Louisville (Monarch) fell to Fort Collins by one point at last year's NXN-SW regional. Both teams return this year to battle again. Colorado Track XC file photo.
Technically, the late entry period for NXN-SW continues until Tuesday night, but--for all intents and purposes--the championship race field is set for teams. Below is the list of teams participating in this year's championship race:
Team, State, Club
St. Pius X, NM, ABQ Fly PI XC
Albuquerque Academy, NM, ABQ XC
Eldorado, NM, Albuquerque Eagles
Cleveland, NM, Storm XC
Los Alamos, NM, Los Alamos XC
Ogden, UT, Ogden Tigers
Mountain View, UT, Bruin XC
Skyline, UT, EaglesXC
Pine View, UT, Pine View XC
Orem, UT, Orem XC
Davis, UT, Davis XC
Elko, NV, Elko XC
Dakota Ridge, CO, Dakota Ridge XC
Thompson Valley, CO, Thompson Valley XC
Ft. Collins, CO, Ft. Collins XC
Liberty, CO, Liberty Lancers
Monarch, CO, Louisville XC
Rock Canyon, CO, Rock Canyon XC
The Classical Academy, CO, Titans XC
Mountain Vista, CO, Vista Nation
Mountain View, CO, Mountain View XC
Desert Vista, AZ, DVCC
Flagstaff, AZ, Run Flagstaff-AZ
Xavier, AZ, GTD X AZ
(Italicized teams are state champion teams)
This year's NXN-SW girls championship race pits some teams who have competed at every NXN regional championship to date (including Ft. Collins, Davis, Los Alamos, Mountain View (UT), and The Classical Academy) against several teams making their first appearance (including Elko, Rock Canyon, Skyline, Mountain View (CO), and St. Pius X).
Last year's top seven teams (Ft. Collins, Monarch, Xavier, Ogden, The Classical Academy, Liberty, and Davis) each return to take another shot at qualifying for NXN. Four of these seven teams have already made the big trip to Portland for Nike Cross Nationals. Numerous individuals in the field have participated at NXN in previous seasons, some as individuals, and some as members of qualifying teams.
Colorado remains, by far, the most heavily represented of the Southwest region states, despite the fact that only Utah has a bigger gap between their state meet and the Nike Regional. Utah, incidentally, has the second-highest number of teams in the field. A couple of traditional Utah entries, Park City and Cedar, do not show in this year's championship field, however.
Last year's team race was tight, with only seven points separating the top three teams. Expect the battle for the qualifying spots to be very close again this year as there are several teams in the field capable of making the top two with a solid showing on the 19th.
