Nike Cross Nationals 2009

  After "choking" at the Illinois State Meet with an eighth place finish in his own words, Fenwick High School senior Martin Grady has done nothing but perform in the post-season as he became part of a select few individuals who qualified for both Nike Cross Nationals and Foot Locker Nationals. Grady gained valuable national race experience last weekend with his 20th place finish at NXN, which he will use in a quick second opportunity to race against the nation's best on Saturday in San Diego for the Foot Locker Nationals.

From the opening stages of the NXN Girls Championship race, Fayetteville-Manlius was in undisputed control. Photo by Alan Versaw.

 Sherod Hardt (Sr., Queen Creek) finished 6th at the Nike XC Team Nationals in Oregon last weekend.  (Photo by Matt Shatkus, NJ Milesplit)

The first of the two national high school cross country championship races were held this past weekend in Portland, Oregon with the Nike Cross Nationals. The boys' race certainly featured many of the nation's best battling it out to the wire, while the girls' race was missing the unofficial "Big 3" in Megan Goethals (MI), Chelsey Sveinsson (TX), and Aisling Cuffe (NY) but stellar depth was found in both races as Foot Locker finalists, All-Americans, and state champions were found deep into the field.  

(Photo by Tim Fulton, ArmoryTrack.com)

Erin Hooker enjoyed the brightest moment yet of a very promising high school cross country career at NXN. Photo by Alan Versaw.

Columbus made the trek to freezing Portland, Oregon and competed at NXN today.  It was not the performance they were hoping for, but we are sure proud of our lone qualifying team from Florida!  Here is an interview by Chris Nickinson of RunnerSpace with the team.  On a high note, Armando Del Valle had a great day and finished in 14th place.

PORTLAND, Ore. – Nathan Christianson said his team thought about this race every day – every single day – for 365 days. His Boerne XC (Tx.) team thought about the eight points that made the difference between qualifying last year and watching the Nike Cross Nationals webcast at home on a computer.

PORTLAND, Ore. -- They said they wanted to make a statement. Fayetteville-Manilus were already three-time national champions. There wasn’t a person that followed the race that didn’t expect that they would win. They are, and have been, by far the best team in the country.  So really, what was there left to say? Boerne XC wins boys national title.

For the girls Magnificat, running as Rocky River XC Club, finished fifth overall, with Madeline Chambers taking 8th indvidually.  North Royalton's Hannah Neczypor finished 11th overall and on the boys side, Zach Wills of Mason finished 5th overall.

Photo courtesy of Tim Fulton          

Both Blacksburg girls and Hidden Valley girls exceeded expectations and national rankings to finish sixth and 13th respectively at the Nike Cross Nationals on Saturday in Portland, Oregon. The sixth place finish for the Blacksburg girls is the highest finish by any Virginia team (boys or girls) in the meet's history and second highest ever by a Southeast region squad. Kathleen Stevens put her team and herself on the national map as she almost came up with the individual win against a field of All-Americans and state champions but was outkicked in the end by Katie Flood of Iowa to finish as a narrow runner-up in 17:48.   Nike Cross Nationals Results: Boys - Girls

Less than 24 hours from the start of NXN, the start area is almost complete.

Craig Lutz is one of few brave top ranked runners in the nation willing to attempt the Nike Cross Nationals/Foot Locker Nationals double this season. The Marcus High School junior from Dallas, Texas posted the nation's fastest time for 5K this cross country last week in his near course record breaking 14:34 win at Foot Locker South. Lutz will travel to the West Coast in two consecutive weekends as he'll hook horns with Joe Rosa of New Jersey and Zach Wills of Ohio this weekend at NXN and will follow up next week against Lukas Verzbicas of Illinois at Foot Locker Nationals in San Diego. Brandon Miles of MileSplit US interviewed Lutz as he makes the trip to Portland, Oregon for round one of two against the nation's best.

Photo by Don Rich

It takes some composure to stick to your plan when you're running shoulder-to-shoulder with the crowd over the whoop-de-doos. Photo by Alan Versaw.  

(Photo Courtesy of Tim Fulton, ArmoryTrack.com)

Two New York girls teams were added to the field for the Nike Cross Nationals Saturday in Portland, Ore., it said when the 11-person NXN at-large selection committee released the four boys and girls at-large teams invited to the national championships.

After their third place finish yesterday at the Nike Cross Southeast Regional in Cary, the Hidden Valley girls had to play the wait and see game to find out if they would be selected as one of the four at-large berths given out after the automatic top two teams advanced from all of the nine NXN regional qualifiers. With a win against the best from Texas including NXN South team champions Southlake Carroll earlier in the season as well as defeating their district rival and NXN automatic qualifier Blacksburg twice in championship season, the selection committee determined that the girls squad from Roanoke was worthy of  an at-large spot in the field of 22. Hidden Valley head coach Daniel King received the phone call on Sunday at noon from a Nike representative bringing the great news for the AA state champion girls team and Coach King (Watch Post-Meet Interview w/ Coach King). A remarkable season for both River Ridge district programs Hidden Valley and Blacksburg to advance onto the national stage and compete this upcoming Saturday at Portland Meadows in Oregon.

Photo Alan Versaw                      

Arguably Colorado's top two freshman runners of 2009, Kailie Hartman and Heather Bates battle for places late in the NXN-Southwest Regional race. Photo by Alan Versaw.  

MileSplit US will have on-site coverage at the Nike Cross Southeast Regional in Cary, North Carolina this weekend from Brandon Miles of MileStat.com and various photographers. Expect race videos, photos, interviews, and complete results to be posted soon after the completion of the meet. An in-depth meet preview highlighting the top ten teams and top dozen individuals is now available.          

Large numbers of North Carolina athletes competed today at one of two meets. The Footlocker South meet was held at McAlpine Park while the NXN Southeast Regional was held at WakeMed Park.  

One week from now, 44 teams will be in Portland, and each with the dream of contending for the national championship of high school cross country. Photo by Alan Versaw.

  Photo courtesy John Olson, SCRUNNERS                                                    

  Photo by PFFlyer                  

Ohio dominates the NXN Midwest Regional Championship by going 1 through 3 in the girls individual race, winning the girls team race and advancing two individuals on the boys side.  Nice Job Ohio!

    (Photo by Paul Everett) National championship fever is spreading across the country. The world of prep cross country begins its ascent to the national finals. Many will seek individual honors at either the historic Foot Locker National Cross Country Championships or Nike Cross National Championships. Nike Cross Nationals will offer the Team National Championship. 

  Photo courtesy: John Olson, South Carolina Runner's  

Top runners at the California State meet; Div 1 winner Ammar Moussa far left; Div 2 winner Elias Gedyon center (photos by Margot Kelly) and Div 1 girls winner Molly Grabill. (photo by Dennis McClanahan)