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The annual DyeStat Elite XC Individual Top 25 series (formerly Foot Locker Favorites and renamed given additional options available now) are national and regional rankings of cross-country runners based on distance-running accomplishments to date, with an emphasis on XC and 3200/2M track results, rather than a projection of how the Foot Locker Finals or NXN Finals will turn out (predictions run later in the season).
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Class of 2011 is proving unstoppable
Oct 16, 2009 Boys Rankings (through Oct. 10 meets)
The Top 25
Amazingly, 8 of the top 11 harriers in the country are juniors -- and two more are sophs
Story and rankings by SteveU
| Sam Pons en route to victory at Clovis. Photo Rich Gonzalez
| Class of 2011: Time for a shoutout – In the DyeStat Elite Top 25 preseason rankings for this fall, seven of the top eight were non-seniors. If you went back through the four years of these rankings, and then through history and recreated what would be a preseason Top 25 for every season, it’s extremely doubtful you would ever find so many outstanding non-seniors in a year. But that was the preseason – how would it play out in real life?
Well, the season is halfway done, and the Top 25 has reshaped itself – but the balance is very similar. Maybe, however, it’s not non-seniors so much as the Class of 2011 that is simply amazing. While Lukas Verzbicas IL and Futsum Zeinasellassie IN strongly represent 2012, it’s the 2011 group that takes 8 of the top 11 spots.
You could have seen this coming for at least a year and a half. In spring of 2008, the New Jersey Rosa twins, Zach Wills OH, and Craig Lutz TX all ran 9:15 or better for 3200 meters – as freshmen. Elias Gedyon has been a phenom since his Youth track days and has kept improving.
Last fall, although Wills’ season fizzled a little early, the Rosas, Gedyon and Lutz all made big waves, with Joe Rosa, Lutz and Gedyon finishing 4-5-12 at NXN Finals. For the most part, track last year was more of the same, with Heyden Wooff (8:55 3200) and Sam Pons (9:00 3200, 14:44 track 5k) moving well up into the group.
To really measure this group, it’s most relevant to talk about track times. Five of these eight have already run between 8:52 and 9:03 for 3200, and another (Gedyon) has run 4:07 for 1600. Amazingly, new Holmdel and Vanny king, and US#1 Joe Rosa is one who did not run a sub-9:10 last spring. Is there any double he's capable? Any reasonable fan would predict than any of these eight running the 3200 next spring should be able to hit at least 8:50-8:55 – as juniors. But as seniors in 2011? You could have all eight of these guys in the 8:40s … and that would be a historically strong group, right there.
Pons makes his name – Until last weekend, you’d have to have put Samuel Pons CA on the outer edge of this ultra elite group. But last weekend, by beating two of California’s top four harriers in Ammar Moussa and Erik Olson, Pons moves into the national top 10, shaking up the rankings around him considerably. His 14:53 5k to win the Clovis Invite was historic as well – it was the fastest time ever run by a junior on the Woodward Park state meet course, beating the 14:54 by none other than Cali legends Louis Quintana and Calvin Gaziano.
Welcome back, Craig – The other really big mover in the top 25 this week was Craig Lutz TX. By beating previous #9 Parker Stinson TX and HM Ryan Dohner TX, Lutz won a very muddy Nike South meet and vaults back into the top 10 – again, shaking things up around him. Lutz also won Nike South last year and seemed to be headed toward a TX 5A state title – until a runaway freight train named Reed Connor got in the way. Lutz still placed in the top 5 at NXN Finals, though, to conclude an amazing soph year. He was unable to finish track the way he wanted, though, due to injury. Lutz hasn’t had a chance to try and avenge his early-season loss to Connor Adams yet.
