of the year from 1500m-5000m. In the national rankings, I do give a little more credit to how good programs have been over the past several years, but it is not overriding – it more or less just breaks ties between teams that seem otherwise very even.

 

Now, without further ado, here is the top ten!

 

1. Christian Brothers Academy NJ – The defending NXN Champions return not only four from their varsity squad last fall, but also introduced some great talent moving up from varsity in the spring. No boys team has won back-to-back NXN National titles to date, but there has to be a first time for everything. The road will be tough, as there are stacked teams across the nation this year, but CBA look to be squarely in the mix for the title and whoever stands atop the podium in December might just be the greatest team of all time.

2. Southlake Carroll TX – Missing out on last year’s title by a mere four points, the Dragons of Southlake Carroll also return four of their varsity runners from last year’s squad and move up some promising talent from their JV team. If one were to strictly look at returners from last year’s NXN Championship race, Southlake Carroll looks like the strongest team through their four returners…

3. Davis UT – Third at NXN last year, the Darts are returning five varsity runners and like the teams listed ahead of them had a very strong track season this spring. Expect the Darts to be battle-tested by the time the NXN series rolls around, with potential match-ups with more pre-season top-10 teams than any other team in the country: Utah power American Fork (US#6) at the Grass Relays (August 25), Utah State (October 17), and NXN-Southwest (November 17); Davis also faces the top Washington powers North Central (US#4) and Seattle Prep (US#9) at the Bob Firman ID Invitational on September 22 (not to mention California powerhouse Arcadia..).

4. North Central WA – Statistically the best program at Nike Cross Nationals during the regional era (won their region every year, never finished below seventh at nationals – a feat which no other team can claim – and have averaged 207.6 points, which is less than any other team that has qualified at least three of the five years), the five-time  NXN-Northwest and six-time Washington 3A State Champion returns their entire top seven and then some from a team that finished seventh in Portland last year. Led by a sub-9 minute 3200m diminutive then-sophomore, the Indians not only return the best scoring five runners from NXN last fall but continued their success this spring, with three under 9:20 and a freshman running under 4:20. Like Davis above, this team will be battle tested with multiple match-ups with in-state 3A rival Seattle Prep, including the September showdown in Boise, and the ever-strong Greater Spokane League.

5. York IL – One of three teams that have competed at Portland each year, the Dukes of York return five scorers and also welcome back Alex Mimlitz, who was injured last fall but was a promising young prospect in 2010. With the depth of York, though, there is a legitimite question, as great a potential runner as Mimlitz is, of whether or not even he will be able to crack the varsity squad of such an impressive group. If the Dukes want to stand on the podium in Portland, though, they’ll have to match the front running of the other top teams, all of which have returning runners ahead of their top returner and had better times in track this spring as well. One can never count out the program led by one of the legendary coaches in the sport, however: you can count on the Dukes to be a serious threat.

6. American Fork UT – The defending NXN-Southwest and Utah 5A State Champions have a difficult task ahead of them to maintain those titles, but American Fork returns four from last year’s varsity squad and shouldn’t have problems filling out their scoring lineup with runners moving up from their strong JV, possibly led by an unsung start last fall in Kaden Springer (16:16 for 5k at altitude last fall) or improving talents such as Caleb Thompson?

7. Bishop Hendricken RI

8. St. Xavier KY

9. Seattle Prep WA

10. Bismarck ND

Girls Pre-Season National Team Rankings #11-35

National Girls Pre-Season Rankings – Teams #11-35

 

Here is the list of teams on the national #11-35 teams. Just a reminder on how I come up with my rankings, this is all based almost strictly off of what each team returns from their championship XC meets (State meet and NXN series, or in California’s case CIF Section Finals + State finals) and their best track times of the year from 1500m-5000m. In the national rankings, I do give a little more credit to how good programs have been over the past several years, but it is not overriding – it more or less just breaks ties between teams that seem otherwise very even.

 

Now, on to the lists!

 

11. The Woodlands TX
12. Xavier College Prep AZ
13. Bronxville NY
14. Davis UT
15. Voorhees NJ
16. Saline MI
17. Great Oak CA
18. Ogden UT
19. Assumption KY
20. Dowling Catholic IA
21. Vista del Lago CA
22. Southlake Carroll TX
23. Glacier Peak WA
24. Monarch CO
25. Oakton VA
26. Naperville North IL
27. San Clemente CA
28. Neenah WI
29. Prospect IL
30. Park City UT
31. Lake Park IL
32. Unionville PA
33. Ventura CA
34. Camas WA
35. Lakeville South MN

 

Much like the boys, there are three regions that seem quite deep going into the season: the Midwest leads the way with seven teams in the top 35, while both the Southwest and California have six. Also, note that New York’s fourth team, Bronxville, is sitting inside the top 15, while the Southwest and Midwest are the only other regions with more than two teams inside the top 15.