What is the Hardest State to Compete in?

[dontsenditinthemail]

I would say it is obviously between NY, OH, and PA. As Phenylethylamine said, I think NY is the hardest to compete in just because of the shear number of teams, but in terms of quality (defined as number of teams that would place well at nationals, number of top 10 teams in the nation, etc), I would say OH (note this is specifically for Div C, but I think most of it applies to Div B as well).

-For all of the nats results I looked at, both OH teams have been in the top 10.
-In 2007, Solon didn't even make nats, but for all results prior to 2007, and for 2008, they were in the top 10 at nats
-Mentor didn't make nats in 2008 after being 5th in the nation the prior year
-2nd and 3rd best teams in the nation came from OH in 2008
-2nd and 5th best teams in the nation came from OH in 2007

The NY teams that go place like 3-7 and like 11-15 (usually), thus it seems like while NY has at least 1 hammer, they don't have as many awesome teams as a place like OH or PA which always place 2 teams in the top 10. The fact that Solon didn't make it one year and that Mentor, coming off of their top 5 finish, didn't make it the next year just shows how difficult it is to make nats in OH. Even in a state like NY it seems like the 3rd or 4th best team in OH would be at least the second best.

Thus, again I state my conclusion:

Hardest State to Compete in for the average team: NY
BEST overall State/Hardest State to make Nats in: OH

[fmtiger124]

I would say it is obviously between NY, OH, and PA. As Phenylethylamine said, I think NY is the hardest to compete in just because of the shear number of teams, but in terms of quality (defined as number of teams that would place well at nationals, number of top 10 teams in the nation, etc), I would say OH (note this is specifically for Div C, but I think most of it applies to Div B as well).

-For all of the nats results I looked at, both OH teams have been in the top 10.
-In 2007, Solon didn't even make nats, but for all results prior to 2007, and for 2008, they were in the top 10 at nats
-Mentor didn't make nats in 2008 after being 5th in the nation the prior year
-2nd and 3rd best teams in the nation came from OH in 2008
-2nd and 5th best teams in the nation came from OH in 2007

The NY teams that go place like 3-7 and like 11-15 (usually), thus it seems like while NY has at least 1 hammer, they don't have as many awesome teams as a place like OH or PA which always place 2 teams in the top 10. The fact that Solon didn't make it one year and that Mentor, coming off of their top 5 finish, didn't make it the next year just shows how difficult it is to make nats in OH. Even in a state like NY it seems like the 3rd or 4th best team in OH would be at least the second best.

Thus, again I state my conclusion:

Hardest State to Compete in for the average team: NY
BEST overall State/Hardest State to make Nats in: OH

i completely agree in NY to win you have to be really good because of the team domination but there are not like 10 dominat teams
Last time an NY team won nationals was i believe 2004 (F-M of course)

[packer-backer91]

My list of the hardest
1st- NY because of the number of teams
2nd -MI because we have Grand Haven, also our State tournament is quite a challenge in building events especially
3rd -OH
4th - Pennsylvania
5th - CA

[dontsenditinthemail]

How is MI above OH going by your philosophy?

NY i can see, but MI has one great team (Grand Haven, as you pointed out) whereas OH has 2 teams who were BETTER than Grand Haven last year. Also, PA has 2 teams that were able to compete with Grand haven (I believe at least one of them actually BEAT Grand Haven as well), so I dunno if MI could be considered the second hardest state, perhaps the 4th...

[soobsession]

if you were to extend the list, where would nj be. i might as well point out that though a lot of those states has a lot of teams and nj only has 87(?) we only get to send one team down to nationals whereas pa sends two (i think..). nj has also done pretty ok at nats...weve managed a first a couple of times...

[EastStroudsburg13]

I would say NJ would be anywhere from 6th to 9th, as TX, MA, IN, IL, and GA also have to be considered, as well as some other states.

[sihT etupmoC]

Ohio hands down. We have the nationals winners 1st and 3rd last year in our state. It's no doubt the toughest state

[GGuy5]

Ohio hands down. We have the nationals winners 1st and 3rd last year in our state. It's no doubt the toughest state

that is because you are in ohio
in fact, this a faulty topic b/c all anyone is going to honestly say is that they are in the best state so that they look better

[sciencegeek100]

the hardest state is by far california... how do u beat the team that won nationals the last three years and our state more than the last team 10 times.... UGH!!

[Fuzzy Mint]

wow, thats a ton.
Ohio and penn sound really scary, how many teams are there at state and get sent to nationals?