You can't keep the Cougars out of the CIF State Meet, and 2016 should be no exception.
Cross country is right around the corner, and we're celebrating by counting down to the start of the competitive fall season! Each day (except today!) we'll release one boys team and one girls team, counting down from 30 to 1 as we approach the beginning of real XC racing.
You just can't keep McFarland out of the CIF State Meet. The Central Section moved the Cougars to Division 1 despite having a population of only 770 students - 1132 less than the next-smallest D1 team in the section - and they STILL made it through to Clovis! They finished 19th there with only 1 senior on the squad, and you can bet this team will be extremely motivated to improve on that in 2016. In fact, we already have evidence of improvement: McFarland ranked 14th in the state in team 3200 rankings from this past spring, averaging just under 9:50 across their top 5 returning runners. That includes nice progress from Marcos Mulato and Sammy Diaz as well as the addition of Luis Santillano as a potential top 5 runner this fall. Factor in the continued success of #1 runner Jose Rodriguez, and you have the makings of a team that could crack the top 20 in the state overall despite being in the bottom third population-wise. As long as their depth holds up, the Cougars will be back in the state meet again.
Ranking Data:
- Returning Team Ranking: 21st (5K)
- Spring Track Ranking: 14th (Team 3200)
- Improvement Rating: 19th
The #CountdownToXC is a data-driven set of team rankings determined using the following information:
- Returning Team 5K & 3 Mile Rankings from 2015 XC: carries the most weight
- Returning Team 1600 and 3200 Rankings from 2015 Outdoor: less weight, but important
- Improvement Rating: a long-term statistical evaluation of how each program improves from season to season. This custom metric compares a team's final team average from each season to their returning team average from the previous season, while also accounting for how highly-ranked the team was. As we continue to improve the depth and quality of our data in California, this measure should get stronger and stronger. Improvement ratings will be the subject of a separate article in August.
- Returning team from the 2015 CIF state meet
- A little bit of "gut feeling"