State is a month away and all the eyes in the state will be on that weekend in November, that meet though is hopefully not the end of the season for all of VA. Here we preview what it looks like currently both for NXN Southeast and Foot Locker South for VA teams and individuals.
NXN-SE
The quest for Loudoun Valley to win their third NXN title begins here. Only two teams will make it out of this region and that means they have little to no room for mistake. Here though they still seem to be dominant enough to not sweat this weekend. They will have to run well but not perfect.
Chasing them and that second spot though are three VA teams who have the speed and ability to put it all together for one race. Right now those teams are Western Albemarle, Albemarle, and West Springfield.
These boys' teams will have no other option than to have their best race ever to have a chance of making it out of this regionals.
On the girls' side Loudoun Valley leads the way too but here they enter that weekend currently ranked around 4th. Blacksburg, who made NXN last year, enters the weekend around 8th, and very young Midlothian is currently seeded around 10th.
As we learned last year though, you have to run the race and anyone can make it out if they put everything together at the right time.
This is a huge meet and that means higher team scores than usual, if one of these teams can just run together and fast they have a chance at moving up 50 points than what you could have expected.
Foot Locker South
Just a few miles away down in Charlotte Thanksgiving weekend will be the Foot Locker South regional where just ten boys and girls will advance to nationals.
Attempting to make a trip back to San Diego is Daniel O'Brien who leads the way for VA boys. He is joined by Bryce Lentz and Colby Burcham with strong chances at making the national meet.
Both of them are also joined by current dark horses Jacob Plummer and Albert Velikonja who may not seem close on paper but in our mind could seriously sneak onto that Foot Locker roster.
The girls side of things is even more interesting. All with serious shots at not only making the team but finishing in the top five at regionals is Bethany Graham, Kelsey Harrington, and Ellie Desmond.
Some others who are contenders are Alli Crytser, MC Heinen, Jette Davidson, Julia Ghiselli, Maeve Stiles, and Aniya Mosley. These girls are all champions in their own rights and could very well make the Foot Locker team.
This weekend though is huge with MileStat.com XC and Third Battle being run, take a look at the leaderboard Saturday night and you will see how much things have changed.