Eighth-grader Grace Ping is back! The pint-size superstar will compete in the Girls Championship race this weekend at the NXN Southwest Regional in Casa Grande, Arizona. View full entry list here.
Ping won three state titles as a seventh-grader in Minnesota last year but moved with her family this summer to Utah, where the state association does not allow middle school athletes to compete against high schoolers.
Over the summer, Grace's father, Ryan, initially thought that the state rules would prevent the 13-year-old from returning to Nike Cross Nationals, where she placed 14th last year. However, the NXN eligibility rules state simply: "All teenage cross-country runners and clubs are welcome to participate in their respective Nike Cross Regional ('NXR') Championships... You can compete in Nike Cross Nationals or Nike Cross Regionals if you are in good standing with the NCAA, on track to graduate per your high school's guidelines and have not been dismissed from your club for disciplinary reasons."
Ping owns five world age group records. Her most recent record run was in the 5K at this past June's New Balance Nationals Outdoor, where she set a 12-year-old world record of 16:44.8 behind Weini Kelati.
Watch Grace Ping run to a third place finish at the 2015 NXN Heartland Regional:
