With NXN right around the corner, who are your picks to win??
Here are mine
Girls Individual:
Brie Oakley looks like the clear favorite, she's smashed the field in every single race. Plus I hear it's only her second year running. Crazy stuff.
Kate Murphy looks solid after struggles in cross in previous years, and her track speed is unmatched.
My dark horse is Molly Born out of Heartland. She ran 16:49, but is still flying pretty much under the radar coming from Kansas. Yes, it's a really fast course, but that time is almost 20 seconds faster than the Hasz twins meet record, and they would go on to get 5th and 9th at NXN in 2014.
1. Oakley
2. Born
3. Murphy
Boys Individual:
Clinger is no doubt the favorite, he won last year and there's not much to add to that.
However, I'm on the bandwagon for the UW guys out of heartland.
Seth Hirsch was top ten at both FL and NXN last year and looks even better this year. He and Finn Gessner ran 14:39 while coasting in down the stretch and flashing the W, which is insane.
1.Hirsch (Upset alert!!)
2. Clinger
3. Gessner
Girls team:
Can anyone bet against F-M? Carmel looks strong but who knows what sort of shape Sarah Leinheiser is in coming off that injury. The CA schools don't always do as expected, but I like Great Oak. They won the merge pretty handily. I also like Edina out of Heartland, they have experience and they're deep to their 7. Watch out for them.
1.F-M
2.Carmel
3.Great Oak
Boys team:
American Fork has the best top 3 of any team in the country and it's not even close. Having the top three at an NXR race is unheard of. Their 4-5 just need to step up. It's honestly a tossup. Neuqua won its region easily, as did Wayzata, who always seem to peak well. Bozeman looks strong, as does CBA, and CBA has had a good past here before.
1. AF
2. Neuqua Valley
3. Wayzata
Thoughts?