Future Stars: These Four Excelled At Brooks XC & CIF Champs

Photo: Jorge Espinosa/MileSplit

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Three of the four Brooks Regional XC Championships and the CIF Championships were the places to be over Thanksgiving weekend. 

For some, racing conditions were ideal for distance runners, while others at the Brooks Midwest XC Championships had to race during a snowstorm. 

Regardless of the setting, these four underclassmen fared well against competitive and experienced fields.

Check out this week's four Future Stars!

Two weeks after a lifetime best wasn't enough to send her to NXN, Weller kept her head held high and secured her spot on the starting line at Balboa Park in San Diego, California, next week! Finishing seventh overall at a snowy Brooks Midwest XC Championship, Weller ran sub-18 for the seventh time in her 10th race of the year, crossing in 17:58.5. With a handful of girls competing for just 10 spots, Weller kept her foot on the gas and extended her season another two weeks. 

Coming up just a few places shy of qualifying, Tindall finished 14th at the Brooks Northeast XC Championships. The sophomore was 12 seconds back of the 10th and final qualifying spot, but solidified himself as the top underclassman in the region, the only one in the top-30, and ahead of the next young competitor by 29 seconds. As the fastest New Jersey underclassmen in the state this fall and the fastest sophomore since Christian Brothers Academy's Joe Barrett, Tindall will be someone to watch over the next two years.

If there's one thing Muller has become accustomed to doing since the end of August, it's consistently being one of the first two people to cross the finish line. Throughout her 11 races throughout her sophomore campaign, she's finished first or second all but once, winning seven of those. The trend continued even when the stakes were the highest, as Muller finished runner-up at the Brooks South XC Championships, running 17:05.44 just behind fellow second-year standout Maysen Fletcher of Herbert Hoover (W.V.). Muller's qualifying run marked the 10th time she broke 18:00 this year, and was also her second-fastest time this season.