Nike Cross Southeast Regional Preview - Boys

 Maryland state champion Andrew Palmer is the only returning boys individual national qualifier from the Southeast region, while Colin Mearns of Jamestown (VA) was one of the region's top finishers in both the region and national race alongside his team. Mearns is one of several of the top individuals in the race who will be looking to bounce back from a disappointing state meet by earning one of the five individual national qualifier spots reserved for the 12-state region. The Brookwood boys of Georgia are heavy favorites to win the regional title especially after impressing earlier in the season on the same course in a Great American victory. Florida state champions Christopher Columbus and Virginia state champions Mountain View are just two of several teams with hopes of sneaking in behind Brookwood for second place and an automatic berth to the national race in Portland.

NXN Southeast Boys Top Teams

1. Brookwood (GA) - The #1 ranked team in the Southeast throughout much of the season will be tough for any other squad in the region to knock off as Brookwood looks to become the first NXN Southeast champions from the state of Georgia. In their state meet, Brookwood had a dominant win against two solid in-state rivals in Parkview (2nd, 100 pts) and Collins Hill (3rd, 118 pts) with a low team score of 32 points and boasting a swift team average of 15:51 on the Carrolton High School 5K course. Brookwood has had four different runners dip under 16 minutes for 5K this season which no team in the region besides them can say.

2. Christopher Columbus (FL) - Christopher Columbus not only upset Dr. Phillips in their Florida 4A state title last weekend, but rolled to their win with a decisive 66 point margin of victory. The team has a solid top four which finished in places fourth (Dominic Cabrera 15:48) through 13th (Eduardo Arechebala 16:09), but may need a smaller gap between their fourth and fifth runner to match up with a deep Brookwood squad. Also at the state meet, their usual #1 and one of Florida's best individuals in junior Armando del Valle had an off race and placed sixth individually. Del Valle will be one of the race individual favorites in Cary if he can return to his top form prior to the state meet, which included an impressive sub 15 minute runner-up performance at the competitive flrunners.com Invite in early October.

3. Mountain View (VA) - The Virginia 3A state champions lack a true front runner, but might be the best packed team and strongest through seven runners than any of the top contenders teams. Mountain View will be hoping their pack moves up far enough up in the field and the other top teams are unable to close the door early enough with their fifth runners to sneak into one of the automatic top two places. On a muddy state meet course at Great Meadow, Mountain View saw several of their runners post some of their fastest times of the season including their top two in All-State finisher Bradley Shultis and Grant Shoope. Mountain View compiled a team score of 93 points, which put them 49 points ahead of last year's state champions from Oakton. While Mountain View has competed mainly against in-state competition at in-state meets this fall, they did venture down to Florida in early October for the Disney Classic which they defeated then Florida's #1 ranked team Dr. Phillips.

4. Dr. Phillips (FL) - Dr. Phillips is looking to bounce back from poor state meet in which they were decisively beaten by a Christopher Columbus squad which they had beaten earlier at the flrunners.com Invite. Dr. Phillips won 84-98 against Christopher Columbus at the flrunners.com Invite as despite Columbus having the superior front runner in Del Valle, Dr. Phillips was able to gain ground and surpass their state rival in the fifth runner spot. The state meet was the exact opposite as Dr. Phillips lost 20 points to Christopher Columbus with their last scoring runners. If they can get a better races from the state meet by a few key runners including #1 Novlan Middleton who ran 15:32 earlier in the season, but finished 3rd for the team at the state meet and 29th overall in the race then expect them to challenge for a top 2 spot along with their in-state rival Christopher Columbus.

5. Blacksburg (VA) - With only one senior among their top seven, no matter the outcome of this year's regional race, Blacksburg will expect to be a serious contender in 2010 for a NXN berth and possibly regional champion. Blacksburg finished 6th in last year's regional race in Cary with their top four from that team back with NXN regional race experience. Their last race at WakeMed Soccer Park was not an impressive one though as arguably their worst meet of the season racing without their #5 and #6 runners at Great American cost them a great deal of points in the loaded team field to finish well back in 13th place. With the late season emergence of junior transfer Anthony Noegel, Blacksburg is a much different squad with a complete top five. Blacksburg won the Virginia 2A state title by the widest margin of victory in any of the races by 80 points and a 16:44 team average.

