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DyeStat - 2015 NXN Heartland Preview

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DyeStat.com   Nov 14th 2015, 8:39pm
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Minnesota looks for big day at Heartland

 

By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor


 

The NXN Heartland Regional feels in some respects like a Minnesota state meet re-start. Most of the top contending teams come from Minnesota, held its state championship last week and has the nationally ranked teams most likely to advance to nationals. 

 

Wayzata, the Minnesota program that has sent at least one team to Portland every year since 2007 except one (2011), is in danger of being shut out by its in-state rivals. 

 

On the girls side, US#7 Edina, US#13 Marshall and US#24 Willmar -- all of Minnesota -- came out of the state meet with the most momentum.  It's too early to count Wayata out. And if there's a team from another state that might be able to break through, it's Iowa Class 4A champion Urbandale. But it's a longshot. 

 

Edina's girls have never advanced to NXN, although the boys team has been three times. 

 

Willmar made it to Portland in 2014 with a team that had just one senior, but the path in 2015 has not been as easy as expected. 

 

The individual race features Bethany and Megan Hasz, who went 1-2 at the Minnesota Class AA meet and were both top-10 finishers at NXN last year. Bethany has won the Heartland regional at Yankton Trails, S.D. the past two years. 

 

They will face competition from an elite runner making her first appearance of the season in Linn-Mar IA senior Stephanie Jenks. Because she is ineligible to run cross country in Iowa, she has spent the fall in training-only mode to get ready for the post season. 

 

"Everything is going great and I can't wait until Sunday," Jenks wrote in an email this week. She signed with Cal on Wednesday. 

 

Another interesting newcomer to the race is 12-year-old Grace Ping from Cotter MN. She made a huge splash when she won the Roy Griak Invitational and has since dominated the small-school Class A division of Minnesota. She will get to race the Hasz sisters for the first time. 

 

Bismarck ND freshman Mattie Shirely-Fairbairn could have a say up front as well. 

 

In the boys championship, another Minnesota trio of teams is expected to sort out the two automatic qualifying berths. Hopkins is the hot team right now, having won handily last week at St. Olaf College. Minneapolis Washburn and Edina, which did not qualify as a team for the state meet, are projected to be dead even for the second spot.  There are other teams to watch, however. St. Thomas Aquinas scored a meet record low 22 points in the Kansas 5A meet. Dowling Catholic IA and Millard West NE also are in the mix. 

 

Individually, Wayzata state champion Jaret Carpenter has been strong all year. And Bismarck ND's Sam Clausnitzer, the two-time North Dakota state champ, should be at the front as well. Clausnitzer beat Carpenter at the Roy Griak Invitational by less than a second. 

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