I think the top 3 SW girls teams will be Niwot, Lone Peak, and Air Academy again just like last year. Niwot will be the favorite in the nation, and Lone Peak and Air Academy graduate nobody.
4th girls team in the SW is looking to be American Fork. The thing is, they are looking to be only 5-deep (unless someone steps up or an impact freshman comes in), so all of their top 5 will need to be on when it matters.
Those 4 California teams should all get a bit better this XC season with who they have returning. I think Buchanan and Campolindo will get the 2 auto berths from state and Jserra, Los Altos, and Ventura will all be in the mix for at larges.
Those 4 California teams should all get a bit better this XC season with who they have returning. I think Buchanan and Campolindo will get the 2 auto berths from state and Jserra, Los Altos, and Ventura will all be in the mix for at larges.
Cathedral Catholic has a shot too.
They return: 18:49 5k (no track results) 4:58 4:58 4:59 5:09 19:09 (scored at xc state, but no track results)
Those 4 California teams should all get a bit better this XC season with who they have returning. I think Buchanan and Campolindo will get the 2 auto berths from state and Jserra, Los Altos, and Ventura will all be in the mix for at larges.
Cathedral Catholic has a shot too.
They return: 18:49 5k (no track results) 4:58 4:58 4:59 5:09 19:09 (scored at xc state, but no track results)
Yeah I noticed those track times, a couple of those girls have little to no xc experience so it will be interesting to see how it all shakes out. A 1600 is a bit different than a 5k at Woodward Park.
I think on both the boys and girls side, the Southwest region is much better than it was last year, and will have two teams finish on the podium at NXN.
Those 4 California teams should all get a bit better this XC season with who they have returning. I think Buchanan and Campolindo will get the 2 auto berths from state and Jserra, Los Altos, and Ventura will all be in the mix for at larges.
Los Altos lost 2 scorers, so now they have a strong 1-2-3, but they will need a 4&5 up there to qualify. Same situation as Newbury Park.
Speaking of Ventura girls, they only got 18th at state in the merge last year so they have lots of work to do. But their team will have like no seniors on the team, so chances to qualify for NXN are looking better for them in 2024. Another thing is that Cruz is stepping down from coaching so this may be a negative impact for the team. Depends on what coach they get though
I will be curious how Niwot will do and if they will make it to NXN this year.
Southwest region has American Fork and Herriman as the main contenders.
If this region gets at-large team bids, some teams fighting for them will be Riverton, Lone Peak, and Niwot. Mountain Vista always seems to reload and peak during postseason. Orem and Valor Christian look interesting as well.
Niwot will have no seniors on varsity this year. In 2024 they will be challenging for the NXN title
Also gotta watch out for Downers Grove North. They return 4 varsity guys + another 9:33 3200 incoming junior.
You do realize that 3 of the championships won by California were all from the same team, Newbury Park. Also Great Oak has won a championship too, but has gone downhill after Soles left. California used to be good because of teams like this in the past, but now with powerhouse teams like these getting worse, California is overrated, and definitely didn't deserve 2 at large bids to NXN last year, one of those should've gone to Rocky Mountain.
If you have a school like Union Catholic, why not have CDA out of Idaho?
Union Catholic has 9:26, 9:31, 9:36, 9:51 and 9:52 returning. CDA has 9:13, 9:37, 9:39, 9:40 and a 9:55 8th grader coming in.
Union Catholic also has Wischusen who ran a 9:01. He was out for much of XC and track last year though They also have Wilson who ran a 16:00 5k / 4:27 1600, but no 3200.
You do realize that 3 of the championships won by California were all from the same team, Newbury Park. Also Great Oak has won a championship too, but has gone downhill after Soles left. California used to be good because of teams like this in the past, but now with powerhouse teams like these getting worse, California is overrated, and definitely didn't deserve 2 at large bids to NXN last year, one of those should've gone to Rocky Mountain.
I think that Granada got an at-large instead of Rocky Mountain because Granada beat Great Oak twice. Rocky Mountain only beat them once.
calling another state overrated that has won the proven results from winning the past 4 national individual championships, 6 of the past 12 team national championships, and had 3 teams in the top 10 this last season is a bit harsh. sure newbury park played a big rule but are they not allowed to rep California? If you want California to be overrated that make it happen this year at NXN. As the past results say California deserves the hype. Results mean more than calling another team or state “overrated”
In retrospect yes Rocky Mountain should have gotten a bid over Granada. However, that decision came from the NXN committee and had nothing to do with “Ratings” but face to face competition. If Rocky Mountain competed in a big invitational that year I am sure they would have gotten their bid over Granada
I suppose because of Californias history and all their powerhouse programs leaving this year, it is possibility that they will be overrated this year. only time will tell
In retrospect yes Rocky Mountain should have gotten a bid over Granada. However, that decision came from the NXN committee and had nothing to do with “Ratings” but face to face competition. If Rocky Mountain competed in a big invitational that year I am sure they would have gotten their bid over Granada
It’s because Rocky stays in state and never travels. They sell it as they build culture rather than chase fast times, but then complain when they have only one quality meet on the schedule and it bites them. They put all their chips on getting top 2 at the regional meet and they didn’t get it. They beat a Great Oak team that was sick on the course in their backyard that they train on and then didn’t really show a ton of improvement as the season went on.
The Rocky coaches made a choice and they should live by that. They are doing the same thing this year and wasting the senior year of Landon Heemeyer, although they will be nowhere near where they were last fall, especially at the Idaho State meet. But they can post about the glory to God and all that crap after they predictably don’t qualify and lessons after defeat while not acknowledging at all that they failed the kids by not realizing that it takes actually facing competition to have a resume worth considering for an at large. I would be pissed at them if I was on that team last year. That was all their choices that kept Rocky from going. Literally one travel trip and one good showing would have sent them to NXN. Qualifying for NXN is also great for culture.
One last thing- Rocky parents and runners will respond to this (because they are all over this board) and try to hand wave off the importance of qualifying for NXN. The coach uses god to brainwash your kids into not questioning why something happened. “Don’t question God’s plan” is really “don’t question my actions that got us here.”