From the minute track season was canceled, there has been nothing certain about cross country season except that it has been uncertain. Many athletes and coaches have been on a constant roller coaster since the summer of "We are having a season" to "We aren't having a season" to "We are having a season in the spring" to "We are back to running in the fall."
This has made the 2020 season the hardest one to cover in the three years I've been the editor of MileSplit Missouri. With the largest county in the state sidelined until just recently, along with the long delay in getting class and district assignments its been very hard to get a feel for exactly where things stood, and made it hard for me to really write as much or as often as I used to.
Like everyone else, the whole situation surrounding COVID-19 has made things difficult on me, whether that's as the Editor of MileSplit Missouri or in my job as the cross country coach at Francis Howell High School. It has made it hard to make "bold predictions" or even write up a "weekend recap" when a lot of teams weren't even running, or meets are in so many waves that there hasn't been as much direct racing which has led to a lot of "well they ran the same course, but against different competition so would the outcome had been the same had they been in the same race?"
However, now that we are in October and just a month away from the state meet, I think we now have a more clear picture of where everything stands. This week I will be putting out a lot of content with an updated state subjective team rankings for the first time since August, "if state was today" virtual meets, top athletes and performances in each class so far, along with a couple of features worked on by MileSplit contributors.
Thank you for all of your support over the last few weeks as things have been a little hectic. I'm looking forward to returning to more traditional coverage that you've grown used to in years past as we all make the turn for the post season.