You probably didn't have too much difficulty guessing that Cerake Geberkidane was a leading candidate to have the most-viewed athlete profile on Colorado Track XC over the last year. Photo by Jeff McCoy.
Okay, sometimes it's fun just to know where other people are looking. And, once you learn that, there are some mysteries to solve. Before we solve any mysteries, however, let's take a look at the list--the 25 most-viewed athlete profiles on Colorado Track XC from July, 2013, to July, 2014.
25. Claire Green, Monarch High School
24. Zachary Alhamra, Pine Creek High School
23. Mick Norton, Grandview High School
22. Kossi Tchenawou, Grandview High School
21. Isaac Green, Monarch High School
20. Kevin McClanahan, Erie High School
19. Connor Weaver, Mountain Vista High School
18. Ana Holland, Regis Jesuit High School (graduated 2013)
17. Liam Meirow, Summit High School
16. Colt Sessions, Cheyenne Mountain High School
15. Alleandra Watt, Pine Creek High School
14. Chyna Ries, Denver East High School
13. Darby Gilfillan, George Washington High School
12. Ethan Gonzales, Broomfield High School
11. Paul Roberts, Lyons High School
10. MaryBeth Sant, Valor Christian High School (graduated 2013)
9. Zac Petrie, Valor Christian High School
8. Luke Yeager, Faith Christian Academy
7. Katie Rainsberger, Air Academy High School
6. Jordyn Colter, Cherry Creek High School
5. Dior Hall, George Washington High School
4. Lauren Gregory, Fort Collins High School
3. Bailey Roth, Coronado High School
2. Elise Cranny, Niwot High School
1. Cerake Geberkidane, Denver East HIgh School
The first mystery to solve is really not much of a mystery at all. Why are distance runners so heavily represented on the list? My pretty strong hunch there is that they had two active seasons whereas the non-distance types had only one active season (or, perhaps more accurately for most, one major active season and one minor active season--indoor is not a major season in Colorado as it is along the eastern seaboard).
If you step through the athlete pages above, you'll notice that many have profile and cover photos added. That does tend to create a minor bump in views. As commonplace as they are, people have a fascination with photographs. And, some of the photos on these pages are really rather good.
Obviously, the list of athletes on this page includes some of the finest high school athletes Colorado has ever known. If you accomplish big things, go to meets like Nike Cross Nationals and New Balance Nationals (whether Indoor or Outdoor), the views of your page will spike upward. If you're tagged in more articles, that will tend to produce more page views. Perhaps nowhere on this list is that more evident than in the inclusion of Ana Holland and MaryBeth Sant. For most practical purposes, Sant's and Holland's high school careers were closed books by July of last year, yet they still maintained a top-25 position for the year following.
Doubtless other factors play into profile page views as well, but this article won't get long enough to sort out and weigh all of those factors.