Colby Lowe of Southlake Carroll H.S. (TX)
The best of the South take to the Woodlands cross country course on Saturday. The top two boys and girls teams will advance out of the NTN South Regional to the national competition on only a few weeks time. US ranked the Woodlands enters the boys race as the favorites, while a half dozen teams have a shot to win the girls race.
Road to Portland: NTN South Regional Preview
Date: November 17, 2007
Location: The Woodlands, Texas
Girls
With only one of the 18 competing teams coming from out of state, the Lone Star state is bound to have a few teams competing for the two qualifying spots in the Girls Championship race. Leading the way in Texas are the Class 5A schools. Last weekend first through fourth place in the 5A race scored between 70 and 89 points. There mere 19 points that seperated the four teams means very little seperates the top squads this Saturday.
'06 NTN qualifier Carroll XC (Southlake Carroll H.S.) won the 5A Championship after confusion between their score and Kingwood RC (Kingwood H.S.), the decision that Carroll was champion came on Monday. Both squads will be looking to make NTN, with Kingwood having a chip on their shoulder from their state meet. Kingwood is led by Kristen Hanselka, while Carroll is led by Tara Upshaw and Jessica Harper.
The two teams that followed Kingwood and Carroll at state were Cinco Ranch RC (Cinco Ranch H.S.) and Keller RC (Keller H.S.). Both teams finished close to the two frontrunners, and if their 4-5 runners can step up and improve ten seconds from the week before the teams are right in the hunt. Cinco Ranch uses a very strong top three, while Lalah Mojtbaeezamani and Chelsea Scott give Keller a very strong combination up top.
While those four teams are labeled the favorites, keep an eye on Hereford CC Club (Hereford H.S., TX) and Rogers-Arkansas RC (Rogers H.S., AR). Hereford won the 4A title in Texas by a very large margin running behind Abby Metcalf and Ashley Mason. Those two give Hereford the best duo out of all the teams competing Saturday. While their fifth runners is a ways back, it is hard to beat a team with such firepower up front.
Rogers is the lone team from outside Texas, but they will give the Texas teams quite a challenge. Rogers is on a roll after winning their state meet, while their pack should challenge as well as anyone's. Look for any of these six teams to grab one of the two team berths at regionals.
Boys
While the girls side has a half dozen teams that could win on Saturday, the boys side is a little more clear cut. Five teams have the potential to earn a national berth, although three of the squads are heavily favored.
The Woodlands TC (the Woodlands H.S.) beat Carroll XC (Southlake Carroll H.S.) last week for the 5A state title 70-76. While the score seems fairly close, the Woodlands top runner Reed Connor finished as their fifth runner, struggling to finish. If Connor runs to his potential the Woodlands are very hard to beat, as the squad has been gaining momentum since being embarassed at the Nike South invitational.
Carroll meanwhile exhibits a top duo in senior Colby Lowe and junior C.J. Brown. The two stars give the squad the best 1-2 punch of the day, which will help them nicely. However, their pack is a ways off the back. If they can close their pack up expect this team to make NTN for the second straight year.
The out of state favorite on the boys side is Rogers-Arkansas XC Club (Rogers H.S., AR). The talented team from Arkansas destroyed their in-state competition all season long and put up a great showing at the Nike South Invitational earlier in the year. Rogers needs to rely on their strong pack if they hope to offset the depth of the Woodlands or the upfront power of Carroll.
Behind those three teams are Cedar Park XC (Cedar Park H.S., TX) and Seven Lakes Harriers (Seven Lakes H.S., TX). Both teams have performed well all season, and if their packs hit on the day they may surprise the field. Cedar Park ran incredibly well at Nike South, since finishing third in the 5A state race. The team runs as a pack, but they need to move up drastically from their state meet performance.
Seven Lakes won the Texas 4A team title by over 40 points, which is no easy task. The team's leaders are James Welin and Chase Rathke. Both athletes need to run with, or just ahead, of the other top teams in order for Seven Lakes to qualify. The team has a very strong top three, but like most teams their fourth and fifth runners will win them the race.