NXN SW Update, Weekend of September 12

Sep 13, 2009

Three weeks into the season and it's starting to become easier to identify who the strongest contenders will be.

By Matt Norton and Alan Versaw, Colorado NXN SW Ambassadors

In Nevada, all eyes were turned to the Las Vegas Cross Country Invitational. Unfortunately, however, a team from California cleaned up, so the best clues regarding the top teams and individuals out of Nevada had to be gleaned from elsewhere.

https://nv.milesplit.com/articles/27144

At the Reed Invitational on Friday, Sierra Lutheran standout Wade Meddles beat the field by 37 seconds. Whether or not his team gets another invite to the NXN SW championship, expect Mr. Meddles to be invited to be in the field. Moapa Valley hosted a quad meet earlier in the week on a 2.5 mile course and provided a nice venue for the Centennial HS boys to showcase their talents. Centennial took 10 of the top 12 places and beat second-place Moapa Valley 20 - 55. That's a pretty convincing margin in any meet.

http://nevadatrack.org/media/uploadedforms/ReedInvitational1823.htm

http://nevadatrack.org/media/uploadedforms/MoapaValley-Centennial-Valley-LasVegas1821.htm

Much, however, still remains to be revealed in Nevada. It will be easier to ascertain who has what when the courses more consistently measure 5K. Of course, it will also be nice when the late summer heat abates a little.

New Mexico enjoyed (?) a mostly quiet weekend. For the big powers, it was the weekend between the UNM Lobo Invite and Liberty Bell. Last year, Los Alamos and Albuquerque Academy went to Littleton (Colorado) and schooled the Colorado schools. Well rested, they threaten to do the same this year, but the little shot over the bow that Chaparral (CO) provided down in Albuquerque last weekend may still be ringing in some ears.

Thus far, the only meet results we've seen from NM with strong NXN SW implications came from La Cueva where Albuquerque Academy (last year's NXN SW #1) ran away with yet another meet title, beating second place Sandia 30 - 80. Pat Zacharias and Neil Longenbaugh (last year's NXN SW #14 and #33, respectively) went 1-2 for the race, both crossing in 16:25.

In Colorado, there were two meets heavily laden with NXN SW implications.

Friday's Cherry Creek Invitational put a convincing Cherry Creek (boys) victory on display. Despite the team title, however, Walter Schafer was beaten by Wheat Ridge's Scott Fauble for the individual title, 15:22 to 15:35. Fauble suddenly appears center stage on the short list of top boys in Colorado. Arapahoe finished 20 points behind Cherry Creek and may be positioning to make a serious bid for joining the best teams in Colorado.

On the girls side, Fort Collins (last year's NXN SW #1) had their top two returners from last year in civvies while the youngsters went out and stole the meet by a 73-point margin over a Wyoming team in second. Write down the names of Erin Hooker and Marci Witczak of Fort Collins, if you haven't already. These two appear to be the new guard of excellence at Fort Collins HS. Rebecca Richmond of Monarch HS won the girls race in 19:31. A nice time, to be sure, but probably just a bit outside of the circle of top times in the state right now. Still, she is knocking on that door.

https://co.milesplit.com/meets/46696

On Saturday, 39 teams converged on Lyons, CO, and created a parking nightmare for that tiny community. Still, if traffic wasn't moving, the racers were. Amos Bowen of Brush took home the honors for boys' race in an eyelash off the course record at 16:04. Boulder's Kelsey Lakowske and Kaitlin Hanenburg (last year's NXN SW #5) of The Classical Academy pushed each other out to 17:51 and 17:58 times, respectively. Lakowske and Hanenburg figure to be on everyone's list of the top five individuals in Colorado and looked the part on Saturday. Lakowske's teammate Sam Lewis also ran 18:36, a sort of reminder not to lose her in the shadow of her teammate.

For the second straight week, Boulder's girls waged a battle with an NXN SW contending team. This time, Boulder fell to The Classical Academy (last year's NXN SW #2 team) by 14 points, but have clearly established themselves as a top-echelon team in the process. It's a long season, but Boulder figures to be around. TCA, meanwhile, put six girls in at 19:51 or under. Another ran 20:09 in the JV race. Boulder had a 19:51 finisher in the JV race.

https://co.milesplit.com/articles/27213

In Utah, the American Fork boys are laying claim to the top spot in the state and perhaps in the region. They easily won the Wasatch Invite at the Soldier Hollow Olympic Cross Country ski course near Provo, registering a scant 29 points in the process. Austin West and Bobby Lee finished 1-2 for the winners on the reportedly difficult, 3-mile course. Bingham won the girls' race, 58-71 over Alta.

https://ut.milesplit.com/articles/27203

One of the biggest and oldest meets in Utah is the Murray Invite. We did not have to wait long for a repeat battle between three of the girls' powers, Park City, American Fork and Davis. But the result was the same: Park City, behind Gillian Gorelik and Rebecca Cunningham, bested AF and Davis, 63-81-107. Megan Hedquist again was the individual winner for Davis, running 19:03 for 5k. The Pineview boys, looking to make noise in Utah against the likes of American Fork, Mountain View and others, took a 100-105-112 victory over Timpanogos and Davis. It appears Davis may have won if their number-2 runner at BYU finished second again--he was 7th for the Darts at Murray.

https://ut.milesplit.com/articles/27148

It was a relatively quiet week in Arizona; the largest invitational was the Chandler Invite, a race in which runners ran only against others in their grade. The fastest boys' time of the day was turned in by Steve Magnuson of Ironwood Ridge (23rd at NXN SW last year), a 16:31 over the Tumbleweed Park 5k course. Casa Grande's Kylee Kieser ran 19:34, the fastest time for the girls.

https://az.milesplit.com/meets/56263

Brian Shrader, two-time state 4A-II champion, posted a quick 15:44 5k win at the Ray Wherley Invite in Prescott. But Alhambra won the team title 169-199 over Rio Rico, last year's NXN SW 6th-place finisher.

http://www.arizonatrack.com/arizona/2009_Results/2009_XC/2009wherleyboysresults.pdf

Jessica Tonn and Xavier Prep, the best girls' team in Arizona, took the weekend off in preparation for next week's George Young Invitational.

Rolonda Jumbo (last year's NXN SW #4) of Chinle went 19:51 to win her own school's invitational. Jumbo finished over 55 seconds ahead of second place.

http://arizonatrack.com/arizona/2009_Results/2009_XC/2009wildcatgirlsvarsityresults.pdf

Three weeks into the season and it's starting to become easier to identify who the strongest contenders will be.