Please stop the foolishness, Fernandez has almost no chance of winning the NCAA XC Championship; finishing top 10 would be an accomplishment and top 5 would exceed expectations. No way he is going to win the race; by all measures, Rupp is the clear favorite with Chelanga 2nd and half dozen guys with a shot at 3rd. Rupp and Webb had an equal, if not more impressive H.S. career and winning the NCAA XC was impossibility for them as well. Ritz was a 2x FLNC, a XC specialist and he could not do it. Fernandez is an excellent XC runner, which he has already shown at USA Juniors and Pre Nats. Not taking anything away from Fernandez, but Rupp can run an 8:34 2-mile in route to a 5K.
It is no surprise that Fernandez is doing so well this season, if you can run a 4:01 mile and 8:34 2-mile, that automatically makes you better than 99% of the NCAA cross country runners, but a 10k cross county championship race takes a lot of physical maturity, which he does not have yet. There is a big difference between running what amounts to a mile and 2 mile time trial against H.S. competition to running an end of season 10k XC Championship against a dozen guys who are just as good if not better that you…Fernandez may not even be the best guys on his team. I would say German has a better chance at an NCAA Rupp-less track 5k title and he will win an NCAA XC Championship, but not this year.