We call them "soft" marks because while they are the best ever produced in the state, compared to the rest of the nation they're down the list. Does that make them bad? Of course not. But it does make them more vulnerable to being broken in the future.
For our lists, we're using Jack Shepard's record book with the National Federation as the backup. After all, though, it is just the opinion of one person, who has covered track since 1960. There is no "right" or "wrong," right?