By Michael Newman

TFX National Director

[email protected]

Notes – There was no change in the top six of this list. Loudoun Valley VA will showcase themselves as they will be the big favorite in the Virginia State Meet on Friday. Top ranked Great Oak CA gets into action in the prelim races of the Southern Sectionals. We should see them in full strength next weekend in the finals.

Both Burnt Hills NY and Fayetteville-Manlius should be the favorites in their State Class races on Saturday but will not face each other until NXR New York two days after Thanksgiving. It will be interesting to see how the two squads match against each other timewise.

There are three Nike Cross Regionals that will take place this weekend. It could be a repeat of last year as Kamiakin WA and Central Valley WA are the top two teams in the Northwest Regional in Boise, Idaho. Kamiakin had five runners in the top 20 as they won the Washington 3A title doubling the team score on North Central. Central Valley finished second in the 4A race just two points behind Tahoma Senior. It could be those three teams, along with Camas WA, that could make it a Washington State sweep.

It more and more looks like Illinois teams will sweep the top spots in Sunday’s Midwest Regional in Terre Haute, Indiana since the state meet in Ohio was postponed last Saturday due to weather and moved to this Saturday one day before the regional race. Wheaton-Warrenville South should be the team favorite in that race in what could be a “re-race” of last week’s Illinois State Meet. The Tigers dropped out of the top 10 and are at #16 heading into this weekend. Their front three is still strong only separated by 13 seconds. Their fourth runner, Sean Maison, has been running with a minor injury and dropped back 25 seconds from the lead. If he is fully recovered on Sunday, it will be tough to beat the Illinois 3A champions. It could be a sweep of the first 5 places with Carmel IN and Indianapolis Cathedral the first “non-Illinois” teams to finish.

Edina MN will be the team to watch in Sunday’s Heartland Regional at Sioux Falls, South Dakota after winning the Minnesota 2A State Championships. It will be a close team battle as Minnesota schools Wayzata and Mounds View along with Dowling Catholic IA will be in the chase for the two auto-qualifying spots to Nike Cross Nationals in Portland.

As we enter into the first weekend of qualifying and look at the at-large possibilities, California if they continue on this trend could get two of the four spots considering how strongly the state teams have performed this season. After that, it is a toss-up. The Northeast and the Midwest Regions appear to have the slight edge. Bout remember, we have three weekends of qualifying meets to sort out who goes to Portland.