With A Few Notable Exceptions, The Best Teams In Country Are Racing One Another On A Fast Course In Huntsville

By Erik Boal and Doug Binder, DyeStat Editors

There will be a winning girls team recognized Saturday at the Garmin RunningLane Cross Country Championships at John Hunt Park in Huntsville, Ala., but unlike the boys championship race that features all the legitimate national contenders in the absence of Nike Cross Nationals for the second straight year, the group that emerges victorious in the elite girls competition will only be left to wonder how it might match up against Saratoga Springs High from New York.

The 30 teams selected to participate at 10:45 a.m. CST in the girls championship race comprise the strongest field in any race this year, but without 2019 Nike Cross Nationals champion and recent NXR New York winner Saratoga Springs in the field, speculation will remain following the meet about whether the winner is deserving of surpassing the Blue Streaks as the top-ranked team in the country to conclude the season.

Colorado programs Niwot, Arapahoe and Cherry Creek, along with Buchanan High of California, Jesuit of Oregon, York of Illinois and Flower Mound from Texas all enter the meet in contention to win the championship race, but even that might not be enough to unseat Saratoga Springs, which produced a perfect score of 15 points by sweeping the top five spots Nov. 27 at NXR New York.

In its last three races of the season, Saratoga Springs won the Class A state title Nov. 13 with five scorers in the top 11 – featuring a 31-second spread – and a 26-point performance competing against rival Fayetteville-Manlius, which took runner-up with 46 points.

The Blue Streaks followed Nov. 20 at the Federation Championships again with five scorers in the top 11 – including a 39-second gap – and a 28-point effort, defeating second-place Fayetteville-Manlius, which accumulated 54 points.

Without Fayetteville-Manlius entered at NXR New York, Saratoga Springs had a 30-second compression among Emily Bush, Alycia Hart, Ella Kurto, Sheridan Wheeler and Mackenzie Hart, providing one more example of the impressive depth of the Blue Streaks.

Those performances would likely land all five Saratoga Springs athletes in the top 40 overall in the championship race Saturday, which would place them all among the first 20 scorers in the team competition.

Niwot, which spread 47 seconds by placing five scorers in the top nine Oct. 30 at the Colorado 4A final, has only become stronger with the addition of Sierra Parks to its lineup for the RunningLane championship race. Parks had to sit out during the regular season and for the Colorado state meet following her transfer from Broomfield High, but is eligible to race in Alabama.

Even her presence, joining Eva Klingbeil, Mia Prok, Madison Shults, Sarah Perkins, Bella Nelson and Stella Vieth, might only produce five Niwot athletes in the top 30 in the team scoring, which should be enough to win in Alabama, but might not be enough to prevail in a potential matchup with Saratoga Springs.

Buchanan, which looks for a strong rebound from junior Grace Hutchison after she struggled in the final kilometer Nov. 27 at the California Division 1 final, has the potential to place five competitors in the top 40 in the team scoring, with Sydney Sundgren, Elle Lomeli, Sierra Cornett, Stefania Sesock and Caroline Mendyk, and possesses the capabilities to edge Niwot following a 52-second spread at the state meet.

With Hutchison running right behind Sundgren at the Tri-River Athletic Conference final Nov. 11 and the Central Section championship meet Nov. 18, Buchanan produced gaps of 41 and 44 seconds among its top five scorers.

Arapahoe, the Colorado 5A champion, projects to have five scorers in the top 60 in the team competition, with Emily Lamontagne, Ava Mitchell, Ava Escorcia, Anna Bridges and Karli Holmes.

Despite not having Addison Price available to race, Colorado 5A runner-up Cherry Creek still features Riley Stewart, Paisley Piepgras, Shelby Balding, Addison Laughlin and Claire Semerod, with all five athletes capable of placing in the top 70 in the team scoring.

Flower Mound, the Texas 6A champion, won’t have Nicole Humphries, which would make its title pursuit much stronger, but Natalie Cook, Samantha Humphries, Virginia Knight and Alexandra Fox should all factor in the top 80 in the scoring, with the group hoping Allison Buemi can contribute in the top 100 of the team competition.

Jesuit, which finally knocked off Oregon 6A rival Summit on Nov. 20 at the Pacific Northwest Regional Showcase in Washington, looks to maintain its momentum, with Chloe Foerster, Emma Bennett, Maura O’Scannlain, Natalie Jack and Liliana Hudnut all looking to contribute in the top 100 in the team scoring.

York has the potential to place six athletes in the top 70 of the team scoring – Katherine Klimek, Bria Bennis, Michaela Quinn, Margaret Owens, Katelyn Winton and Brooke Berger – but doesn’t have a frontrunner capable of keeping pace with Stewart or Cook, in addition to Foerster, Sundgren, Klingbeil, Prok and Lamontagne.

