NXR Heartland 2024 predictions

Girls:
1 - Pella
2 - Wayzata
3 - Pleasant Valley

Autoqualifying team predictions:
Boys: Cedar Falls and Dowling Catholic
Girls: Wayzata and Pella

I ran on the course in 2021 with some friends I didn’t do very well mostly because I was feeling a little burnt out, but it was still a ton of fun. I had one friend who was with in 10 seconds of a pr. The course wasn’t that hilly from what I remember and a lot of other people ran pretty fast on it. Even if you don’t pr I highly recommend running it just for the experience and to have some fun.

Boys Individual autoqualifier predictions: Manny Putz, Robert Mechura, Juan Gonzalez, Grady Lenn, Sean Fries

Girls Individual autoqualifier predictions: Norah Hushagen, Katelyn Rupe, Ryin Miller, Libby Castelli, Brianna Reilly

Can’t leave Marissa Ferebee (Pella - IA) out of the list of girl’s auto-qualifiers. Heck, she could win it. In recent weeks she has run sub-16:40 three times: 16:38, 16:38, and most recently 16:30 (speed rating = 159) to win the Iowa 3A championship.

I have her team (Pella) making NXN. She will make it individually they don’t

Ah - good point. Yes, Pella as a team is likely to qualify (and they could even pull off the win against Wayzata).

Unlikely to win girls NXR outright but the KS 6A girls final went down to a tiebreaker and 3rd was 4 points behind. We will see if anyone gets their revenge.

Highly competitive finish for 6A girls in KS. Tie score for first.
Tie breaker goes to best 6th place finisher. 3rd place team was only 4
points behind.

1 Olathe West 80 4+6+13+21+36 (38+51) 1:35 1-5 Split | 19:43 Avg
2 Washburn Rural 80 2+3+10+25+40 (75+80) 2:15 1-5 Split | 19:36 Avg
3 Shawnee Mission East 84 1+16+19+22+26 (32+34) 1:37 1-5 Split | 19:44 Avg

Spring Hill beat Blue Valley SW by 5 points for the KS state title. These 2 teams have been going back and forth against each other this season.

Blue Valley SW beat Dowling Catholic at the Olathe Twilight by 10 points.

Gonna be a barn burner for boys teams to make NXN

While I’d love for Quentin Nauman or Ethan Zuber to qualify, I think you nailed this, at least on paper.

Not sure how either one of you are coming up with this on Grady lenn and Sean fries. Lenn has yet to go sub 15 anywhere and was controlled from the front by putz, Fries has went one sub 15. Zuber and naumen are on paper ahead of them.

Fries beat Zuber head to head at Griak

That was one race and a long time ago. Nauman has to be above all of them though.

Dyestat predicted Spring Hill and Blue Valley Southwest to make NXN

Spring Hill returned everyone from last year, and their #3 guy is a transfer from Emporia KS

Lenn just about beat Putz and both ran top 10 all time times at the Wisconsin state meet. Lenn is also tied with Nauman with a 190 speed rating and is above everyone else in Iowa.

There are probably 10 legit individuals who could qualify individually and all of them could place top 25 at nationals. Putz, Gonzalez, and Mechura are definitely the favorites though. It will really be a fight for those last 2 spots. Maybe the Heartland can land one of the at large individual spots this year.

Pella girls ran 20 seconds per girl faster at state as conpared to the NXR winner Wayzata last year. I think they are a slam dunk winner.

It is astonishing to me that Pella could be competitive with massive high schools like Wayzata. Bella is a small rural town and they have something like 760 kids in grades 9-12.