6. Broughton (NC) - Despite just missing out on claiming the North Carolina 4A state title, which turned out to be a tight three way battle between themselves, third place West Johnston, and the champions from Sanderson, the squad from Broughton High School is capable of finishing the season on a high note with strong team finish at the Nike Cross Southeast Regional. Earlier in the season at Great American, Broughton placed 6th in the Race of Champions and as the third highest finishing squad within the region. In a recent 3200 meter time trial last Friday, Broughton had three runners break 10 minutes including two swift times from top two Pierre Malherbe (9:28) and Reidy Jones (9:32), while their fifth runner was timed at 10:02 and seventh runner at 10:15.

7. Parkview (GA) - Parkview was a distance second to top ranked Brookwood boys in the Georgia State Meet's 5A race, but most top teams in the region would likely find themselves in the same position. Parkview competed at Great American earlier in the season and did not fair well with a 12th place finish and 9th team from the Southeast region in the Race of Champions. Their hopes are the experiences gained from that meet will lead to a better team result at the NXN regional.

8. West Johnston (NC) - The third place squad in a competitive North Carolina 4A state race, West Johnston will attempt to be the top finishing team from the homestate and finish ahead of 4A state runners-up Broughton. West Johnston has a formidable top three all knocking on the door of sub 16 minutes performances simultaneously at the NXN regional race in Chad Massengill, Eric Baldwin, and Chris Garrett.

9. St. Xavier (KY) - One of the better teams to come out of Kentucky in the past several years, this squad is capable of finishing among the top two and earning a second trip in the school's history to NXN. St. Xavier qualified back in 2005 for then Nike Team Nationals when selections were made by a committee. Now St. Xavier will have to earn it with a great race on one day to make themselves Portland-Bound. St. Xavier finished 8th earlier in the season at Great American and are looking to come together at season's end after a up and down season due to injuries and illness. One concern from the race earlier in the season at the WakeMed Soccer Park was the lack of a front runner to pick up a low score card with their top finisher in 31st place. However, St. Xavier raced at Great American raced short handed at Great American without two of their top three runners in Jackson Carnes and Ian McCaslin, who both broke 16 minutes earlier in the season.

10. Midlothian (VA) - Winners in their last race on the regional course as the seeded invitational division champions, Midlothian is hoping to post a significantly faster team average than 16:47 from Great American. The team certainly has improved virtually each week since then including recently securing a slightly surprising top 3 finish in the Virginia 3A state race. Similar to Blacksburg from Virginia, Midlothian is a young squad with only one senior (#6 runner) in their entire top seven and will use this year's regional race for experience moving ahead to next year with greater aspirations of a Nike Cross Nationals berth. Midlothian qualified for Nike Team Nationals back in 2006.

NXN Southeast Boys Top Individuals

1. Andrew Palmer (Walt Whitman MD) - Palmer is the top returnee from last year's regional race in which he qualified for nationals individually with a fifth place finish of 15:15. Palmer won the Maryland 4A state title in adverse course conditions by 19 seconds after having to settle for runner-up in last year's state race behind eventual Foot Locker Nationals champion Solomon Haile. Palmer raced on the regional course earlier this fall at Great American, but opted to race in the seeded invitational race instead of the Race of Champions, which he easily won in a time of 15:40. Palmer often races hard enough to win, but expect him to go deeper into the well on Saturday to secure another NXN individual berth.

2. Jake Rainey (Rossview TN) - Rainey has one of the fastest season best 5K times among all the individual entrants with his 15:06 runner-up performance at the Chile Pepper Invite against high quality competition including from the state of Texas. Rainey has won all his remaining races this season, but had an unfortunate car accident just prior to the state meet which forced him to miss racing against Tennessee's best for a state title. Rainey expects to be back for the Nike Cross regional and could find himself racing for the win.

