VTHSXC.COM Boys Vermont HS Cross Country Poll Results -Oct. 11, 2021
Boys Overall Top 10
1.U32
2.BFA
3. CVU
4..SB
5. Essex
6. St. Jay
7. Craftsbury
8. Rutland
9. MMU
10. Midd
Comments: The Manhattan Invite, in historic Van Cortlandt Park, NYC is one of the biggest (8,000 + runners) and most competitive cross country races in the country. It brings together many of the top ranked teams and individuals from across the Northeast and the nation. Over the years only a few Vermont teams have braved these waters. Except for the national class CVU girls teams of the past decade -New England’s Champions on six occasions and three time Nationals Qualifiers- 802 Teams have regularly been crushed when venturing into The Bronx. Not so this past Saturday.
Legendary former CVU coach Scott Bliss (see above) termed it the best Vermont performance (at Manhattan) “ I've ever seen”. Considering the source, this is high praise. On the boys side Bliss was referring to the #1U32 Raiders who finished 3rd overall, an all time Vermont best result, in the meet and in so doing defeated many of the top ranked teams in New England and the eastern seaboard. #2 BFA also put in a tremendous run finishing 15th overall and placing 5th among New England teams. The Bobwhites are surely focused on bringing a, first ever, D1 State Championship trophy back to St. Albans but they are also legitimate threats to finish top five in New England and beat U32.
Vermont individuals were equally impressive in The City, as St. Jay’s Evan Thorton-Sherman and CVU’s Matthew Servin finished 7th and 11th out of the thousands of boys who ran. These two proved they are national calibre performers capable of high finishes on the biggest stages. In all, seven Vermont boys -ETS, Servin, Austin Beard,Ethan Mashtare, Oliver Hansen, Carson Beard and Jacob Tremblay- cracked the top 56 runners.
Off Broadway, Vermont teams raced impressively in various local venues which kept the rankings tight. #3CVU only barely trails BFA and with #4SB, #5 Essex, and #6 St Jay swapping places every week, look for the D1 Boys race at States (10/30) to be one of the best races of the season. #8 Rutland will also be looking for their highest finish for a few years in the big school showdown.
If #7 Craftsbury stays healthy then the D3 team race will not be competitive. The Chargers will repeat as State Champs. Will they be able to crack the top 6 and make New Englands?? This is extra difficult coming out of the D2 and D3 races because these heats tend to be less deep and thus at a disadvantage when the results are merged with D1. The top 6 teams in the combined (D1,D2, and D3 merged times) results get to represent Vermont at the New England Championships. It's a tall task for CA with 1/10 as many kids as the D1 teams but don’t bet against the Chargers.
#9MMU and #10 Midd round out the top ten. Look for Midd, Harwood, Montpelier, and Woodstock to have an epic race at D2 States, albeit for second place behind U32.
Injuries and illness can dramatically change the team and individual pictures but barring that, ETS remains the best runner in the State. Servin is closing the gap but ever since finishing second at last year's State Meet, the “Shermanator” has not been beaten by a Vermonter over any distance or on any surface. He races with a determination that is palpable. Anyone can be beat, but ETS is as good and brave a male runner as Vermont has seen for at least a decade. Challengers will need to come prepared.
Division 1 Boys Top 5
BFA
CVU
SB
Essex
St. Jay
Division 2 Boys Top 5
1. U32
2. Midd
3. Harwood
4. Montpelier
5. Woodstock
Division 3 Boys Top 5
Craftsbury
Thetford
Stowe
BFA Fairfax
Randolph
VTHSXC.COM Girls Vermont HS Cross Country Poll Results -Oct 11, 2021
Girls Overall Top 10
BHS/HU
CVU
EHS/SB/MMU
U-32
Middlebury
BFA St Albans
Thetford
Comments:
As you can see there are A LOT of teams being lumped together in the girls top 10 and the question may be why??? Last weekend there was really nothing to help get a read on who has made a move or not and it probably just led to more confusion for the voters. No full girls teams ran in Manhattan and most of the top teams raced at different venues so we didn’t really see much head to head. Harwood won their home invitational. The Burlington girls went to Saratoga NY and finished 3rd but were short handed again so it didn’t show a true picture of their entire top 7 running together. CVU finished second on a 4k course at Red Rocks but it wasn’t their full 7 either and it was a short course. That’s what then leads to the mass confusion at spots 4-6 where SB won, CVU 2nd and Essex 3rd and all separated by a total of 12 points. On any given day it looks like any team out of the CVU, SB, Essex and MMU group could be #3. The same really could be said for the next 4 spots. Coaches had U-32, Middlebury, BFA St Albans and Thetford Academy ranked all over the place in their top 10's. This only adds to the excitement of the championship season that is only about 2 weeks away! Over the next 2 weeks hopefully the picture will become more clear and on October 30th we will have the evidence of where all of these teams belong.
Division 1 Girls Top 5
BHS
CVU
EHS
MMU
SB
Division 2 Girls Top 5
Harwood
Middlebury
U-32
Lamoille
Burr & Burton/Woodstock
Division 3 Girls Top 5
Bellows Falls
BFA Fairfax
Rice
Hazen
?? Thetford/Randolph