Regional Meet Brings Together Many Of The Top Performers From Roy Griak Invitational Plus Recently Crowned State Champions

By Erik Boal and Doug Binder, DyeStat Editors

The Nike Cross Regional Series, which begins with Saturday's Northwest meet in Idaho, will serve thousands of high school cross country runners at each of nine regional meets that span the country. The NXR Heartland meet also begins four compelling weekends of live webcast coverage of every regional. 

The first three meets are on tap this weekend – Northwest on Saturday and Heartland and Midwest on Sunday. 

NXR HEARTLAND LIVE WEBCAST | BOX ASSIGNMENTS

It has been seven weeks since the girls gold competition at the Roy Griak Invitational in Minnesota, but the championship race Sunday will showcase eight of the top 10 individual finishers from the Sept. 24 event, along with seven of the top 10 programs, as well an eighth team running only a partial lineup.

Headlining a strong group of individual challengers will be the Roy Griak winner and Minnesota AAA champion Ali Weimer of St. Michael-Albertville. Weimer is the top returning finisher from the 2019 regional, placing seventh in the 5-kilometer championship race at Yankton Trails in South Dakota in 17:40.2.

Although there were only six points separating Olathe West High from Kansas – competing as the Owls at the regional – and Middleton XC Club from Wisconsin as the top two teams in their previous matchup, the group entering the championship race with the most momentum might be Minnesota AAA state champion Edina XC.

Following a disappointing seventh-place finish at Roy Griak, Edina has rebounded in impressive fashion, prevailing Nov. 6  in a deep state championship race at St. Olaf College that included Wayzata XC, Prior Lake Track Club and St. Michael-Albertville, competing in the regional as STMA XC Club.

St. Paul Highland Park, the Minnesota AA champion, will also look to ascend following a third-place performance at Roy Griak, just 13 points away from the top spot.

Molly Moening, who finished fifth at the state final, leads the group competing as Highland Park Run Club.

Olathe West edged rival Olathe North, entered in the regional as the Prairie Street Harriers, in the Kansas 6A final. Bree Newport, Charis Robinson, Kate Miller, Paige Baker and Elizabeth Browning all placed in the top 21 in the Oct. 30 championship race and are entered for the Owls.

Olathe North sophomore Anjali Hocker Singh, the Kansas 6A individual state champion, leads the Prairie Street Harriers, who finished 10th at Roy Griak. Shea Johnson and Kaylee Tobaben, who secured second and fourth in the state final, add strong support for the Prairie Street Harriers.

Middleton XC Club has been a dominant presence throughout the season in Wisconsin and has been anticipating a rematch with the top programs from Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota since racing at Roy Griak.

Lauren Pansegrau won the Division 1 individual title and helped Middleton XC Club place three athletes in the top 15 in the state final, including Zaira Malloy-Salgado finishing fourth.

Mackenzie Babcock, a freshman from Monona Grove, placed third in the Wisconsin Division 1 final and has also decided to compete.

Roisin Willis, a Stanford signee from Stevens Point High in Wisconsin and an Olympic Trials participant in the 800 meters who did not compete during the recent high school season, has also entered the race. Willis placed 36th in the 2019 regional championship.

Although Wayzata XC finished two points in front of Edina XC at Roy Griak, the order was reversed at the Minnesota AAA state final. Wayzata XC, led by a ninth-place finish from Teegan Anderson, was runner-up by a 25-point margin behind Edina XC.

Prior Lake Track Club, third in the Minnesota AAA final, is led by 18th-place state finisher Sara Gastony.

South Dakota rivals Sioux Falls O’Gorman and Sioux Falls Lincoln were 11th and 13th overall at Roy Griak, and took the top two spots Oct. 23 in the AA state championship race.

Alea Hardie, the South Dakota AA individual winner from O’Gorman representing Knights Running Club, is looking for an opportunity to achieve redemption after placing 47th at Roy Griak.

Her teammates, Libby Castelli and Ruth Pardy, finished third and fourth in the state championship race. Castelli was 12th and Pardy placed 20th at Roy Griak.

Iowa will be represented by 4A state champion Addison Dorenkamp of West Des Moines Valley, representing Running Orange, along with fourth-place finisher Olivia Verde of the Johnston Dragoons.

Paityn Noe of Ballard Community, the Iowa 3A winner, is also scheduled to compete.

Pleasant Valley, competing as Belmont Track Club, was the Iowa 4A team runner-up, led by Josie Case finishing 14th and Lizzie McVey securing 16th overall.