Newcomers
- Klein Oak TX sr Ryan Dohner, for his runner-up finish behind Craig Lutz (and ahead of previous #9 Parker Stinson) at Nike South
- North Penn PA sr Brad Miles, for his runner-up finish behind Jon Vitez NJ in the Eastern States race at Manhattan
- Creekside FL jr Jimmy Clark, for his victory in the Bale-N-Trail meet in Florida, beating the returning 2A and 4A state champs
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Athlete
| | 1. (1) Joe Rosa, 2011, West Windsor-Plainsboro North HS, NJ | | 2. (2) Zach Wills, 2011, Mason HS, OH | | 3. (3) Lukas Verzbicas, 2012, Sandburg HS, IL | | 4. (6) Jim Rosa, 2011, West Windsor-Plainsboro North HS, NJ | | 5. (4) Brian Shrader, 2010, Sinagua HS, AZ | | 6. (5) Elias Gedyon, 2011, Loyola HS, CA | | 7. (8) Heyden Wooff, 2011, Camarillo HS, CA | | 8. (10) Connor Adams, 2010, Flower Mound HS, TX | 9. (NR) Samuel Pons, 2011, South Pasadena HS, CA
| | 10. (16) Craig Lutz, 2011, Marcus HS, TX | | 11. (13) Ammar Moussa, 2011, Arcadia HS, CA | | 12. (11) Jon Vitez, 2010, Haddonfield Memorial HS, NJ | | 13. (7) Erik Olson, 2010, Novato HS, CA | | 14. (12) Shane Moskowitz, 2010, Central Kitsap HS, WA | | 15. (14) Donovan Torres, 2011, Coronado HS, TX | | 16. (15) Futsum Zeinasellassie, 2012, North Central HS, IN | | 17. (NR) Ryan Dohner, 2010, Klein Oak, TX | | 18. (17) Steve Magnuson, 2010, Ironwood Ridge HS, AZ | | 19. (9) Parker Stinson, 2010, Cedar Park HS, TX | | 20. (19) Wade Meddles, 2010, Sierra Lutheran HS, NV | | 21. (NR) Brad Miles, 2010, North Penn HS, PA | | 22. (18) Matt McElroy, 2010, Edison HS, CA | | 23. (21) Cody Helbling, 2010, Lake City HS, ID | | 24. (N3) Matt Mizereck, 2010, Leon HS, FL | | 25. (NR) Jimmy Clark, 2011, Creekside HS, FL | | Honorable mention | Mohamed Abushouk NC
Dylan Anthony AK
Jeff Arnier TX
Michael Atchoo MI
Brian Atkinson FL
Reece Ayers PA
Luke Baker GA
Colin Barker FL
Aaron Bartnik MN
Aaron Beattie IL
Jacob Benn TX
Sam Bernitt PA
Sean Bone MI
Michael Brajdic OH
Christian Brown Otter ND
Tyler Byrne IN
Nick Composto IL
Domenic D'Aquisto CA
Ben Demaree OR
Armando Del Valle FL
Alex Dier NY
Kevin Dowd VA
Hugh Dowdy CA
Ryan Eaton KY
Travis Edwards CA
Jeremy Elkaim NJ
Kirubel Erassa GA
Phil Fairleigh IL
Brendan Farrell NY
Scott Fauble CO
Dustin Fay CA
Erik Fitzpatrick ID
Brandon Freyer NY
Lukas Gemar MN
Curtis Hanle OH
| Sherod Hardt AZ
Dan Harris NY
Francis Hernandez NH
Max Holman MS
Caleb Hoover MO
Nick Hughes NY
Jake Hurysz NC
Ben Johnston WA
Omar Kaddurah MI
Reed Kamyszek MI
Brett Kelly ND
Maksim Korolev MO
Pat Lesiewicz IL
Philip MacQuitty CA
Jose Madera CA
Andrew McCullen VA
James McIllece TX
Clint McKelvey TN
Anthony Manfrin IL
James Martin IN
Mike Mazzaccaro NJ
Colin Mearns VA
Erick Montoya FL
Mitch Moriarity CA
Jose Luis Munoz AZ
Danny Nicolls CO
Drew O'Donahue-McDonald WA
Hale O'Herren IN
Billy Orman AZ
David Osborn IN
Jantzen Oshier CA
Andrew Palmer MD
Conner Peloquin WA
Vince Perozzi PA
| Kyle Pittman NM
Jacob Rainey TN
John Raneri CT
Heath Reedy CA
Curtis Richburg NJ
Daniel Rosales CA
Pablo Rosales CA
Nick Ross RI
Garrett Rowe CA
Alex Saavedra NY
Will Sanford FL
Colin Savage NY
Walter Schafer CO
Pat Schellberg NJ
Alan Schroeder WA
Michael Scolarici IL
Jake Sienko RI
Neal Smith TX
Bryan Spreitzer NC
Jonathan Squeri
Max Straneva NY
Blake Theroux VA
Adam Thorne WA
Otis Ubriaco NY
Tyler Udland NJ
Justin Vilhauer CA
Scott Vincenzi IN
Chris Walden IN
Michael Wallace FL
Aaron Watanabe NH
Lane Werley CA
Jake Wildenmann KY
Blake Williams NC
Nathan Williams CA
Mack Young WA
Pat Zacharias NM |
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Top 25 Index
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