By this point in the season, the rankings are based on the results from this season. So with some guys hurt and/or not quite performing as well as in prior seasons, and/or not getting in a fast race, etc., our ranking dropped. And, of course, like you said, some guys on other teams have performed better this season than in prior seasons.

Those rankings have to be taken with a grain of salt as some guys will be ranked in a couple of events, but only do one at nationals, or they got a decent seed time that will get them into NCAAs, but weren't in a super fast 5k, etc.