NXN 2020 Way Too Early Predictions

This could be the year that Loudoun Valley girls do better than the LV boys

Never Too Early wrote:

Girls

Sydney Thorvaldson will win as an individual.

Saratoga Springs returns everyone and they look to go back to back, until proven otherwise.

Boys

Nathan Green will win as an individual. Gavin Sherry has a shot to win if he decides to do NXN.

Junior Tristian Merchant was 2 seconds behind Green so he could challenge for it too.

For boys teams, there are several that could win it, which include La Salle Academy, Great Oak, Newbury Park, and Bellarmine College Prep

Green is great. Not a lot of depth has emerged yet on the guys' side. There are probably a lot of guys that had bad races at NXN or didn't peak for NXN because they weren't sure they were going to make it, so I could see a lot of people coming out of the woodwork. A few people in that boat are Parker Wolfe (CO), Creed Thompson (UT), and Dalton Mortenson (UT). Erik Le Roux also had a bad race after finishing T10 at NXR as a freshman in 2018.

I'm a massive proponent of Bellarmine. They had an uncharacteristically weak state race and still came in an impressive 4/5th (depending on whether you count Jesuit ahead of them or not) and they have the strongest class of 2021 I've seen. Peattie as an individual could be a very low stick, even in the mix to win if he plays to his 1600 speed.

I think Thorvaldson will be a beast next year. And I believe Rauber is still here next year...if so, she will be an absolute stud!!

Jedsdead wrote:

I think Thorvaldson will be a beast next year. And I believe Rauber is still here next year...if so, she will be an absolute stud!!

Yup, Rauber is only a junior

It'll be interesting to see if more girls try the double now that they might have a good chance of winning

Nxn Foot Locker

Sydney thorvaldson

Vanderkooi

Jenna Hutchins

Brynn Brown

Brooke rauber

Sydney masciarelli, could all be potential winners

Expect a big year from the ny boys with three sophomores in the top 80 at nxn and NXR ny champion Peyton geehrer returning.

Stopwatcher wrote:

It'll be interesting to see if more girls try the double now that they might have a good chance of winning

Nxn Foot Locker

Sydney thorvaldson

Vanderkooi

Jenna Hutchins

Brynn Brown

Brooke rauber

Sydney masciarelli, could all be potential winners

completely agree...I think Tuohy created a good reason to consider taking the extra week of rest...

now, there are some serious contenders at the top...Thorvaldson, vandercooi, Rauber all look incredible....Hutchins impressed me....masciarelli has shown huge potential...any one of these could win one or both.

I'm not sure which ones are team based...I believe both Thor and Rauber...and I believe both of their regionals overlap...hopefully FL will come up with an improvement that would allow these two to attend both meets.

Grace Ping will be in her senior year. Would be cool if she’s not injured much for the rest of the HS career and finishes higher than the 6th place that she did at NXN 2016.

I’m putting my money on C Sahlman from Newbury Park. He went 1:57.10-800 and 4:15.14-1600 as a freshman. His XC times this year were about 12-15 seconds a mile better than his freshman year. He ran 15:09 at Woodward Park which is fantastic for a sophomore. He is the 12th fastest returning runner at NXN @ 35 seconds back from the top returner (Green).

Kid has wheels. We could see him run sub-1:53, sub 4:07 and sub 9:00 this season as a sophomore. He’ll be carrying the torch for NP next season so I have to imagine he’s going to have a phenomenal summer. He also has the huge benefit of having exceptional teammates to train with, which is an issue for a lot of national class high school boys who have nobody to run with on their team.

Redemption szn? wrote:

Grace Ping will be in her senior year. Would be cool if she’s not injured much for the rest of the HS career and finishes higher than the 6th place that she did at NXN 2016.

Actually I was thinking Ping was graduating this year... you're correct though, hopefully she can get healthy. There obviously is a lot of potential there. This girl has had a rough ride....wish her all the best!!

