photo: the North Face |
photo: Runners World |
At the end of that post I listed the top 50 men and women for the year, through May 31. I'd like to remind everyone that it's not just the top 50 that are ranked; I have, at this point, over 2200 women and 2400 men who have earned at least one ranking point for the year. Fifty just seemed like a good number to put on the blog, but you can view the entire list if you want. (Fifty wasn't completely arbitrary either; starting next year, the top 50 will all count toward determining the "field strength multiplier" for each race (which is going to mean so much more work for me, ugh)). I'm constantly updating the list each week, but my goal was to publish an updated top 50 every few months for people to see. But, as I explained last week, my computer died, and I fell multiple weeks behind in August and September, so I've just now caught up and have a fresh top 50 for you, which you can scroll down to the bottom of this post to see.
All in all, I'm pretty happy with how the rankings are reflecting the results so far. As you might have guessed by the pics leading off this post, Western States champs Rob Krar and Magdalena Boulet are leading the respective lists, both of whom would be tough to argue with at this point. Looking down the rest of the top 10-20 on either side, I think the system has done a good job of identifying some folks who are really having some great years. A few people might be a little over-valued by being prolific, which may get tweaked a little bit next year. But, being prolific is a skill, too. It's hard to run an ultra a month at a high level and stay healthy, so in the abstract at least, I don't have too much of an issue with it.
One aspect of this whole project that I've enjoyed the most is that it really highlights athletes who are having outstanding seasons that probably don't get enough attention or credit. (Not that everyone necessarily wants that, but...) I mean, everyone knows about Rob's and Magdalena's exploits, but before I did this, I never would have realized how great a year Kathleen Cusick is having, or Paul Terranova, or Nicole Studer, or Bob Shebest. Hopefully this throws at least a little bit of a spotlight on those folks who aren't the household names in our sport, but are having great years nonetheless.
Of course, it's nowhere near perfect. Two folks who are definitely too low are Sage Canaday and Camille Herron, both because they haven't run a ton of ultras this year. Both have run some fast road marathons, which cut into their ultra schedules. Sage's injury-related DNF at UTMB obviously cost him a shot at a lot of points. Camille is ranked pretty high at 14th despite having run only two ultras, but in those two races she's won a national title and a world championship, and I'd like to see her in the top 10 at least. But I think everyone in the top 10 really is deserving.
We'll see how the rest of the season plays out. Magda has probably locked up the top ranking for the women for the year--and deservedly so, in my opinion--but the top placings on the mens' side are very much up for grabs, particularly with the TNF-EC championships on the not-too-distant horizon. If we have some significant movement before then, I'll post an updated list in a month or so, but we'll see how it all shakes out.
