After Mt. SAC, Hardy replaces Haney as the new #1

The Saucony Elite 50 refers to the top-50 individual in the country (25 boys and 25 girls)

Mt. SAC and the first crazy wave of State Championships across the nation made for quite the busy weekend for XC!

There was a changing of the guard at the top as Joe Hardy takes over after Blake Haney cracked at Mt. SAC. Blake is still ranked #3 overall and is sure to bounce back as we head into the championship portion of the season in California.

Let's begin with Mt. SAC and all the madness that was on the boys side of things. The biggest shocker was the emergence of a finally healthy US#5 Tal Braude from Torrey Pines CA. Braude made his move in the final 800m and pulled away from the elite field to take the win in 14:27, #4 all-time on the course and ahead of the likes of Ryan Hall and Mo Trafeh. US#6 Garrett Corcoran (CA) also popped a great race to finish second in a  fantastic 14:29 clocking. US#17 Levi Thomet (AK) travelled south to square off against the Californians and finished third in 14:46. Another great performance that occurred Friday at Mt. SAC was that of US#8 Austin Tamagno (CA), who set the Sophomore class record with his blazing 14:34 clocking.  

Are you ready for even more state and regional madness?! Let's start in Kansas, where Stuart Mcnutt (Blue Valley West) smoked a 14:58.39 at his regional meet.  Let's see what he does at the Kansas state meet. US#2 Cerake Geberkidane (CO) left nothing to chance in the Boys 5A race, winning in 15:48.2, which was a very fast time for the conditions.  US#12 Tony Russell (PA) cracked 15:00 with his 14:59 clocking heading into the PA state meet next weekend. US#10 Mark Hadley (OH) dominated his District Championships for the win as US#16 Nicholas Elswick (OH) struggled to 12th place.  US#23 Josef Holt-Andrews (ME) torched his Regional Championships as he looks towards a state title in Maine. US#22 Ben Huffman (NC) won asState title in the Independent classification in North Carolina with a time of 15:24.  

Stay tuned each week as we bring you the Saucony Elite 50 Individual Boys every Tuesday morning!