Loudoun Valley Seeking Continued Domination in Southeast

By Paul Schmitz of DyeStat

Boys NXR Southeast Preview

In 2018, Loudoun Valley became the first boys cross country team to win back-to-back NXN titles. The Vikings are also the first team to win back-to-back NXR Southeast titles. A three-peat of NXR is a near lock according to projections and the team from Virginia will be right back in the mix for the top spot at the national level.  

With the massive separation between Loudoun Valley and the rest of the field, the story in the Southeast in 2019 will be: who will join the Vikings in Portland?

The Bolles School of Florida accompanied Loudoun Valley the past two years. Bolles graduated a special class last spring as its top five, including Charles Hicks, has moved on. That group won two consecutive 2A titles and finished ninth at NXN, the best ever for a team from Florida. That leaves upstart Huntsville AL as the pick for the coveted second spot in the region. The defending 7A Alabama state champions return six of the top seven on a team that finished seventh at NXR Southeast last year.

There has only been one at-large bid out of the Southeast in the region's history (Green Hope NC in 2017). Again, it looks like a year when only the top two teams from the region will be competing at NXN. Of the top three teams in the Southeast from 2018, only three runners return from the top five of those teams. Loudoun Valley returns two, The Bolles School returns zero and Weddington NC returns one. It will be a rebuilding year at the top for the teams from the Southeast and there is an opportunity for somebody new to step up. Can Loudoun Valley again rebuild all the way to a national title?    

1. Loudoun Valley VA. Even with the loss of four of its top six runners to graduation, including Sam Affolder and Jacob Hunter, the top two finishers at NXR Southeast last year, the Vikings are reloaded in 2019 as one of the top teams in the country. Led by top 30 NXN finisher Carlos Schultz, this team has the firepower and the depth to compete with anyone in the country and will be virtually unbeatable in the Southeast.  

2. Huntsville AL. The Panthers return six of their top seven from a team that scored 52 points to win the 7A title last fall at Indian Mounds Park. The team is led by seniors Keaton Watts and Jacob Cobb and backed by solid juniors Jackson Danner and Gabe Scales. The breakout runner to watch for is sophomore Will Pinson. This team has the experience and depth to be the first team from Alabama to compete in Portland since Hoover got an invite to the inaugural NTN race in 2004 and finished 15th.        

3. Belen Jesuit Prep FL. The 2018 3A Florida champion and NXR Southeast fifth-place finisher returns three of its scoring five. This team is tough at the top behind Adam Magoulas, Javier Vento and Diego Gomez. There are no seniors projected in the top five and this team could be in the national conversation a year from now.       

4. Western Albemarle VA. The Warriors won Virginia's 3A classification in 2018 and brings back six of their top seven,  including the first (Joe Hawkes), second (Jack Eliason) and fourth-place (Joseph Taylor) finishers from the state championship race. 

5. Severna Park MD. The defending Class 4A Maryland state champions return two of the top five and three of seven. The Falcons finished fourth at the NXR Southeast in 2018, but will need a couple of breakout runners to match that finish and move up in the rankings.

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