{"comments":{"1111174":{"pb_id":"43715","pb_type":"members","likes":"0","parent_id":"0","pid":"1111174","comment_id":"1111174","member_id":"43715","comment":"Preseason rankings are heavily tilted towards <span class='bbc_underline'>best marks<\/span> by each athlete over the last year (from State XC onward) rather than gut feeling or averaged performances or XC\/track only outlook. <br \/>\n<br \/>\nFor the national rankings, I do give some thought to a program&#39;s history of success at that level (NXN), but otherwise it&#39;s mostly these factors (in order of importance): <br \/>\n1. Within their region, who looks like they would come out on top if the top X teams raced? <br \/>\n2. Within their region, which would be the best teams in a national field (historical NXN scoring)? <br \/>\n3. Following their regional rankings, which team in the nation would be the best in a national field (historical NXN scoring)?<br \/>\n<br \/>\n(and within the region, the #3 factor I look at is how the team would fare if ALL the regional in my database were in the same race - a mass merge of the 70-110 teams I took a look at)<br \/>\n<br \/>\nAll that establishes my first draft with teams in their proper tiers. If two or more teams are really close, I&#39;ll consider moving them around (within that tier) if it feels right, but the vast majority of the time I just leave the teams in the order their returning times suggest.","date_added":"Sep 1st 2014, 8:49pm","nest":0,"liked":false,"member":[],"can_delete":false,"item_id":278367,"item_type":"news","pb_image":"\/\/www.runnerspace.com\/forum\/uploads\/av-43715.jpg","pb_title":"watchout","pb_url":"profile.php?member_id=43715","pb_url_dns":"https:\/\/www.runnerspace.com\/profile.php?member_id=43715","pb_wally_id":"1073498"},"1111135":{"pb_id":"50627","pb_type":"members","likes":"0","parent_id":"0","pid":"1111135","comment_id":"1111135","member_id":"50627","comment":"Rob, I&#39;m curious what you based your rankings on. Would love to hear how much weight was based on actual times run versus gut feeling of what teams are going to improve the most.<br \/>\n<br \/>\nI find this list quite motivating, thanks for taking the time to put it together.","date_added":"Sep 1st 2014, 8:37pm","nest":0,"liked":false,"member":[],"can_delete":false,"item_id":278367,"item_type":"news","pb_image":"i\/no_avatar.png","pb_title":"cerutty fan","pb_url":"profile.php?member_id=50627","pb_url_dns":"https:\/\/www.runnerspace.com\/profile.php?member_id=50627","pb_wally_id":"1212787"}},"last_id":"1111135","url":"comments.php?item_type=news&item_id=278367&item_url=gprofile.php?mgroup_id=89"}