In the past, the nation's top teams were determined by informed opinions and sometimes convoluted comparisons. Historically, a criterion for determining the best teams in the nation was absent. Often a coach seeking recognition by his or her team needed to be an expert statistician, and even better at marketing to get a team ranked at the top. At best, running experts could project the top teams based upon a few regional match-ups, and dominance in state meets by teams considered being national powers.

Occasionally, a team-to-team run-off would occur with a transcontinental jaunt by a top west team travelling to the venerable Manhattan Invitational in New York City or the Vulcan Classic in Birmingham, Alabama.

However with the limited travel budgets of many high school teams and travel restrictions enacted by enlightened state associations to protect their athletes, the title of the nation's best is usually determined by measures other than head-to-head competition. The most commonly used statistics to support the claim as the nation's best usually involved the time spread between the top five runners. This evidence of a superior team is most often used when a top runner from an undefeated team qualifies for the Foot Locker Championships, a post season race for the nation's best individual high school runners. It is reasoned that if a super star runner finished in the top 10 nationally and his teammates were only 45 seconds behind in a local dual meet, then all five runners could have placed well in a national meet, where the average time spread of other top teams is greater, and the temperature was "X". Well, so much for statistics.

The ideal way to determine the nation's best is through a simple team-to-team competition. One team race, which has emerged in the past year and gives a much better comparison between teams, is the Great American Cross Country Festival (Sept 21-24 in Charlotte NC). While this meet will not attract every top team and with its early season date prior to most teams reaching a peak, it still provides the best alternative to guess work, team marketing, and the statistics to rank most top teams. However, under present conditions, most Midwest states have rules that prevent their schools from traveling more than 300 miles. Thus, these teams are eliminated from running in Charlotte, North Carolina, home of Great American.

So, what does a top national team look like and how does it achieve such levels of excellence? While it would be a gross generalization to describe a model national best team, a top national boys' power would look similar to this:

A top boys' team is typically going to start with one superstar. This runner is a senior, will finish in the top 10 in the Foot Locker Nationals, team captain, a team leader, and he will set several course records and break the state meet record, or get close to it. In spring track, you will often see this star run sub-4:10 and sub-9:00. He is usually followed by a close friend, also a senior, who trains step for step with the star runner, usually finishes in the top 3 in his state meet, and gets close to making the Foot Locker Nationals. In spring track, this star runner runs an excellent mile, around 4:15 or better, and/or a sub 9:10 two miles. But two runners hardly make a national class team, and the best teams support their upfront duo with three to five runners who will run a sub-16:00 5K and sub-9:30 two miles or sub-4:20 miles. Often the supporting teammates include a young frosh, who will be the next super star of the school. This type of depth seldom comes from small schools and usually comes from schools with a rich tradition of running excellence, strong community support, and coaches who oversee major corporations.

York was lead by Foot Locker finalist Donald Sage, who came within a hair of breaking the four-minute mile last spring in track. Two other runners, who ran two-mile times in the 9:12 to 9:14, followed him. This created an excellent one-two-three punch, the best in the nation, but it was the team's fifth runner, Peter Stasiulis, who ran a 4:19 mile in track and showed just how deep the team was.

A top girls' team, like the boys', is going to have one superstar. This is a runner who will finish in the top 10 in Foot Locker Nationals, but often younger than their male counterparts. Like the boys, this front-runner will set several course records, break the state meet record, or get close to it. In spring track, you will often see this star run in the range of a 4:50 mile and sub 10:40 two mile. A close friend usually follows her, but we often see sister combinations. These two runners will run under 17:50 and the top runner will go 17:20 or better.

Like the boys, the number two runner usually finishes top 3 in her state meet and gets close to making Foot Locker Nationals. In spring track, this star runner has an excellent mile of 4:59 or better. In terms of depth, the top national team will average under 18:30 in a 5K for the top five. Again, this depth usually comes from schools with rich traditions of running excellence (e.g. Saratoga Springs, Bingham, Bend, and Campbell County).

Can we learn anything from these teams and have they all learned a secret formula? Here is a quick look at the secrets of the top teams.

The best programs and teams have a combination of many, but not all, of the following:

One coach for both boys and girls;

The head cross country coaches are also the head track & field coaches;

Very supportive administrations and if not, they become semi-independent with strong booster clubs;

Compete against the best in the nation on a regular basis;

Another top program located within their district;

Travel regularly if located in remote locations away from other top programs;

Seldom have great runners magically appear as 9^th graders, and develop their feeder systems with strong junior high programs;

Achieved community support and are the center of their local running community;

Coaches, who are leaders and motivators, and understand today's youth;

Allowed decision making by the team;

Run year round and do not let their runners get out of shape;

Well developed training programs that are consistently applied; and

Trained with either moderate mileage with high intensity, or heavy mileage, but neither falls into a category of low slow miles.

Today, with continous feedback via the internet and more national meets ranging from Great American, Manhattan and Foot Locker, standards of excellence and details of training programs are significantly contributing to a larger pool of fast teams and runners.