3A Rankings

[se xc1]

I mean this in a totally honest and non-complaining fashion. You can be part of the problem or part of the solution. In 100% seriousness. Why don't you start a thread on iapreps and come up with your own rankings? This could provide us with another source, probably much more accurate, in which to check. I look forward to what you come up with.

 

[runthecountry]

Just noticed an interesting thing in 3A boys rankings (and it is something I have noticed in other rankings from time to time) - the discrepancy between the individual and team rankings:

For 1st ranked Decorah, their individuals listed:
4. Ethan Pankow

For 3rd ranked Pella, their individuals listed:
6. Evan Jones
12. Keegan Fitzsimmon
16. Matthew Klein
23. Michael Schemm
27. Wade Pingel
28. Ryan Seivers


Obviously, the rankings are not designed to completely match up with one another. I don't have much opinion since I have not seen either team race this year, but I find it pretty funny when they mathematically oppose each other. They could generally avoid that situation by only ranking 4 members from one team (and leaving the possibility that the unranked individuals of a higher ranked team could make up the difference).

But, since it really doesn't matter at all, I don't have a problem when it happens - just enjoy pointing it out.

 

[cc coach]

Saw that too. Of course, Pankow was actually Decorah's #4 runner at the conf. meet on Tuesday night, so I think it is clear that the team rankings are more accurate of the two.

Whoever is doing the 3A rankings must be sort of doing them from scratch each week and, for some reason, decided to "unrank" all the decorah guys that ran at griak and then did not compete a couple days later at our meet - leaving only Pankow. Ironically, Pankow was not "unranked" when he did not run at Griak....

 

[dutch_xc]

Again, I would caution anyone from being overly critical of the individual rankings in terms of attacking the people who attempt to organize them or going so far as to use words such as "worthless". I have played a large part in the process of the rankings previously, and it is very difficult. The IATC is an excellent organization (yes, I am a member so feel somewhat a need to defend), and the cross country rankings are a very small portion of what they aspire to do for student-athletes.

With that said I admit that the 3A Boys' in particular has contained a great deal that opens itself up to debate. With the team rankings having been consistent over the past month it would be nice to see the individual rankings align more. No reason to not have Decorah's and Heelan's scoring five featured at some point and drop a couple Pella runners from them. As I have said previously, my preference would be for the rankings to feature a very consistent top 10-15 individuals unless information is know why a steller runner should be dropped (i.e. Why was Chandler Austin of Boone dropped? I see that he did not run in his conference meet? Was he sick? Is he hurt?). Then have roughly the #16-30 positions rotate based upon excellent performances each week. While I could give an educated guess to the 15 individually who could potentially finish in the top ten at state, the order of 16-30 would vary a great deal from race to race.

Remember this is not like college athletic rankings where a described duty of a coaches' contract is to participate in ranking teams each week. This is done by individual coaches who have their own team to coach, their own job to perform, their own family to support. While they seek out the inclusion of other coaches to help it does not always happen. I have ignored numerous e-mails this year asking for help when I just haven't been able to find the time to give my own input or have the time to give a more informed decision other than the race I have been present at. When I led the 3A Girls' I would spend 2-3 hours on Sunday evening searching for results, comparing times and places of athletes who had run against common opponents prior weeks. There was a mountain of information and an equally huge black hole of missing information. And goodness knows the mistakes I made if I couldn't find those hours in a particular week. It takes a unique and dedicated individual to take on the task. I believe that many of the current leads would gladly pass the task on to another who feels passionate about it and feels they can improve upon it. I am certain they would welcome additional help and opinions.

If you are a member of the IATC and would like to discuss or become more involved in the rankings in the future please attend the next general meeting November 4th at Ames High School.

 

[se xc1]

Bravo!!!

 

[walkitout3]

I assume Chandler was dropped because it has been publicized in the last few days that he was diagnosed with mono after his loss at Fort Dodge last week to Ben Anderson. I have no more information than that, but I would guess this would end his season. The ranking person probably received this information and acted accordingly.

On that note, what a shame for him. The couple of races where I saw him run this year were unbelievable to watch. He is not afraid to push the pace from the front and also showed he can kick like his brother used to. Hopefully he can get past this disappointment and be healthy for track.

 

[leonardsmith]

Is Josh Evans out for the year? He hasn't ran since mid September.

 

[walkitout3]

Papers have continued to report a "minor" leg injury for Josh. Does anyone know if he is back training yet? It was originally reported that he would only miss a week. It is entirely possible that he is back training fine and sitting out meets to be safe, but I have no knowledge to that effect.

 

[West_Rocket]

walkitout,

Evans hasn't stopped training, only modified it. At the MVC Valley meet this past Thursday, Evans and Murphy (other LM kid) did a tempo/threshold run and looked fine from what I saw. I doubt they will look sluggish this Thursday in Marshalltown. If anything, the coaching staff is playing it safe. No need to overdo it prior to state qualifying and the state meet.