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Preseason Top 50 Girls XC Teams 2018Published by
Wayzata MN Girls Rise Back To The Top By Adam Kopet of DyeStat 2018 Girls Preseason National Rankings Only one school outside of New York has ever won the NXN girls championship. That team, Wayzata MN, won in 2013. Five years later, Wayzata enters the high school cross country season as the top-ranked team in the country. Fayetteville-Manlius NY, winners of the past four NXN titles and 11 of the past 12 titles, faces a rare rebuilding year. The Hornets return three runners from last year's NXN title team and there is some uncertainty about how the complete lineup will come together. F-M starts the year ranked sixth. The race for the podium will be a tough one this year, but Mountain Vista CO leads the way, returning five runners from last year's team that placed sixth at NXN. Naperville North IL and Jesuit OR begin the year ranked third and fourth, but on paper the two teams are close. Both return five runners from last year's squads. Naperville North, having finished second in Portland last year has picked up a strong transfer in Campbell Petersen. Jesuit, meanwhile, has a strong incoming freshman named Chloe Foerster. Rounding out the top five is Great Oak CA, a NXN challenger. The Wolfpack have qualified for NXN every year since 2012 and 2018 appears to be no different, led by a strong trio of Tori Gaitan, Fatima Cortes and Arianna Griffiths. The top 10 preseason teams all competed in Portland last year at NXN, except for Summit OR. The Storm return a strong crew of runners who finished third at NXR Northwest and they are aided by Jesuit transfer Kelsey Gripekoven. Summit qualified for NXN in 2016, so many on the team have experience competing on the big stage in Portland. The Midwest region begins the season with the most depth. Eight teams are ranked in the top 50. California and the Southeast Region follow with seven teams in the top 50. However, no region has more than two teams starting the season in the top 10 and the Southeast Region, despite its overall depth, is not represented by a team in the top 10. The Preseason Top 50 20. Wheaton Warrenville South IL 24. St. Michael-Albertville MN
Top 50 Teams By Region Midwest: 8 California: 7 Southeast: 7 Heartland: 6 Northwest: 6 Southwest: 6 New York: 4 Northeast: 3 South: 3
Top 10 Teams By Region California: 2 Midwest: 2 New York: 2 Northwest: 2 Heartland: 1 Southwest: 1 South: 0 Southeast: 0 |
