Over 10 days during the holiday season, MileSplitCA published All-State teams for boys and girls, broken down by grade with overall girls and overall boys. The series published from Dec. 23 through Jan. 1. There were 10 articles in all.
The folks at MileSplitCA poured over results and rankings, 5K and 3-mile times, athlete comparisons and virtual meets, with the idea to create comprehensive teams across all grade levels.
No easy trick in XC, as you can imagine.
In these teams, we put more stock into how an athlete finished the season than how he or she began it. Super fast times in September we're easily surpassed by strong showings in November. In many cases, a runner's finish at the CIF-State Championships on Nov. 25 was the deciding factor. Body of work, leaders on an elite team, and other factors also were considered.
The pure nature of the sport makes this an impossible task to get perfect. While we tried to play out every scenario and comparison to make sure the runner we selected for Team A warranted the choice over a runner on Team B, it wasn't always that easy. So, keep in mind that these are subjective teams designed to honor the accomplishments of the runners selected. In other words, "perfect" in the eye of the beholder.
Enough preamble. Use the links below to view the teams. We welcome your feedback. Comment on Facebook. Retweet us on Twitter. Tell us where we got it right and, and, well, maybe not so much.
MileSplitCA All-State Teams
Overall: Boys - Girls
Seniors: Boys - Girls
Juniors: Boys - Girls
Sophomores: Boys - Girls
Freshman: Boys - Girls