Jedsdead wrote:

Redemption szn? wrote:

Grace Ping will be in her senior year. Would be cool if she’s not injured much for the rest of the HS career and finishes higher than the 6th place that she did at NXN 2016.

Actually I was thinking Ping was graduating this year... you're correct though, hopefully she can get healthy. There obviously is a lot of potential there. This girl has had a rough ride....wish her all the best!!

I'd like to see both of them in the top dozen or so next year. Lauren finished in 11th place as a 7th grader, in 14th place as an 8th grader, and this year in 27th place as a 9th grader. Her 27th place this year worked out to a 143 Speed Rating; she's capable of better (she seemed to have an off-day). Consider that the girl who finished in 6th place, Carlie Dorostkar, is the girl who Lauren outkicked FTW at the finish of Mt. SAC earlier in the season.

Double dose of Ping: wrote:

Jedsdead wrote:

Actually I was thinking Ping was graduating this year... you're correct though, hopefully she can get healthy. There obviously is a lot of potential there. This girl has had a rough ride....wish her all the best!!

I'd like to see both of them in the top dozen or so next year. Lauren finished in 11th place as a 7th grader, in 14th place as an 8th grader, and this year in 27th place as a 9th grader. Her 27th place this year worked out to a 143 Speed Rating; she's capable of better (she seemed to have an off-day). Consider that the girl who finished in 6th place, Carlie Dorostkar, is the girl who Lauren outkicked FTW at the finish of Mt. SAC earlier in the season.

Mt SAC is an outlier, especially for girls, as there are a lot of steep uphills that require more muscular strength than a course like NXN and then Mt SAC also has long downhills where one can capitalize on speed more than most courses.

Where was Ping in relation to Corie Smith at Woodbridge and NXN?

Outlying wrote:

Where was Ping in relation to Corie Smith at Woodbridge and NXN?

At Woodbridge, Ping ran a 16:09.8, second to Smith's 16:04.8.

At NXN, Ping ran a 18:17.8 (27th); Smith ran a 17:56.2 (12th).

Apparently Carlie Dorostkar has 2 freshmen sisters on her team.

You guys still don't seem to get the FL/NXN issue. If you live in the Northeast, California and other FL West States and the NXN Southeast region, it's physically impossible to qualify for Foot Locker, if you decide to run the NXR/N meet unless rules are changed or at large invites given, as either the regional or national Nike meet is on the same day as the FL qualifier.

The second issue if you can do both is travel costs, not so much for the athlete, but getting the family out to the meet. Going twice is expensive.

pre diktor wrote:

You guys still don't seem to get the FL/NXN issue. If you live in the Northeast, California and other FL West States and the NXN Southeast region, it's physically impossible to qualify for Foot Locker, if you decide to run the NXR/N meet unless rules are changed or at large invites given, as either the regional or national Nike meet is on the same day as the FL qualifier.

The second issue if you can do both is travel costs, not so much for the athlete, but getting the family out to the meet. Going twice is expensive.

If you are referring to our post above, actually I mentioned this direct issue. Hopefully FL will start issueing invites, or FL/NXN make a change to their regionals (combine them/use other meets...something) that would not restrict athletes from only attending one.

It hurts the overall quality of both races.

Jedsdead wrote:

Redemption szn? wrote:

Grace Ping will be in her senior year. Would be cool if she’s not injured much for the rest of the HS career and finishes higher than the 6th place that she did at NXN 2016.

Actually I was thinking Ping was graduating this year... you're correct though, hopefully she can get healthy. There obviously is a lot of potential there. This girl has had a rough ride....wish her all the best!!

If she can tie or beat Desert Vista Alum Dani Jones’ 2014 NXN finish by finishing 3rd or 2nd, that would be awesome.

The crazy thing is, Summit girls returned everyone this year and still didn’t win. Of course Saratoga absolutely dominated this year but anything can happen!