For all familiar with Meylan’s speed rating system. Who in high school xc history could’ve broken the notorious 210 speed rating barrier prior to current times?
These are the highest ratings Meylan has given out at Footlocker Nats. Ritzenhein (twice), Goucher, Solinsky, Davis, Sage, Fout, and Dobson are the only guys to have exceeded 210.0 there.
These are the highest ratings Meylan has given out at Footlocker Nats. Ritzenhein (twice), Goucher, Solinsky, Davis, Sage, Fout, and Dobson are the only guys to have exceeded 210.0 there.
There are probably 30 kids faster than Ian Dobson in any given year now. I’m old and I can tell the speed ratings have a nostalgic bias.
These are the highest ratings Meylan has given out at Footlocker Nats. Ritzenhein (twice), Goucher, Solinsky, Davis, Sage, Fout, and Dobson are the only guys to have exceeded 210.0 there.
That’s true. The question is who before these guys might’ve made the cut (early 1980s and before).
These are the highest ratings Meylan has given out at Footlocker Nats. Ritzenhein (twice), Goucher, Solinsky, Davis, Sage, Fout, and Dobson are the only guys to have exceeded 210.0 there.
There are probably 30 kids faster than Ian Dobson in any given year now. I’m old and I can tell the speed ratings have a nostalgic bias.
I disagree.
Meylan had been clear about this before in the past: Speed ratings for meets like Footlocker pre-2004 received the ratings that they did because it was the only true national XC meet available. The creation of NXN had the effect of splitting the national field year after year, watering down the depth of these meets even with the amount of talent in the US these days. The addition of runninglane didn't help either.
Meets like runninglane in 2020 and 2021 didn't get high speed ratings because while Sahlman ran fast, and beat a very good field, he didn't win by the giant margins that guys like Ritz and Fernandez won by.
For all familiar with Meylan’s speed rating system. Who in high school xc history could’ve broken the notorious 210 speed rating barrier prior to current times?
Virgin? Lindgren? Hulst? Pre? Nelson?
Why or why not?
I think all those guys could have. They were aerobic beasts and they knew how to run solo. I think LV should have been higher since he beat good fields by 15 and 11 seconds respectively.
These are the highest ratings Meylan has given out at Footlocker Nats. Ritzenhein (twice), Goucher, Solinsky, Davis, Sage, Fout, and Dobson are the only guys to have exceeded 210.0 there.
There are probably 30 kids faster than Ian Dobson in any given year now. I’m old and I can tell the speed ratings have a nostalgic bias.
They may have a slight nostalgic bias but Ian Dobson finished 5 seconds behind Ritz that day. Ritz is a fairly known quantity - 14:10 at the Michigan state meet (nobody has come within 30 seconds since), 3rd at U20 XC against the East Africans, 2x FL champ. Do you really believe 30 kids (or even 1 kid, for that matter) today could finish within 5 seconds of Ritz in XC?
The 1999 ratings are questionable imo, but when you look at the other 210+ races, has anyone done anything close to that impressive since? 14:41 at Balboa for Goucher, 14:40 at Balboa for Solinsky, 14:38 at Balboa for Davis, and 14:50 at Balboa for Fout. For reference, Drew Griffith ran 15:06 there this year. Last year Kole Mathison ran 14:56. Year before that was Hough in 15:11. If any of these guys threw down a 14:36-14:40, they would be getting a 210+ rating.
I'll also note that the girls don't seem to be having the same issues. When that article was written, 6 girls had broken 170 (5 at FL, one outside). Since then, 3 more girls have done it, and Tuohy did it basically every race in 2018. Several more have gotten close, with 165-169 ratings being pretty common these days. This is in contrast to ~10 years ago, when 160 was extremely rare. And it's no surprise that these girls are also running faster at Balboa; 16:40s-16:50s is a standard winning time now. If the boys could regularly get within 10 seconds of the course record, maybe I'd be more inclined to believe they deserve ratings within 3-4 points of the speed rating record.
I'm not gonna argue that it does feel like some performances are being underrated. 14:03 over XC 5k probably deserves at least a 205, even at RunningLane. The NP boys' numerous 14:20s at Woodward Park also probably deserved 205+ ratings, given German got a 209 for his 14:24 and it's an extremely consistent course. But I also don't think we're seeing the same improvement in cross country we are on the track, for whatever reason. 8:30s for 3200 is a dime a dozen these days but Foot Locker was won in 15:06 this year. I have no idea how that's physically possible honestly, but I don't think the answer is to give Griffith a 210 for a 15:06 just because he's fast on the track.