XC Preview!

So, I noticed that tullyrunners.com posted a pre-season assessment of XC teams around the state. Overall, they ranked 37 teams and Fayetteville-Manlius is by far the class of the state (they should be a contender for the national title). Here is what it takes to make it to that level:
- A top kid that ran 4:06 and 9:09 as a junior this track season
- Third and fourth kids that ran 4:30/9:45 and 9:53
- A couple of others close behind

Section V made the following appearances:
13. Rush-Henrietta
14. HF-L
25. Brighton
27. McQuaid
31. Mendon

HF-L has the incredible one-two punch of Deir and Mangan, but they drop back substantially after their 3rd runner (Hoose ran 4:36/9:46 this spring), so R-H should be favored for their depth - based on last year, they should have a boatload of kids battling for the last few spots in the top 7. Brighton gets things done with their pack, but with Mendon being led by Van Vleck, clearly the top gun in Monroe County (which excludes Deir and Mangan and with apologies to Jared, Hotchkiss and Lipani), I would still give them the edge over Brighton. I was a little surprised to see McQuaid ranked in between Brighton and Mendon, but Mike Tripp is back, along with a couple of other guys who beat our whole team at Sectionals, so perhaps they can make a run at the Class A title.

Arcadia and Sutherland also get ranked in Class A, so the preseason coaches' poll should look something like this:
1. R-H
2. HF-L
3. Mendon
4. Brighton
5. Thomas
6. McQuaid
7. Arcadia
8. Sutherland
9. Wayne
10. Irondequoit

How many of those teams can we knock off?

On the girls side, Fayetteville-Manlius should be on top again, following 3 straight National titles. We see the following teams from Section V ranked in the top 28 preview:
12. HF-L
19. Mendon
20. Canandaigua

HF-L was able to entice Amanda Moreland to come over for the Nordic ski team last winter, so she will immediately change their XC team from a big Sectional winner but State meet also-ran into a top 3 contender at States.

Other top Section V girls teams look to be R-H, Hilton and Thomas, perhaps in that order, although Thomas lost much less thru graduation.

Here are the tullyrunners links to the:
Boys Preview
Girls Preview