Highly Regarded Teams From Rhode Island To Florida Set For Great American

By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor

As the Great American Cross Country Festival returns Saturday to WakeMed Soccer Complex in Cary, N.C., it's important to remember what it represents as an opportunity and benchmark in the 2021 fall season. 

A year ago, the GAXC Festival, operated by the National Scholastic Athletics Foundation, was not held due to the COVID-19 pandemic. ENTRIES

No official high school cross country started in North Carolina until winter and the state championship meet was conducted in January. The maximum field sizes for races were 28 runners from four teams. 

"All North Carolina teams seem very appreciative to toe the line again for big meets this year," Mount Tabor coach Patrick Cromwell said. 

The boys team from Mount Tabor, No. 21 in the latest DyeStat rankings, dreamt of making a breakthrough this year and qualifying for Nike Cross Nationals for the first time with an unusually deep and senior-laden roster that includes Will Soule, Douglas Gledhill and Davis Potter. 

Last week, Nike's announcement that nationals has been canceled for a second year in a row set in motion a scamble to find alternatives. Cromwell was prepared to organize a championship meet in North Carolina and gathered enough seed money to make it happen. 

"I know speaking to our kids, they wanted that clear-cut advancement to NXN Nationals," Cromwell said. "Top two or bust is what we wanted."

Cromwell will steer his team toward the RunningLane Cross Country Championships, which sprung up in the past week to become the most likely location of a national meet Dec. 4 in Alabama. 

There are two months to prepare for whatever comes as that time. 

Great American, which began in 1999, is a mid-season national-class invitational that will pull together some of the top teams from the Southeast and Northeast regions for a competition that will shape national rankings and provide valuable experience.

For a team like Mount Tabor, which won the adidas XC Challenge on Sept. 18 against in-state rival Weddington and Daniel Boone TN, the GAXC meet is a chance to compete at an even higher level. 

Hardin Valley Academy of Tennessee is the No. 1 ranked team in the Southeast region, and No. 13 nationally, and won the Hare & Hounds Invitational on Sept. 18, led by Kaden Keller's eighth place finish. 

Severna Park MD, which won the Carlisle Invitational in Pennsylvania last weekend, is ranked 23rd.

Bishop Hendricken of Rhode Island, Farragut of Tennessee and The Bolles School of Florida also bring formidable teams capable of challenging for the boys title. 

"The stacked field at (Great American) with so many previous NXN qualifying teams attending this year seemed like a once-in-a-lifetime event for our varsity team," Cromwell said. 

In a season where the top prizes and qualifying appearances can suddenly vanish, it's the return of meets like GAXC that may prove to be the most satisfying. 

Individually, Sam Rich of Catawba Ridge SC, a Notre Dame commit, will be tested by Severna Park's James Glebocki, Ryan Motondo of Walter Williams NC, Adam Thibodeau of La Salle Academy RI and Zander Jeffcoat of Lexington SC. 

The girls championship features US#23 Weddington NC and US#25 Cambridge Christian FL, the top two teams in the Southeast region. East Greenwich RI, Cuthbertston NC, Loudoun Valley VA, Morgantown WV, Farragut TN, La Salle Academy RI and Hillgrove GA are also in the hunt. 

Juliette Whittaker of Mount de Sales MD, an Olympic Trials qualifier in the 800 meters and 2019 Foot Locker finalist, leads the girls field individually. She gets an opportunity to race Pennsylvania state champion Mia Cochran of Moon Area, who was seventh at the Desert Twilight XC Festival in Arizona last week. 

The strong girls field also includes: Ava Gordon of Loudoun Valley, a recent Liberty commit; Cambridge Christian duo Caroline Lehman and Mary Ellen Eudaly, Reese Fahys from East Greenwich, Ciara O'Shea from Madison Central KY, Irene Riggs from Morgantown, Alli Crytser of Hanover VA and Hannah Schemmel from St. Pius X GA.