#1 Will Kate Murphy Run Foot Locker of NXR?
This biggest and most interesting story line of the entire season has to be Kate Murphy and her post-season. She won NXR last season and helped her team take down Blacksburg to win an NXN bid but she did so at individual cost of a Foot Locker bid.
Now we will give some background info into this. Lake Braddock has a strong tradition in distance running and an even stronger tradition in producing Foot Locker National finalists. It is what they want to do year in and year out.
There is no doubt Kate could make it to Foot Locker Nationals, and potentially could win the event but that comes at a direct cost to her team and their chances at making it to NXN again. This is where the question comes in.
Kate is the epitome of a team player, she loves her team and would do anything for them and that has been evidenced time after time. She always wants her teammates and friends to come before herself and that leads us to believe she will once again shoot for NXN.
But... what if Lake Braddock could qualify for NXN without Kate? This is where things get very interesting.
Since both regionals are on the same day and you have to choose between one or the other, what if Kate ran at Foot Locker and Lake Braddock ran at NXR?
Lake Braddock qualifying without Kate running is nearly impossible but it is not completely crazy either. If all five girls really stepped up and ran their best race of the season they would definitely be in the top five finishers but how high is another question. It is too early to speculate too much on this but it is something you should look for.
Kate definitely has some tough competition and decisions ahead of her this season and this could be the most difficult of them all... but one thing is for sure, Kate will be ready and will show the entire nation the type of talent VA has.