VTHSXC.COM Vermont HS Cross Country Poll Results - Sept. 16, 2019
Boys Overall Top 10
Comments:
Race results coming in from far and wide only served to muddy the waters in this weeks poll. No fewer than 15 schools received top 10 votes this week with some big differences reflected on the ballots. A few coaches thought that CVU,SB and Burlington’s very fast times in Queensbury NY put them above #1 Essex and #2 U32, both idle this week, but the Hornets and Raiders narrowly held onto the top spots. The Manchester NH Invite this coming Saturday, which will see all these teams go head to head, should sort things out at least for a week or two. #3CVU, #4 Burl, and #5 SB ran fast and deep in NY last weekend and made clear that they are all contenders for the top spots. Individually, Burlington Senior Wondu Summa dropped a 16:00 in the Empire State and showed, again, that he is a threat to win anytime (and place) he puts on a number.
#6 BFA-StA dropped a couple places and might feel a bit hard done this week. After all they ran well at the Randolph Invite and easily beat all the Vermont teams, losing only to Hanover NH. That said the Bobwhites, perhaps temporarily, lost ground in the poll as the coaches were swayed by the fast running out of Queensbury. The New York times might grab headlines for a week but BFA can prove the doubters wrong and let their running do the talking on Saturday in Manchester.
The #7-#10 spots were a complete kurfufel with 8 teams getting votes for 4 spots. In the end, StJay nabbed the #7 spot behind their two 10th grade front runners Sheman-Thorton and Boyden.The #8 spot went to Colchester who nipped #10(tie) Vergennes by just 4 points at VTC. #9MIDD was the second D2 team to be ranked in a poll very big school and Chittenden heavy. Fittingly the final spot was a tie between MMU,Vergennes, Stowe and Bellows Falls.
The rankings in flux might make for a fun bit of debate among Cross runners, coaches and fans. It also promises to be a season with lots of close and fast racing. Manchester 9/21, U32 9/28 and Wood Trail 10/5 promise lots of great head to head opportunities for all these teams to make their cases.
Division 1 Boys Top 5
Comments:
With all the action this weekend from the 2-5 teams there is only a minor change with BHS and BFA swapping spots. Essex remains #1 while stringing together several training weekends. They will be back in action this weekend for the first time since the Essex Invite. CVU, BHS and SB did battle in Queensbury posting some impressive times against a strong region of NY. CVU raced with a 31s gap between their 1st to 6th runners. They were also running without Gavin Schaaf who has been a top 5 runner for them every meet so far. BHS and SB were separated by two points and each missing a key scoring runner. BFA continues to impress with finishing 2nd (only to an out of state team) at the Randolph invitational. They are lead by one of the strongest 1-2 punches in the state (Maher and Mashtare). There is no right or wrong order to put BHS, BFA and SB. All top five teams will be doing battle this weekend in Manchester, NH.
The individual race looks to be all Henry Farrington so far. He will likely have some company from the strong Manchester field of runners. Wondu Summa put the rest of the pack on notice with an impressive 16:00 over the weekend. Edwards, Martisus, Maher and Thornton-Sherman have all proved they are contenders for top finishes this season.
Division 2 Boys Top 5
1. U32
2. Middlebury
3.Vergennes
4. Harwood
5. Spaulding
Comments:
With the #1 Raiders not racing, it was left to the rest of D2 to reshuffle the rankings. Middlebury held onto their #2 ranking despite being beaten by both #3 Vergennes and #4 Harwood at the Randolph Invite. The Tigers seem to have been without their usual 4th and 5th runners and this was mentioned by several coaches as reason to leave MIDD #2. Harwood ran well at Randolph only falling to Vergennes by a single point. Count on the Highlanders to get steadily faster as the season goes on.
Division 3 Boys Top 5
Comments:
The two top dogs of D3 clashed this weekend at Bellows Falls, with #1 Stowe narrowly edging out the #2 Terriers by 3 points. The performances of both teams earned them their top rankings, with the edge going to Stowe due to the depth they can call upon if needed. Our last 3 teams in the rankings were able to clash at the Randolph Invite. #3 Peoples continue to rely on their seniors for scoring, and were able to beat out all D3 teams in attendance. #5 Rice beat #4 Lake Region, but expect Lake Region to bounce back in the weeks to come, as they looked to be resting some runners on Saturday. Individually, Brogan Giffin of Mill River is now the man to beat. He broke 17 min at the Randolph invite, putting him on top of the D3 rankings.
