Coaches Timo Mostert And Doug Soles Bring History Of Success And Experience To NXN Title Tilt

By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor

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Utah has been one of America's hotbeds for cross country for more than a decade, but the Nike Cross Nationals title has proven elusive. 

American Fork, led by coach Timo Mostert, has finished second on three occasions: 2012, 2015 and 2016. 

Herriman finished third last year in Doug Soles' first year coaching the team. He previously won the 2015 title and was second in 2018 and 2019 with Temecula (California). His four podium finishes are one shy of Bill Aris' record of five on the boys side for Manlius (New York). 

If there was ever an opportune time for Utah it's this week. 

American Fork comes into the 18th edition of Nike Cross Nationals as the No. 1 team in the country, with victories over No. 4 Herriman at the Utah state meet and at NXR Southwest. 

American Fork, led by the DyeStat No. 1 individual all season long, Daniel Simmons, and Herriman, are the only two teams to occupy the No. 1 spot in the team rankings this season. 

"We feed off each other, we get energy from each other," American Fork's Ben Jaster said after the NXR Southwest victory. 

Simmons, Jaster, Kaden Evans, Chase Pack and Maxwell Orr were the team's top five at the regional meet. 

Herriman's five is perhaps even more compact, with William Steadman, Jonah Tang, Maxwell Hofheins, Tayshaun Ogomo and Jack Beckstrom practically interchangeable. 

A scenario that would favor Herriman would be for all five of its runners, or perhaps all seven, to get ahead of American Fork's fifth. 

And yet, there are three other teams that could factor into the race for the NXN title on Saturday morning at Glendoveer Golf Course on Glisan Street in Northeast Portland. 

Carroll of Texas and Lincroft of New Jersey come from proud traditions of success and both double-digit all-time entries into the national meet. Lincroft, which won the NXR Northeast title last weekend, owns the 2011 title and made the podium one other time. Carroll finished second the year that Lincroft won, and by just four points. 

Both of those teams have enjoyed tremendous seasons locally. 

Carroll blitzed through the Texas season, won the Class 6A title, and then ran with even more precision to win the NXR South championship. The lineup of Caden Leonard, Jude Alvarez, Blake Bullard, Zach Troutman and Griffin Cords may be every bit as formidable as the Utah duo. 

Carroll came into the 2022 NXN ranked No. 8 in the country and finished 20th. 

Lincroft, which has dominated New Jersey and won NXR Northeast by 10 points last weekend, came into last year's NXN ranked No. 4 and finished 18th. 

Lincroft, with runners who attend Christian Brothers Academy, also has a stout lineup that includes Joe Barrett, Conor Clifford, brothers Jack Falkowski and Wyatt Falkowski, and Alex Mastroly. 

Carroll and Lincroft have what it takes, on a good day, to make a run at the championship. But both groups also need to fix whatever held them back last year. 

A fifth elite team this season has been Miami Havana of Florida, which conquered one of the season's biggest challenges when it won its state championship meet and then flew to NXR Southeast and crushed the competition there, all within the span of two days. 

Joshua Ruiz, Marcelo Mantecon Joseph Ruiz, Justin Ruiz and Evan Torres were the top five at NXR Southeast. The group also won big meets at the Southern Showcase, Great American and the FSU Pre-State Invitational. 

Miami Havana, despite running in a drastically different climate in Portland, ran to 14th place in last year's NXN. This year's team figures to do much better. 

So what is the path to a team title? 

Only three times has a team won NXN while taking a score of 60 or higher for its fifth runner. Usually, a winning team's fifth man finished between 30-50 in the team scoring. 

However, fastest fifth man does not guarantee a championship. Of the previous 17 winners, only nine of them had the lowest No. 5 scorer. 

More commonly, it's the team with the fastest No. 4 that wins the meet. Eleven of the 17 championship teams had the lowest No. 4 scorer. 

There is more than one route to the championship, as the results since 2004 have indicated. In 2007, when Naperville of Illinois won it, a 1-6 combination up front offset the fact that the team didn't have the fastest third, fourth or fifth scorer. 

When Lincroft edged Carroll in 2011, it won with superior 2-3 scorers and did not have faster fourth or fifth runners. 

Other teams with lineups strong enough to challenge for podium spots include Coeur d'Alene, the NXR Northwest champion, San Clemente and Dana Point of California, Downers North of Illinois and Southern Oregon.