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| Northwest Region
Regional Meet: November 15, 2008 at Boise ID
Oregon - Washington - Idaho - Montana - Alaska - Hawaii
Two teams and five individuals per gender will qualify for NXN national finals December 6, 2008 at Portland OR.
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US#1 North Central XC boys a solid bet to repeat
Crusader Harrier OR girls also primed for a return to Nationals
Preview by Dave Devine, DyeStat senior editor
Another Northwest cross country season is nearly in the books. Six state meets have been contested and recorded, with outcomes which vacillated between expected and surprising, exhilarating and disappointing. One major opportunity remains for teams wishing to continue deeper into the post-season: a clash of regional powers at the Nike Cross Nationals Northwest Regional in Boise, Idaho. Switching from in-season school names to post-season club monikers, some of the best squads in the area will descend upon Eagle Island State Park this Saturday for a chance to qualify for the Nike Cross National meet in Portland, Oregon, on December 6. The format for team qualification is the same as last year, with the top 2 teams per gender receiving automatic bids to the national meet, but Nike has thrown a new twist into the equation by adding a process for individuals to qualify for the big show in Portland.
The top 5 boys and girls who are not members of a qualifying team—including runners competing unattached—will be invited to the NXN Championship races this year. That addition opens the doors for athletes who might otherwise solely pursue a Foot Locker berth at this point in the season, giving them the option of either a sharpening race before Foot Locker West or a chance to run for an individual title on the Portland Meadows layout (NXN Finals and FL West are the same weekend, so runners can't do both). Quite a few state titlists who lack elite-level teams around them will be lining up Saturday, creating the tantalizing possibility of champions from various classifications and states all competing in the same race. Small school champs versus large school champs. Montana champs versus Alaska champs versus Oregon champs. The races in Boise will be loaded with drama, both in the individual confrontations at the top and the team battles deeper in the field.
Here’s a look at the teams and individuals in contention:
Girls Team
 The girls team competition features five squads which won state titles competing for their high schools during the regular season. The class of the field is almost certainly the NW#1 Crusader Harriers (Jesuit OR, left, James Thomas photo). They’ve ripped through the regular season unbeaten, were 2nd here last year and run a daunting top 3 as good as any in the region. At the 2007 NTN Northwest, Jesuit entered having just beaten St. Mary’s Academy at the Oregon 6A state meet, but saw that result flip-flopped in Boise by a St. Mary’s team (running as Rose City XC) which was just hitting its stride. While this year witnessed the same finish at the OR state meet, Rose City XC will be hard-pressed to repeat the upset in 2008. They’ve been fighting injuries most of the season, and though the 2 weeks between the state meet and the regional will surely benefit them, the gap to Jesuit is tougher to bridge this year, the chinks in the armor harder to ascertain.
If there is a squad in the field capable of pulling a Rose City-like upset, it might be Wolfpack XC (Eastlake WA), coming off a 1-point victory at the WA 4A state meet over Gig Harbor last weekend. The Eastlake compression at the state meet was 29 seconds, but that close pack may not start scoring early enough to overcome the Crusader Harriers low-scoring lead trio. Gig XC Club (Gig Harbor WA), sufferers of that one-point defeat, stand a solid chance of qualifying for nationals as well, given that their lineup features a contender for the individual title, WA 4A state champion Alyssa Andrews. Kicking off the scoring with a low single-digit might be more helpful to Gig in a race where multiple state champion squads are in contention and the competition is far deeper than their 4A state meet.
Pinnacle CC (Summit OR) looks like the second-best team in Oregon, having grabbed the 5A state title with a mere 25 points, and landed second in merged scoring of the entire meet. They’ll surely be battling for that second NTN berth, along with Idaho powers Mountain View (winners of the 5A title with 92 points), Preston CC (Preston ID, winners of the 4A title with 52 pts) and Knights RC (Bishop Kelly, 4A third-placers with 61 pts).
Girls Individual
 The individual contest within the girls race has to be one of the best matchups in the Northwest this season, if not the last several years. State champions from the largest classifications in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana and Alaska will all be toeing the line, not to mention several smaller classification champs, multiple runners-up, and numerous top ten finishers from various states.
Start with Liz Brandon, the recently-minted course record-holder on the Eagle Island layout, having taken down Candace Eddy’s record from the 2006 Bob Firman Invite with her 18:08 effort en route to the Idaho 5A state title. This meet is in her backyard, she knows every twist and turn, and she’ll be pumped to face the other state champs. The third place finisher in that 5A race, Borah’s Nicole Nielsen, has won big races at Eagle Island before (2007 Bob Firman), was runner-up at the Northwest regional last year, and was a 2007 Foot Locker finalist. She’ll also be formidable as a hometown favorite, as will Idaho 4A champ Emily Nist, a ninth grader running for Knights RC (Bishop Kelly) who ran an impressive 18:20 at the 4A meet.
The aforementioned Alyssa Andrews (right, James Thomas photo) of Gig XC was the best by a long shot at last weekend’s Washington state meet, her 18:00 clocking #3 all-time on the Sun Willows Golf Course 5k layout. Andrews was 5th last year, and also has the distinction of beating the Crusader Harriers’ super soph, Annamarie Maag, head-to-head at the South Whidbey Invite earlier this season. Since that 18:05-to-18:17 loss, Maag has been extremely impressive though, winning several large invites and taking the Oregon 6A state meet with the fastest girls’ time of the day. She’ll surely be in the mix, along with teammates Noelle VanRysselberghe and Payton Schutte. The runner-up to at that OR 6A race was Rose City XC star Alexandra Jones, who entered the homestretch leading and only succumbed to Maag’s kick in the closing meters. She’ll be racing for a team berth too, which will provide extra incentive. Montana AA state champ Heidi Turner of Bozeman was fourth at NTN NW last year, and has been nothing short of dominating in Montana this fall. She took the AA state title in 17:41 for the 3 mile layout, and comes in as an individual without her full NW#4 Bozeman squad.
