Same Trio of Girls, in Same Order, at Brooks XC Champs (12/13)?

Nice post.

Should be the same group. I was most impressed today by Williams. In theory she was 30 seconds behind the leaders in the prediction, but in the race showed a lot extra. She perfectly peaked and executed her race plan...just came up short.

Lowen fell and Ritz was around place 50 at mile split, so got out real slow. So they may do better in the 'do over' next week.

Looking forward to Balboa.

Think Wilson usually goes out very hard, just much more difficult to do that when it's conditions you're not used to racing on. My guess is she'll do much better on the hilly SoCal course.

Personally I'm rooting for West girls to improve a lot since they'll have a lot of wild card athletes, but other regions' wild cards might offset that.

At California state meet Williams went from 1 mile to go. this time she went from 2km out. maybe with the mud that was a bit to far, as she tied up with 100m left. Almost timed it perfectly. I predict she will make some adjustments and be the winner at Brooks.

Two very different races. At the state meet Jaelyn Williams took it easy for the first 2.1 miles so she had a lot of energy left for the last mile.

At NXN she was running a more normal pace and you can't kick from 2k out off your normal pace. Leo Young tried that 3 years ago and ran out of gas going up those last 2 risers just like Williams did.

Ritzenhein didn't get out "real slow". She runs races at a steady even pace instead of going out too fast and dying.

The year she won NXN she was 10 seconds behind the leader at 1k and yesterday she was only 7 seconds behind at 1k. So she was actually 3 seconds closer to the leader yesterday than she was the year she won.

Ritzenhein had a bad race for reasons not related to how she ran her first 1k.

Addy was sick. She only raced because Niwott was running for a team title. If she had qualified as an individual she wouldn’t have raced.

"There will be a few additions to the field, most notably hometown favorite Chiara Dailey, but can't see her or other non-NXN gals staying up with the Big 3."

Re. Chiara Dailey, this is a totally insane statement. Dailey will go into the race rested and could be gearing up for a peak performance that could put her in the hunt for the win.

I hate to be touchy-feely almost Boomer guy but is this cross country season ever going to end? Someone like dudek has run a hard xc season starting in august every weekend, a district championship, a regional championship, a state championship, NXR, NXN, and now what??? Im not real conservative, i say let kids compete, and her coaches have kept her healthy and getting better. But good god isnt it time to break for week or something. If racing your brains out 5k on grass every 7 days for four months was the way to get better wouldnt Pros or college athletes be doing that. She's a young sophomore. I really hope she's not doing Brooks.

Yeah, Dailey def flying under the radar.

But she's a racer, not a time trialer. I don't think she's skipping NXN to shoot for a top 5 finish in Balboa Park.

I know her 'times' haven't been great this season compared to previous years. But she's beaten Wilson and Williams this year (among others). She's run, 2:07, 4:37 and 9:58 in track. And she's been quietly winning races (albeit slower than her CA counterparts).

I'm predicting a 1-2 finish by Stanford teammates Williams + Daily

Dudek said yesterday that she's racing again at Brooks. I agree that she's likely flirting with burnout, especially given she said she'd jump into some indoor track races this winter also.

Here come the excuses. 🙄

Hey, I'd love that.

So would JJ.

I'm well aware of her 2023 exploits. Problem is if you get too far back, and front group never slows, you can't get back in the race.

Apparently, she was ill and racing for team. That explains a lot and hopefully she is recovered for Saturday.

What has Natasza said about her invitation to race World XC on the US U20 team?

Running is tea leaves and sorcery to a certain extent, but this feels like too much. I just don't know what she has to gain? Yet another national meet half way into december now? Her school does a hard indoor season too. Playing with fire, when you don't have to. I believe her sis had bilateral leg stress fracture at same program and then stress fracture freshman yr college. But you never know.

I could easily be wrong, but I think....she has raced U20 for poland in some meets. A world meet could be fun, I would favor that far and away above another HS natty for Brooks or early indoor.

Actually, just occurred to me: she was born in Poland. Not sure if she holds duel citizenship with the US. However, per her WA profile, Natasza competes as a Polish citizen. Like Zofia, she may very well compete in Tallahassee . . . but on the Polish team.

So, similar question: what has Blair Bartlett said about her invitation to race World XC on the US U20 team?

Via USATF Instagram, it looks like Dudek declined the spot and Bartlett took her place.