Boys Countdown to XC Day 7: Bellarmine College Prep

When a 7th-place finish at the state meet is an "off year," you know you've got a good program! The Bells did graduate three of their top 7 from 2018, but the other four were sophomores last year. Just in case you had any doubts about their ability to contend with such a young team, take a gander at their returning track results: Bellarmine ranked 7th in the team 1600 and had the best team 3200 in the state. This team put seven returners under 10 minutes in the spring, including four at 9:30 or faster, led by Colin Peattie and Nolan Topper at 9:09 each (Peattie clocked 4:09 in the 1600, the #3 time in the nation among sophomores). Our Improvement Rating doesn't rate the Bells particularly high for year-to-year improvement, which could be due to a constant influx of already well-trained runners from the JV program, who then improve more slowly because they're already running at a high level. In any case, Bellarmine is good enough to be a podium team in Division 1 this year, and returns their core for another shot in 2020, when they could be nationally ranked if they continue to progress.