The girl everyone else has to beat, however, is last year’s Northwest regional champ, Leah Francis. Francis tore through the Alaskan autumn this year, culminating with a third-straight 4A title for the decorated junior. Deprived of serious competition for most of the fall, she’ll be highly motivated to defend her title and score one of those inaugural individual berths to the Portland finals.
Others in the mix: Megan Bartlett ID, Sandra Martinez WA, Kayleigh Tyerman OR, Ruby Roberts WA, Alexandra Litzsinger ID, Carey Parker WA, Tate Murray OR, Annie Moore WA, Keli Dennehy MT, Khalia Tidwell OR, Alyssa O'Connor OR, Megan Fristoe OR
Boys Team
 Last year’s champion, North Central XC (North Central WA, left, Lori Wordell photo), returns as the overwhelming favorite, ranked #1 in both the region and the nation after an undefeated season in Washington ended with a 24-point 3A state title. How impressive is North Central? It’s possible they could place their top 4 in front of the #1 runner of arguably the next best team in the region, Oregon 6A state champion Crusader Harriers (Jesuit OR). The Crusaders have maintained all season that they don’t have a individual star, just a daunting pack, and it’s something they’ve proven repeatedly, most recently with an 11-second spread in taking the OR 6A state title with a mere 27 points. But that kind of compression might not help against a North Central squad that went 2-3-4-5-11 (23 sec. spread) in the WA 3A meet, fronted by Andrew Kimpel’s runner-up 15:25 and featuring all 5 scorers under 15:50.
With a race that may realistically be for second, the Crusader Harriers look to be in strong contention, as does the runner-up at the WA 3A state meet, Seattle Prep, which will compete as Blue Train XC in Boise. In a merge of times from all the WA state races, Blue Train comes out ahead of 4A champ Mead and 4A runner-up Henry Jackson. Both of those 4A squads are in the field at Eagle Island, as Mead XC and Mill Creek XC Club respectively, and are very closely matched. South Side Harriers (Ferris WA) is another WA 4A team with potential to break into the top two, especially after knocking off Mead at the WA Eastern Regional and running a very close third at the 4A state meet.
After the Crusader Harriers, the next best Oregon team would seem to be 5A champs, Crater. Running as the Crater Comets, they are fronted by the 1-2 punch of the Elliott brothers, Josh and Zach, and are sure to start off with low numbers in the top 2 slots. Last year’s runner-up team, Stark Street AC (Central Catholic OR) ran to a strong second at the OR 6A meet, but have been battered with injuries all season. Coach Dave Frank is deft at preparing his team to run well when it counts, but a top two finish would be a tall order given the depth of this field.
A trio of Idaho 5A teams will look to defend homestate territory. The 5A champs, Twin Falls (running as Donnelley Sports RC), feature no dominant frontrunners, but a 22-second pack with potential to take down higher-ranked squads with their close team tactics. The Boise Striders (Boise ID) have a very solid front three, led by 5A individual state champ Eric Fitzpatrick, and were 19 points behind Twin Falls in the state race. Highland was only another 2 points back from Boise, and also figure to be competitive in the team battle.
 Boys Individual
Not only does Andrew Kimpel lead the US#1 North Central XC team into battle, he is the top returner from last year’s race, runner-up to a now-graduated Jono Lafler WA. He was second at this year’s Bob Firman Invite as well, making him both formidable and knowledgeable over the Eagle Island layout. His running mate this season, NC’s #2 Jeff Howard, won’t be far behind, and neither will fellow top-four guys Leon Dean and Ben Johnston.
The difference this year is that the race has drawn more top-shelf unattached individuals, which brings in matchups like Oregon 6A champ Drew Jordan (Tornado TC, Medford, OR) facing OR 4A champ Elliott Jantzer (Phoenix OR, right, Robert Rosenberg photo) and OR 5A titlist Josh Ellliott (competing for a team title with the Crater Comets). They’ll have their hands full with an equally imposing trio of Idaho state champs: the previously-mentioned 5A winner, Eric Fitzpatrick (Boise Striders), 4A victor Barak Watson (Nampa ID) and 3A champ Ryan Jaggi (Weiser ID). Watson, especially, has looked sharp this year and ran close to Kimpel and Howard at Bob Firman. The fastest boy from Montana will be on hand too, Class A champ Drew Coco (Whitefish AC), whose 15:27 for 3 miles was best of the day at the MT state meet.
Non-state champs sure to be fighting up front include OR 6A runner-up Sammy Kirtner (Axemen RC, Eugene, OR), OR 5A third-placer Zach Elliott (Crater Comets), ID 5A runner-up Cody Helbling (North Idaho, Hayden, ID), WA 4A 4th-placer Andrew Gonzales (Southridge RC, Kennewick, WA), 5th placer Simon Sorenson (Spartans, Issaquah, WA) and 6th placer Kevin Rosaaen (Fircrest, WA), and AK 4A 4th placer Sam Salus (Kodiak XC, Kodiak, AK). An intriguing underdog arrives in the form of Oregon’s 3:53 6A 1500 champion from last spring, Nathan Mathabane. He has trained separately from his Lincoln High team this fall, raced sparingly, and comes in with strong credentials and well-established Foot Locker aspirations. If he’s as fit as an autumn’s-worth of unhindered training might suggest, he’ll be a contender along with the more race-tested individuals.
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