VTHSXC.COM Vermont HS Cross Country Poll Results - Sept. 16, 2019
Girls Overall Top 10
Comments:
Not much changes in the girls overall top 10 list this week. CVU remains in the #1 spot after winning the Queensbury Invitational in NY over some strong NY teams. Alicia Veronneau led them in 4th place in 18:18 and Alice Larson was close behind in 18:55. It was a strong showing by them as their team has been battling significant illness. Burlington and Essex is one of the few changes this week. As was stated last week this battle could go down to the last poll of the season. Burlington edged Essex by 9 points at Queensbury to finish 10th overall. The Seahorses were led by a great performance by Isabel Vivanco in 19:18. Essex finished 11th at Queensbury and they were led by another great performance by junior Natalie Preston in 19:10. Harwood remains in the 4th spot after winning the Randolph Invitational even though they were running without a number of their top runners. Britta Zetterstrom paced Harwood finishing in 3rd in 20:44. U-32 was off this week but has shown plenty to remain in the 5th spot for this week. Bellows Falls won their own Russ Pickering Invitational led by Abbey Broadley in first in 18:58 and Stephanie Ager in 2nd in 19:52. It will be interesting to see if their 3-5 runners move up which would most likely move them into the top 5 with their strong 1 and 2. BFA St Albans finished 3rd at the Randolph Invitational and they move up to #7 this week. It will be interesting to see how they do at Manchester in the Small School race. St Johnsbury won the Mt Mansfield home meet this week being paced by Merrick Hemond in 2nd place in 22:54. They were leap frogged by BFA this week but Manchester gives them a chance to show what they can do. Middlebury stays at #9 after finishing 5th at Randolph. It seemed they were missing a couple of their normal pieces. South Burlington holds on to the #10 spot this week after finishing 2nd at MMU but being led by a solid victory from Sierra Fisher in 22:05. Manchester will allow for the possibility of a lot of movement in the rankings for next week.
Division 1 Girls Top 5
Comments:
The top 5 teams remain with only a slight change of order. CVU stays at #1 with the strong victory in Queensbury and ran all of their five scoring runners under 20:00. A good result with numerous runners battling sickness. Burlington moves up to the #2 spot in what looks like a season long battle with Essex. By edging Essex for the second week in a row they showed that they deserve to be moved up one step closer to the top. Essex running with out their #2 runner in NY still were only 9 points behind Burlington. They drop to #3 spot this week and we really won’t know who should be where until both teams have their full 7 together. Each week one, or both, of the teams have been missing a key piece to their lineup. BFA St Albans jumps to the #4 spot after their 3rd place finish at Randolph this weekend. This week at Manchester should give a better idea how good this group can eventually be. St Johnsbury slips to #5 after the win at MMU on Friday. Once again Manchester should give us a better idea about the squad.
Division 2 Girls Top 5
Comments:
No change at the top of the poll. Harwood, led by Thurston and Young,seems to be the class of D2 with a slight but significant advantage over U32. Middlebury is a solid #3 and remains within striking distance of the top two teams. The Manchester Invite small school race will have all three running head to head and should provide a clearer picture. After the top three teams it appears quite a distance back to the rest of D2 but results are still a bit thin. #4 Burr and Burton represents Southern Vermont’s first appearance in the D2 poll. #5 Lamoille is small and has two top tier front runners, if their pack has more in the tank they could move up dramatically as the season progresses.
Division 3 Girls Top 5
Comments:
The top teams of D3 were hard at work this week, and remain in the top 3 spots. #1 Bellows Falls hosted the Russ Pickering invite, which was won by Abbey Broadley in 18:58, a division leading time. The Terriers were able to win the invite, beating a handful of teams including #4 Stowe. Stowe are the breakout team this week, with 3 freshmen helping them to a 5th place finish at the meet, and #4 in our rankings. #2 Rice and #3 Northfield faced off at the Randolph invite, though each team brought a limited roster to the start line. Both comfortably beat #5 Sharon at the invite. Sharon earns #5 this week, with a strong top 4 group of girls that should keep them above most D3 teams this season. Meets remain little more than tune-ups at this point, but look for a few of the top teams to run fast this weekend as they face off at the Manchester Invite.