* Pickerington North's Matt Duvall won the Division 1 boys race at the OHSAA Early Season Invite
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The cross country season is here in its infancy.
Official practices and debut meets are currently underway in many states, which has signaled the start of something fresh for teams hoping for success in 2018.
If nothing else, these first few weeks are all about progress. Early season efforts are strong indications of what all that offseason training meant.
So no, fast times this early really don't mean much, only that some athletes and teams were more prepared than others. But saying that, running fast this early is still impressive.
In our first fall installment of The Scoop, we'll highlight some big efforts happening across the nation.
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1.
Texans Know How To Train
Everything isn't just bigger in Texas, it's also hotter. Training in regions like El Paso or Dallas or Houston over the course of a summer isn't for the faint of heart. Athletes are often stronger for having trained in the heat.
This first weekend, we saw a litany of top performances come out of the Lone Star State. Nine out of the top 20 times in the national rankings came from Texas athletes, including the current US No. 1 time of 15:27.64, which was accomplished by Lucas Lovejoy junior Will Muirhead at the Plano ISD Cross Country Invitational on Saturday. The invitational also produced the second fastest time thus far, with Plano East's Grant Wilcox finishing in 15:31.69.
Farther south, PSJA Memorial's Cruz Gomez, an NXN qualifier in 2017 who trains in McAllen, ran a US No. 9 mark of 15:47.60 at the Yellow Jacket Invitational.
Correction: An earlier version included a performance from Michael Abeyta, which was misreported in the weekly rankings.
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2.
A Sub-18 For A Michiganer
This fall, Ericka Vanderlende isn't sneaking up on anybody. The Rockford (MI) High School senior, who qualified for Foot Locker Nationals in 2017, is considered one of the top talents in the country.
And she certainly opened up her season with a stellar effort, dropping the current US No. 1 time of 17:50.00 at the Early Bird Meet in Portage. That time represents a strong 19-second improvement from this time last year.
The senior is coming off a superb track season where she won a state title in the 1600m (4:45.17) and a silver medal in the 3200m (10:12.26).
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3.
Can Matt Duvall Become One Of Ohio's Next Stars
Ohio was gifted with luxury in 2017, bearing three bonafide stars in all three divisions: Dustin Horter (D1), Zach Kreft (D2) and Chad Johnson (D3). All three were scooped up by Division I programs after finishing out their careers with varying state championship honors: Horter headed off to Indiana, Kreft left for Notre Dame and Johnson was inked by Iowa State.
The natural response was whether Ohio would be the same in 2018.
Time will only tell, but Saturday gave an early first look at one of the state's better options. Pickerington North junior Matt Duvall, who was 23rd at the Division I state championships in 2017, looked in great form, earning the Division I title in 16:04.40.
"Just trying to help out the team as much as I can," Duvall said afterward.
That time granted Duvall the No. 19 effort in the country and was a 10-second improvement from this time last year. His teammate, Harper Moore, meanwhile, was second overall in 16:11.90.
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