Michael Warre takes a look at the top boys teams at the cross country state meet since the 1940's. Check out over seventy years of history!
For part four of this series, I have broken up the main list into top teams in various subcatagories to present multiple views to the All-Time best!
Because of the changing of classes I have measured each equally. A few schools over time cross over four classes, many over three classes over the years. So on this Best of List in most cases, the top 10 are scored, 1st =10 down to 10th = 1. But when there are fewer than 10 teams in that meet the winner receives the points for the number of teams in the meet as an example: a six team meet 1st = 6 while 6th =1!
Teasing Facts: Out of the 318 teams, 23.3%, almost a quarter of those teams have only been in the top 10 just once and 39% have one to two state meet top ten finishes. So you may be thinking have any of these teams taken a state title? Yes! The most surprising is the fact that one school team never was, before or after, among the top 10, but shows up only once and takes it all. That was Technology of Jacksonville in the only spring cross country meet ever held in 1953. Technology is also one of our ghost schools that have vanished in time.
Since the beginning of Florida Boys Cross Country in 1947 starting with the "Founding 6" schools there have been a total of 201 meets over 67 years and one year even saw two seasons competed with 318 school throughout the state including a junior high school have finished within the top ten at the state meet in their respective classes. What I'll be looking at who's the best ever in Florida boys prep history obviously, but many other aspects along the way. like who and when were the dynasties, the powerhouse's, the contenders as well as the flash-in-the-pans. The ghosts of schools past. Who were the schools that just missed? Who stayed in the top 10 the longest without a title or otherwise?
It was August of 1974 and the Class of '75 would become the first class of young women to be sanctioned and allowed to run, train & compete for their respective schools as athletes' in both Cross Country & Track & Field. The Nation as a whole was in a running boom with running shoes becoming chic and at the Girls Prep level, Florida was playing catch-up.
It was August of 1974 and the Class of '75 would become the first class of young women to be sanctioned and allowed to run train & compete for their respective schools as athletes' in both Cross Country & Track & Field. The Nation as a whole was in a running boom with running shoes becoming chic and at the Girls Prep level Florida was playing catch-up.
It was August of 1974 and the Class of '75 would become the first class of young women to be sanctioned and allowed to run train & compete for their respective schools as athletes' in both Cross Country & Track & Field. The Nation as a whole was in a running boom with running shoes becoming chic and at the Girls Prep level Florida was playing catch-up.
Why do a list like this? Simply, first, the 2 Mile, than later becoming the 3200 in 1989, is the track event that best transcends distance between cross country and track. After all it once was the distance for the Florida State Cross Country Meet during much of the early days of the sport. A kind of traditional throw back, a nod to once was, so to say.
The Nason Line is named after 6 time state champion and former state record holder in both the mile and 2 mile, Jack Nason. Jack ran for Orlando Evans, graduating in 1968 and he would be the first runner in Florida distance running history to help bring the state out of the Dark Ages and into the modern era of running. No one before Jack Nason had ever run faster than 4:20 for a mile nor 9:30 for 2 miles in the state of Florida.
In the beginning there was Jack, Jack Nason that is, the young Orlando Evans High School Prep, that would lead us out of the Dark Ages of Florida High School Cross Country & Track under the guidance of his Coach Dick Skelton his senior year. He would set standards for all future runners in Florida to try to emulate, including winning six state titles in two years.
The 1974 Brandon Postal was a Great Race and a milestone in Florida Cross Country history! But I did not pass on the entire story of that race. There was an underlying cross country competition going on between, what would pit and become, two of the country's finest coaching legends and prep programs ever, Coach's Brent Haley of Largo and Joe Newton of York against one another!
It was in 1968 when the late Jack Nason become the 1st Florida Prep to crack the 9:30 barrier. Then 2 years later 2 of Florida's best graduating Seniors, battled it out at the Atlanta Classic with Bobby Brooks fending off in state rival Mark O'Brien running 9:13.8 & 9:16.0 respectively finishing 1 & 2, vastly improving on Nason's best and obviously breaking that 9:20 barrier!