Burnt Hills' (NY) Boys
New York did get an at-large berth, but it wasn't the one most expected.
While the Saratoga Springs (NY) girls team received a surprise bid -- their big resume boost was a win at the New York Federation meet -- the Burnt Hills boys were left at the curb.
And that's perhaps the most objectionable decision. The committee doesn't factor in national rankings, but in MileSplit's latest round of projections, we had the program at No. 6.
Along with California, New York is considered one of the biggest -- and toughest --regions in the country. One of the team's biggest strengths was its performance at McQuaid. The program won the Class AAA race and overall merge -- nearly 2,500 runners competed in the event -- scoring a team average of 15:19.5 and a 43-second spread.
There also came wins at the Baldwinsville Invitational, the Section 2 Championships (19 points, 15:32 average), the New York Federation Championships and a win in the Class B race at the New York State Championships.
Big ticket wins?
The team wasn't in Class A, so it couldn't face off against Corner or Fayetteville-Manlius at state -- both of these teams locked up auto-qualifers at NXR New York.
But Burnt Hills did defeat Corning -- the No. 2 team from NXR New York -- at McQuaid.
Compared to the four at-large teams -- St. Francis (CA), Green Hope (NC), Timpanagos (UT) and Desert Vista (AZ) -- Burnt Hills absolutely deserved to be at NXN.