* Edina's boys won the Minnesota Class AA state championships
- - -
Fortunately enough, the conversation around the boys at-larges was a little more clear.
Throughout the season, California exemplified its strength with, at times, five nationally ranked teams. So it was a good guess to assume that the state would get three teams based on the CIF Cross Country Championships.
But two at-larges?
That answer could only determined by who was also vying for an invitation. And that question likely surrounded around NXR Heartland No. 3 Edina, Southeast No. 3 Weddington and Northeast No. 3 Haddonfield Memorial (NJ).
But Haddonfield's at-large bid took a hit when it finished seventh at the Manhattan Invitational and was second to NXR Northeast No. 4 La Salle Academy at the Bowdoin XC Classic. In my opinion, the New Jersey club was out due to those circumstances.
Weddington's bid, on the other hand, failed to look viable when you considered its season -- there were no huge wins against ranked teams.
But Edina?
The team from Minnesota had an argument.
But before we get into the Hornets' numbers, let's take a look at the teams who were decided as NXN representatives.
Speed ratings backed up the first at-large pick when Newbury Park put up the second highest rating overall with Nico Young (192) and had quality performances down its lineup: 182-180-175-174.
Next was determining whether the No. 3 from the Southwest, Mountain Vista (CO)--which finished third at NXN last year--was worthy of a bid. Much of that decision likely surrounded around the inclusion of Easton Allred, who is a definite contender to win on Dec. 1 in Portland and who raced in jayvee competitions through the fall because of Colorado state association ineligibility--NXN, on the other hand, is a club event, which means he can race.
With Allred, the team is much better, though there are still questions with whether the Golden Eagles can compete at the top level. Allred raced to a 193 at NXR Southwest, while the team's next four scorers were 175-173-73-171.
The biggest question marks beyond those two teams surrounded the decision to include NXR Northwest's No. 3 Lewis and Clark, which was fourth at its Class 4A state championship in Washington, and CIF Championship No. 4 La Costa Canyon, which finished second at the Stanford Invitational and second in the team sweepstakes race at Mt. SAC.
Let's compare each team's best performances in their best races:
La Costa Canyon
- Stanford: 184-183-177-172-161 (Lost to CIF No. 2 Claremont)
- Mt. SAC: 184-184-178-168-161 (Lost to CIF No. 1 Great Oak)
- CIF Champs: 190-188-183-175-166
Lewis And Clark
- Northwest: 190-178-175-175-165
- Washington: 186-176-176-167-164
- Mountain West: 180-170-168-164-156 (beat NXR Northwest No. 2 Central Valley here)
The argument for Edina:
Edina's boys have the best case here, having defeated NXR Heartland No. 1 Saint Paul Mounds View in the Class AA State race (88-99), and NXR No. 2 Middleton at the Roy Griak Invitational, convincingly (154-280).
But, as numbers tend to have a direct corollary to performances, let's take a look at Edina's best speed ratings:
- Heartland: 185-176-174-166-165
- State Class AA: 188-176-171-168-167
- Roy Griak: 185-174-168-162-162
The numbers don't necessarily suggest Edina should have been a shoe-in, but they also don't heavily skewed against the team's chances when compared to La Costa Canyon and Lewis and Clark.
And given that fact, you would have to assume the next point of contention would be wins.
Edina has two major wins over auto-qualifiers. Lewis and Clark had one. La Costa Canyon had none.
I'd call that a snub, then, too.