How can you compare high schoolers from across the country who haven't raced each other? Speed ratings! We're reposting TullyRunners.com's Foot Locker preview, with Bill Meylan's permission. One point in speed ratings equals roughly three seconds.

Boys General Comment

I suspect the speed ratings for the top finishers at Foot Locker Nationals may be higher than those shown in table above (that's typically the case) ... To finish in top places at Foot Locker Nationals typically requires exceptional performances, usually season-best performances ... Foot Locker is unique because it has a small field of select runners coming to the race expecting to run fast (knowing they have to run fast to place well) ... Top competition on a fast course under good weather conditions yields top performances (season-best performances).

Boys	Gr	School	St	Region	Overall Rating	Foot Locker Region Rating	FL Region Place	State Meet Rating
Finn Gessner	12	Madison La Follette	WI	Midwest	197	192	9	193
Sam Worley	12	New Braunfels Canyon	TX	South	197	193	1	194
Seth Hirsch	12	Millard West	NE	Midwest	197	193	5	196
Noah Affolder	12	Carlisle	PA	Northeast	196	196	1	194
Luis Grijalva	12	Armijo High	CA	West	195	191	4	196
Talon Hull	12	Weber	UT	West	195	196	1	194
Alexander Maier	10	Flower Mound	TX	South	195	191	3	194
Dylan Jacobs	11	Sandburg	IL	Midwest	194	196	1	191
Jack Aho	12	Grayslake Central	IL	Midwest	194	196	2	190
Reed Brown	12	Southlake Carroll	TX	South	193	190	6	189
Patrick O'Brien	12	Oyster River	NH	Northeast	193	193	3	192
Elliot Gindi	12	Ocean Township	NJ	Northeast	193	192	4	194
Tibebu Proctor	11	The Northwest School	WA	West	193	194	2	189
Callum Bolger	12	San Luis Obispo	CA	West	192	190	6	194
Matt Grossman	12	Millburn	NJ	Northeast	192	190	7	191
Gabe Fendel	11	Hamilton Southeastern	IN	Midwest	192	194	3	188
Noah Jacobs	12	Corunna	MI	Midwest	192	193	4	190
Connor Lane	12	Bishop Gibbons	NC	South	192	192	2	193
Waleed Suliman	12	Douglas Freeman	VA	South	191	190	5	190
Sam Affolder	10	Carlisle	PA	Northeast	191	193	2	188
Matt Aho	12	Grayslake Central	IL	Midwest	191	192	6	185
Matthew Pereira	12	Lake Zurich	IL	Midwest	191	192	7	186
Mitchell Day	12	Alpena	MI	Midwest	191	192	8	185
Brian Griffith	12	Grayslake Central	IL	Midwest	191	192	10	189
Travis Feeny	12	Ogden	UT	West	191	190	7	184
Dalton Hengst	11	McDonogh School	MD	Northeast	190	190	5	~187
Daniel Viegra	12	Pflugerville Hendericks	TX	South	190	190	4	---
Jacob McLeod	11	Trinity Christian	GA	South	190	190	8	---
Matthew Watkins	12	Henry M Jackson	WA	West	190	190	5	190
Charles Hicks	10	Bolles	FL	South	190	190	9	191
Amir Ado	12	Ferris	WA	West	190	191	3	186
Will Merritt	12	Smithburg	MD	Northeast	189	190	6	186
Nathan Henderson	12	JP McCaskey	PA	Northeast	189	189	9	189
Graydon Morris	9	Aledo	TX	South	189	190	7	183
Matthew Young	12	Jenks	OK	South	189	189	10	186
Meika Beaudoin-Rousseau	11	Bellarmine	CA	West	189	189	9	190
Zach Skolnekovich	12	Quaker Valley	PA	Northeast	188	189	8	181
Drew Thompson	11	Fairfield Prep	CT	Northeast	188	189	10	185
Joshua Schumacher	11	Jesuit	OR	West	188	189	8	186
Jiraa Riding	12	Orem	UT	West	187	187	10	183

