TJ boys looking forward to the challenge at Portland Meadows
The Thomas Jefferson boys were able to preview what will be in store for them in Saturday's championship race in their course preview on Friday at Portland Meadows. The man made hills are one of the unique features among the mud, hay bales, and "reverse steeple", which make the course very challenging for all competition and suit the strength runners. (Photo by Brandon Miles)
The competition will be fierce this weekend at Nike Team Nationals with the 22 best teams in the country assembling for a battle royale in the mud at Portland Meadows in Portland, Oregon for the fourth annual high school national team cross country championships. From Virginia, the Thomas Jefferson boys will be in Portland enjoying a dream week at Nike headquarters and then concluding on a serious note as they hope to finish in the top half of the stacked field. The AAA state team champions will be led by Brian Landry, who has a solid shot of a top ten finish individually after a solid run at the NTN Southeast Regional in Alabama. Last year at NTN, the Midlothian boys finished 14th as a team in a then 20 team field, while Jason Witt took seventh place individually in 16:51. Behind Landry is a solid lineup including senior Evan Heflin, who won the district title over Landry and sophomore Brian Davenport, who had a late season surge in improvements to play a huge role in their team's state title as well as earning an automatic berth to Oregon. Aaron Bernstein and Alex Witko have both went well under 16:30 this season to round up the team's top five, while the team's depth is extended beyond five with three others under 17 minutes this fall for 5K.
The weather conditions will be something new for the Virginians than they have seen this season. The temperature in Portland this week at its highest point is suppose to reach is 44 degrees with a chance of snow showers predicted over the next several days. One of the few bad weather days this season with cold rain was experienced during district week as the Thomas Jefferson boys handled the conditions perfectly by putting up a perfect score of 15 points and a 1-2 finish from Heflin and Landry at the Liberty District Meet. The team who started off the season ranked #5 in the pre-season polls and was ranked as low as #6 in the state of Virginia, now finds itself as the team on top of the entire Commonwealth with an all expenses paid trip to Oregon for Nike Team Nationals.
MileStat.com will be on-site in Portland with Brandon Miles to document the NTN experience for the Thomas Jefferson boys as well as covering nationally for MileSplit US. Expect stories, interviews, race videos, and photos from Oregon.
How well do you know the TJ Boys? - A Q&A session with members of the Thomas Jefferson line-up for NTN.
Nike Team Nationals Videos - Interviews, highlights, and race videos from the week in Portland will be posted. Two part interview with NTN founders Josh Rowe & John Truax of Nike is now posted.