Close races across the board proved for an exciting day at NXN Southwest.  With many of the top teams in the region in attendance, experience proved to be a big advantage, as the top two boys teams and top two girls teams from last year qualified for NXN once more.

In the boys race, the final results came down to a sixth-man tie-breaker, as American Fork (UT) edged Albuquerque Academy (NM) 74-74, with their sixth man Ashenafe Richardson finishing nine spots and eleven seconds up on Albuquerque Academy's sixth man.  While the team title was a nail biter, both teams earned their trip to Portland in two weeks.

While the top two squads battled until the finish, third place and fourth place weren't as close.  Mountain View (UT) placed third with 170 points, with Davis (UT) giving Utah three teams in the top four by finishing with 216 points.

On the girls side, Fort Collins (CO) switched places with Classical Academy (CO) from a year ago, as Fort Collins picked up the team title this time around with 72 points.  Classical Academy finished 11 points back with 83, as both Colorado squads booked their tickets to Portland.  Mountain View (UT) finished third with 120 points, while Park City (UT) finished fourth with 151 points.

Individually, Wade Meddles (Sr., Sierra Lutheran, NV) won the boys race in 15:08, running a strong second half of the race to win by 16 seconds, while Eleanor Fulton (Jr., Highlands Ranch, CO) crossed the line first in the girls race, beating Kaitlin Hanenberg (Sr., Classical Academy) 17:45-17:51.

The other four individual qualifiers on the boys side are: Billy Orman (Jr., Tuba City, AZ), Sherod Hardt (Sr., Queen Creek, AZ), Kyle Pittman (Sr., Los Alamos, NM) and Vincent Montoyo (Sr., Cibola, NM).

The other four individual qualifiers on the girls side are: Julia Foster (Jr., Albuquerque Academy, NM), Jessica Tonn (Sr., Xavier Prep, AZ), Kailie Hartman (Fr., Loveland, CO) and Heather Bates (Fr., Pine Creek, CO).

Boys Championship Results / Girls Championship Results