Bay was right there through 4 with Unioto and Waynesville. Just a few seconds here and there for each man makes a big difference. Looks like all 3 teams were within a point of each other through 4.
Bay's 3, 4, & 5 were 80, 82, & 83 (overall, not team scoring) at the mile. Bay was 110 points behind Woodridge & 71 behind Unioto at the mile.
I presume psycho_dad was talking about the position of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th runners - probably implying that the 5th runner for each team was a part of the difference, along with fractional margins in each of the first four positions. He could correct me if wrong.
All of you make good points but are saying a couple different things here.
In the scoring places at the finish,
Bay: 15, 17, 21, 41, 69. Bay had 94 pts. through 4 finishers.
Unioto: 5, 6, 34, 49, 55. Unioto had 94 pts. through 4 finishers.
Waynesville: 8, 9, 31, 47, 54. Waynesville had 95 pts. through 4 finishers.
The 5th runners and 6th runners sorted out the final order of these 3 teams. That appears to be what psycho_dad is saying, and bucksman is echoing it. Bay was there but needed a better day from the 5th spot.
Newton's Third's point isn't lost on me in that Bay started too far behind the teams they needed to mark and race against. Bay had 196 pts. at the mile mark. They were in 5th, so you can say that they made the 1st cut by being ahead of 14 other teams. However, Woodridge had 86 pts. at mile 1, Unioto had 125, Waynesville had 153, and Carroll was 4th at 182 pts, so you might also say that they were already out of contention for 1st place and possibly 2nd as well. At mile 2, it was: Woodridge 115, Unioto 140, Waynesville 156, Bay 174. At the finish it was: Woodridge 113, Waynesville 149, Unioto 149, Bay 163. Waynesville prevailed against Unioto for 2nd place, and there was much rejoicing. Bay was making up ground all the way but spotted too much ground to the teams they knew coming in that they had to beat.
Woodridge traditionally does a good job of getting out front, monitoring the field, and adjusting when it's needed. Other teams prefer to go out more relaxed and run a more even race and keep eating up those who went out too fast. Others try to go out hard and hold on. When one such team used to do that, I called it the "5 and die" because their guys would all go out in 5:00 and die from it. They liked to get out and attempt to control the race, but their runners couldn't control their effort after going out that hard.