Same rules apply as last time, feel free to ask me why I got the guys where I do on the rankings. Here is what I have to say off the bat:
First off not afraid to say I was definitely very wrong about a few things. Surprised to see Kutcha go down like he did at Pitt CC. Didn't think the guy Hibbs would lose to would be Magaha. Scary thing watching Magaha put up XC stats like this.
A lot of guys I thought were top guys haven't really shown up so I'd say AA and AAA races are going to competitive and fairly wide open.
Dustin Wilson the only top 10 guy in the preseason who consistently gets in done. Beyond Dustin, I have no confidence in my rankings for everybody else. Things should be fun to watch.
So like I said: facebook message me, text me, call me, penntrack message me, comment on here with any questions you have in reasoning for the rankings.
Thanks,
train
Dan Savage 23?? I think he should be much much higher.
ReplyDeleteso first off let me just start by saying what i have said to a lot of people so far already this weekend, i am more perplexed by the results of the last few weekends than anything i have ever seen in all my years of covering the sport
ReplyDeletethis is probably more crazy to me than even ted macdonald's 13th finish at states in 07, but admittedly its close
so on to the topic of dan savage. look i like this kid a lot, he started moving up the board in the offseason after a nice track season and he has been making things happen on the xc course this fall as well.
this weekend his race honestly didn't tell me much. i don't know most of the names in that race and i don't know the course so the times are out the window. i'd say it was another solid race from him that was right around where i thought he could be, but its hard to say anything for sure. that will, therefore, inhibit his ability to move up this week.
that being said, briarwood was definitely the rae for savage, his best performance so far in my opinion and a very good race at that.
bit briarwood is a course the pcl guys know better than all the other teams in the state. just look at how well billotta did there vs the other races.
pre states i don't think really made too huge of an impression on me personally. in merged results (which obviously are not as important) he was 11th and the only really significant name he beat is brett kelly who has started the season roughly at best
there is no doubt savage is the best runner on the best team in the state right now but that in itself does not move you up to the top of the rankings. i'm a big savage fan and he looks like a sure fire medalist as states but right now he doesn't look like a top 10 guy to me, and really if your anywhere between 25 and 11 you can easily be swapped around 5+ spots by someone else doing the rankings.
hopefully this helps explain my thinking even though, as many o'hara fans have correctly thought in the past, you probably do not agree
-train
some thoughts:
ReplyDeleteKorey Replogle looks better every race.
Where has Quinn Devlin been? But Ken Leidal looks good.
Mike Runco seems to be putting a nice season together, much better than fellow WPIAL 4:24 miler Lawton Tellin.
Kuchta from 2 to 19 seems kind of harsh. I mean, people have bad races every once in a while.
O'Hara is definitely the best team in PA. Watch out for their freshman, Kevin James, who ran 15:58 this weekend at Great American.
#33 Sam Ritz is a freshman; his brother, Ben, a junior, has a 4:24 PR.
Nice to see Zack Israel moving up in the rankings, definitely a runner to watch.
Thanks for answering my question on people's improvement ("Look at Me Now")
I'd like to contact you somehow other than commenting, I think you can answer a lot of questions I have about past guys; how can I do this?
Thanks for your time
Oh alright I was just looking at this weekends race and the entire body of work he has put in so far this season and thought after this weekend he might move up a bit more. And to your point about not knowing the course they ran on this weekend, I also have no idea I was hoping you would have some knowledge about it.
ReplyDeletedylan mountain should be top 25 he was sick but is better now
ReplyDeletedylan mountain should be top 25 he was sick but is better now
ReplyDeleteyo train, i must say that dan savage is impressive. briarwood was a fast time early, foundations he was sick, and Great american he was 30 seconds behind a 404 miler. the thing is id like to see how long they can keep this up. its gonna be an exciting end of the season
ReplyDeleteI haven't noticed anyone except Strynkowski listed from the Mid Penn Conference, and while I also think that he should be moved higher (Strynkowski was very sick at Carlisle, and he had some breathing problems at the start of the season, but he has gotten through both, and he is getting steadily better.), I think that there are several others who deserve to be on the list but aren't. I believe that the top four at the Mid Penn Conference meet will all be top fifty this year at states. Nissley may falter, because this is his first year running at states, but Strynkowski has run under sixteen minutes, Felts ran a 16:06, Groh beat Felts, and Nissley is consistently dead even with Groh, and they flip back and forth often. They all have a very good shot at top fifty, and if it wasn't Nissley's first year at states, I would wager that all four were likely to get state medals.
ReplyDelete