I'm a sophomore, and I'm in my second running season ever.(I ran track in the last school year, and I just ran my first cross country season this year.) In last year's track season, there were only 2 classes (class 1A and class 2A), but for cross country there were 3 classes. (class 1A, class 2A, and class 3A.) Anyway, I qualified for state in the 3200m for track and got 34th. (I was in class 2A.) This season for cross country, I qualified for state and placed 4th with a time of 17:53. I just feel very intimidated because if I had been in class 3A, I would've gotten 31st place with my time of 17:53. So anyway, should I be intimidated? As far as I can see, my school is going to stay in class 2A at least until I'm out of high school, but are colleges going to see my time and think "oh great, she got 4th, but she ran a 17:53" and then take the girl who didn't even get all-state in class 3A just because she had a better time?
My second comment/question is...I was looking at pictures of the winner of 3A, and she looks very very skinny. The winner of class 2A wasn't as skinny, but she looked "healthy-skinny." So my question is...which body type has more of an advantage? The "healthy-skinny", or the "beastly class 3A champion who ran sub 17 the whole year" a.k.a. "very very skinny?"
Also, do I have potential to win class 2A state for cross country next year?
The girl who got 3rd place is graduating next year, the girl who got 1st place ran a 17:41, and the girl who took 2nd place is a freshman, but she isn't going to run track in the spring. With this cross country season being my first one ever, is there room for improvement? My PR is 17:53. My 3200 P.R. is 11:23, but that was as a freshman who had only been running for 4 months. So...room for improvement, or have I reached my limit?