By Michael Newman

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Each week, we will be published an updated list of who we see are in the top 25 for both the Boys and the Girls. Regional lists have been increased to 10 schools and will be published every week up to the Nike Cross Nationals in December. Because teams are so close in the national rankings, the lists have been increased from 25 to 35 teams.

You can find updated lists each week on ILXCTF.com.

11/14/17 – Top 35 Boys National Lists

11/14/17 – Top 10 Boys Regional Lists

Notes

Three Nike Cross regionals down, five to go along with one huge state meet left in California.

Six teams have qualified for Portland after last weekend. There are some third-place teams that made big statements in getting a ticket for a trip west to the Nike Cross Nationals.

There was a change at the top of the XC Zone Top 35 list. Both Loudoun Valley (VA) and Great Oak (CA) could claim the top spot right now. If all works out, both will be toeing the line in Portland in three weeks.

A new team on top

Loudoun Valley won the Virginia 4A State Meet in what could their best race of the season scoring a perfect 15 points. The Vikings did not have much competition in this meet as the next closest team Dominion had 103 points. Sam Affolder led his team with the state title (15:20) six seconds ahead of teammate Peter Morris. Their spread on their scorers was only 46 seconds. In their previous “big-race” at the Great American XC Festival a month ago, it was 20 seconds bigger at 66 seconds. Great Oak finished third in their heat at the CIF-South Section Prelims in Riverside, California. The Wolfpack did not run their top runners in that race but will be ready to go in the South Section finals this Saturday.

NJSIAA Group Championships set up great racing this Saturday.

The same held true for Christian Brothers (NJ) in winning the Non-Public A Group Championships holding out some of their top runners. The Colts scored 37 points outdistancing their nearest competition St. Peter’s Prep by 100 points led by the individual win from Brian Hill. Kingsway Regional led all teams in the NJSIAA Groups Merge in winning the Group 4 Championships with 52 points ahead of Princeton (91 points). Both teams moved into the top 35 this week from those performances. All three teams will face off this Saturday at the NJSIAA Meet of Champions at Holmdel Park.

New York State Championships narrow NY Regional down to a three team NXR Battle

It was a cold with snow on the ground at Wayne Central HS for the New York State Championships. Corning had the slight edge in the Class A race winning the state title 38 to 40 ahead of Fayetteville-Manlius. Corning had five runners in the top 39 led by the third-place finish from Quinn Nicholson. Their top-five spread was at 53 seconds. Fayetteville-Manlius, who put their top five in the first 33 places, were led by the fourth-place finish from Ben Otis. The Hornets top-five spread was 45 seconds. Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake has been the top ranked team in New York most of the season with their strength showing in winning the Class B State Championship. The Spartans placed five runners in the top 17 to score only 25 points for the win. Aidan Gillooley and Tyler Berg led their team with a third and fourth-place finish. The spread on their scorers was 46 seconds. When the three schools’ races were merged together, only six-points separated Corning from Fayetteville-Manlius with Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake only three points behind Corning. Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake will be the only team of the three that will run in this Saturday’s New York Federation Championships. These three schools should face off in more than two weeks at the NXR New York Regional Championships. As of now, all three teams could be running in Portland.

Six teams punch their tickets to Portland in Nike Cross Regionals

There were a few surprises in the three regional races that took place last Saturday and Sunday. The biggest may have been Saturday at the Nike Cross Northwest Regional at Boise, Idaho. Central Valley (WA), who finished second by one point in last week’s Washington 4A State Championship, won the regional title and a trip to the Nike Cross Nationals scoring 113 points. Junior Ryan Kline led the team with a 13^th-place finish and a 54 second spread on their top five runners. Kamiakin (WA) won the Washington 3A title last week and followed that up by scoring 121 finishing second. The Braves will make their first trip to Portland for the Nike Cross Nationals led by the 11^th-place finish from Jonah Franco. They had a 60 second spread on their top five scorers. Crater (OR), who had won the Oregon 5A State Title the week before, had to settle for third overall in this meet and a wait for a couple of weeks to see if they will get an at-large bid to the Nike Cross Nationals. Their state performance was the best race of the year for the Comets. This regional race was not their best. Even though Crater had a 47 second split on their scorers, their top runner Jantz Tostenson finished 21^st. Andy Monroe, who was the Oregon 5A State individual champion, was the team’s second runner finishing 39^th.

The two regional meets followed what was expected especially in the front. At the Nike Cross Heartland Regional in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, Wayzata (MN) repeated as the regional champion scoring 114 points. Khalid Hussein led his team finishing third overall. Their pack behind Hussein was strong as only 22 seconds separated second runner Grant Matthews from fifth runner Blake Buysse. Their overall top five split was 55 seconds. Wisconsin D1 State Champion Middleton, led by the 20^th and 21^st-place finishes from Caleb Easton and Sam Jager, qualified for their first trip to the Nike Cross Nationals by finishing second with 134 points. The top five spread on their scorers was only 34 seconds. Dowling Catholic (IA) bounced back from their third-place finish in the Iowa 4A State Meet to finish third overall putting themselves in position for the possibility of an at-large bid. The Maroons had a 39 second spread on their top five led by the 14^th-place finish from Matt Carmody.

There were no surprises up front in the team standings at Sunday’s Nike Cross Midwest Regional at Terre Haute, Indiana. Illinois 3A State Champion Downers Grove North was in control in the Boys Championship race winning with 104 points. The Trojans only had an 18 second spread on their top five scorers led by Jacob Ridderhoff’s 28^th-place finish. Indiana State Champion Carmel captured the other auto-qualifying position scoring 164 points to finish second. The Greyhounds had only 33 seconds separating their top five led by Keelan Grant’s 31^st-place finish. Lyons Township (IL) surprised some by finishing third overall. After finishing fifth the week before at the Illinois 3A State Meet, the Lions look like a good bet to get an at-large bid finishing only three points behind Carmel. Danny Kilrea finished second to lead the team followed by Charles Harders’ 18^th-place finish. Neuqua Valley (IL) finished second behind Downers Grove North in the Illinois State race. The Wildcats are still eligible for an at-large bid by finishing fourth overall with 193 points. 11 of the top 13 finishing teams were Illinois schools. 6 of the top 11 teams came from the West Suburban Conference.

Action this weekend includes the Nike Cross Regionals in the South and Southwest, California Sectional championships, New York Federation Championships, and the New Jersey Meet of Champions.