NXN Southeast Regional Entries: 7 teams from VA vying for berths to Oregon

A total of seven Virginia teams are entered to compete so far in the championship division of the Nike Cross Nationals Southeast Regionals to be held this Saturday, November 29th at SAS Park in Cary, North Carolina.
 

Jamestown boys will be the favorites as the top ranked team in the Southeast region as the Eagles will look to compliment their Group AA state title by earning a trip to Portland, Oregon for Nike Team Nationals. Albemarle boys had a great finish at Great Meadow to shock many with their second place finish in the AAA state race and will attempt to pull off another shocker and slip into the top two in Cary. Albemarle is ranked #8 in the Southeast currently. Blacksburg, another state-up squad from AA, is ranked #9 in the Southeast Region and will be racing at the regional race along with their state champion girls' squad. Potomac Falls are another state meet podium team competing at NXN Southeast as the third place AA squad is one of several Southeast bubble teams in the race.

While the #2 ranked boys team in Virginia and the Southeast region will not be racing in Cary, as the AAA state champions from Oakton have opted to shut down their season and prepare for the track season, all of the top Virginia girls teams will be racing at SAS Park with AAA state champions Midlothian (Southeast #4 ranked), AA state champions Blacksburg (Southeast #5), and AA state runner-up Hidden Valley (Southeast #5). All three teams are capable of stepping up and finishing among the top two automatic nationals qualifying teams. There is little separation between the top three ranked Virginia squads as a sixth runner tiebreaker gave Blacksburg the AA state title over Hidden Valley, while Blacksburg finished slightly ahead of Midlothian in the combined state meet scoring.

While Foot Locker is still the post-season meet in which the majority of the top individuals go, Nike Cross regionals are now individual qualifiers as well for their national championship race to be held in Portland, Oregon on December 6th. A total of ten individuals qualify from the Foot Locker regionals, while five individuals qualify from the Nike Cross regionals. Some of the individual qualifiers may come from teams who fell short of qualifying as a team at the regional race, but some may also be individuals competing alone.

In the girls' race, three All-State caliber runners will be trying to finish among the top 5 individuals with the Herndon duo of Carolyn Hennessey and Hiruni Wijayaratne as well as Brentsville's Allison Bartels. Private school state cross country champion Brendin Leavitt of Norfolk Collegiate is the only Virginia male individual slated to compete so far in the championship boys race.

Boys Championship Teams:
 

SE #1 Jamestown
SE #8 Albemarle
SE #9 Blacksburg
Potomac Falls
 

Girls Championship Teams:

SE #4 Midlothian
SE #5 Blacksburg
SE #6 Hidden Valley