Shelby Greany tried to keep her options open. She tried to do the responsible thing. But she knew what lay in her heart all along.

Coach Patrick Castagno has brought his Tatnall girls to the McDonald's X-Country Festival at Maymont for the past two years and the meet certainly has served a middle of the season measuring point for the top team in the state of Delaware against some of the best teams in the Southeast region. Tatnall finished second In 2006 and sixth in 2007 at Maymont, but their best performances came toward season's end after Maymont to help qualify them for Nike Team Nationals both seasons. The girls from Wilmington, Delaware have to very encouraged at the potential for this year's group after starting off their 2008 season with a huge win at Maymont on Saturday over nationally ranked and Southeast #1 ranked Collins Hill of Georiga on sixth runner tiebreaker. MileStat.com's Brandon Miles interviews Coach Castagno after their season opening win at Maymont.

A big weekend of competition generally means some major movement in the national rankings, and that is certainly the case this week.  Making the biggest leap is Tatnall (DE) (pictured by Brandon Miles), who after beating then U.S.#4 Collins Hill (GA) at the McDonald's XC Festival at Maymont jumps to US#8 in the girls rankings.

In this week's Monday News and Notes section we talk about the return of Dakota Ridge's Kaitie Vanatta.  We also discuss the opener of all-American Emily Sisson (pictured far left by Tracy Rollins) and focus forward to the big weekend ahead, which includes the first state championships of the season, this one taking place in Alaska.

Many new schools competing in the invitational division at the Maymont Festival for the first time can find the fields assembled to be intimidating and not perform as well. However, the Collins Hill boys and girls from Sewanee, Georgia did not seem detered at all this past weekend as the girls finished second on a 6th runner tiebreaker to Tatnall of Delaware, while the boys were a big surprise to sneak into second place ahead of several ranked teams and bubble teams in the Southeast region. MileStat.com's Brandon Miles interview the Collins Hill coach Andrew Hudson about his team's performances this past weekend in Richmond.

Each week from now until the end of the season, we'll provide a Top 15 Weekend Round-Up.  This MileSplit feature will include main highlights of each of the MileSplit nationally ranked squads and their results on the weekend.  See who performed well and who didn't live up to their ranking this week.

  We introduce "How They Train, a new feature here at ArmoryTrack.com.  We will take a look at high school athletes, coaches, road runners, professionals, and anyone else we think is an interesting story.

Highlights and Results from: NB Ocean State Inv. (RI), McDonald's XC Festival (VA), McQuaid Inv. (NY), Roy Griak Inv. (MN), Stanford Inv. (CA), Carlisle Inv. (PA), Jim Danner Inv. (OR), Culver Inv. (IN), Palatine Inv. (IL), LoboCat Inv. (CO), Albuquerque Academy Inv. (NM) & Midwest Meet of Champs. (OH) The best weekend yet.  That's an easy way to describe this weekend's national cross country action.  Most of the top teams in the land took part in an invitational, with some teams coming up very big.  US#5 York (IL) kicked off their season by winning the Palatine Invitational, one of the big highlights of the weekend thus far.

Despite some big upsets last weekend and a few surprise performances, the XC Regional Rankings saw few changes at the top.  The rankings by Marc Bloom and Rich Gonzalez put Christian Brothers Academy (NJ) to the top squad in the Northeast boys rankings, while Jesuit (OR) moved atop the Northwest girls rankings.  See where the top teams in your region reside.