Nine of eleven underclassmen from last year's Foot Locker return this year ... The returning runners include (with their finishes last year): Seth Hirsch (9th), Finn Gessner (11th), Noah Affolder (15th), Reed Brown (16th), Matthew Perriera (24th), Tibebu Proctor (28th), Waleed Suliman (29th), Matt Grossman (35th) and Talon Hull (37th)

Seven runners competed at NXN Nationals 2016 ... Sam Worley (2nd), Seth Hirsch (4th), Alex Maier (5th), Reed Brown (6th), Jack Aho (17th), Dylan Jacobs (19th) and Gabe Fendel (28th) ... So 4 of the top 6 finishers at NXN are at Foot Locker.

Based on the speed ratings, as many as 10 guys have a legitimate shot at winning this race depending on who's feeling good ... and that makes the race competitive and interesting.

Selected Individual Runners

Finn Gessner ... Qualified for NXN Nationals by winning the NXN Heartland Regional with a 199 speed rating ... Decided to skip NXN and concentrate on a top performance at Foot Locker ... an extra week of rest over the guys who did run NXN may be an advantage.

Sam Worley ... Has run exceptionally well during the entire 2016 XC season ... Won both the Foot Locker South and NXN South Regionals ... Has good closing speed ... Finished 2nd at NXN Nationals.

Seth Hirsch ... The top returning runner from Foot Locker 2015 ... Finished 4th at NXN Nationals ... Along with Finn Gessner, Seth Hirsch has a best individual speed rating of 199 which is tops in the field.

Noah Affolder ... The Foot Locker Northeast winner ... Finished 15th at Foot Locker 2015 ... A real threat to win this race.

Luis Grijalva ... The California State champion ... Possibly ran Foot Locker West only fast enough to qualify ... A real threat to win this race.

Talon Hull ... The Foot Locker West winner ... Finished 37th at Foot Locker 2015

Alexander Maier ... An exceptionally talented sophomore who has been competitive with top runners all season ... Finished 5th at NXN Nationals

Dylan Jacobs ... The Foot Locker Midwest winner ... Finished 19th at NXN Nationals

Reed Brown ... Finished 6th at NXN Nationals ... Finished 16th at Foot Locker 2015

Girls General Comment

A good field of competitors ... Claudia Lane is the favorite based on excellent seasonal performances ... Nevada Mareno finished 3rd at Foot Locker last year and is expected to be a serious contender for the win.

Seven underclassmen return this year from last year's Foot Locker ... The returning  runners are Nevada Mareno (3rd last year), Jordan Oakes (20th last year), Alyssa Aldrich (23rd last year), Maria Coffin (27th last year), Kate Hunter (31st last year), Kayla Young (33rd last year) and Julia Heymach (36th last year)

Four runners competed at NXN Nationals 2016 ... India Johnson (9th), Anne Forsyth (14th), Lauren Peterson (30th) and Christina Geisler (40th).

