There's good reason to be paying attention to what happens up in San Juan County this spring.
Based on rosters of returning athletes and their performances from last spring, neighboring rivals Bloomfield and Aztec look like two of the teams to beat in 4A boys this spring. But, there is a major cluster of schools hanging close with the potential to disrupt things.
Look for credible challenges from schools such as Valencia, Santa Teresa, Moriarty, Artesia, Kirtland Central (oops, that would be another San Juan County school), and Albuquerque Academy. With the preseason rankings this close, figure relays will be an even-bigger-than-usual part of the picture this spring.
The distance events look to be wide open this spring as graduation hit last year's ranks of 4A distance runners very hard. And, we've already seen some indications in 2012 that Los Alamos is positioning to take advantage of the opportunity.
2011 NM HS M Outdoor Track Team Scores (Returners Only)
Calculated as of February 18, 2012
These rankings were calculated by scoring the rankings as a meet. We took the individual rankings and scored them as a normal meet: 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1.
Athletes whose graduation years are unknown were left out of the list.