VTHSXC.COM Vermont HS Cross Country Poll Results - Sept. 23, 2019
Boys Overall Top 10
Comments:
Once again the top of the mountain is all Hornets. A fine run at the Manchester Invite saw them run circles around the rest of the Vermont teams. Led by Farrington and Martisus #1 Essex is in a league of their own so far this season. With a little luck and a bit more speed from their 3-5 runners, the Hornets could compete for the podium at New England’s. No Vermont boys team has cracked the top 5 at New England’s for quite a few years but Essex might have the horses this year.
#2CVU and #3 Burlington leapt over #4U32 this week. Both of Champlain Valley heavy-weights handily beat the Raiders. Coaches were divided on where to slot the Raiders but in the end results in big races matter and Manchester was the biggest race so far this year and CVU and BHS get the nod. #5SB and #6St Jay are also gaining ground rapidly making the battle for places 2-6 potentially very close. Over the past month BHS, CVU, U32 and SB have all beaten each other and StJay has two very low sticks in Sheman-Thorton and Boyden which makes them extra dangerous in the bigger more competitive Invites.
#7BFA and #8Thetford both ran fine races at Manchester and are dangerous teams. Thetford in particular has a top three (Darrah, Durham, Deffner) who can compete at the front of any race in the region. #9 Colchester and #10 Middlebury round out the top 10 this week. The next opportunity for a major shake up in the rankings will be Oct 5th at the Woods Trail Invite when almost every team in VT, regardless of division, will go head to head for the last time this year.
Division 1 Boys Top 5
Comments:
Essex continues its dominance over the rest of the D1 teams putting 5 runners in before most put in 2. Henry Farrington ran a very impressive 15:49 over the Manchester hills and heat. Brady Martisus was the 3rd Vermont finisher stamping them as the top 1-2 punch in the state. CVU remains at the #2 spot, they raced without one of their top runners and the heat effected others on varsity. They are back in action this weekend in NH where they are hoping to get back to full strength. BHS ran well in the heat finishing as the 2nd VT team. Wondu Summa continues a strong season and is followed by a tight pack of 4. SB stays in the #4 spot while running without one of their top 5 runners. The SB 2-5 pack runs a small gap of about 20-25s. Some shifting at the #5 spot where St. Jay moves into the top five for the first time this season. Evan Thornton-Sherman is a force to be reckoned with in any race. BFA did slide out of the top five but shouldn’t be counted out, they raced in small school race where they didn’t go head-to-head against the other D1 schools. For the first time of the season all the top D1 teams will be racing against each other at the Thetford Invite on October 5th.
Division 2 Boys Top 5
1. U32
2. Middlebury
3. Harwood
4. Woodstock
5. Vergennes
Comments:
#1U32 ran very poorly at Manchester and while the Raiders fell in the overall poll they maintain the #1 spot in D2 but #2Middlebury and the rest of D2 should be reinvigorated as U32 now looks far more beatable than anticipated. #3 Harwood, #4 Woodstock, #5 Vergennes and last weeks #5Spauding appear to be evenly matched with nol more than a few points and seconds between them. The U32 Invite this weekend which sees the top 6 teams in D2 racing head to head should clarify the situation.
Division 3 Boys Top 5
Comments:
Thetford has arrived! Racing at the Manchester Invite this weekend, all 7 of #1 Thetford’s varsity runners managed personal bests. They land 3 runners in the top 5 spots of the division. Despite this impressive showing, it did not give them any meaningful advantage over #2 Stowe or #3 Bellows Falls. #2 Stowe will be tough to beat on any day, as they have the best depth of any team, with their 7th man scoring on any other D3 team, an impressive feat as only the top 4 runners score at states. #3 Bellows Falls takes the third spot only because they have the least results available, and lost to Stowe earlier in the season. #4 Peoples and #5 Lake Region round out the top 5 this week, but both are in danger of being surpassed by unranked Craftsbury, who have a strong 1-2 punch with Charlie Krebs and Cormac Leahy. Brogan Giffin improved his division leading time to 16:11 at his home course at Mill River, building a 30 second cushion before the next D3 time.