The Illinois 3A champion did achieve a 41-second spread in a 5-kilometer race at the Nike Midwest Regional in Indiana after producing a 36-second gap in a 3-mile competition at its state championship meet.

The individual battle will showcase Stewart and Cook squaring off for the first of two consecutive weekends, along with Dec. 11 at the Eastbay national final in San Diego, Calif. Stewart won the Eastbay Midwest title Nov. 27 in Wisconsin, with Cook prevailing at the Eastbay South Regional in North Carolina.

California standouts Dalia Frias of Mira Costa and Samantha McDonnell of Newbury Park, who both prevailed Sept. 18 in a 3-mile race against Cook at the Woodbridge Cross Country Classic, are also in contention. Stewart prevailed Sept. 25 against Frias at Nike Portland XC.

Foerster and Bethany Michalak of Air Academy in Colorado, the 2020 Colorado 4A champion, should also be among the leaders, as well as Lily Cridge of Indianapolis Bishop Chatard in Indiana, Lilly Shapiro of Colts Neck from New Jersey and Ava Parekh of Latin School in Chicago.

Who Can Run With Newbury Park?

The RunningLane boys championship race is likely to be a coronation for Newbury Park XC, US#1 and California state champion with the top three individuals in the lastest national rankings. It's heady stuff to be on top of the world and the group led by Colin Sahlman, Leo Young, Lex Young and Aaron Sahlman – usually in that order – will no doubt be trying to make more history Saturday. 

Can any or them, or more than one, break Dathan Ritzenhein's national high school best 5,000-meter cross country time of 14:10.4 from the 2000 Michigan state meet? Can they score under 20 points?

One thing is for sure: There are a lot of teams and individuals that will be targeting Newbury Park and trying to measure up. 

The No. 2 team in the country is REAL Training COS (Cheyenne Mountain of Colorado Springs), and it is one of the best in Colorado history. The group won Nike Cross Southwest with 53 points and will be as eager as anyone to see if it can keep its pack within sight of Newbury Park's. Erik Le Roux, Knox Exton, Cedar Collins, Tyler Nord and Enzo Knapp. One of the team's top runners, Kaden Levings, is expected to rejoin the team after missing NXR Southwest. 

But what remains to be seen is whether this team can break up Newbury Park's pack or simply follow it. Will the Colorado team's altitude training come into play. Does it have fresher legs? 

The next tier of teams includes US#3 Stumptown XC (Jesuit of Portland, Ore.) and US#5 Farm-Town (Farmington of Utah). The Stumptown team, led by junior Jacob Nenow, is perhaps the best from Oregon since the South Eugene teams of the 1970s. Nenow will go to the starting line with Caden Hildenbrand, Gus Clevenger, Josh Augustine, John Schuler, Caden Swanson and Dominic Ricci. Nenow is probably faster than any of the Farm-Town guys, but after that these two groups could shuffle like a deck of cards. 

Farm-Town went up against the Cheyenne Mountain group and lost twice, but at least made it competitive. Matthew Neuenschwander, Britton Austin, Ethan Peterson, Isaac Halverson and Ryan Bennett and interchangeable and capable of a small compression window.  

The one glaring omission from the top 10 is US#4 Sandburg (Orland Park), which won the Illinois and NXR Midwest titles. Eleven of the top 15 teams are entered. 

Black Robe Running Club (Brebeuf Jesuit IN) finished second to Sandburg at the NXR Midwest meet and won a competitive state meet in Indiana. Krishna Thirunavukkarasu leads a strong group that could push up into the top three with a great day. 

Making its first appearance on the national scene in cross country, Union Catholic XC Club of New Jersey is riding high after reaching program-best levels this fall and winning the Meet of Champions at Holmdel Park. Senior Shane Brosnan, an Eastbay Cross Country national finalist, leads the way. 

Mustang Army (Grapevine TX) won the NXR South title and has a strong group up front led by Walker St. John and Trey Leathers. 

The individual stars coming to Alabama are intent are testing themselves with Newbury Park's leaders and could provide a compelling assault on the 14-minute barrier.

In a race that could surpass what's to come next week in San Diego, Michigan standout Riley Hough, Ohio champion William Zegarski, Washington champion Isaac Teeples, South Carolina champion Sam Rich, New Jersey standout Jackson Barna, NXR Northeast winner Aidan Cox, Pennsylvania champ Gary Martin, Colorado 4A champ Zane Bergen, Oregon champ James Crabtree, Alabama champ Miles Brush and Massachusetts champ Aidan Ross all made the calculation that this was the race to be at. Expect at least a few of these guys to latch on to the Newbury Park crew and hang on for a wild finish.