The NTN South and Southwest Regionals were run Saturday, with the top two teams in the boys and girls races qualifying for the national meet in a few weeks time. The fields were deep and the talent was strong and as the results poured in the champions were crowned.
MileSplit Coverage: NTN Regionals (Nov. 17)
NTN South Regional Championships
Boys Qualifiers: The Woodlands (TX) & Southlake Carroll (TX)
Girls Qualifiers: Southlake Carroll (TX) & Keller (TX)
Texas swept the NTN South Regional Saturday as the home state won all four national qualifying spots. Perennial powers The Woodlands and Southlake Carroll place first and second on the boys side, while Southlake Carroll and Keller went 1-2 in the girls race.
In the boys race, The Woodlands ran a strong team race without their top runner Reed Connor. The squad place two in the top seven, led by Layne Nixon's fourth place effort. The team also used a solid 36 second split to easily beat Southlake Carroll 70-96, running away with the team title on their home course.
Southlake Carroll beat third place Rogers (AR) 96-111. The results show that Southlake Carroll's number two runner, CJ Brown, made all the difference. Brown finished second place overall behind teammate Colby Lowe who continued his winning ways this season, remaining undefeated. Lowe won the race in a strong time of 15:06, while Brown finished in 15:27.
Both of these squads are incredibly experienced when it comes to competing at Nike Team Nationals. The Woodlands and Southlake Carroll have each competed at NTN two of the past three years, as each squad makes their third trip to Portland.
The girls race was equally as exciting, if not more so. Southlake Carroll followed their boys team to a qualifying spot, beating Keller 88-93, as both Texas squads earned a trip to nationals. The winning squad was paced by the winning individual, as Carroll's Tara Upshaw won the race by five seconds in 18:25 over Kingwood's Kristen Hanselka. Carroll's top three placed in the top ten team spots, leading the squad to victory.
Behind Carroll came a tight race between Keller and third place Kingwood. Kingwood had the best finisher of the race between the two, however Keller's strong number two runner helped pace the team to a 93-103 runner-up effort. Carroll's experience will show in a few weeks in Portland as the Texas squad has been there before, while Keller is not nearly as experienced in national competition.
NTN South Regional Champs. Meet Page
Results: Boys Ind. / Boys Team / Girls Ind. / Girls Team
NTN Southwest Regional Championships
Boys Qualifiers: Albuquerque Academy (NM) & Los Alamos (NM)
Girls Qualifiers: Fort Collins (CO) & Davis (UT)
Albuquerque Academy (NM) and Los Alamos (NM) are rivals to say the least. The two squads seemingly battled every week whether in actual competition or trying to one up their foes when running on their own. Saturday's NTN Southwest Regional proved a testament to how bad both squads want to beat the other, as the two teams snagged the NTN qualifying berths, both scoring 93 points. Academy won on the sixth person tie-breaker rule.
The key to Academy and Los Alamos pulling away from the rest of the field came from their very strong 3-5 runners. Both squads had runners in the top 15, but their back end runners won them the two qualifying berths. Galena (NV) finished a strong third with 111 points.
The best race of the day outside of the team races came from the showdown between Luke Puskedra (Sr., Judge Memorial, UT) and Academy senior Ben Johnson. Both runners are ranked top five in the MileSplit Foot Locker National Power Rankings, and each had something to prove. In the last quarter mile Puskedra laid down a kick to beat Johnson to the line 14:48-14:56. Jim Walmsley (Sr., Horizon, AZ), the top runner in Arizona, took third place in 15:27.
In the girls race the main contenders faltered and the strongest teams on the day picked up their pieces. Fort Collins (CO) and Davis (UT) beat nationally ranked Dakota Ridge (CO), who placed third, and Eldorado (NM), who placed fifth, as the two teams looked mighty impressive.
Fort Collins scored 77 points, outdistancing Davis by 25 points, while Davis beat Dakota Ridge for second 102-125. Dakota Ridge ran without front runner Kaitie Vanatta.
NTN Southwest Regional Champs. Meet Page
Results: Boys Results / Girls Results