Can St. Xavier live up to their status as pre-race favorites?  Will Tatnall's girls avenge a mid-season loss to Assumption?

WakeMed Video Course Walk

NXN Southeast Virtual Meets

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Girls  |  Boys

Guide to Club Teams

Since the National Federation does not sanction any competition beyond each state's championship series, high school teams must compete in this meet as club teams.  In some cases, the schools simply form a club with the same name, but often they take the opportunity to register under a name that has special meaning to the runners or coaches.  Below is a list of the teams whose club names do not match their schools, or whose club names could match more than one school.

Adrenaline XC = Tatnall (DE)

Benson Athletic Club = Marist (GA)

Bethesda Pine Trees = Bethesda-Chevy Chase (MD)

Bethesda Running = Walter Johnson (MD)

Bobcat Cross Country = Battlefield (VA)

Bowling Green Lightning = Bowling Green HS (KY)

Brentwood XC Club = Brentwood High School (TN)

BUCS XC = Caravel Academy (DE)

Capital Distance = Broughton (NC)

Chappy's Army = Trinity Prep (FL)

Chesterfield XC Club = Midlothian (VA)

Claymonsters XC =  Archmere Academy (DE)

DC XC Club = Gonzaga College (DC)

Dixie Chicks = Mountain Brook (AL)

Force = Charter School of Wilmington (DE)

Gibbons Distance Club = Cardinal Gibbons (NC)

Lady Bruins = Lake Braddock (VA)

Lady Jackets = Osbourn Park (VA)

Louisville Extreme = St. Xavier (KY)

Louisville Track Club = Assumption (KY)

Lower Faster Delaware = Caesar Rodney (DE)

Loyola = Loyola-Blakefield (MD)

Maintenance Crew = Ursuline (DE)

Miami Magis = Belen Jesuit (FL)

Mighty Hoppers = Georgetown Day (DC)

MuD Runners = North Point (MD)

Murdock Racing = Providence Day (NC)

Ona Elite = Cabell Midland (WV)

Orlando Titans = Olympia (FL)

PhD Running Club = Norcross (GA)

Ramsey Farm = Salesianum School (DE)

Roanoke XC Club = Hidden Valley (VA)

Slick Eagle = Brentwood Academy (TN)

The Creek XC Club = Padua Academy (DE)

TJ = Gov. Thomas Johnson (VA)

Veritas Distance Project = Veritas School (VA)

Viking CC = Fort Walton Beach (FL)

Western Cary = Green Hope (NC)

XBC Track Club = Chantilly (VA)

Boys Championship Race

Teams to Watch

St. Xavier is the clear favorite to claim one of the two automatic qualifying spots to NXN in Oregon next weekend, especially after their outstanding performance here at the Great American Cross Country Festival in September.  Normally, Chantilly (VA) would be the next in line, but their star Sean McGorty will be running at Foot Locker South to try to earn a return trip to San Diego.  His teammates are still hoping to sneak into the top four Saturday, though, which would give them a chance to be added to the national meet as a wild card team.  That will make for a very interesting battle for second place and the other guaranteed berth, with Belen Jesuit (FL) and Broughton (NC) grading out dead even in the virtual meet.  Blacksburg (VA) will also be in the hunt here, as will Brentwood High (TN), meaning that there are five teams vying for one automatic spot.  Belen Jesuit advanced to Oregon last year, and that experience could help them (as well as giving them a chance at an at-large bid if they fall short of the top two).

Individuals to Watch

The top five individuals that are not on the two qualifying teams will also get to race at Portland Meadows next weekend, and that can be hard to predict when there are so many teams in contention for the team spots.  Jacob Burcham (Cabell Midland WV) is the favorite here (and in nearly any race he enters), and he is the only runner in the field with a season best below 15 minutes.  Zack Langston (Lexington SC, running unattached) almost broke the 15-minute mark on a very fast course, and he is a tough racer.  If Belen Jesuit doesn't advance then Avery Lopez will almost certainly grab one of the individual trips, although he could find himself racing fellow Floridian Daniel Dalas (Trinity Prep) for position.  Ben Huffman (Providence Day) has come on very strong at the end of the season, including a 9:08 for 3200 at a tune-up meet two weekends ago, and he has great experience on the WakeMed course (his state meet was run there).  If St. Xavier somehow doesn't advance, then Connor Sheryak will be very likely to take an individual spot, and teammate Sam Lewis will also have a shot.  The other contenders include William Roberson (Broughton), Logan Miller (Chantilly), and Jack Hagood (Tatnall).  

Girls Championship Race

Teams to Watch

Assumption (KY) defeated Tatnall (DE) on this course at Great American earlier this fall, after finishing second to the perennial Delaware power at last year's NXN SE.  Tatnall has improved since then, and will certainly not give up the title spot without a tough fight.  Those two teams seem very likely to take the two automatic qualifying positions for the national meet, but behind them is an interesting local battle.  North Carolina's Cardinal Gibbons and Green Hope, both located within 15 minutes of the WakeMed course, finished in a tie for first in the final NCRunners All-Classes Team Rankings.  If both teams are still in top fitness, this race could decide the issue once and for all, as well as potentially elevating the winner into consideration for an at-large berth in the Oregon race next weekend.  Third and fourth aren't guaranteed to those two teams, either, as Mountain Brook (AL), Bethesda-Chevy Chase (MD), and Morgantown (WV) are all capable of getting into the top three in the hunt for those wild-card chances.  Lake Braddock (VA) is playing the same game as Chantilly, hoping to sneak into the top four without their superstar runner, Sophie Chase, who will be at Foot Locker South; it looks like the odds are stacked against them.

Individuals to Watch

Jessica Molloy (Mountain Brook IL) has the best time in the field by 15 seconds, but the double long hill at WakeMed can sometimes equalize what would seem to be big time gaps.  Wesley Frazier (NC, unattached) is a huge wild-card; she is signed up both for this meet and for Foot Locker South, and in her only race of the fall she 17:40 in Springfield, Oregon.  Frazier certainly has the pedigree (and the speed) to contend for an individual qualifying spot if she chooses to run this race.  Megan Sullivan (Broughton) is the NC 4A champ and will have a great chance to secure one of the five individual trips to Oregon that are on the line in this race.  Hannah Christen (Lake Braddock) could create a very unusual circumstance for her team, as she could advance to NXN while her teammate Sophie Chase earns a trip to Foot Locker.  If Assumption fails to advance as a team, which seems unlikely, then Bailey Davis and Katherine Receveur will be virtual locks to make the trip individually; the same goes for Reagan Anderson of Tatnall.  Pegah Kamrani (East Chapel Hill) has surged into the upper 17's in the past month, and could still have a few seconds to squeeze out before the season is over.  There is a large group of runners clustered right around the 18-minute mark in terms of season bests, and that could be where the final few solo berths are decided: Maura McDonnell (Green Hope), Hannah Rose (Wilson Memorial VA), Bryce Seymour (Hagerty FL), Kara Dickerson (Midlothian), Carolyn Bethel (Hidden Valley), Mary Grace Doggett (Cardinal Gibbons), Bryn Harshbarger (Morgantown), and Barbara Ball (Lipscomb TN) are all between 17:55 and 18:05, with several more runners right behind them that could also steal a qualifying spot with a good race.  This should be an extremely competitive individual race, and that could spur the runners to fast times on a cold morning.