VTHSXC.COM Vermont HS Cross Country Poll Results - Sept. 30, 2019
Boys Overall Top 10
Comments:
Essex #1 as it has been for about 13 months straight now. Woods Trail this Saturday is the last big showdown ahead of States. The Hornets won last year and seem the prohibitive favorites to repeat. While a number of teams from flatter lands will venture up to Thetford this weekend, look for Essex to defend the honor of the Green Mountain State. The coaches were, again, divided as to the #2- #4spots but in the end it was #2CVU, #3BHS and #4U32 for the second straight week. The Raiders won their home invite but their times didn’t impress enough to overtake the big boys from the Champlain Valley who have been running very quickly for the last three weekends. CVU in particular ran very well in NH and looks have the tightest pack in the State.#5 SB is young and remains within striking distance.
After the first five it is a ways back to the #5-#10 spots. #5BFA holds on at the front of that group despite being beaten by rapidly improving #7 StJay at U32. The absence of top gun Riley Maher gave the boys from St Albans a pass, for now, in the eyes of the coaches. #8MIDD, #9Thetford and #10 Colchester round out the rankings. Thetford is particularly dangerous with a top three that can run with the best in the State.
Can anyone run with Henry Farrington for the individual crown. So far the answer is a resounding no. Can anyone rise to level of the Essex #1 guy? Woods Trail may provide some clue.
Division 1 Boys Top 5
Comments:
No major changes in the boys D1 top 5. Essex, BHS and SB were inactive. CVU runs well at the Black Bear Invite in NH. They are getting healthy again and ran a tight 30s 1-6 gap. BFA and St Jay had a tight race at the U32 invite with St Jay slightly getting the edge. BFA was running without Riley Maher. With the Essex the clear #1 Thetford will help paint the picture for the rest of the D1 top 5. It will be the first time all the top D1 will be competing in the same race all season.
Division 2 Boys Top 5
1. U32
2. Middlebury
3.Vergennes
4. Woodstock
5. Harwood
Comments:
The U32 Invite reshuffled the D2 deck but produced no change in the top seed. #1U32 won fairly easily despite running times that saw them, again, lose ground in the Overall rankings. While the Raiders are yet to live up to their early season promise they remain the team to beat in D2. The rest of the division is neck and neck with only a couple of points separating #2MIDD, #3 Vergennes, #4Woodstock, #5Harwood and Spaulding. The Tigers held on to the second spot despite being beaten by Vergennes and Woodstock last week. Middlebury was without their second runner 10th grader Nathaniel McVeigh last week and still ran very close to their D2 rivals. At full strength they could be the team most likely to spoil U32’s hopes of a fourth consecutive State Championship.
On the individual front Woodstock’s Riley Shepherd has an edge over U32’s Waylon Kurts having won two of their three head to head races so far this year. The WoodsTrail Invite at Thetford this Saturday will give us the best preview of what to expect come States on October 25th.
Division 3 Boys Top 5
Comments:
#1 Thetford. #2 Stowe and #3 Bellows Falls remain as close as ever. If they were to race under ideal conditions today in a hypothetical meet, only 2 points would separate all three teams. Rankings are the same from last week, as all three teams raced alone at smaller meets. #4 Peoples looks to have taken the week off in preparation for the woods trail run this Saturday. Look for fireworks there, as it will be featuring more D3 teams than any other meet yet this season. #5 Lake Region lost in a head-to-head this week with #2 Stowe, but put up a good enough fight to retain their fifth spot.
VTHSXC.COM Vermont HS Cross Country Poll Results - Sept. 30, 2019
Girls Overall Top 10
Comments:
There is no change in the top 10 this week because most teams were taking a weekend off and gearing up for Thetford Invitational. CVU remains at #1 with a convincing win at the Black Bear Invitational in NH. Facing off against 4 of the top 10 ranked teams in NH they won by 34 points and placed 4 runners in the top 9. Alicia Veronneau and Alice Larson paced CVU again finishing 1st and 4th. Jasmine Nails and Finnegan Mittelstadt finish 8th and 9th in the same time of 20:15. Black Bear is considered the Thetford of NH so it will be interesting to see how that translates to this weekend. Essex and Burlington were idle so they remain in spots 2 & 3. Harwood remains at #4 even after being beaten by #5 U-32 at their home invitational the U-32 Invitational. This looks like the normal D2 battle between Harwood and U-32 that we see almost every year! Bellows Falls stays at #6 and they get their chance to battle head to head with the bigger schools this weekend at Thetford Invitational. BFA St Albans stays at #7 after a 3rd place finish at the U-32 Invitational. After this spot things get very hard to decipher. Coaches have varying opinions about spots 8-10. After trying to sort through the data St Johnsbury stays at #8 after an idle week for their girls. Middlebury who finished 4th at U-32 stays at #9 and South Burlington who was idle as a team, their #1 Sierra Fisher finished 3rd at U-32, stays at #10. The great thing is the majority of top teams will be racing head to head(kind of because of seed racing at Thetford) at Thetford Invitational and hopefully some of this confusion will become much more clear!!!
Division 1 Girls Top 5
Comments:
With limited results week with many teams taking the weekend off preparing for Thetford the D1 top 5 remain unchanged. CVU was in NH at the Black Bear Invitational and is getting “closer” to healthy. Their entire top 7 raced and ran 4 in the top 9 to win Black Bear. They faced off against 4 of the top 10 NH teams and Phillips Exeter(private school). No one else in the top 5 raced except for BFA St Albans and they finished 3rd at the U-32 Invitational. This weekend at Thetford will give a MUCH better read on where everyone stands!
Division 2 Girls Top 5
Comments:
#1 Harwood has beaten #2U32 two of the three times they have raced head to head in 2019. However the Raiders pulled an upset, at home, last Saturday and defeated the Highlanders. The coaches were divided as to what this meant about which team was better overall. Harwood narrowly held the top ranking behind their unflappable low stick Ava Thurston. Behind Thurston both teams have tight packs with May Lamb leading the Raiders. These teams are well matched and States will likely come down to a handful of points in a desperate “every place matters” sprint for the line on October 26th. #3 Middlebury is very strong and well positioned to compete for the top spot should either/both Harwood and U32 falter. #4 Burr and Burton will get to face the northern teams for the first time this Saturday at Wood Trail. Any team with two likely top 5 individual finishers is dangerous but #5 Lamoille will need some depth to move up in the team race.
Division 3 Girls Top 5
Comments:
One more week to wait until the Thetford Woods Trail Run, where the best of D3 will finally get the chance to race together. #1 Bellows Falls enters the race still the clear front runners, and will look to mix it up with the best of Vermont’s D2 teams on Saturday. #2 Rice and #3 Northfield both ran at their home courses this past weekend, against small fields. #4 Green Mountain holds on to the #4 for another week, after losing to #1 Bellows Falls on Saturday. Senior Olivia Bernier was unable to break up the 1-2-3 finish of the lady Terriers. Our #5 spot goes to Mill River With more than a few teams close behind them, the five spot will be in the greatest contention this week at Thetford. It is also worth noting Mill River is paper thin, having only ran 4 girls this season, but for now they are fast enough for our #5 spot.