Midwest vs South vs West vs North East

[CrossHare]

Which region is gonna win... this is for boys.

[whb_runner]

I understand this is for footlocker, and this could be irrelevant to this thread, but for the nxn race when you remove the teams and score the individuals from each region the midwest won.


Midwest: 1 8 15 17 21= 62
California: 4 5 11 23 24= 67
South: 6 12 22 29 31= 100
Heartland: 7 13 25 35 37= 117
Southwest: 3 16 27 41 42= 129
Northwest: 14 20 30 34 36= 134
New York: 9 19 28 38 45= 139
Southeast: 10 18 26 43 44= 141
Northeast: 2 32 33 39 40= 146

[ONEthree]

I understand this is for footlocker, and this could be irrelevant to this thread, but for the nxn race when you remove the teams and score the individuals from each region the midwest won.


Midwest: 1 8 15 17 21= 62
California: 4 5 11 23 24= 67
South: 6 12 22 29 31= 100
Heartland: 7 13 25 35 37= 117
Southwest: 3 16 27 41 42= 129
Northwest: 14 20 30 34 36= 134
New York: 9 19 28 38 45= 139
Southeast: 10 18 26 43 44= 141
Northeast: 2 32 33 39 40= 146

Why would you take away the individuals on qualifying teams from their region? They are still a part of their region. Anyway I think Lukas and Futsum are going 1-2 with the rest of the midwest close behind. This year, I think it's no contest and apparently so do the american people according to the votes.

[Zen Miler]

The Midwest boys are just too deep.

Verzbicas and Futsum will be in the top 5. I can't imagine there are too many people who will argue that. Then there were 7 others under 15:10 at UW-Parkside two weekends ago which indicates a strong year for the Midwest. Jack Driggs, Zach Wills and Chris Walden were among them. Each of those guys are sure bets for a top 12 finish in my opinion.

[CrossHare]

Kenosha was at its fastest ever, times don't mean much on that course. Anyway, I too think the MW will win. I'm pulling for Tony Smorgiewicz from South Dakota for a top 10 finish. Not often SD boys qualify.

[Beetle Juice]

The Midwest is obviously strong, but the West is hurt by losing it's NXN runners from CA. Moussa, Gedyon, Urie, Werley, and Pons are all ranked in the top 13 as of Dec 3rd.

[nyrunner]

FLW and FLNE were during NXN races that pulled away a lot of top runners from those regions.

[ONEthree]

FLW and FLNE were during NXN races that pulled away a lot of top runners from those regions.

This is true but the midwest still won at NXN, it is by far just the deepest region in the country this year.

[Phenom Man]

If the West had California on its side, then they would probably win with Werley, Urie, Pons, and Moussa. If you score the NXN meet counting guys on teams Midwest vs. California, Cali wins. While I think the Midwest will win footlocker this year without much of a problem, you can't deny how deep Cali is individually (though it kills me to say it after some of my previous statements).

[CrossHare]

If the West had California on its side, then they would probably win with Werley, Urie, Pons, and Moussa. If you score the NXN meet counting guys on teams Midwest vs. California, Cali wins. While I think the Midwest will win footlocker this year without much of a problem, you can't deny how deep Cali is individually (though it kills me to say it after some of my previous statements).

Heartland runners are also Midwest as far as footlocker goes. They were 4th as a team in the above analysis.

[CrossHare]

Kenosha was at its fastest ever, times don't mean much on that course. Anyway, I too think the MW will win. I'm pulling for Tony Smorgiewicz from South Dakota for a top 10 finish. Not often SD boys qualify.

No love for Tony??

[KenA55]

A superlative race for the junior from Rapid City, took it out very controlled rather than flying with the leaders, Rich G had him about 30th after the first half-mile and from there he began reeling in most of the field the rest of the way. While the race was missing many big names doing NXN instead, you can't put together any hypothetical merge and keep Tony out of the top 10 nationally, IMO.

I guess if you want to fill in some of the NXN front end ahead of and around TS you get one hypothetical merged look at MW vs West at full strength...

1. MW LV #1 NXN & #1 FL
2. NE EC #2 NXN So
3. SO CL #3 NXN
4. MW FZ #2 FL Jr
(placement is a bit arbitrary, based on 11 sec FL gap between 1 & 2)
5. WE AM #4 NXN
6. MW SW #5 NXN
7. WE LW #6 NXN
8. WE RU #7 NXN
9. SO BG #8 NXN
10. MW TS #9 NXN & #3 FL Jr
11. WE KB #10 NXN
12. MW CW #25 NXN #4 FL (now getting into runners who ran both but had a much better day at one vs the other, giving them their stronger effort here)
13. WE BO #6 FL

This merge, just for fun of course (but seasons-end rankings will have to rely on something similar), leads to a MW 31, WE 43 hypothetical match-up.

All of the above are seniors except where noted, and I would argue that this does clearly ID who should be considered US top 3 XC for next year, at this point at least. Track will further influence those perceptions of course, and Tony will not see the instate track competition that others will, something that should be given some weight in the '11 preseason cross assessments.

[CrossHare]

A superlative race for the junior from Rapid City, took it out very controlled rather than flying with the leaders, Rich G had him about 30th after the first half-mile and from there he began reeling in most of the field the rest of the way. While the race was missing many big names doing NXN instead, you can't put together any hypothetical merge and keep Tony out of the top 10 nationally, IMO.

I guess if you want to fill in some of the NXN front end ahead of and around TS you get one hypothetical merged look at MW vs West at full strength...

1. MW LV #1 NXN & #1 FL
2. NE EC #2 NXN So
3. SO CL #3 NXN
4. MW FZ #2 FL Jr
(placement is a bit arbitrary, based on 11 sec FL gap between 1 & 2)
5. WE AM #4 NXN
6. MW SW #5 NXN
7. WE LW #6 NXN
8. WE RU #7 NXN
9. SO BG #8 NXN
10. MW TS #9 NXN & #3 FL Jr
11. WE KB #10 NXN
12. MW CW #25 NXN #4 FL (now getting into runners who ran both but had a much better day at one vs the other, giving them their stronger effort here)
13. WE BO #6 FL

This merge, just for fun of course (but seasons-end rankings will have to rely on something similar), leads to a MW 31, WE 43 hypothetical match-up.

All of the above are seniors except where noted, and I would argue that this does clearly ID who should be considered US top 3 XC for next year, at this point at least. Track will further influence those perceptions of course, and Tony will not see the instate track competition that others will, something that should be given some weight in the '11 preseason cross assessments.

I think that NXN and FLN are completely different animals. Tony is a small dude and an aerobic machine. He does triathlon training similar to Lukas. However, he is small and not super muscular. This allows him to run fast on a course with good footing but not as much on a course like NXN that is covered in mud. Therefore, it is very hard to compare the results of the two meets.

In the spring Tony plans to run unattached at Mt. Sac, Arcadia and maybe a few other races before joining his high school team in time to qualify for the state meet.

[ORXCCoach]

Can't run unattached at Arcadia.