NXN 2024 - The Way Too Early Preview - BOYS

Unless you mean Christian Drothers Academy, this is a risky take

My predictions:

Herriman 1

CBA 2

Niwot 3

American Fork 4

Carroll 5

CDA 6

Downers Grove North 7

Belen Jesuit 8

Austin Vandegrift 9

Taylorsville 10

Jesuit CA 11

Jesuit OR 12

Menlo 13

Spring Hill 14

Glendora 15

Bridgeland 16

State College 17

Sioux Falls 18

Rock Hurst 19

Monroe Woodbury 20

St. Albans 21

Xavier 22

Kaden Evans, Joe Barrett, Tayvon Kitchen, Keegan Smith, Caden Leonard

Many top boys raced at Foot Locker Regionals last weekend. It seems like a race like NXN has a very small margin for error. Do we see these top runners bounce back to race at their potential at NXN?

If there are lasting effects from Foot Locker Regionals, I am looking for Tayvon Kitchen, Ty Steorts, Caden Leonard, Tommy Latham, Joe Barrett, and Owen Powell to have a strong performance.

Austin Vandegrift got unlucky they couldve gotten a top three finish if Hudson their top runner didn't pull his hamstring at state. They got second to Carroll even though he got 40th. Carroll is also in contention for top 3. They always shine at big meets and have constantly proved on the big stage they can finish top 3.

Predictions for Boys teams
1. Herriman UT
2. CBA NJ
3. Niwot CO
4. American Fork UT
5. Downers Grove North IL
6. Southlake Carroll TX
7. Belen Jesuit Prep FL
8. CDA ID
9. Jesuit CA
10. Taylorsville UT
11. Menlo CA
12. Jesuit OR
13. Austin Vandegrift TX
14. Bridgeland TX
15. Glendora CA
16. Rockhurst MO
17. State College PA
18. Spring Hill KS
19. St Albans DC
20. Sioux Falls Lincoln SD
21. Monroe Woodbury NY
22. Xavier NY

Predictions for Individuals
1. Keegan Smith
2. Joe Barrett
3. Juan Gonzalez
4. Ben Crane
5. Sam Quagliaroli
6. Eyan Turk
7. Kaden Evans
8. Tayvon Kitchen
9. Ty Steorts
10. Owen Powell
11. Manny Putz
12. Jase Burton
13. TJ Hansen
14. Landon Pretre
15. Tommy Latham
16. Eli Fitchen Young
17. Robert Mechura
18. Caden Leonard
19. Kyle Steadman
20. Will Sheets
21. Charlie Vause

1 Juan Gonzalez

2 Keegan Smith

3 Joe Barrett

4 Manny Putz

5 Ty Steorts

6 Eyan Turk

7 Ben Crane

8 Tayvon Kitchen

9 TJ Hansen

10 Sam Quagliaroli

11 Kaden Evans

12 Robert Mechura

13 Caden Evans

Last year everyone was saying the same thing about Daniel Simmons, that no one could possibly beat him

Keegan Smith is the favorite, but far from unbeatable

final nxn predictions

boys winner: joe barrett, team winner: herriman.

girls winner: jane hendegren team winner: mountain vista

Looks like it’s going to rain during the race tomorrow

The individual is insane this year. The way Smith won NXR SE makes me think he has it. But then Barret had multiple 15:2x at Bowdin this year and was blowing kisses to the crowd in the last 800m/didnt look tired at all at the finish of NE NXR. The Cali kids, specifically Turk have INSANE speed. 14:32 Woodward is Newbury Park times. ANYONE from the SW is almost guaranteed to overperform expectations. The NW has the craziest individual top end depth I've maybe ever seen from one region. Gonzales/Crane look unbeatable right now.

Not only is there no clear favorite IMO. I wouldn't even be surprised if anyone from your top 15 win. Then theres another 10 guys where I would be surprised but still be like "okay, yeah that makes sense". This is the deepest boys field ever.

It's going to be a great race. I been studying the regions and they are all running so well.

this one didn’t age well

Well played Niwot, it’s been a good run (pun intended)

now someone go start a “NXN 2025 - The Way Too Early Preview - BOYS”

So we can argue non stop for a year and all be wrong on our predictions again lol.

Oops

Actually, you know what, your Herriman prediction was great! Better than many others

Predicted Actual

Keegan smith (6) Charlie Vause (21)

Joe Barrett (89) TJ Hansen (13)

Juan Gonzalez (13) Caden Leonard (18)

Ben Crane (14) Tommy Latham (15)

Sam Quagliaroli (22) Evan Noonan (Not Ranked)

Eyan Turk (18) Keegan Smith (1)

Kaden Evans (8) Jackson Spencer (Not Ranked)

Tayvon Kitchen (11) Kaden Evans (7)

Ty Steorts (DNF) Aiden Le Roux (Not Ranked)

Owen Powell (46) Robert Mechura (17)

Total guys predicted top 10 who ran top 10: 2

Total guys not in the top 21 predictions who ran in the top 10: 3

This goes to show how much of an upset the race really was.

Not so much an upset. Why wasn’t Aiden Le Roux ranked? He broke Parker Wolfe’s all classification state record at the Colorado state meet. Colorado and other SW guys are always underrated going into NXN.