Though running in the 3A classification, Basalt's Chiara Del Piccolo was among the top finishers at both Liberty Bell and State in 2008. Colorado Track XC file photo by Alan Versaw.
The girls Liberty Bell to State results from 2008 require a lot of explaining, and I'm not sure I have any compelling explanations. Numerous girls who ran well at Liberty Bell did not run well at State. And State was a fairly easy course in 2008. The correlation coefficient parks at r = .265 and the data shows little linearity. It helps soome if we label Rachel Viger's state finish as an outlier and pull it from the data set, but the set is still a mess.
About all I know to say is that, at least for girls, Liberty Bell placings for 2008 were a poor predictor for State placings. I am baffled by these data. The top Liberty Bell finishes at State were each several places back at Liberty Bell. Of the top four finishers from Liberty Bell, only Miranda Benzel managed a top-ten...