By Michael Newman

TFX National Director

[email protected]

Q  = NXN Team Qualifiers

** = Eligible for NXN At-Large

Notes – Naperville North stays in the top spot for the second week in a row after another impressive race in winning the Midwest Regional Championship. Alex Morris finished second while their pack from two to five was separated by 10 seconds as the Lady Huskies scored 69 points for the win. Yorkville IL scored 84 points to finish second placing their top four runners in the first 28 led by Kailey Fox finishing 14^th. Downers Grove South IL, who finished third behind Naperville North and Yorkville in the Illinois State Meet, scored 128 points to finish third. The Lady Mustangs are in a good position for an NXN at-large position. They will get that answer on November 24.

Summit OR moved slightly ahead of Yorkville into the second national spot with a strong race in winning the Northwest Regional with 54 points. The Storm, led by the sixth-place finish from Fiona Max, placed five runners in the top 32 for their win. Jesuit OR will not have to travel far to race at the Nike Cross Nationals after finishing second with 108 points. The Portland school placed four runners in the first 28 with only a 22 second separating the top four. Boise ID (118 points) and Hellgate MT (121 points) finished third and fourth and will have to wait to see if they will race in Portland. Boise, ranked fourth nationally heading into this meet, dropped to #16 while Hellgate dropped from #16 to #18.

We had Wayzata MN as the top ranked team at the beginning of the season. The Trojans bounced back from their second-place 2A state meet finish to win the regional championship with 95 points. Wayzata, led by the sixth-place finish from Emma Atkinson, placed five in the top 43 with a 58 second split. Edina MN makes a return Portland trip finishing second with 107 points. Saint Michael-Albertville, who won the Minnesota 2A State title, was a distant third with 164 points. Wayzata’s win moves them into the top five at #4.

Fayetteville-Manlius’ 12-year New York Class A State Meet title run was stopped by just one point on Saturday. Saratoga Springs edged Fayetteville-Manlius 46 to 47 for the state title behind the second-place finish from Kelsey Chmiel. Saratoga had a six-year win streak from 2001-2005 before Fayetteville-Manlius started their streak in 2006. The week before in the Section 3 Finals, the Hornets won by just one point ahead of Liverpool. All three New York teams could make the Portland NXN trip if they are that close together in the November 24 Regional championships.

The at-large selection process in the Girls championships received a curve ball. Beavercreek OH could not run in the Midwest Regionals due to the move of the Ohio D1 State Championships were moved back one week and run the day before the NXR Midwest race. The school was informed by Nike that they would be considered for an at-large spot. The Beavers scored 111 points to win the state title behind the individual win from Taylor Ewert. The junior came back the next day to finish third in Terre Haute.

Downers Grove South is the top at-large team ranked #11 and has a great resume that should get them to Portland. Beavercreek, at #14, should receive consideration to run at NXN. Boise and Hellgate are close behind the Ohio school. We will go deeper into that next week.

Two NXR Meets take place this Saturday. The South Regional will be up for grabs with Flower Mound TX and Prosper TX the team favorites. The Southwest Regional could be a Colorado sweep with Mountain Vista, Niwot, and Battle Mountain the teams to keep an eye on.

Girls Regional Lists