Again, if you want to view the entire list (alphabetically, not numerically, sorry) please waste a bunch of time at work doing so. As always, questions/comments/feedback/suggestions are encouraged.
Through October 1
Men
|
State
|
Points
|
Women
|
State
|
Points
| |
1
|
Rob Krar
|
AZ
|
87.5
|
Magdalena Boulet
|
CA
|
171.6
|
2
|
Brian Rusiecki
|
MA
|
74.75
|
Stephanie Howe
|
OR
|
89.7
|
3
|
David Laney
|
OR
|
71.1
|
Aliza Lapierre
|
VT
|
78.6
|
4
|
Ian Sharman
|
CA
|
69.5
|
Kathleen Cusick
|
VA
|
78
|
5
|
Seth Swanson
|
MT
|
67.8
|
Kaci Lickteig
|
NE
|
73.275
|
6
|
Alex Nichols
|
CO
|
57.8
|
Nicole Studer
|
TX
|
71.275
|
7
|
Bob Shebest
|
CA
|
54
|
Cassie Scallon
|
CO
|
61.6
|
8
|
Alex Varner
|
CA
|
52.6
|
Larissa Dannis
|
CA
|
58.2
|
9
|
Jared Hazen
|
CO
|
52
|
Kerrie Bruxvoort
|
CO
|
49.4
|
10
|
Paul Terranova
|
TX
|
52
|
Hillary Allen
|
CO
|
49.25
|
11
|
Chikara Omine
|
CA
|
50
|
Katalin Nagy
|
FL
|
47.5
|
12
|
Justin Houck
|
WA
|
48
|
Emily Richards
|
NV
|
46.6
|
13
|
Ryan Bak
|
OR
|
48
|
Rachel Ragona
|
CA
|
45.25
|
14
|
Mario Mendoza
|
CA
|
47
|
Camille Herron
|
OK
|
45
|
15
|
Benjamin Stern
|
CA
|
46.2
|
Jacqueline Palmer
|
DE
|
42
|
16
|
Andrew Miller
|
OR
|
46
|
Caroline Boller
|
CA
|
41.95
|
17
|
Dylan Bowman
|
CA
|
44.1
|
Ashley Erba
|
CO
|
40.9
|
18
|
Gediminas Grinius
|
LTH
|
44
|
Traci Falbo
|
IN
|
40.3
|
19
|
Jean Pommier
|
CA
|
42
|
Emma Roca
|
WV
|
39.75
|
20
|
Ryan Kaiser
|
OR
|
41
|
Lee Conner
|
OH
|
39.5
|
21
|
Jorge Pacheco
|
CA
|
39.3
|
Angela Shartel
|
CA
|
39
|
22
|
Mario Martinez
|
CA
|
38.4
|
Silke Koester
|
CO
|
37.4
|
23
|
Ryan Smith
|
CO
|
37.8
|
Kara Henry
|
CO
|
37
|
24
|
David Herr
|
VT
|
37
|
Darcy Piceau
|
CO
|
34.375
|
25
|
Michael Borst
|
WI
|
37
|
Beverly Anderson-Abbs
|
CA
|
33.6
|
26
|
Nate Jaqua
|
OR
|
36
|
Ashley Lister
|
PA
|
32.8
|
27
|
Mike Foote
|
MT
|
35
|
Robin Watkins
|
DC
|
32.1
|
28
|
Michael Wardian
|
VA
|
34.85
|
Meghan Arbogast
|
CA
|
32.075
|
29
|
Jorge Maravilla
|
CA
|
34.6
|
Alissa St. Laurent
|
Can
|
32
|
30
|
Sage Canaday
|
CO
|
34.5
|
Amanda Basham
|
OR
|
32
|
31
|
Christopher Denucci
|
CA
|
33.3
|
Sara Bard
|
MA
|
31.225
|
32
|
Tim Tollefson
|
CA
|
31.5
|
Joelle Vaught
|
ID
|
31.05
|
33
|
Tyler Green
|
OR
|
30.5
|
Ashley Nordell
|
OR
|
31
|
34
|
Chris Vizcaino
|
CA
|
30
|
Mallory Richard
|
Can
|
31
|
35
|
Nate Polaske
|
AZ
|
30
|
Megan Stegemiller
|
VA
|
31
|
36
|
Scott Breeden
|
IN
|
30
|
Darla Askew
|
OR
|
30.6
|
37
|
Scott Traer
|
MA
|
30
|
Neela D’Souza
|
Can
|
30.5
|
38
|
Timmy Parr
|
CO
|
29.5
|
Janessa Taylor
|
OR
|
30
|
39
|
Lon Freeman
|
CA
|
29
|
Megan Roche
|
CA
|
30
|
40
|
Jeff Browning
|
OR
|
28.7
|
Katrin Silva
|
NM
|
29.95
|
41
|
Daven Oskvig
|
NY
|
28.5
|
Bree Lambert
|
CA
|
29.75
|
42
|
Nickademus Hollon
|
CA
|
27.25
|
Melanie Fryar
|
TX
|
29
|
43
|
Mark Austin
|
ID
|
27
|
Kerrie Wlad
|
CO
|
28.6
|
44
|
Mark Hammond
|
UT
|
27
|
Laura Richard
|
CA
|
28.1
|
45
|
Oswaldo Lopez
|
CA
|
27
|
Leslie Semler
|
MA
|
28.1
|
46
|
Karl Schnaitter
|
CA
|
26.5
|
Luanne Park
|
CA
|
26.525
|
47
|
Nathan Stroh
|
OR
|
26.5
|
Amie Blackham
|
UT
|
26
|
48
|
Ford Smith
|
TX
|
26
|
Amy Rusiecki
|
MA
|
26
|
49
|
Gabe Wishnie
|
WA
|
26
|
Suzanna Bon
|
CA
|
26
|
50
|
Michael Owen
|
OH
|
26
|
Catrin Jones
|
Can
|
25.8
|
Pete Kostelnick
|
NE
|
26
| ||||
Ray Sanchez
|
CA
|
26
| ||||