It's a tight-knit school, Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake High School.  The community is small, parents are involved in their kids student-athlete lives, and with a smaller student population compared to most of the other top teams in the country, this team is achieving more than many think they could.  Over the past few years few teams have dominated girls cross country like Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake. In the fall of 2007 the squad took another step forward, qualifying for Nike Team Nationals, with a fifth place finish overall at the national meet despite missing their number two runner. Many speculated that Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake would've placed second had they had their full line-up, as they finished 38 points behind runner-up Saugus (CA). Regardless, the team now looks forward, hoping to build upon their '07-'08 success with even more success.  While no one will admit it, the thought of winning the Nike Cross Nationals title has to be on their minds.  A talented trio up top with Sam Roecker, Molly Pezzulo and Meaghan Gregory gives this team a distinct advantage few others teams can match.  This is a season of hard work, challenging oneself to go above and beyond, and most of all having 40 girls coming together to strive towards the same goal.  It's something every team tries to do, but only so many actually accomplish it.  Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake will strive for greatness and how this journey ends will be something fans of the sport will watch all season long.

Cross country runners in Alaska often get overlooked.  Being so far away from the lower-48, and ending the Alaskan season the first weekend in October, generally means that the focus the state could get is swept away as top invitationals start taking place elsewhere.  However, Kodiak senior Trevor Dunbar has seemingly stopped that trend, or at least slowed it down.  Since his freshman year, Dunbar's been the top runner in Alaska.  He's set course record after course record, and this spring ran times on the track few Alaskans have ever approached.  This fall Dunbar looks to take another step forward in his progress towards becoming one of the best runners in the country.  With his goals set high and his training right on schedule, Dunbar sits down with MileSplit national editor Scott Bush to talk about his expectations for this season, what it's like to live and train in Alaska and much more.

Week 4 of the MileSplit Top 12 Individual Rankings are up! A lot of movement took place in specific regions due to a few head-to-head match-ups that created some major results. In the Northeast, Solomon Haile moved to #1 after his winning Oatlands Invitational performance, making him the only new regional number one of the week.

A lot of competitive invitationals took place last weekend, meaning that a few of the top teams in the country lost to unranked squads. With those loses comes new teams jumping into the week #4 MileSplit National Cross Country Rankings. See who's in and who's out in this week's edition.

With so much action this past weekend, our coverage spilled over Monday into our weekly News & Notes section. The Woodbridge and Mt. Carmel Invitationals are highlighted, which saw some impressive individual and team results, including a few upsets. See what else took place, as well as our weekly look ahead.

The results keep flying in and the final tallies are showing some interesting stories across the nation. Top teams and individuals from coast to coast had much to prove this weekend, as the national level competitions really took off. Individuals like Solomon Haile and Jillian Smith showed their talents at the highest levels, while Saratoga Springs and North Central proved why they are two of the top teams in the country. See what else took place in our weekend highlights and results section.

The past month has been an exciting one with the start of the cross country season. This weekend the season really gets going with numerous national-level match-ups get going across the land. Big meets in Virginia, Kentucky, Idaho, New Jersey, New York and Colorado feature top invitationals, while a half dozen others showcase nationally ranked squads and individuals. See who's where this weekend in our weekly weekend preview.

Universal Sports, the preeminent multiplatform destination for Olympic-related sports programming, announced today the addition of nine new television markets, boosting its distribution to more than 30 million television households.

A few big match-ups across the nation mixed up the regional rankings a bit. Joseph Manilafasha's great performance at Liberty Bell (CO) put the senior atop the Midwest boys rankings, while Kathy Kroeger ran to the top spot in the South girls rankings after running 17:44 for 5k last weekend. See who ranks where in the week three MileSplit Regional Top 12 Individual Rankings.

A star since her freshman year, Jessica Tonn (Jr., Xavier Prep, AZ) heads into her junior year with high expectations. After qualifying for Foot Locker Nationals her first two seasons and finishing fifth in the NON two-mile in 2008, Tonn is ready for this cross country season to get underway. Tonn sat down with MileSplit and talked in depth about her goals this season, how she got into running, and much more.

A monster performance by Saugus (CA) vaulted the team from the third spot in the MileSplit National CC Rankings to the top spot.  Meanwhile, boys US #1 North Central (WA) stays on top, but looks forward to a strong challenge next weekend at the Bob Firman Invitational (ID).

