Butler, Reed Move Up to NXN Individual Qualifying Slots


Ben Butler and Lexi Reed are Colorado's latest individual qualifiers to NXN. Photos by Alan Versaw.

You may not have thought that the at-large selection process changed much of anything for Colorado, but it did. 

By virtue of American Fork (boys) and Davis (girls) moving into at-large berths in the 22-team NXN field, one individual qualifier each from the Southwest boys and Southwest girls was pulled from the ranks to join their teams.

As a result, the next-eligible male and female individual finishers moved up into NXN qualifying spots. 

In this case, that had plenty of importance for Colorado. Ben Butler now joins Paul Roberts, Isaac Green, and Henry Raymond in the set of boys individuals. That makes for a nearly all-Colorado delegation. Lexi Reed, likewise, takes her place among the girls individual qualifiers, joining Colorado's Katie Rainsberger, Lauren Gregory, and Brie Oakley in that group.

This much we know, the Colorado individuals will be seeing plenty of familiar faces in Portland.