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National High School Boys Team Rankings - 11/21Published by
Top Six Teams Remain Intact As Nike Cross Nationals Approaches By Paul Schmitz of DyeStat For the third ranking in a row, the top teams stay in order, this time all the way down to No. 6 La Salle Academy RI. The top four of Great Oak CA, Newbury Park CA, Corner Canyon UT and Loudoun Valley VA maintain the top tier in the country, with clear separation from the rest of the field. Each are expected to qualify for NXN and challenge for a national title in Portland. Wheaton Warrenville South IL rejoins the next tier of teams after taking home an NXR Midwest title and qualifying for NXN for a second consecutive year. The preseason No. 9 team jumps up to No. 7 and looks poised to improve on its 13th-place finish at NXN in last year's race. Also rejoining the second tier is Fayetteville-Manluis NY after winning the Class A State title in New York. F-M expectedly dominated the competition at state and should do the same at NXR NY, but will have a tough time matching its fifth-place NXN finish from last year. The Hornets jump back into the top 10, landing at No. 9. Kamiakin WA maintains its No. 8 spot after winning a second consecutive NXR Northwest title and qualifying for NXN for a third year in a row. The rest of the NXR NW was once again defined by parity as the top teams ran within seconds of each other. Second-place finisher Jesuit OR had a 16:11 1-5 runner average and eighth-place Lewis and Clark WA averaged 16:13. Runner displacement worked out for Jesuit and the Crusaders secured their first NXN bid since 2008. Third-place NXR NW team Franklin OR bumps up to national No. 19 and has an outside chance of being one of the at-large teams come selection day. Two teams, Huntsville AL and Western Albemarle VA, make up the “long-shot” tier, ranked at No. 30. Huntsville AL opened the season as the dark horse pick at No. 31 in the nation and No. 2 in the Southeast Regional. No team from Alabama has ever qualified for NXN through the NXR system and only Hoover AL has run in Portland. Hoover received a bid in 2004 during the NTN era of the race. Huntsville won a second consecutive Alabama state title with a 1-5 team average of 15:44, rivaling the 2004 Hoover team as the fastest team in Alabama history. Competing as “Rocket City Running” at the NXR Southeast last year, this team finished seventh and returns six of seven. Huntsville continued to improve through 2019 and will challenge for the No. 2 spot in the region behind favorite Loudoun Valley VA. Also in the mix in the Southeast is preseason regional No. 4 Western Albemarle VA, which dominated the Class 3A division at the Virginia state meet and scored a perfect 15 points. The Warriors had a 15:39 1-5 team average beating the next closest team by 58 seconds. National powerhouse Loudoun Valley also hails from Virgina, but given Classes 6 through 4 (Loudoun Valley runs in Class 4) run at a different course than Classes 3 through 1, there isn't a direct comparison for these two teams. Loudoun Valley might be out of reach for Western Albemarle, but a trip to NXN is within reason. Western Albemarle went head to head with the other top teams in the region at the Great American XC Festival on Oct. 5, defeating Huntsville AL and Satellite FL. They lost to Severna Park MD by 29 points but had a faster 1-5 team average, 15:43 to 15:44. Top 30 (Previous ranking) 7 (14). Wheaton Warrenville-South IL 9 (18). Fayetteville-Manlius NY 10 (12). Christian Brothers Academy NJ 26 (NR). Fort Wayne Concordia Lutheran IN 30 (NR). Huntsville AL and Western Albemarle VA (tie) |
