Dart Schwaderer (Wheat Ridge, CO) passes Jon Nelson (Timpview, UT) on the final stretch to win the individual title of the boys championship race at NXN SW.
NXN SW 2008 is history. It came with a big surprise on the boys' side and a display of dominance by the Colorado teams on the girls side.
In the boys race, it came as no surprise that the boys from Albuquerque Academy advanced, once again, to the national championship race in Portland. What did come as a big surprise was that the boys from Los Alamos didn't qualify and the second-place team wasn't even from New Mexico. Second placed belonged to Hawk XC (Alta HS) out of Utah. In a very tight reace among the top seven teams, Los Alamos dropped to fifth place as their typical third-place runner took a fall early in the race and was unable to work his way back into his normal scoring position.
Individually, Dart Schwaderer of Wheat Ridge stunned the field with an incredible finish to edge Jon Nelson of Timpview (UT) 15:14.98 to 15:15.73. Schwaderer sat in ninth place as late a two miles, but put on a huge finish surge to claim the title.
Team-wise, Colorado entries were a little thin this year. Wheat Ridge finished tenth, Falcon 12th, and Loveland 21st in the 24-team field. Behind Schwaderer, Falcon's Kevin Johnson (at right) was the top Colorado individual with a time of 15:26.51, finishing in fifth place.
On the girls' side the Colorado teams were as dominant as the New Mexico boys teams were. Fort Collins claimed the title, scoring 61 points with a 2-9-14-16-20 combination. Titans XC (The Classical Academy) came in second with 105 points on a 3-7-13-40-42 combination. Eagles XC (Thompson Valley) finished fourth with 161 points and Highlands Ranch eighth with 239 points.
The individual title went once again to a Colorado runner in a close finish as Laura Tremblay edged Arizona's Jessica Tonn(below) in a stirring sprint the finish, 17:40.20 to 17:40.23. Also notching top-ten finishes from Colorado were Miranda Benzel in third (17:50.59), Kaitlin Hanenburg in fifth (17:53.56), Eleanor Fulton in seventh (18:01.45), Shelby Stableford in ninth (18:13.62), and Kristen Kientz in tenth (18:19.03).
The Colorado girls teams were as dominant as last year with Ft. Collins and The Classical Academy teams grabbing the top two places, Thompson Valley fourth, Highlands Ranch eighth, Dakota Ridge 16th, and Mullen 19th in the 25-team field.
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