Article about the Nike Team Nationals Race held in Saturday in Alabama. Derby City (Assumption) finished 8th.
NTN announced Sunday that the Mountain Brook girls (US #3) who finished 3rd at the NTN SouthEast Regional Qualifying Meet in Hoover, Alabama will earn a Wildcard bid to Portland. Congratulations ladies. The entire state will be pulling for you.
U.S. Fayetteville-Manlius earns their trip to NTNThe last Nike Team National Regionals took place Saturday morning and afternoon, as the New York, Northeast and Southeast Regions were each run. Some teams surprisingly qualified for NTN, while a few top teams did not live up to expectations. Check in for summaries, articles, photos and videos of each region. New information will be posted throughout the next few days.QualifiersNTN New York Girls: Fayetteville-Manlius & Burnt-HillsNTN New York Boys: Shenendehowa & Warwick ValleyNTN Northeast Girls: Lincoln-Sudbury (MA) & Voorhees (NJ)NTN Northeast Boys: Brookline (MA) & Danbury (CT)NTN Southeast Girls: Collins Hill (GA) & Tatnall (DE)NTN Southeast Boys: Oak Ridge (TN) & Thomas Jefferson (VA)
Madeline Morgan of Mountain Brook took the top spot in the Girls Championship race. Patrick McGregor of Hoover took the lead at the 3k mark in the woods but was passed exiting the trail by Maclean O'Donnell (OakRidge RC). McGregor finished 2nd in the Championship race.More Coverage...Complete Boys ResultsComplete Girls Results
The boys from Green Hope and Broughton traveled to the first ever Nike Team Southeast Regional. 16 of the top teams in the SE regional traveled to Hoover, AL for the regional. Green Hope pulled off a top 10 finish with their 8th place overall. Broughton, the 4A state champs, finished 12th in the race.
The girls from Jackonsville Episcopal failed to qualify for Nike Team Nationals, as they finished fourth at the Southeast Regional Qualifier in Hoove, Alabama. The top two teams qualify for the national meet. There are also at large bids, but Episcopal is unlikely to earn one of these spots. Their fourth place finish bettered some very good teams including Eleanor Roosevelt MD, who Episcopal beat out earlier at the flrunners.com Invitational. The girls had a 19:48 team average, with Katie Traylor's 19:35 leading the way.
NTN Southeast Regional Preview by Scott Bush, MileSplit National Editor. Derby City AC (Assumption) is considered one of the top five teams in the race to be held Saturday in Alabama.
Freshman Marie Demedicis leads US #3 Mountain BrookThe tops teams in the Nike Team National Southeast Region converge in Hoover, Alabama Saturday to see who the top two teams in the region are. The girls side follows the powerful pack of Mountain Brook (AL) girls, who ran undefeated all season with a few big wins. Oak Ridge (TN) leads the mens side, with a few other front running teams in tow.
Photo: Ryan Hill winning last year's FLS meet. This weekend are two very large meets: the Foot Locker South Regional and the NTN Southeast Regional. One is right here in NC, and the other is in Hoover, Alabama. Two NC teams decided to race at the first ever NTN Regional in Hoover. Green Hope and Broughton are headed down south in the hopes to shock other SE teams and qualify for NTN Nationals. Should one or both of the teams qualify, they will keep the NC streak alive, as Chapel Hill has attended the National meet the last 2 years. Ryan Hill of Hickory looks to lead a very large NC contingent at this year's Foot Locker meet. He won the Regional last year and has hopes of repeating his victory.
Two teams to Oregon from the Northern Region? It is well within the realm of possibility with the lineups which Coach Matt Ryan at Thomas Jefferson and Coach Phil Tiller at Oakton will be sending down to the Deep South in Hover, Alabama for Saturday's Nike Team Nationals Southeast Regionals. On the line will be automatic berths for Nike Team Nationals, which will be held on December 1st in Portland, Oregon. Thomas Jefferson appears to be a strong favorite for a top two finish after coming out on top in the Southeast's toughest state race in the Virginia 3A division last Saturday. Meanwhile, Oakton struggled in its final two races with health issues to key members of their top seven, but hope to be near full strength and show their mid-season form which saw saw them as the undisputed top team in the entire region with a runner-up finish at Maymont and strong team performance at Manhattan. Both teams will have some of the top individuals in the race with Brian Landry of TJ and Joe Lorusso of Oakton (both pictured above by Ted Plunkett.) The final entries for the first ever Nike Team Nationals Southeast Regionals have been released and a total of four Virginian squads will make the long trip down to Hoover, Alabama over Thanksgiving weekend to attempt to qualify for Nike Team Nationals in Portland, Oregon via a top two finish at the regional meet. In the championship boys' race from Virginia will be AAA state champions from Thomas Jefferson and AA state champions from Brentsville as well a the team which had been the state's top ranked team for much of the season in Oakton. The AA state champion Blacksburg girls will be the lone team from Virginia in the championship girls race.Meanwhile, Virginia has nearly 400 runners registered already for Foot Locker South in Charlotte. Virginians are definitely willing to travel to compete in post-season meets as long as the travel is fairly affordable and at reasonable distance.
With Nike Team National Regional registration ending over the next few weeks for most regions, questions are being raised about the registration process, with emphasis on the elite races. Here are some answers.MileSplit NTN Regional Registration Announcement
2006 state cross country Class AAAA state champion Mauldin Mavericks girls are ranked no. 5 in the Nike Team Nationals southeast region preseason poll, released last week. Senior Alyssa Kulik captured the individual state cross country title in 2006.