The top
Pennsylvania teams and a few top individuals will head to Bowdoin Park in
Wappingers Falls, New York on Saturday for the Nike Cross Nationals Northeast
Regional. The top two teams, top five individuals (not on a qualifying team)
and potential "at-large" team picks will qualify for NXN on December 5 in
Portland, Oregon.
The Unionville girls, which plodded through the snow and mud last year to win its second straight NXN Northeast title last year, will look to make it three in a row this time around. They'll face some stiff competition from around the region, most notably from Pennsbury, which beat Unionville three weeks at the PIAA State Championship.
Still, if history holds up, Pennsbury (above) beat Unionville at the 2014 state meet, before losing to them at NXN Northeast. The Falcons are a determined bunch this year, though. Last year, despite Olivia Sargent winning the individual title, Pennsbury ended up sixth in the overall team race.
After states, Sargent talked about the disappointment the team felt about not making the trip to Portland as a team. The gap for "Lower Bucks XC" has gone down this year and Pennsbury will look to get lower sticks from both Hannah Molloy (sixth at states) and Mary Webb (ninth at states). After that, a tight pack at 4-5-6 of Meridith Twomey, Maddie Sauer, and Bailey Balmer will certainly help. The goal is to send the whole team this year.
The Unionville girls (above, with their state runner-up trophy) have won NXN Northeast the last two years.
Unionville (known as U-Ville Running Club this weekend) lost some fire power from last year's first place squad, but will certainly be in contention. Both Anna Juul and Kacie Breeding have seen big improvements this year and have slid in nicely to the vacancies left by graduated Olivia Young and Gretchen Mills. U-Ville will look to have big races from Madison McGovern and Cami Rickenbach to put them in the top two conversation. To do that, a stronger fifth runner will have to emerge.
Also making the trip to Bowdoin are the girls from Germantown Friends. They'll be without top runner (and recent Stanford signee) Sarah Walker, who is likely turned her attention to the track. Abington Heights will also toe the line led by Katie Dammer, who was seventh in AA state race.
The defending champion, Sargent, leads the individual race. She took control of the race early last year and won handily in 18:18. A repeat performance is most certainly her goal, though she'd love to bring an addition six friends to Portland.
PIAA AAA runner-up Aislinn Devlin will also be looking to make a return trip to NXN. She was sixth last year and looks to be running the strongest of her career the past few weeks of the season. The Downingtown West junior beat Sargent at the District One Championships, running an impressive 17:24. She was second to Sargent in a great duel at states, setting up what should be another great battle between the two top runners in PA.
Sargent and Devlin (right) battled it out at District One and states. NXN Northeast will be round three.
If the Unionville team doesn't make it, Juul and Breeding will have a shot at individual glory in New York. Juul has flown under the radar by some standards, being overshadowed by conference foe Devlin and district foe Sargent, but Saturday may be a chance for Juul to prove she deserves to be mentioned alongside them.
Country Day of the Sacred Heart's Emma Seifried is also entered in the race. She's had an impressive 2015, which included narrowly losing to Vincentian Academy's Marianne Abdalah in the Class A state race. With a good race, she could sneak into a top five spot.
Mady Clahane is also listed among the NXN Northeast entries. However, the Cumberland Valley senior is also registered for Foot Locker Northeast. She raced Foot Locker in 2014, where she was 23rd. We won't find out until Saturday which one she picks, but whichever race she decides on, she's should be seen as a nationals threat.
Other entries include Saint Marys Area's Michelle Bauer (10th at AA states) and Downingtown West's Emma Planck (22nd at AAA states).
Make sure to check out all our race coverage. Earlier this week, we previewed the girls' and boys' Foot Locker Northeast Regional. Follow us on Twitter at @PennTrackXC and @MileSplit for live updates from the races and check back later for results, photos and more.