Earlier this week, I posted some early rankings for XC. Those were compiled using 2018’s ratings and adding in a projected improvement. Track is (officially, at least) here, and we can use track times to further gauge improvement. Over the summer, I aim to break down each and every regional. I’ll use track data in some capacity, whether it be subjectively, objectively, or both. I’ve gone through the past few years and compared athletes ratings vs. what they ran in track the previous year.
March is an extremely busy time in running shoe stores. The weather is changing, people are more upbeat and optimistic, and a whole new batch of track athletes enter our world. You can tell when someone has been running over the winter, they’re like a racehorse in the gate, raring to go. As someone who was never “fast”, who had to work for every improvement, those runners hold a special place in my heart. On a weekly basis, I want to showcase runners that are outperforming my projections.
Kate Kiefer, Birmingham Seaholm
2017 Track – 2:52/6:27
2018 XC – 23:16, 18.2 rating
2019 Track – 2:42… 10 second PR in first race of the season.
Elissa Weinrick, Okemos
2018 Track – 6:45/14:20
2018 XC – 22:04, 42.9 rating
2019 Track – 6:17/13:42… 28 second PR in the 16, 38 second PR in the 32.
Lawson Brady, Freeland
2018 Track – 3:38/7:29
2018 XC – 23:57, 26.4 rating
2019 Track – 2:56/6:23… 42 second PR in the 8, 66 second PR in the 16.
Logan Gutierrez, Millington
2018 Track – 2:21/5:16/10:50
2018 XC – 17:38, 157.9 rating
2019 Track – 10:28… 16 second PR in first race, indoors mind you.
Parker Austin, Davison
2018 XC – 18:43, 123.8 rating
2019 Track – 5:04… almost 40 second improvement from best middle school time.
Benjamin Hinkley, Perry
2018 Track – 2:32/5:51
2018 XC – 19:24, 115.1 rating
2019 Track – 2:10/5:50… 16 is nearly identical, but that 2:10, where did that come from?!
Coaches/athletes, please feel free to send me your (or another’s) story and background. I’m probably self-critical, but I find my writing rather formulaic. I’d love to improve by delving deeper into personal stories. So if you’re seeing improvement, you know of someone putting work in that deserves recognition, reach out to me.
