Transfers can have a significant impact on the high school cross country team battles in the fall and sway the balance to favor one team over the other. The majority of transfers are related to family reasons due to job relocations of the athlete's parents. Some are academic related with an athlete transfering into a school to be a part of a magnet or specialty program offered by the school. A very small portion transfers are due to athletic reasons and in most situations, it is the choice of the athlete or parent to switch schools rather than a coach recruiting an athlete to transfer in.
As the saying goes, "Great programs recruit themselves". If running is a high priority for an athlete and their parents, they will probably find a way to end up at a established top program versus going to a school with little history of success in cross country and track. The high school coach of those teams do not have to actively recruit. Parents looking to move into a school district with a good program and good coach can simply go onto MileStat.com and look at results from past seasons to find the programs which year after year produce successful cross country teams.
Midlothian is a program which has both benefited from as well as been hurt by transfers. In 2002, MileStat.com's own Brandon Miles transferred from a 2001 Group AA state champion Jamestown squad to help bolster a Midlothian squad which had taken a few graduation hits to make a good run at a state title in 2002 as the team's #2 runner, but only to come short against arguably the best squad ever assembled by Coach Matt Ryan at Thomas Jefferson with a group led by future William & Mary stars Christo Landry and Keith Bechtol.
The opposite happened to the Trojans last year as they lost one of their top runners in Mark Merritt as the former Clover Hill Cavalier as a freshmen then also became as a former Midlothian Trojan when he transferred to Cosby High School for his senior year. The loss of Merritt certainly was felt at the state meet last November when Midlothian dominated the rest of the AAA schools through four runners, but a fifth runner finishing well back killed their chances of a second straight state title.
The irony again is that this year's returning AAA state team champions in Thomas Jefferson also suffered a major loss due to a transfer when Brian Davenport transferred mid-year from Thomas Jefferson Science & Tech to Maury High School in Norfolk with his father's occupation in the military causing a family move. Davenport's performances down the stretch in championship season last fall played a huge role in Thomas Jefferson's unexpected state title and Nike Team Nationals berth. If Davenport was still at TJ, Coach Matt Ryan could probably put together another squad to make a run at a state title but instead the odds will be against them much like Midlothian found last year with the Merritt transfer.
Oakton already had one of the top returning teams in the state for this upcoming cross country season with five of their top seven back from a squad which had been ranked #1 in Virginia for most of the 2007 season. It will be tough for the Cougars and Coach Phil Tiller to replace the likes of front runner and 1600 meter state champion Joe Lorusso, but their depth looks to be far superior to any other team in the state on paper coming in. Merritt ended up attending three high schools in four years and Oakton will be getting a transfer for this fall who will be at his third high school as well in Dante Morales. Morales started at Poquoson High School down in Hampton Roads area, but then moved to Fairfax High School for his junior year last year. A sub 10 2 miler and 16:06 5K best in cross country from Foot Locker South last November, Morales will only make Oakton tougher to beat as he looks to join the Hendricks twins up front in the team's top three.
Which schools this year will benefit (or be hurt) from incoming transfers? Could these transfers make the difference between a team going up onto the podium at Great Meadow to accept their state championship trophy instead of watching another team making the same walk up the steps on November 8th? We shall find out, but it will help if you can inform MileStat.com of any transfers which might have occcurred over the summer. Email us at milestat@gmail.com.