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
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