VTHSXC.COM Vermont HS Cross Country Poll Results - Sept. 23, 2019
Girls Overall Top 10
Comments:
CVU continues to hold down the #1 spot in this weeks top 10 after a 2nd place finish at the Manchester Invitational. CVU was led by Alicia Veronneau(5th place) and Alice Larson(8th place) and it was still a pretty solid performance considering they were racing without their #3 and #5 runners due to illness. Essex leap frogs Burlington in the battle for the #2 and #3 spots. Essex had one of their top 2 runners who was not able to finish the race so this was a solid performance for them to finish 8th overall without a prominent scorer. Natalie Preston led them in 20th place. Burlington drops back one spot but was racing very short handed. They had been hit with the illness issue that has been affecting many teams in the area. They still managed to finish 9th overall and were led by a strong performance by Isabel Vivanco in 9th place. Harwood remains at #4 and were led by a very strong race by Ava Thurston who won the Small School race at Manchester. U-32 stays at #5 after finishing in 7th place in the Small School race. They were led by May Lamb who finished in 16th place. The 6-10 spots are jumble of close teams that is very hard to determine who deserves to be where. Coaches had many different rankings so this was a close call for all and nothing changes from last weeks order. Bellows Falls holds down the #6 spot and with a low stick like Abbey Broadley they could move higher depending on how their 3-5 do. BFA St Albans stays at #7. They were tough to read from Manchester because they ran two freshman in the freshman race and they proceeded to go 1 & 2. How would they helped their varsity in the Small School race? Unknown so they stay where they were. St Johnsbury stays at #8 after their 11th place finish in Manchester. Middlebury hasn’t had any results online since 9/14 so hard to get a read on them. They stay at #9 for this week until we get to see how they stack up against the others. South Burlington stays at #10 after a 19th place finish at Manchester being led by a strong showing by Sierra Fisher in 13th place.
Division 1 Girls Top 5
Comments:
CVU remains in the top sport after finishing 2nd at the Manchester Invitational. The Redhawks have been hit with some pretty serious sickness over the past couple of weeks and were running without their #3 and #5 runners. Still a solid performance to finish 2nd without two key scorers. Essex overtakes Burlington again for the #2 spot beating them at Manchester by 22 points. Both teams once again were not at full strength so this battle for who will be where seems like it will go down to the end of the season….unless one of them ends up in the #1 spot by then….. St Johnsbury jumps over BFA St Albans to move into the #4 spot after finishing in 11th place in the large school race at Manchester. BFA St Albans drops to #5 after finishing in 10th place in the small school race at Manchester. BFA also raced 2 freshman in the freshman race who finished 1 & 2 so their full varsity squad was not racing together last weekend.
Division 2 Girls Top 5
Comments:
#1 Harwood, led by Ava Thurston’s impressive win in the small school race, sent a message at Manchester. The Highlanders beat #2U32 by just two places but almost a full minute in top 5 average time. This means Kerrigan’s Army is going to be hard to beat as the leaves start to fall and the races become more important. #2U32 and #3 MIDD are very tightly bunched and but will need to up their games if they want to have a shot at a State Championship. #4 Burr and Burton make a first showing in the rankins and Lamoille remains a team with among the best 1-2 punch in the state.
Division 3 Girls Top 5
Comments:
No changes to the top of the order for the D3 girls. #1 Bellows Falls won the Mill River Invite, going 1-2 with sophomores Abbey Broadley and Stephanie Ager. #2 Rice made the trip to Manchester, where Emily Bloom took 9th overall in the large school division race. #3 Northfield ran at Craftsbury, finishing 5th out of 8 teams. #4 Green Mountain Union is the newest addition to the top 5 rankings. Racing for only the second time this season, #4 Green Mountain finished 3rd at the Mill River Invite. #5 Stowe also ran at Craftsbury, but did not score due to low numbers. The U-32 invite this weekend will be a good opportunity to hammer these rankings out, as it will be the first time most of these smaller schools meet.