Boys Team Race:

Two boys teams have separated themselves from the field this year as co-favorites for a national title and they have swapped the #1 and #2 rankings all season. The first is American Fork of Utah. Led by individual Utah state champ Clayton Young, Ashenafe Richardson, and MacKenzie Morrison, they have rolled all season with a tight pack. They tallied just 44 points to win the NXN Southwest Regional with a small 21 second spread from 1-5. In the Utah 5A State Championships, American Fork won with a meager 21 points, but their spread their was 27 seconds. Tightening the 1 to 5 gap at the regional meet bodes well for them at NXN. It is often inevitable for spreads to widen the larger and more competitive the race gets. The other team up front is Arcadia out of California. Like American Fork, they have been leaving a path of destruction in their wake at every meet they have run this season, taking huge chunks out of team time records at prestigious meets like Mt SAC, and most recently, the California State meet. They are led by Ammar Moussa and Sergio Gonzalez. Moussa, the CA State Champ who tied the Mt SAC course record this October, will by battling for the individual title and will look to take home the coveted 1 point in team scoring. Sergio Gonzalez, who was second to Moussa at Mt SAC this fall, has been the top #2 man in the country all season.

Arcadia packs the best 1-2, and National Championship teams tend to always have 2 individuals in the to 25, but in the end, the 3-4-5 have to be up there. In the past, it is the team with the best back-end that comes out on top, behind a strong top 2 (but not necessarily the strongest) For example, last year's champions Boerne Champion, had only the second best top 2, but the best 5 man. The 2008 champs, North Central, had the best 3, 4 and the second best 5th man. Conversely, many teams have had 2 runners in the top 10 and not won at this meet (though it doesn't hurt). Beyond the top 2, North Central, WA has performed well all year and is led by Vince Hamilton. The Fort Collins, CO boys ran well at the Southwest Regional behind American Fork and the CBA men ran very well at the NJ MOC 2 weeks ago. Also, the Midwest sends two strong teams in perennial powerhouse York, IL and Columbus North, IN. York came out on top by a mere 6 points at their regional. The York boys are the only team to have qualified to every NXN.

Girls Team Race:

In the history of this meet, no girls team outside of the state of New York has won this race. That is 6 straight victories for the empire state. On top of that, 3 of the past 5 years, the NY Ladies went 1-2, one year they went 1-3 and one year they went 1-4-5. This year, things don't look like much will change if the race runs to form. The 4 time defending NXN Champs from Fayetteville-Manlius have made it a habit of winning in dominating fashion. Last year, they scored a perfect 15 points at the NYS Meet on Saratoga team which placed second at NXN a month later! This year, for the first time since their first trip to the meet, only 4 members are coming in with NXN Championship experience. That is, however, a lot more experience than most of the other girls in the race (Senior Courtney Chapman is competing at Portland Meadows for an astounding 5th time). Again this fall the FM girls scored a perfect 15 at the NYS Championships on the #3 nationally ranked Saratoga team. Last year's runner-up, Saratoga will look to again lock-up a solid 1-2 for the Empire State. They have been struck with some late season injury/illness, but they are deep and know how to run well at Portland Meadows. They have one team victory to their name on both the girls and boys' sides and the Toga girls hold the record for the lowest team point total in meet history with 51. In addition, the girls have never placed worse than 4th in 5 appearances with 1 win, 2 runner-up placings, a 3rd and a 4th. The team that looks the most primed to challenge the New Yorkers is Saugus, CA. They look to be a strong pick for the runner-up spot and can dethrone the FM girls with a banner day. They placed 2nd here 2 years ago and showed last weekend at the state meet that this is the best team they have sent to NXN ever. They planned this year to peak at NXN and raced sparingly during the regular season. At the state meet, the Saugus girls set a team time record and are the best team the Golden State has sent to portland Meadows.

The same rules of what teams do well at NXN that were written about the boys race above, apply to the girls race. If they run as well as they have all season, the FM girls could theoretically have the best 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. You can not beat a team that does that. Very few teams, however, run their best at NXN. In fact, teams who simply run as good as they did at the regional, or state meet and they will leap frog over teams who are ranked ahead of them. California is sending 3 teams in addition to Saugus and each has a shot at placing in the top 3 if they have a good day. They are Mira Costa, Great Oak and La Costa Canyon. Tatnall, DE defeated Great Oak at the Manhattan College Invite in October and has been consistently a top team all fall. They were 3rd in 2008 and will look to match that performance this year and are lead by a very strong front-runner in Haley Pierce.