3. Armando Del Valle (Christopher Columbus FL) - Del Valle gained national recognition earlier in the season as a surprising challenger at arguably Florida's most competitive invitational at the flrunners.com Invite with his signicant PR drop to 14:56 in a runner-up showing in the race. Del Valle followed that fast performance with consecutive victories heading into the state meet, but suffered an off race in his race to finish as his team's #3 runner. Del Valle, a 4A state champion last spring at 1600 meters, will look to bounce back from his state meet performance to lead his Christopher Columbus squad potentially to a Nike Cross Nationals berth with a top two finish. If his team were to fall short of a top two finish, Del Valle is well capable of earning an individual national berth as one of the top runners in the field as his 14:56 performance is the fastest season best 5K among all runners in th emeet.

4. Colin Mearns (Jamestown VA) - Last year's NXN regional race was a breakthrough run for Colin Mearns as he emerged as his Jamestown squad's #1 runner to lead them not only in the regional meet with his sixth place, but at the national meet in Portland. Mearns was sixth in the 2008 regional race with a time of 15:26. After a forgetful state meet race in which he collapsed in the final 150 meters to lose the Virginia 2A state title, Mearns will be looking to erase those bad memories with another national berth.

5. Tyler Anyan (Brookwood GA) - Anyan leads the favored Brookwood squad, who will look to build momentum in a dominant team showing to prove they can truly be competitive in Portland which has not been the case for any past Southeast region boys qualifier. Front runners are certainly needed in order to be competitive at NXN and Anyan fits the bill. Anyan was a state runner-up recently at the Georgia State Meet with a strong personal best 5K race of 15:33. The Georgia state champion at 3200 meters last May, Anyan is one of a small group of sub 9:20 2 milers in the race.

6. Reidy Jones (Broughton NC) - Jones should have confidence racing well on this course as just last month he won his regional title in a time of 15:29. He ran an identical time earlier in the season on the same course at Great American with a strong sixth place finish in the Race of Champions. His state race did not go as well with a sixth place finish and time of 16:09, but appears to be back on track after turning in a swift 3200 time tria of 9:32 last week along with teammate Pierre Malherbe, who ran an impressive 9:29. Malherbe had been running behind teammate Jones all season long and had a previous 3200 PR of 9:51, so he could find himself among the top 10 individuals as well with teammate Jones.

7. Lucas Sieb (Scottsboro AL) - Alabama's best is making the trip to Cary instead of Charlotte with hopes of qualifying for a national meet individually. Lucas Sieb posted the fastest time at the Alabama State Meet with his 15:46 first place finish in the 5A race. Sieb, a junior at Scottsboro High School, is a two-time state champion in cross country and has also won state titles on the track at 3200 meters.

8. Ryan Lee (Archmere Academy DE) - After racing on some difficult and slow courses this season, the Delaware state champion Ryan Lee will be anxious to run on a much fast course at the NXN regional against top competition with top 10 finish aspirations. The Division II state champion has won his last five races against primarily in-state competition after finishing 5th and 12th respectively at competitive Paul Short (PA) and Maymont (VA) invitationals back in September.

9. Kyle King (Grafton VA) - King was the surprise Virginia 2A state champion as the result of the late collapse by Mearns and will get an opportunity to race his district and regional rival again to end the season with both runners hopefully physically strong. Despite the adverse state meet course conditions, King nearly ran a personal best time with his 16:01 victory. King is only a junior and will be one of Virginia's top returning cross country runners next fall and a high individual finish in Cary on Saturday would be a great confidence boost heading into his senior year with more serious aspirations of becoming an individual national qualifier.

10. Tom Harrison (St. Alban's School DC) - The Maryland private school state champion has faired well against top public school competition in the Mid-Atlantic area including wins at the Battle of the Potomac (MD) and Woodberry Forest Invitational (VA) as well as a runner-up finish at the Glory Days Invite (VA) and third place finish at the Salesianum Invite (DE).

11. Jake Wildenmann (Trinity KY) - A junior from Trinity High School in Louisville, Wildenmann is one of the top runners from the state of Kentucky as the 3A state runner-up to the undisputed #1 runner from their state in Ryan Eaton by only 9 seconds with a final time of 16:04. Wildenmann has a season best time of 15:34.

12. Trevin Peterson (Walton Verona KY) - The Kentucky state champion in the small school classification (Class A), Walton Verona junior Trevin Peterson will have an opportunity to race with the runners from the biggest and best schools in the entire Southeast region this weekend. Peterson posted one of the faster times of the day at the Kentucky State Meet with his 16:18 victory.