With all five scorers back, F-M ready to chase No. 11

By Adam Kopet of DyeStat

2017 Girls Preseason National Rankings

It is another year and once again Fayettville-Manlius NY stands atop the national girls rankings. This year the Hornets return the top five scorers from a team that won F-M’s 10th NXN championship.

However, this year looks like it could buck the trend of the previous two, when, at the end of the season, Davis Senior CA and Great Oak CA stood atop the podium with F-M. Neither team returns the pieces necessary to compete as a podium team. Not that these teams cannot return to this position in December, but both will need an influx of new talent in order to return to that level.

Instead, a relative newcomer sits directly behind F-M to start the season. Keller TX returns all seven runners that competed at NXN last year. Prior to that, Keller had only qualified to race in Portland one other time in its history.

Rounding out the preseason podium is Jesuit OR. The Crusaders failed to qualify for NXN the past several years. They finished sixth at NXR Northwest in a disappointing race. Jesuit returns six runners from that team and put together a fantastic track season with three runners running 10:04 or better for 3,000 meters.

Preseason projections have a large portion of the top teams coming from the western half of the country. California, the Northwest and the Southwest combine for a total of 23 teams in the top 50 and half of the teams in the top 10. However, it should be noted that the Midwest also provides eight ranked teams, showing both firepower up front and depth.

The Preseason Top 50

1. Fayetteville-Manlius NY

2. Keller TX

3. Jesuit OR

4. Buchanan CA

5. Broomfield CO

6. Edina MN

7. Naperville North IL

8. Great Oak CA

9. Battle Mountain CO

10. Saratoga Springs NY

11. Sunset OR

12. Johnston IA

13. Mountain View ID

14. Bozeman MT

15. Anaheim Canyon CA

16. Carmel IN

17. Mountain Vista CO

18. Centerville OH

19. Marcus TX

20. North Rockland NY

21. Blacksburg VA

22. Davis Senior CA

23. Glenbard West IL

24. Boise ID

25. Minnetonka MN

26. Claremont CA

27. Chandler AZ

28. Maple Mountain UT

29. Riverside SC

30. Southlake Carroll TX

31. Camas WA

32. North Hunterdon NJ

33. Lyons Township IL

34. Saugus CA

35. Wayzata MN

36. Troy OH

37. Cardinal Gibbons NC

38. Colts Neck NJ

39. Shenendehowa NY

40. Niskayuna NY

41. Mountain View UT

42. American Fork UT

43. Pine Crest FL

44. Arcadia CA

45. Issaquah WA

46. Lewis and Clark WA

47. Belvidere North IL

48. Billings Senior MT

49. St. Francis Sacramento CA

50. Carroll IN

Top 50 Teams from each region:

South: 3

Southeast: 4

Heartland: 5

Midwest: 8

New York: 5

Northeast: 2

Southwest: 7

Northwest: 8

California: 8

Top 10 Teams from each region:

South: 1

Southeast: 0

Heartland: 1

Midwest: 1

New York: 2

Northeast: 0

Southwest: 2

Northwest: 1

California: 2