PORTLAND, OR -- The Southeast Region did not have the greatest day at Nike Team Nationals. The boys had the last place team in the field with Chapel Hill XC Club (Chapel Hill NC) and despite having a pre-race favorite in Midlothian XC Club (Midlothian VA) and predicted top five finisher in Greenbelt XC Club (Eleanor Roosevelt MD), neither ended up cracking the top five at Portland Meadows. The news was not entirely dim for the Southeast. Despite being part of a major fall and pileup with less than 300 meters into the race, Midlothian junior Jason Witt had a gutsy run to take seventh overall in 16:51. While the Southeast girls were unable to matchup with the Northeast, who continued their dominance at NTN with three of the top four teams, the region\'s three team representatives all finished in the top 12 and their first two top ten teams.
Midlo #2 M.C. Miller breaks arm in fall early on to lead to team\'s misfortunte in Portland
In their first NTN experience, the Midlothian XC Club girls of Virginia had some growing pains. Luckily for them, only one runner graduates from their top seven in senior M.C. Miller. The team\'s usual number two or three runner, Miller, fell midway through the race and broke her arm. She was never able to recover and faltered to a 97th place finish in 21:55 as the team\'s sixth finisher. The team from Midlothian finished 10th overall in the team standings with 255 points. A considerable point swing could have occured in their favor without the fall from Miller. The Virginia team was led by the freshmen Lautzenheiser twins Kathleen (22nd, 20:21) and Leia (27th, 20:35) with top 30 finishes. Midlothian sophomore Paige Johnston (59th, 21:06) and junior Samantha Dow (61st, 21:08) moved up in the field after slow starts, but not far enough while freshmen Amy Witt (86th, 21:39) rounded the team\'s scoring. Not the day wanted by the Virginia 3A state champion and Eastern States Champ at Manhattan in October against the three Northeast teams, who took three of the top four places at NTN.
Despite adversity this season, Roosevelt MD girls rise to top again as SE top team
Audio Interview with Marika Walker
The Greenbelt XC Club (Eleanor Roosevelt MD) girls were once again the Southeast Region\'s top finishing team for the second year in a row (11th in 2005) as the team battled great adversity throughout the season with injuries and team suspsension of two of their top three runners at the state meet. The Maryland team was eighth overall and 12 points ahead of Midlothian with 243 points. \"I\'m so proud of these girls. Every problem we\'ve had, brought us together. Over time, we have become closer than we have even been,\" said Roosevelt\'s top finisher and senior Marika Walker, who finished just off the top ten in 12th place with a time of 19:54. Like Midlothian, Saturday could have been a lot better for Greenbelt as their number two runner Teshika Rivers struggled with a hip flexor injury to finish 88th overall in 21:41 as the team\'s fifth finisher and one of their top five runners in Tyreka Arrington lost one of her shoes in the first 300 meters in the race, yet still managed to finish 74th overall in 21:25. Rivers had finished 26th in the 2005 NTN race. A duplicate finish in 2006 would have Roosevelt a similar shift in points and place as a good day for Midlothian\'s M.C. Miller.
At-large Tatnall squad has respectable showing in NTN debut
The Wilmington XC Club (Tatnall DE) girls were in the top ten at one point of the day as incorrect team results had the team from Delaware in eighth with the final team standings. Once the team scores were adjusted, the Southeast Region\'s first at-large team finished a respectable 12th place with 268 points. Only 24 points separated them from the region\'s top finishing team in the region in Greenbelt to showcase the close proximity of the three regional teams in the meet. Tatnall sophomore Juliett Botorff led the squad with 20th place individual run of 20:17 as the Southeast\'s second highest finishing individual. Finishing 12 places and 11 points behind Botorff was senior team member Jenna McCartan with a solid race time of 20:38 for 32nd place. The NTN experience is one many Tatnall seniors will remember always as McCartan was one of three senior finishers along with Joanie Castango (84th, 21:37) and Annie Castagno (113th, 22:29). However, Tatnall still has a nucleus of returnees from next year with Botorff, junior Katie Kershner (57th, 21:03), Molly Parsons (75th, 21:27), and Kallie Fehr (131st).
While the Southeast girls had the potential to have a big day in Portland without a few off days from some of their key runners, but the boys in the region still have a ways ago. The Southeast will have to wait till next year to see if they can get a team in the top ten after a third unsuccessful try on Saturday. The Midlothian XC Club (Midlothian VA) was the region\'s best shot this year coming in as the Virginia 3A state champion and region\'s top ranked team, but fell four places and well over 100 points behind a tenth place finish in 14th place with 324 points.
Witt bounces back from big fall early to lead Midlo boys
The bright spot for Midlothian and the Southeast boys was the individual run by junior Jason Witt. Witt, who was considred as an outside hopeful at qualifying for Footlocker Nationals, finished 15th last weekend in Charlotte at Footlocker South. Witt came back one week later to race at Nike Team Nationals and put together his greatest race of the season and it did not exactly start out smoothly. The boys championship race had a major spill that included dozens of runners within the first quarter mile and first turn of the race and Witt went down in the middle of it. \"Mentally that was a hard blow at the start because you always visualize a perfect race or start and get out where you want to be. I was way back and I had never been in that position before,\" said Witt. Witt handled the new position well in getting stuck behind early and in tough footing to move up through, Witt continued to pick runners off throughout the race and until he found himself finishing seventh overall in 16:51. The Midlothian junior was eight seconds off two-time Footlocker qualifier Colby Lowe from Carroll XC Club (Southlake Carroll TX), who finished fourth overall in 16:43 in Portland. Lowe had finished 18 seconds of Witt at Footlocker South with a 7th place run. The whole race including the last 200 meters, I was still working my way up.
However, Nike Team National is a team event and Midlothian has a team took a so-so finish of 14th place. Not great in looking at the team\'s optimstic expectations coming in, but not awful either consider the outsider\'s expectations of the team. The next four finishers for Midlothian were closely packed in their finish with only 14 seconds separating them, but the small spread does a team no good when those finishers are the in back half of a competitive team field such as NTN with Mark Merritt (70th, 17:58.7), Jonathan Mellis (74th, 18:03), Michael Hammond (8th, 18:11), and Tommy Reese (87th, 18:12). Four of the top six finishers for Midlothian will be returning next year including top ten finisher Witt, so if they are able to make a return trip to Oregon, they will have some valuable experience on their roster. \"The guys said they felt good, so whatever position we end up, we\'ll be happy with. Hopefully we can make it back next year and improve upon that performance,\" said top finisher Witt.
Chapel Hill boys earned their way back, but field was too much
Chapel Hill XC Club (Chapel Hill NC) did have experience from last year\'s NTN team, which took 12th as a team in 2005 at Portland Meadows, but the lack of front running power proved to be too much for the North Carolina team to overcome as only sophomore Taylor Gilland cracked into the top 100 as one of the top finishing sophomores in the race in 27th place in a time of 17:18. Chapel Hill overcame a lot of key losses due to graduation to get back to Oregon and win another state championship in North Carolina, but being competitive at NTN again was too much of challenge as the team took last place in 20th with 487 points. The team should be still proud of their season to earn the trip back to Oregon as the only repeat qualifier.