By now, the attention of more than a few distance types has turned to cross country. I've had friendly little reminders on the forum that it's time to start thinking cross country, and then I caught up with Adam Kedge at Great Southwest. Mr. Kedge was busy setting up steeple barriers on the track--the closest thing to real cross country that track and field has to offer.
But it's also two months to cross country season. That's a lot of time to fill this site with editorial content before the actual racing starts. But, we'll give it our best.
There are questions to be asked and questions to be answered--tentatively, at least--in every classification and gender. Several squads took whopping hits via graduation while others figure to come back to the course this fall mostly unscathed. In any case, it's a brand-new season and no team needs to start the season intimidated by what the giants of New Mexico cross country accomplished last year. Summer is the great eraser, but it is true that there is a tendency for certain programs to do the best jobs of paying their initial dues over the months of June, July, and early August. Hoping they won't pay their dues this year is an exercise in futility; the only way to catch the train is to pay your own dues when running tends to be a little thankless and a lot hot.
So, with that as prologue, keep coming back over the next few weeks to see previews of every classification and gender. We'll delve into questions like:
- Is Cimarron touchable in 1A boys?
- How will Los Alamos rebound in light of what may have been the school's biggest hit to graduation (boys, anyway) ever?
- How much better could the Eldorado girls be than they were last year?
- Has Albuquerque Academy relocated the magic formula?
- Will anyone be able to check the rise of Piedra Vista?
- Can Pojoaque's girls match what their boys have done (and seem ready to do again)?
- What might it mean to a Cleveland team to lose two leaders like Malia Gonzales and Luis Martinez?
We'll dig out a few photos from last year's state meet to use as covers for the article.
All that to say, keep coming back folks!