Katie Schwartzkopf, the Kansas 5A state champion from Mill Valley, is competing for the Jaguar Running Club. Grace Meyer, who finished fifth in the 6A final from Shawnee Mission East, is also entered.

Eleni Lovgren of Williston, the North Dakota Class A winner, is also entered and representing Coyote XC.

Ali Bainbridge of Sioux Falls Lincoln, the South Dakota AA runner-up, is competing for Greeno Elite.

Freshman teammates Sydney Drevlow and Daphne Grobstein, who placed second and third in the Minnesota AAA final, are representing Hopkins XC Club. Another Minnesota ninth-grader, Norah Hushagen of Forest Lake Area, is looking to build on a sixth-place AAA state performance.

Mariah Fenske of Farmington, competing for the Tigers, looks to rebound following a 40th-place performance in the state AAA championship.

Sophomores Olivia Goebel of Albany and Calia Chaney of Pequot Lakes, who secured second and third in the Minnesota AA championship, are also entered, along with fourth-place finisher Natasha Sortland, a junior from Zumbrota-Mazeppa, as well as Luverne senior Tenley Nelson, the Class A runner-up.

Nebraska Class A state champion Elli Dahl of Team Fremont, along with second-place finisher Jaci Sievers of Elkhorn South, will square off again following their Oct. 22 showdown at the state final.

Berlyn Schutz of Lincoln East in Nebraska, representing the East Spartans, is also looking to regroup after finishing 18th in the Class A state final.

Drevlow was ninth, Schutz secured 11th and Fenske finished 16th in the 2019 regional, with Moening placing 17th and Wagner taking 20th overall.

Boys Championship Wide Open With Handful Of Contenders

Minnesota teams have won the Heartland Region boys championship seven straight times since 2012, but it might not happen this time. 

Iowa, Nebraska and Kansas all could make some noise on Sunday. 

The level of competition has been driven up in Iowa due to the two-team tug-of-war between Stars (Sioux City North) and Buffalo Road Track Club (Dowling Catholic). Those two pushed each other in Iowa and Dowling Catholic won the Iowa state 4A title, 56-62 on Oct. 29. 

Stars will be looking to mount another charge this weekend. 

In Nebraska, Wildcat XC (Millard West) and Team Fremont (Fremont) were a cut above. Fremont upset favored Millard West to win the Nebraksa Class A title. Expect Wildcat XC to put forth a big effort this weekend.

At the Heartland  Cross Country Classic on Sept. 18, where the top Iowa and Nebraka teams were in attendance, it was Millard West on top followed by Sioux City North, Fremont and Dowling Catholic. 

Gabe Hinrichs (Elkhorn South NE) is competing unattached and is one of the individual favorites after winning the Nebraska final by 25 seconds. 

Saints XC Club, led by senior Logan Seger, was the top team in Kansas and St. Thomas Aquinas won its eighth consecutive 5A state title. Seger comes into the meet with the fastest seed time and his team could make the podium with a strong performance.  

Minnesota, of course, will have its say. Nick Gilles of the Minnetonka Running Club (Minnetonka) won the Minnesota Class AAA championship race last weekend at St. Olaf College and is one of the individual favories. Sophomore Sam Scott of Bees (Minneapolis Southwest) had a rough outing at state and only finished 17th, but he was unbeaten until late October and his talent could bring him to the front again. 

Wayzata XC Club (Wayzata) split 17 seconds on its five scorers and won the Minnesota AAA team championship last weekend despite not having a top-25 finisher in the race (overall). Junior Hamza Mohamed was 26th. This team will probably need a higher placing first scorer to win the region, but might have the best fifth man in the field. Wayzata won the regional titles in 2016 and 2017.

Wisconsin D3 champion Shane Griepentrog (Valders) won his state final race by 35 seconds and posted the fastest time of the day at Ridges Golf Course. Owen Bosley (Homestead, third in the Wisconsin D1 final, is also a top entrant.

North Dakota Class A champion Aiden Johnson (West Fargo Sheyenne), a sophomore, will make a step up in competition. Junior Simeon Birnbaum from Rapid City Distance (Stevens) is the South Dakota Class AA champion. And junior Sawyer Clarkson (Belle Fourche), South Dakota's fastest runner, will compete unattached.

Mounds View XC Club of Minnesota, the two-time defending regional champion (2018 and 2019), finished third at the recent Minnesota state meet. The team is led by Elliott McArthur, who was eighth last weekend. He was the team's fifth man as a freshman, 69th overall, in 2019. He is the only boy in Sunday's meet who competed at the 2019 Nike Cross Nationals.