The division 4 boys championship race from middle school state last year
We call it hitting the "freshman lottery" as high school coaches. And that term definitely used to be true, but thanks to the Georgia Middle School State Cross Country Championships, it might be a little out dated. When we say somebody hit the lottery we typically mean they got freshman who are good enough for varsity that they didn't even know about until school started, or the summer before. You'd typically see it more on the girls side than the boys side, but plenty of teams have surpassed their preseason ranking, and won state titles, with freshman boys on their varsity.
Back when I started running there was no middle school cross country. Almost nobody ran before high school, and if they did it was just in local road races. But every year we see more and more kids running at the middle school level. There are more and more middle school meets every year on the calendar as well. And now coaches have a better idea who is coming to them from the middle school scene as there's much more open communication than there used to be.
One of the best things I think that the middle school cross country scene has done for our sport has been that it has helped get rid of some of the stigma that surrounded young female runners. Back when I started I was told "girls are fastest when they're freshman and then get slower every year." And that's just not true, but for a long time I think many people believed that. In fact, the opposite may be true as the professional women are showing us that they are capable of running PR's into their 40's even, something you just don't see from the men. It was best put to me at a coaches clinic one year when the presenter said "women are faster than girls, and if that wasn't the case you'd only see 16 year girls in the Olympics." So this mindset that girls got slower as they got older has thankfully been debunked.
Fortunately training knowledge has improved and so many of the kids who star at the middle school level go on to do so at the high school level too. It's important to remember that progress isn't always linear, but for the most part we have come a long way in the last 24 years that I've been around the sport. And a big reason why is because these kids get introduced to running at a younger age, and learn how to progress in a healthy way. That's fantastic.
So what do the numbers look like?
This meet started in 2006, actually, but it really didn't start exploding until the 2010's. And now it's the biggest XC meet of the season in Georgia.
In 2006 there were 111 boy finishers and 106 girl finishers. In 2023 there were 1,157 boys and 933 girls.
Back in 2008 (the first year we had more reliable MileSplit data) there were a total of 44 girls who broke 14:00 for the 3200 or 2 mile and 13 boys who broke 12:00 all year.
In 2023 we saw 138 boys break 12:00 and 221 girls break 14:00 throughout the season.
As a result we are seeing better times and a deeper field at the high school level too.
In 2008 to make the top 100 in Georgia it took a time of 16:38 for boys and 19:57 for girls.
In 2023 to make the top 100 in Georgia it took a time of 16:09 for boys and 19:36 for girls.
To make the top 250 in 2008 took a time of 17:10 for the boys and 20:50 for the girls.
To make the top 250 in 2023 took a time of 16:42 for the boys and 20:28 for the girls.
Keep in mind that the sport grew quite a bit from 2000 to 2008 as well. Times dropped significantly during that span, and we thought we were near the peak back then. We just don't have all of that data as it was mostly pre MileSplit era. Shoes certainly make up a few seconds of that time. But not all of it. The participation numbers are up and the times are dropping as the fields get deeper and deeper each year. This starts at the middle school level. When we have kids that fall in love with the sport early, it means better things at the high school level.