Breaking Down How State Meet Returners Faired

David Everett

We took a look at the 2017 MSHSAA State XC Championship looking at how runners compared to previous years. Below are some of our insights. Want to dig into the data yourself? We have compiled the data for you to look at yourself.

Malik Stewart of Maplewood-Richmond Heights finished second in Class 2 after 139th in 2016. (Photo Credit: James Schultz)

Boys

Data: 2017 Runners with 2016 Times and Differences, 2017 Runners with 2014, 2015, and 2016 Times, Teams and their Improvement

  • Of the 622 boys that ran at the State Meet, 299 had run at the State Meet in 2016, 137 runners ran in 2015, and only 33 runners ran in 2014. 27 senior boys ran in all four state meets during their career.
  • The average runner who ran at both the 2016 and 2017 State Meet improved by 13 seconds despite the fact that only 63% of the athletes improved their time (191 runners had a faster time than last year while 108 ran slower). 
  • The most improved runner from 2016 to 2017 was Malik Stewart who went from 139th in 19:40 to 2nd in Class 2 with a time of 16:47.
  • The 26 fastest boys from 2017 all competed in the State Meet during 2016. Of the top 50 fastest runners in 2017, 46 competed in the 2016 State Meet. 
  • The fastest newcomer was Brady Bauder of Kickapoo who finished 21st in Class 4 in 16:22 in his first time at the State Meet.
  • Both Helias and Smithville returned their entire team from 2016. Helias improved on average by 1 second while Smithville improved by 7.5 seconds.
  • West Plains, who returned six runners from 2016, improved on average by 36 seconds. Only West Platte and Liberal had a better improvement for teams with five or more returners.


Cailee Lake of Liberal improved more than anyone else from last year's state meet, dropping over 3 minutes to finish 7th in Class 1. (Photo credit: James Shultz)

Girls

Data: 2017 Runners with 2016 Times and Differences, 2017 Runners with 2014, 2015, and 2016 Times, Teams and their Improvement

  • Of the 649 girls that ran at the State Meet, 301 had run at the State Meet in 2016, 145 runners ran in 2015, and only 68 runners ran in 2014. 44 senior girls ran in all four state meets during their career.
  • The average runner who ran at both the 2016 and 2017 State Meet improved by only 3 seconds. This has a lot do to with a lot of runners who ran over 30 seconds slower than last year. Of the 301 athletes, 72 athletes ran 30 seconds slower than last year. Comparatively, only 30 boys were 30 seconds slower than last year.
  • The most improved runner from 2016 to 2017 was Cailee Lake of Liberal who went from 82nd (24:38) to 7th in Class 1 with a time of 21:18.
  • The fastest newcomer was freshman Kylie Goldfarb of John Burroughs, the champion in Class 3.
  • Of the 222 teams that had at least one athlete at the State Meet, 144 of them had at least one returner. West Plains, Van Buren, Fatima, Ownesville, and St. Vincent all had 6 runners who ran at the State Meet in 2016.

Find any interesting facts? Let us know!