Ed’s Ramblings - The Best in S.C. Cross Country - Part 3

But which of these teams and which of these schools stand out as being the best over the history of the meet?  We can all argue, as I have done in my past articles, that this can be difficult.  Courses are different lengths, even the same site from one year to the next.  The environments in which we compete are different, even from one day to the next.  But other sports have done it.  How can a quarterback that plays on a snow covered field in sub-zero weather be compared to one across the country on the same day playing in an indoor, climate controlled stadium? Statistics!  

Of course the die-hards will remember the conditions when arguing those stats, but it is the stats that are recorded in the record books.  So that is what I have done - try to base my conclusions on the facts of the recorded results.

The best athletes to run in the state are easy; the ones with the fastest times.  Our State Best for the boys belongs to David Adams of Hilton Head Island High School with a time of 14:36 in 1999.  The State Best for the girls belongs to Ava Dobson of St. Joseph's High School in 2019 with a time of 16:58.  Here are the top 25 best performances.  (Please note that all data based on performances in this article begin in 1974 for the boys and 1978 for the girls.  Courses before these years were definitely shorter than 3.1 miles).

BOYS TOP 25 STATE MEET TIMES

Note: The number in the first column is the overall place for the athlete in that year's classification race.

GIRLS TOP 25 STATE MEET TIMES

Note: The number in the first column is the overall place for the athlete in that year's classification race.

SCHOOL  RANKING BY BEST TIME

Best seven times for every school, all ranked by time and given place then the team scored.  

SCHOOL RANKING BY BEST ATHLETES

Best seven athletes for every school, all ranked by time and given place then the team scored.

There was an error in formatting in the last article for the girls so here again is the next 15 correctly formatted.

SCHOOL RANKING BY NUMBER OF TEAM SCORES (STATE MEET APPEARANCES)

SCHOOL RANKING BY AVERAGE TEAM PLACE

The sum of a school's team place divided by the number of State Meet appearances.  

SCHOOL RANKING BY AVERAGE TEAM POINTS

The sum of a school's team place divided by the number of State Meet appearances.

SCHOOL RANKING BY TRACK TEAM SCORING

Top eight team places given points as in track meet and points added together.

TEAM RANKING BY TEAM TIMES

Sum of top 5 runners times per team.

Results - 

The Best South Carolina State Cross Country Meet Performances  

Boys - David Adams of Hilton Head.  Seven of the top 10 performances were run at Hilton Field.  Adams has an eight second lead over Wren's Ernie Shepard.  

Girls - Ava Dobson of St. Joseph's.  Ava holds a thirty-eight second lead over Kate Niehaus of Spring Valley.  Kate has the second and third place times.  Kate ran on Hilton Field and Ava at Camden.  Camden was flatter, but a more boring course, and thirty-eight seconds is pretty significant.

The Best State Cross Country Meet Team

Boys - Mauldin's 1984 Team.  For years this team has been talked about as being the best. Their 4703 seconds (1:18:23) is almost a minute and a half ahead of second place Daniel.  Lexington's 2011 and 2012 teams are very impressive but not quite enough to overtake Gary Arnold, Mike Cason, Eric Fearn, Sean Correll, and Matt Watkins, all of whom placed in the top seven.

Girls - Riverside's 2014 Team.  Riverside's girls were quite impressive in the middle of the last decade.  They had four of the top 10 best Team Times including the top two.  The 2014 team(1:33:30)  was over a minute faster than their 2016 team and a minute and a half in front of Daniel's third place.  So congrats to the team of Cate Ambrose, Ashley Fallow, Carter Marchbanks, Jessie Crowley, and Emma Spencer.

The Best Program 

Please note that my choices are based on the entire history of the State Championships by comparing the teams and schools with each other and other teams and schools regardless of classification.  I know that many schools have had a few dominant years but then fade off and there are many up and coming programs but their time in the State Meets does not warrant them an outstanding program over our complete history.  Another decade may show that they may or may not belong along with the ones I have chosen.

Boys - 1st - Wade Hampton - Wade Hampton had teams compete very well in the 70's but disappear from the results in the early and mid 80's.  But in 1989 the team exploded onto the scene in a long series of state meet appearances.  They have won six State Championships and 10 runner-ups.   Though Wade Hampton has no individuals in the top 25, their teams came to compete.  They have the most points scored in the top eight ranking as well as the two of the top ten in Place Average and Point Average. 

(Most of the schools ahead of them are recently new schools).  The school also has the most All-State performers as well as the most number of years with at least one athlete in the All-State category.

2nd - Spartanburg - A dominant 4A school in the 80's, 90's, and 00's Spartanburg did not place in the top ten by place or score average, but did place second in the track scoring method. Spartanburg won seven State Championships and nine runner-ups. Two future years in the top eight may put Spartanburg ahead of Wade Hampton.

3rd - Hilton Head - With three scores in the top 10 of team times, state appearances, top seven athletes Average, Top 7 Times Average, and State Meet appearances, as well as third in the track scoring method I place Hilton Head third.  Hilton Head won 10 state titles and five runner-ups.

Girls - 1st - Daniel - Daniel is first in the track scoring method, has three team times in the top 10, fourth in both team point and place average, has the best in Top Seven Times and an incredible lead in the best seven athletes category, as well as being sixth in State Meet appearances.  The Daniel girls have won twelve individual State titles as well as seven team titles and eight runner-ups.  They also lead all girl's schools with the most All-State athletes.

2nd - Mauldin -  Slightly behind Daniel in many categories, the Mauldin girls place second in track team scoring, as well as in the top ten in average team place, average team score, best seven times and best seven athletes. They are third in All-State performances, but first in the number of All-State years.  Mauldin has ten state championships and three runner-ups. 

3rd - Riverside - With a top 10 ranking in every category, Riverside's girls also have six of the best 30 team time scores in history. They also have the second most All-State athletes.  They have 13 state titles and five runner-ups.

OK, these are my choices.  I hope you can see the reasoning of my choices backed up by the data.  I am sure that some of you would love to argue with me about some or all of my choices.  If so, please send comments with applicable data (don't just say you think so and so is the best - back it up with statistics) on the related MileSplit SC social media posts.  They will pass them along to me and I will respond.  Thanks for tolerating three long articles!

Ed Boehmke