Thursday, January 12, 2017

Final 2016 Gunksrunner Ultra Rankings

Men's #1, and UROY, Jim Walmsley
photo: Geoff Baker
I'm still waiting on results from two races in mid-December to officially close out 2016, but I don't really expect either of them to substantively affect the standings, so here are the more-or-less final 2016 GUR.  As noted, I made some tweaks to the formula this year, placing a larger emphasis on level 4 and 5 races, which I think helped.  The question now is whether these races are a little over-valued.  I don't think they are.  Yes, performing well in only one or two level 5 races can really vault someone to a high ranking.  But, it should!  There were only ten level 5 events on the calendar this year; placing highly in one of them really should carry extra weight.  The biggest problem I think I have right now is accurately categorizing overseas races.  Several of them were level 5 this year: Comrades, obviously; UTMB; Laveredo; MDS.  Many others were also level 4, including Transvulcania, Transgrancanaria, Ultravasan, CCC, and several others.  But these races are taking on increased importance, particularly among the North American elites, and I need to be as methodical as possible about making sure these are accurately reflected.  I'm not willing to just accept that any race in Europe is automatically a level 5, as some folks would have you believe--every European field is not Western States, people!--but I need someone with a little more expertise to help out here.  Any volunteers? (Jason Schlarb, I'm looking in your direction.)  I may have to over-rank these races a little bit to account for the fact that the field strength multiplier will not be as robust as it should be (since the multiplier is dependent on the number of top-ranked runners in the race, and these rankings follow North American runners only, European and Asian fields will get some short shrift in this respect).

Otherwise, I'm happy with the balance that the rankings continue to strike between racing a lot and racing just a few big races.  There are certainly multiple runners on both the men's and women's side that obtained top rankings with varied racing schedules.  Some people are higher than I'd like to see them, some are lower.  That's OK, that's what UROY voting is for.

Twenty-seven of last year's top 50 women repeated in the top 50 this year, and twenty-two men did the same.  And allow me a brief moment of bragging to point out that yours truly managed to rank #94 for the year.  I don't know if that accurately reflects anything, really, but I'm kind of psyched about it.

Anyway, here's the final top 50 for 2016.  These runners will factor into the field strength multipliers for every race they run in 2017.  Nearly 4000 men and over 3500 women earned ranking points in 2016.  As always, you can view the entire list here, or anytime using the links on the Ultrarunning magazine site.  Use the CTRL-F function on the rankings sheets to find your own name.


Men
State
Points
Women
State
Points
1
Jim Walmsley
AZ
254.125
Kaci Lickteig
NE
230.9
2
Brian Rusiecki
MA
181.1
Magdalena Boulet
CA
141
3
Ian Sharman
CA
148.5
Kathleen Cusick
FL
121.4
4
Andrew Miller
OR
145
YiOu Wang
CA
119
5
Zach Miller
CO
137.4
Courtney Dauwalter
CO
104.5
6
Dylan Bowman
CA
129.875
Amy Sproston
OR
100.5
7
Paul Terranova
TX
113.5
Caroline Boller
CA
98.3
8
Mark Hammond
UT
106.95
Devon Yanko
CA
93.2
9
David Roche
CA
101
Neela D'Souza
Canada
80
10
Christopher Dennucci
CA
100.725
Bethany Patterson
VA
79.3
11
Jeff Browning
OR
99.4
Cassie Scallon
CO
76.05
12
Alex Nichols
CO
97.375
Julie Koepke
TX
75.875
13
Hayden Hawkes
UT
95
Clare Gallagher
CO
75.8
14
Cody Reed
AZ
87.3
Sarah Keyes
NY
74.5
15
Jesse Haynes
CA
81.7
Alissa St. Laurent
Canada
72
16
Tim Tollefson
CA
73.1
Hillary Allen
CO
71.825
17
Michael Daigeaun
PA
68
Maggie Guterl
PA
71
18
Paddy O'Leary
CA
66.05
Amanda Basham
OR
70
19
Mario Mendoza
OR
65.9
Heather Hoechst
PA
68.75
20
Jason Lantz
PA
64.95
Nicole Kalogeropoulos
TX
68.6
21
Matt Flaherty
IN
64.85
Jodee Adams-Moore
WA
68.25
22
Jason Schlarb
CO
64.8
Kelly Wolf
AZ/CO
66.7
23
Kyle Pietari
MA
64.5
Sarah Schubert
VA
65.8
24
Sage Canaday
CO
63.75
Camille Herron
OK/MI
62.7
25
Michael Owen
OH
62.75
Corinne Malcolm
WA
60.25
26
Tim Freriks
AZ
62.125
Megan Roche
CA
60
27
Jorge Maravilla
CA
61.85
Laura Kline
NY
59.75
28
David Laney
CA
60.8
Keely Henninger
OR
59.725
29
Chris Mocko
CA
60.375
Sarah Bard
WA
59.3
30
Jared Burdick
NY
58.5
Aliza Lapierre
VT
59.25
31
Aaron Saft
NC
58.075
Darcy Piceu
CO
57.375
32
Ed Ettinghausen
CA
57.6
Sabrina Little
TX
54.5
33
Dakota Jones
CO
55.5
Anna Mae Flynn
CA
54.3
34
Tyler Sigl
WI
54.9
Megan Kimmel
CO
54
35
Zach Bitter
CA
54.5
Annie Jean
Canada
52.5
36
Dominick Layfield
UT
52.55
Megan Alvarado
VA
52.25
37
Jorge Pacheco
CA
52.2
Liz Bauer
SC
52
38
Mike Wardian
VA
50.95
Kaytlyn Gerbin
WA
51.875
39
Stephen Wassather
CA
49
Angela Shartel
CA
51.5
40
Brett Hornig
OR
45.4
Amy Rusiecki
MA
50.625
41
Chikara Omine
CA
45.35
Abby Rideout
UT
49.7
42
Masazumi Fujioka
WA
45.3
Pam Smith
OR
49.1
43
Chase Nowak
MN
45
Justyna Wilson
PA
49
44
Patrick Regan
GA
44.5
Beverly Anderson-Abbs
CA
49
45
Anthony Kunkel
CO
44.1
Erika Lindland
CA
48.8
46
Patrick Caron
MA
44
Leah Frost
VT
48
47
Ryan Bak
OR
44
Denise Bourassa
OR
47.425
48
Morgan Elliot
NC
43.2
Katalin Nagy
FL
46.8
49
Olivier Leblond
VA
43
Darla Askew
OR
46.6
50
Clark Messman
CA
42.5
Megan Digregorio
PA
45.4