While some of us took a little RnR this summer, others, namely MileSplitCA Senior Editor Jeff George, walked us up into the 2019 cross country season with a stellar 64-article preview series we call Countdown To XC.
From Jeff's intro to the series, as a point of clarification:
The purpose of the Countdown To XC is NOT to predict the top 30 teams in the state for the upcoming season. The goal is to recognize thirty teams to watch as cross country begins, using data to uncover squads with strengths that stand out from the pack. The countdown is also not meant to be in a strict order, because it's impossible to sort out several teams of similar strength at this point of the season. These factors were considered during the selection process:
- Returning 5K & 3Mile team rankings from fall 2018 data
- Returning 1600 & 3200 team rankings from spring 2019 data
- Three-year Improvement Ratings (a custom stat that we will publish in August)
With that, what follows is our 30 programs for boys and girls, with links to each of the articles.