The top two girls' XC teams in the country, both from Colorado, will finally meet for the first time this season tomorrow at NXN Southwest

Niwot and Air Academy demonstrate how wide the gulf is between the teams at the very top of the performance pyramid and those good enough to earn a few hieroglyphics

The last time I mentioned Colorado high-school cross-country was five days before the state championships, which were held on October 28. At the time of the champs, Dyestat and Milesplit both had three Colorado girls’ teams ranked among the top six squads in the United States; both sites had Niwot at #1 and Air Academy (Colorado Springs) at #2, while Mountain Vista (Highlands Ranch) sat at #5 in Dyestat’s poll and at #6 in Milesplit’s. As I noted, these three teams had just dominated their regional meets by comparable amounts and with similar top-five average times (albeit on different courses).

Mountain Vista’s anticipated challenge to Air Academy in the 5A championship race three weeks ago at the Penrose Events Center, situated in the Springs at just over 6,000’ above sea level, never materialized. The Kadets performed as phenomenally as expected, scoring only 26 points, while the Golden Eagles managed just fifth. In the 4A race, Niwot scored only 20 points and won by even more than Air Academy did, with a top-five average slightly slower than the Kadets’ (17:59 versus 17:56).

Milesplit hasn’t released a new national girls’ teams poll—that’s probably coming after this weekend—whereas Dyestat decided to award Air Academy the top spot in its November 9 poll on the basis of the Kadets “besting” the Cougars 42-59 in a merge of the results of the 2A, 3A, 4A, and 5A Colorado State Championships girls’ races.

Tomorrow, the two teams, about 105 miles apart by automobile, will finally race each other. The NXN Southwest girls’ championship event in Mesa, Arizona will also feature Lone Peak of Highland, Utah, currently ranked #3 by Dyestat and #5 per Milesplit’s rapidly aging October 26 rankings. RunnerSpace will be livestreaming the NXN Southwest races for its usual fee, while live results will be available for free, with the championship boys setting off at 10:47 a.m. Mountain Time and the girls slated to start at 11:27 a.m.

From what I can gather, the course at the Penrose Events Center is neither fast nor especially grueling. The course in Belfast, Maine that was used for last Saturday’s New England Championships normally runs fast, but was muddy last weekend.

So, it seems fair to assume that had the Colorado State Championships been conducted on a replica of the Penrose course at sea level, the time would have been similar to a version of the same champs held on the Belfast course. In other words, the only practical difference between the courses, under the specified conditions, may have been the altitude. And if this is not in fact a fair comparison, its breathtaking simplicity and convenience, as always, more than compensates for any shortcomings in accuracy, precision, or relevance.

Since that altitude-driven difference translates to a little over 3.5 percent, and 3.5 percent of 18 minutes is around 40 seconds. both Air Academy and Niwot’s top five runners probably could have averaged under 17:20 at the New Englands.

Here’s how the top teams actually fared in Maine:

Dyestat has Champlain Valley Union at #29 in the country, but it’s clear that both of the country’s top two teams could easily put five runners ahead of CVU’s top gun. In fact, eight of the 30 boys’ teams at the New Englands had a top-five average slower than 17:20.

Amazing stuff, really. It’s kind of like the difference between Mark Zuckerberg rich (net worth around $118 billion) and Michael Jordan rich (net worth around $3.5 billion); from below, both appear impossibly wealthy, but from within, there is no meaningful antithetic, and therefore practical, comparison between these figures.