NXN 2024 - The Way Too Early Preview - BOYS

Beckman had the new transfer come through big time and Jesuit ran how they were supposed to really showing two performances that would have walked over Dana Hills and everyone else last year. I think if you throw Jesuit and Beckman into woodbridge at full strength it is a different story. California is still good and what is crazy is Beckman and Jesuit bring most guys back so we will get to see these teams battle it out and hopefully have a nice two year stretch racing for California at NXN if all goes well. Props to Crater for coming giving Cali some solid validation going into the postseason. No at large likely from this but still two clearly talented teams with great pack running put on display for the nation to see how woodbridge is not going to define this states season.

most likely beckman and jesuit ca will be the two ca teams going to nxn. The only team that can upset that would be ML King, but they have been way too inconsistent, being only 5 runners deep.

They ran on their little flat course they made at Bob Jones Park, however. Meanwhile, Niwot and Vandegrift are hitting similar times on real XC courses. Def isn’t a fair comparison, as with the exception of Leonard, all of the rest of their top 7 broke their prs by 15-20+ sec.

They ran on their little flat course they made at Bob Jones Park, however. Meanwhile, Niwot and Vandegrift are hitting similar times on real XC courses. Def isn’t a fair comparison, as with the exception of Leonard, all of the rest of their top 7 broke their prs by 15-20+ sec.

Another team that can possibly upset one of these teams is Great Oak if Westin Brown returns and at full strength, and if Franco closes the gap on their top guys, which he did at Bob Firman. This will make them 5-deep like ML King.

Jesuit does have only 1 senior on varsity.

Beckman has 4 seniors on varsity (Horrocks, Barrera, Feaster, Tenorio). Two of them are transfers. They do return 3 nonseniors from their top 5, and also 2 more guys who went 1-2 in the JV race (16:28 and 16:33).

What happened to their number #2, blake bullard

And Menlo can possibly upset too, if Saal returns and Olbekson closes the gap on him and the Hausers.

Menlo won’t be able to race the top teams at state, but they didn’t at Woodbridge and they were the #1 CA team in the merge there.

Lots of 5-man teams in CA so we’ll see which teams deliver at state

Clovis speed ratings

It hasn't been talked about yet, but crater just ran one of the fastest team times ever in woodward park history. #9 all time among every team that has ever raced there. #4 all time if we are just talking about clovis races only behind newbury park 2019, 2021, 2022. Not the best day for them but it crazy that they can still put up a performance like this.

prepcaltrack.com

Woodward Park All-Time Lists!

Rich Gonzalez

Link:prepcaltrack.com/2024/10/12/woodward-p...

Triathlon worlds falls on their regionals, so think he was prepping for that. Don’t expect to see him at regionals, and this isn’t likely, but maybe state as well?

CBA crushes the Manhattan Invitational

North Rockland took 5th in the overall merge at the Manhattan Invitational, beating all NY teams that were there. Saratoga’s older Pasek missed the last 2 meets and DNFed in the one before. Monroe Woodbury has not been doing as well as last year even though they only lost one of their top 6

Weren’t they like the 10th California team yesterday?

They took 11th in the championship race, but Olbekson wasn’t close to the Hausers like he was at Woodbridge. And Saal wasn’t there

Was every team ahead of them in perfect condition?

Top 2 teams in each region

Northwest: Crater OR / CDA ID

Southwest: Herriman UT / Niwot CO

California: Arnold Beckman CA / Jesuit CA

Northeast: CBA NJ / Haddonfield Memorial NJ

Southeast: Belen Jesuit Prep FL / Knoxville Catholic TN

Midwest: Downers Grove North IL / Plainfield North IL

South: The Woodlands TX / Austin Vandegrift TX

Heartland: Dowling Catholic IA / Sioux Falls Lincoln SD

New York: Ithaca NY / North Rockland NY

Southlake Carroll, not The Woodlands

I got into an argument with someone a while back about how mead 1993 and york 1999 would not be competitive with the top teams in the nation in 2023 and 2024. Old folks insisted that these teams were the next best teams after Newbury Park. Based on the downvote/upvote ration I was deemed wrong but I found some proof to show just how much better teams are now than they were in the past. Right now, in 2024, we are seeing some of the fastest teams ever in history.

We can know this through historical courses that have been around since the 1970s. Specifically Woodward Park.

Woodward park is a course that is comparable from year to year because 1) it is the exact same course 2) hard pack dirt (so no changes in the surface of the course) 3) weather is always good. This means times run in 1970s are EXACTLY comparable to times run in 2020s.

There are around 20 invitationals run at Woodward Park course every year. The biggest race being the Clovis Invitational and obviously the California State Championships.

Mead 1993, one of the hailed all time great teams in history, ran at Woodward Park, the exact same Woodward Park that is run right now. This was for Footlocker West Regionals, as that race used to be held at Woodward Park in the 1990s.

Mead 1993 WA ran a team time of 77:22. At the time they ran this, it was a team course record, a record for a course that has been run for many years , and will be run for many more years to come. It would remain the team course record for 17 years, until Arcadia 2010 came bursting in the scene. Arcadia 2010 ran 76:14. A time that would shattered Mead 1993 course record. Arcadia latter went on to win the NXN title in conditions that were not ideal for California runners.

After Arcadia burst into the scene, a numerous of very fast teams started to develop in SoCAL area. Specifically Great Oak, Newbury Park, and Arcadia. These teams would run the 12 fastest team times every run on the course. Eventually more fast teams developed which would push Mead 1993's 77:22 back to #16 all-time team time at Woodward Park in 2024.

In 2024 at the Clovis Invitational:
#9 - Crater 76:39
#13 - Beckman 77:04
#17 - Jesuit 77:24

Even better is how Clovis is just a regular Invitational. 80% of teams run even faster at their state meet, or crater will run much faster at nxr northwest. Mead ran one of their best races at Woodward Park at the end of the season.

Mead 1993 WA, one of the best teams in history (according to letsrun historians) would have placed 4th at the Clovis Invitational (at their peak race at the end of the season). This goes to show just how much faster teams are running now than they were in the past.

The greatest teams are here with us right now. Southwest is ridiculously good. Northwest is good too. There is CBA in the Northeast. Southlake Carroll and Austin Vandegrift in the South. And belen Jesuit in the Southeast.