Mid-Prairie wonders over cross-country rankings

WELLMAN - Week 5 of the Iowa Track and Field Coaches Association's cross-country rankings created quite a stir at an area school because of changes in team placements as well as an individual's rating or lack thereof. The fifth release caused some head scratching but maybe by the time the ninth ITFC poll is released, which will come out the Thursday before the state meet in Fort Dodge happens Friday, Oct. 30-Saturday Oct. 31.

Emotions were stirred and heads were scratched as Danielle Hostetler was dealt a complete drop off the Class 2A list after being ranked No. 1 from Week 1. The individual rankings go to 30 places. The team rankings list the top 15, then five more as teams to watch.

Most of the stirring that occurred came from Mid-Prairie. Or maybe it was bewilderment after seeing no mention of Hostetler and its girls team not listed at No. 1 in 2A's team ratings.

'The ranking were very poorly done this week,” Mid-Prairie head coach Mark Hostetler said. 'I emailed to find out what was going on with Danielle and Mitzi (Evans) not being ranked.”

Hostetler does not contribute to the rankings unless he is contacted to do so. 'I assume Danielle is not on because she didn't run at Pella.” Sometimes there is nothing like a little extra motivation and when Mid-Prairie assistant coach Aaron Fleming saw the girls team had dropped to No. 2, his response was, 'We'll see about that.” Each Tuesday's rankings are based on the previous Sunday through Saturday. 'It's pretty easy for any one of our athletes to be dropped if they miss a single meet since we only schedule one per week.”

Hostetler has had a hip injury and sat out a meet to help it heal and recover. The Golden Hawks are also selective in the meets they participate in, so they have gaps in their schedule, which would contribute to the committees's decision to drop the team's position.

Mid-Prairie ran at the Heartland Classic in Pella Saturday, Sept. 19, then next ran Monday, Sept. 28 at the Clear Creek Inviational. Mid-Prairie had scheduled to be at Solon Monday, Sept. 21, but did not participate.

Fleming said the policy that anyone who doesn't race for two weeks is dropped from the rankings 'is fair enough suppose, I suppose, so at least, it's a clear policy.”

The Golden Hawks girls are now No. 2 as a team behind rival Williamsburg. Williamsburg won the state qualifying race against Mid-Prairie last year but lost to the Golden Hawks by a point at the state meet. The Raiders have girls ranked at Nos. 14, 21, 22 and the new No. 1, Ruth Jennings, replaces Hostetler, who is not ranked in the top 30.

While the Mid-Prairie coaches occasionally send notes to the ranking committee they are not on it.

'There are often many aspects of the rankings that confuse us,” Fleming said.

One example was when Golden Hawk Abby Fleming finished ahead of all the Williamsburg runners except Jennings in Week 1 but in the rankings, Fleming was at No. 20 with several Williamsburg girls ahead of her. Fleming was then dropped from the rankings after Week 2.

Golden Hawk Mitzi Evans dropped from the rankings after missing a meet and has not re-entered the rankings despite coming back and continuing to post times that compare very favorably with others across the state.

Because of differences in courses like length, hills, sharp turns and the distance not always being accurate, it can be tricky to rank individuals. The easiest method is to compare head-to-head, or at least compare runner A to runner C if both A and C have run against runner B.

'By that method Abby and Mitzi should still be ranked in the top 20 and (Golden Hawk teammate) Phoebe Shetler should be in the top 30,” Coach Fleming said. 'Which would stand to reason coming from the top-ranked team, which would have five runners ahead of the No. 2 ranked team's 2nd runner.”

Despite being the No. 1 team through the first four weeks, Mid-Prairie has had only three runners individually ranked, while ranking Williamsburg has consistently had four runners.

'I find that very odd,” Coach Fleming said. 'I have several hypotheses about our low individual rankings.”

One must allow for the fact that the team and individual rankings are done by different people. There are many of the same issues with the boys rankings, which are also done by different people than the girls individual rankings.

Fleming said a simple evaluation of their four races this year shows two have been very hilly and the other was 250 meters too long.

'That makes us look slow in comparison to, say, Williamsburg, who have run at least three races on their own home course,” he said.

That course is flat and fast besides the fact there is a home-field advantage.

Another possible theory is Mid-Prairie's race at the Heartland Classic, where it was beaten by some of the best 3A and 4A schools, makes it look weak.

There is the fact that Mid-Prairie will only race once a week while most teams race twice or more a week.

'Maybe we're not high on the radar because we just aren't out there a lot,” Coach Fleming said. 'There are a number of training reasons that we don't race frequently and we're confident that our results at State the last few years vindicate our approach.”

The girls have won three straight titles in Class 2A at the state meet in Fort Dodge.

Because the rankings have caused a stir in the Mid-Prairie running community, the coaches had a talk with their athletes about rankings, individual and team.

'As we have consistently done for years, we told them that there is only one ranking that truly counts,” Fleming said.

That would be the 'ranking” at the end of the year called the state meet and that is not a ranking that is an actual earned placing, not a guess by a committee.

'There is a day of reckoning on which the truth will be revealed in stark and undeniable clarity, and our single purpose in training and in racing is to be ready to give our best on that day,” Coach Fleming said. 'That may sound a little apocalyptic, but it's on the record.”