JANE MF HENDENGREN 16:32 Wins NXN by 40 Seconds

I was there. Conditions were miserable but she broke the record looking relaxed. This is no regular top runner. This is the best XC runner in history.

Some work out, most don't; do the math.

Some who worked out: Chmiel, Tuohy, Noe, Forsyth (so far)

Some who did not: Starliper, Perez, Cook, Walters, Rauber, Hutchins, Riggs, Starcher, Dadamio, Dudek, Masciarelli, Brown, Shea, Michalak, Thorvaldson, Lane, Oakley, Baxter, Ping, Hart, Covert, Bednar, Vanderkooi, Frias, McDonnell.

Note: some in this 'did not' group have had useful ncaa moments, but on the whole have not really run faster than their high school times, and have not become top NCAA runners.

Take Rauber for example. She was #3 in her class, 3 time top 10 at NXN. USA HS Steeple Champ. PanAm U20 xc champ for team USA.

At NC State she has twice been a scorer for xc team at nats, but finishing between 50 - 100th place not near All-American. On track pretty much zilch (4:25/16:04) and she has been injured for roughly 2 years, piling up medical red shirts.

So useful? Sure, beyond a doubt! She's a super human being and leader, getting a great education. She's now the team 'mom', was #5 on a national champion xc team, contributed at ACC and regional wins, and just had her best ever college run at nats to be Pack's #3...but not yet running at potential for a hs star, and not really running faster than her hs bests.

Many of the women that you listed have had solid careers and some are not done. Brown was all american this year. How the heck is that not good? Cook was top 10 as a frosh and she has had some injuries. Hutchins was 6th in the 10K. If you want to make a false claim, provde some data instead of just listing a bunch of names. I challenge you to list the top 10 Americans in XC over the past 3 years and list their HS accomplishments. Then list the placers in the 1500, 5k, and 10k and do the same. The vast majority were elite high school runners.

I have not claimed they have not done ANYTHING in college, just that they don't live up to the hype. I'm also not talking about all high school runners, just the very top of each recruiting class. (That is my list)

Cook indeed ran well for OSU as a freshman. Since then she has disappeared. She also did not yet run faster than high school.

Hutchins did place in 10k, but her times are slower than hs. (College 5000 pr 15:31) She has also done little in hs. Jury still out to see if she can improve on hs.

Brown All-American, very nice took 4 years of college to get there and still running slower than her 9:39 hs 2 mile.

The Hedengren poster claims she will improve and come in to dominate ncaa, as a freshman. Hopefully, she comes in and just runs her high school times, as at that top level, that is already enough to contribute. The odds show, however, that just running as well as hs seldom happens for these top hs stars. Running faster, and being top 5 in xc, or running 14:50 for 5000 even less likely.

Agree if you look at list of ncaa finals in xc and track, you will see names of excellent hs runners, it just won't be the ones who were at top of their recruiting class. (With very few exceptions)

Hedengren is on a different level than anyone you mentioned. Including Touhy. I expect she will prove that on the track this spring. You realize she would have finished in the top half of the boys race?

Also Michalak is a ridiculous name to have on that list. She is 3 months into her NCAA career.

Haven't we played this record before?

I put Michalak and Shea in exactly to be fair.

They were last year's Hedengren.

Shea of the 9:02 hs 3000/ 15:46 5000 and 10th place at World U20 xc. Michalak 4:35/9:57 and 2nd at NXN.

If people expect Hedengren to come in and dominate as a freshman, then surely these two could have helped NC State as freshmen in xc?

Neither ran at their hs level, and they finished 160th Michalak and 247th Shea, well behind many of their lower ranked classmates.

Hopefully, it's a one off for them, but it's just another example of the danger of assuming about how a top female recruit will run as a freshman.

Hedengren....plus Engelhardt, Jazwinski, Wisniewski and Scheffler in next year's NC State class are no more likely to be all-americans as true freshman, as Shea and Michalak.

I may have written this before ….Jane is in the Nike Elite Project…..along with Eliz Leachman ( 2x FL Champ and but a jr ), Zariel Macchia ( 3rd at FL today and 4x FL finalist ), Emily Wisniewski , Rylee Blade, Sophia Rodriquez, among others.

Jane H is a better person than sh is a runner, as is most all of these kids..this fact, aside from their athletic accomplishments, will serve them far more in their futures, well after the cheers and huzzahs are gone !

I fully agree people need to pump the breaks on the over the top Hedengren NCAA statements but saying Michalak and Shea were last years Hedengren is a joke. there was no senior year Hedengren in last years class.

Every class has a #1 and #2 recruit, obviously some years better than others, but not much. Next year we will have Leachman/Ritz not so bad.

I don't find it absurd that folks think Hedengren is better than Shea and Michalak, but for most it's off the basis of 1 race! (Smarter people may be basing it off a series of 3 races)

If you base judgment of potential on 1 race, then Amber Trotter, Jenna Hutchins, Dahlia Frias and Melody Fairchild would have become all time NCAA greats.

Until track comes along and Hedengren bests 4:35 mile, 9:02 3000, 15:45 5000, she won't factually be better than Shea and Michalak. How quickly we forget that in October Hedengren was still even in times with these two, plus Engelhardt, Blade and Leachman and even lost an xc race at Woodbridge.

Also where was Hedengren at last year's NXN? Well, injured. When Tuohy was injured that was considered a bad sign of her durability and she was rated here on the board as a high risk recruit due being injury prone. Hedengren gets a pass on health with only 1 appearance at an xc nats?

Well it will be fun next fall in Provo. We will see how the Hedengren/Macchia duo perform. Macchia jumped already to 3rd today at Foot Locker, showing rapidly improving fitness.

She will be top 5 next year.

It is unlikely but certainly possible. Allie Ostrander won NXN as a senior and was 2nd at NCAAs as a freshman.

Cook was 7th. Hendengren is much better than her.

Natalie Cook ran a 5k on the track in 15:25 her senior year in high school which broke the national record. If Hedengren runs faster than 15:25 this year then we can say she is better than Natslie Cook. We will have to wait and see what happens.

Hendengren beat Tuohy's XC record. Are claiming that Cook was also better than Tuohy in HS at XC? I don't think so. She ran a faster track time but I would go Hendengren-Tuohy-Hutchins-Cook in a fantasy XC race.

Crazy to think, but from Hedengren’s XC times, I wouldn’t be surprised if she were capable of close to 15-flat. A 15:10 seems pretty realistic for her.

Tuohy ran better races than what Hendengren ran, and at 15/16 as opposed to 18. Her 2017 nxn was just as good, and races like Holmdel were significantly better. Also Hendengren lost this year. Plus we never got to see a healthy Tuohy after her early junior xc season until she was a sophomore in college. Who knows what a heathy senior Tuohy would have run. Meanwhile Hendegren won the race one time. So no way.

But Hendengren beat Tuohy's record and in crappy conditions. That is just a fact. Hendengren holds the NXN record now. Tuohy's name was erased.

Having watched Jane at both NXR and NXN, she is at another level. Also, a 5k track race isn’t a typical HS event. Most girls don’t train/race for that during track season so it shouldn’t be the measure for the best of all time.