I was at bugtown this year, and although I agree with your premise that rocky didn’t improve exactly in the way that was presented, but it was pretty clear that bugtown was a joke to rocky this year. The pack Came through the mile (with sainsbury and Heemeyer mind you) at a little over 5:10. At a little before the halfway point, Heemeyer and sainsbury made a huge move and dropped everyone, breaking it wide open.
keeping in mind that it was a jog fest for the first half, I don’t think that the bugtown times should really be compared to last year, because last year was a time trial type race up front while this year was the opposite