Kathy Kroeger (Sr., Independence, TN) dominated the competition at the Brooks Memphis Twilight CC Classic, winning the 5k race by 1:43 in 17:44. Check out other action in our Monday News & Notes section. (picture above by Ted Plunkett)

Many of the top teams in the country competed this weekend, with a few squads showing that they have national championship abilities. Girls U.S.#3 Saugus (CA) kick-started their season with a record breaking performance in California, showing they'll give the top squads from New York quite the challenge this year.

Some things--like the domination of the New Mexico boys--played out according to expectations. Other things did not.

The second weekend of September brings forth some great competition.  With most of the top teams starting up their seasons over the past two weeks, this weekend looks to be the most competitive yet.  See which meets stand out heading into the weekend.

Each week Rich Gonzalez and Marc Bloom will release their XC Regional Rankings, ranking the top ten teams in each of the nine NXN regions. Check out their Week 2 rankings, which see a lot of movement in many of the regions.

Since Nike Team Nationals started in 2004, no school has had the success Fayetteville-Manlius (NY) has shown. Four seperate NTN meets, four seperate top three finishes (2 boys, 2 girls). This year, F-M's girls team is ranked U.S. #1 in the MileSplit National CC Rankings and looks to make a run at their third straight national championship. Why is this squad so successful? What's their magic? MileSplit national editor Scott Bush traveled out to New York to see for himself, and the results were surprising.

With the second full week of the cross country season complete and in the books, many of the top athletes around the country have now had a chance to compete in some sort of competition. Each week we'll rank the top 12 athletes in each region, and now things start to get exciting as the big meets start to crank up with the season swinging into full gear.

With many of the top teams in the country running in their first or second competition of the year, the MileSplit National CC Rankings are starting to take better shape. Boys U.S.#1 North Central (WA) opened their season in victorious fashion, while Girls U.S.#1 Fayetteville-Manlius (NY) has yet to compete, but is looking strong in practices.

Each Monday this fall we're going to bring you further highlights and results, as well as national news stories, that all are making an impact on the national cross country scene. Check out our first Weekly News & Notes of the season. (picture above by Alan Versaw)

NASHVILLE -- Chanelle Price was expected to make an immediate impact as a middle distance star on the University of Tennessee track & field team. The Lady Vol freshman showed on Friday evening in her collegiate debut that she has the tools also to be a difference-maker in cross country, finishing as UT's top runner at the Belmont Opener.

A big weekend of cross country racing took place over the past few days and we have all the news for you in our weekly weekend wrap-up. Top matchups individually and team, boys and girls, span across each meet summary. See which teams stood out this weekend, as the season starts to heat up.

The National Sports Scholastic Foundation (NSSF) released the first enstallment of the XC Regional Rankings, put together by Marc Bloom and Rich Gonzalez. The rankings name the top ten teams in each region, as well as teams on the bubble. See where your team stacks up.

The second full weekend of the season has many of the top teams and individuals in each state opening up their seasons. From Texas, to South Carolina, to Colorado, to New Mexico, MileSplit will have on-site coverage of nearly a dozen meets this weekend. Check out our weekend preview for the top meets taking place this weekend. (photo courtesy of SCRunners.com)

ArmoryTtack.com's Tim Fulton and Chris Hunt head to the famed Van Cortlandt Park to see what they would find on a Wednesday morning. As locals know all to well, there is ALWAYS something going on at "Vanny".

With the Great American XC Festival only five weeks away, the NSSF is extending registration to enter the meet.  Check out the press release and read about the outstanding girls field that is coming together.  Since it's inception, the Great American XC Festival has been one of the best meets in the country, and this year should be no different. (Photo Courtesy of Brandon Miles)

Every week this fall leading to Nike Cross Nationals, we'll publish the MileSplit National Cross Country Rankings. In our first installment North Central (WA) boys and Fayetteville-Manlius (NY) girls lead the rankings. Check back every Monday evening for the newest MileSplit National Cross Country Rankings. (picture by Tyrone Hoskins)