Girls	Gr	School	St	Region	Overall Rating	Foot Locker Region Rating	FL Region Place	State Meet Rating
Claudia Lane	10	Malibu	CA	West	158	158	1	158
Nevada Mareno	12	Leesville Road	NC	South	148++	147	1	148
Alyssa Aldridge	11	Mainland	NJ	Northeast	153	153	1	153
Anne Forsyth	11	Ann Arbor Pioneer	MI	Midwest	150	150	1	147
India Johnson	12	Hilliard Davidson	OH	Midwest	150	144	2	145
Jacqueline Gaughan	11	Exeter	NH	Northeast	148	148	2	147
Heather Holt	11	George C. Marshall	VA	South	148	146	2	149
Maria Coffin	11	Annapolis Senior	MD	Northeast	147	146	3	149
Niamh Schumacher	12	King's Academy	TN	South	146	146	3	145
Grace Connolly	10	Natick	MA	Northeast	145	145	4	142
Abigail Green	11	Walter Johnson	MD	Northeast	145	143	9	147
Olivia Theis	11	Lansing Catholic	MI	Midwest	144	143	5	145
Julia Heymach	11	Houston Lamar	TX	South	144	139	8	145
Nicole Fegans	12	Landmark Christian	GA	South	144	145	4	137
Jordan Oakes	12	Holy Names Academy	WA	West	144	143	5	143
Kearan Nelson	12	Central Valley Sr	WA	West	144	146	2	137
Alexandra Beitia	12	Granite Bay	CA	West	143	144	3	143
Kayla Young	12	Denver North	CO	Midwest	143	144	3	136
Lauren Peterson	10	Farmington	MN	Midwest	143	143	4	135
Page Lester	11	National Cathedral	DC	Northeast	143	144	5	~140
Hayley Jackson	12	Patuxent	MD	Northeast	143	144	6	138
Rebecca Story	11	Christian Academy	TN	South	143	141	6	141
Amanda Beach	12	Melbourne Central	FL	South	142	144	5	132
Bailey Hertenstein	11	Riverview	FL	South	142	140	7	142
Taryn Parks	9	Greencastle-Antrim	PA	Northeast	142	144	7	126
Alison Willingmyre	12	Wilson	PA	Northeast	142	144	8	137
Mattie Shirley-Fairbairn	10	Bismarck	ND	Midwest	142	140	7	144
Lindsay Payne	11	Glenbard West	IL	Midwest	142	140	8	143
Kate Hunter	12	Provo	UT	West	142	144	4	132
Marea Zlatunich	11	Aptos	CA	West	141	142	6	139
Kiera Marshall	12	St Joseph Notre Dame	CA	West	141	141	7	140
Julien Webster	12	Catoctin	MD	Northeast	141	143	10	118
Sara Platek	12	Ragsdale	NC	South	140	139	9	142
Sara Musselman	10	American Fork	UT	West	140	141	8	131
Christina Geisler	12	Carmel	IN	Midwest	140	141	6	134
Kyla Christopher-Moody	10	West Bloomfield	MI	Midwest	140	140	10	139
Ava Strenge	12	Battle Creek St Philip	MI	Midwest	139	140	9	130
Jesselyn Bries	11	Sandra Day O Connor	AZ	West	138	139	9	137
Katie Thronson	11	Lewis And Clark	WA	West	138	138	10	140
Anna Marian Block	11	Athens Academy	GA	South	137	136	10	13

Selected Individual Runners

Claudia Lane ... The Foot Locker West winner and top runner in California ... Has been improving throughout the season ... Popped 158 speed ratings at both Foot Locker West and the California State Meet (3rd fastest time ever at Woodward Park behind only Sarah Baxter and Julia Stamps).

Claudia Lane did race NXN Champion Brie Oakley at the Woodbridge Classic (Sept 17th) with Oakley winning by 23 seconds (153 and 145 speed ratings respectively) ... Both girls have shown improvement since that race nearly two-and-a-half months ago ... It would obviously be interesting to see them race now, but that's not going to happen.

Nevada Mareno ... The top returning runner from last year's Foot Locker where Nevada Mareno finished 3rd with a 160 speed rating ... Entering Foot Locker last year, she had a best speed rating of 157 when she broke the course record at WakeMed (the course used for NXN Southeast and the Great American Festival) ... Nevada Mareno ran a somewhat limited XC schedule this year and has not really been tested competitively ... she won Foot Locker South handily ... I'm guessing she can run significantly faster than this year's speed ratings ... I will not be surprised if she wins.

Alyssa Aldridge ... The Foot Locker Northeast winner ... Ran 153 speed ratings at both Foot Locker Northeast and the New Jersey Meet of Champions ... Finished 23rd at last year's Foot Locker.

Anne Forsyth ... The Foot Locker Midwest winner ... Finished 14th at NXN Nationals after taking 3rd at NXN Midwest.

India Johnson ... Finished 2nd at both Foot Locker Midwest and NXN Midwest ... Finished 9th at NXN Nationals.