On the Course
With teams simply showing up and qualifying, the question of quality also comes into consideration.
In regards to the State Meet for Cross Country I compiled the list below from the last 5 State Competitions.
Highest Average Team Time of Runners 1-5: 2013-2016 - A/AA vs. 2017 Small School
Year |
Boys |
Girls |
2013 |
20:42 |
28:57 (25:26 Next worst) |
2014 |
21:06 |
26:47 |
2015 |
20:21 |
29:24 (26:06 Next worst) |
2016 |
19:52 |
26:39 |
2017 |
23:12 (6 others over 21:25) |
31:34 (5 others over over 29:25) |
In short, 2017 yielded bottom 6 and bottom 7 overall team performances in Division I over the last 5 seasons combined for girls and boys respectively.
In cross country it's hard to compare these results to others because of differences in course layout however the Region 6 State Qualifier is run at the Steeplechase course that the state meet is held on. Hume-Fogg, a school with an enrollment of 889 students, found themselves thrust into the Large School Classification this season. At the Region meet their girls team averaged 23:37 and their boys team averaged 18:44... Both of these averages were better than every school except one that ran at the state meet less than 2 weeks later in the Small School Division. Their girls placed 7th however and their boys placed 8th at their region meet. The schools that did qualify from Region 6 had enrollments of 1677, 1745, 1754, and 1772.