There are several paths to compete at a national high school cross country championships. Ask Kathleen Lautzenheiser. As a freshmen, she competed alongside her teammates at the Nike Team Nationals in Portland, Oregon as the Midlothian girls were selected by a committee based off their championship season performances as well as big win at the Manhattan Invitational. As a sophomore, Lautzenheiser raced alongside the 40 best high school cross runners in the country in sunny San Diego at Foot Locker Nationals after qualifying from the South regional with a top 10 finish in the seeded race.
Now as a junior, Lautzenheiser returns back to Portland Meadows and the Nike Campus, but as an individual qualifier without her team in the new format and new named Nike Cross Nationals (formerly Nike Team Nationals). This weekend in Oregon will be a once in a lifetime opportunity for the other individual qualifiers from Virginia and team qualifier Jamestown, but Lautzenheiser on the other hand is gro...