Girls Rankings
The story of the week was New Jersey's Megan Venables (#2), who won her NJ Group 3 state title with a earth-shattering time of 17:27.9 to erase a 27 year old course record. The previous record, set by Janet Smith in 1983, is 17:35.5. Megan races the course again this weekend at the NJ MOC, this time with some heat behind her!
US#1 Aisling Cuffe continues to lead the way, winning her state A race with a course record time of 17:19.6. Next up is the NY Federation champs, followed by the Foot Locker NE regional, where she will look to win her 2nd straight title.
There are also plenty of new faces in the mix, with Allison Woodward, Wisconsin, leading the charge. Now #10, Allison won the NXN HL regional with a time of 17:34 to beat US#15 Shelby Houlihan. Other champions that are now ranked include Katie Knight, WA, who won the NXN NW regional with a time of 17:34 and Kayla Beattie, who won the NXN NW meet with a time of 17:45 and now sits at US#14.
US#1 Fayetteville-Manlius, NY, dominated their state meet with 15 points, and were led by an impressive showing by Christie Rutledge, who won the AA race with a time of 17:31, only 11 seconds behind Cuffe, and is now ranked #13.
Click on an athlete's name for detailed stats
| Current Rank | Athlete Name | State | Previous Rank |
| 1 | Aisling Cuffe - Blasted a 17:19.6 time to win the New York State A Title. |
NY |
1 |
| 2 | Megan Venables - Crushed the Homdel course record with a stunning 17:27.9. The legendary NJ course has had the same record since 1983 when Janet Smith (North Edison) ran a time of 17:35.5 | NJ | 2 |
| 3 | Molly Grabill - Idle. | CA |
3 |
| 4 | Kelsey Lakowske - Idle. | CO |
4 |
| 5 |
Kathryn Fluehr -
Idle
|
FL | 5 |
| 6 | Maddie Meyers - Idle |
WA | 6 |
| 7 | Molly Seidel - Won the Brooks Border War with a time of 17:10.2 with a gap of 90 seconds to 2nd place. | WI | 8 |
| 8 | Sarah Baxter - Won the Southern Section Prelims with the fastest time of the day clocking a 17:39 on the Mt. Sac course. | CA | 10 |
| 9 | Rachel Johnson - Cruised to a 2 mile time of 10:55.41 to win the Texas State Championships. |
TX | 9 |
| 10 | Allison Woodward - Won the NXN Heartland Regionals winning the race in 17:34 | WI | NR |
| 11 | Abbey Leonardi - Idle. |
ME | 11 |
| 12 |
Katie Knight - Won the Nike NW regional, finishing in 17:34. |
WA | NR |
| 13 | Christie Rutledge - Won the NY AA State Championships in 17:31 leading the US#1 Fayetteville-Manlius team to a near perfect race. | NY | NR |
| 14 | Kayla Beattie - Won the Nike MW Regionals in 17:45 | IL | NR |
| 15 | Shelby Houlihan - Finished 2nd at the Nike Heartland Regionals clocking a 17:35.40 |
IA | 15 |
| 16 | Amy Eloise Neale - Finished 2nd at the Nike NW Regionals with a 17:44.20. | WA | 13 |
| 17 | Samantha Nightingale - Finished 2nd at the Nike MW Regionals in 17:51.60 | MO | 19 |
| 18 | Brook Handler - Edged out Gabrielle Anzalone by a second to win the MHSAA LP Cross Country Finals in 17:00.2. | MI | 20 |
| 19 | Gabrielle Anzalone - Finished a second behind Brook Handler at the MHSAA LP Cross Country Finals. | MI | 21 |
| 20 | Jillian Fanning - Finished 2nd behind Christie Rutledge at the NY State Championship AA Race | NY | NR |
| 21 | Carmen Carlos - Won the AHSAA State XC Championship with a time of 17:49.70 | AL | NR |
| 22 | Megan Lacy - Ran the 2nd fastest time of the day at the NJSIAA Group Championships winning the group 4 race in 17:55. | NJ | 12 |
| 23 | Michelle Thomas - Finished 3rd at the Nike MW Regionals with a 17:52.90 | OH | 17 |
| 24 | Haley Pierce - Won her state meet with the fastest time of the day, an 18:35.83 clocking. |
DE | 24 |
|
25 |
Grace Tinkey - Won the GHSA Cross Country State Championships in 18:04.74 with the fastest time of the day | GA | NR |
Boys Rankings
Yet another amazing week for prep XC with the first three of eight NXN regionals taking place in the Midwest, Northwest and Heartland. Lukas Verzbicas missed out on Virgin's historic record, but got a sweet consolation prize with his NXN MW win, picking up Chris Derrick's course record with a time of 14:53.1.
Jack Driggs, IL, who was soundly beat by Lukas at the IL state meet, came back strong to lead Kroy (York, IL) to the victory at the NXN MW meet with a 2nd place finish in 15:05.20 to jump from #24 to #11!
Michael Brajdic, OH, is also a big story of the week, taking down a 1987 course record at the OH state meet, held by none other than Olympian Bob Kennedy. Kennedy ran 15:03.2 and Brajdic won the Division 2 race with a time of 15:01.9.
Kenji Bierig, WA, continues to move up the list, this time stomping the field at the NXN NW meet, winning with a time of 15:34.1 to move from #11 to #8. Kenji took NXN NW champ North Central's Vince Hamilton along for the ride. Vince finished 2nd in 15:35.9 and is now ranked at #13. And Tony Smoragiewicz, SD, moved up into the list after a course record performance at the NXN Heartland meet, winning with a time of 15:16.76.
Click on an athlete's name for detailed stats
| Current Rank | Athlete Name | State | Previous Rank |
| 1 | Lukas Verzbicas - Won the NXN Midwest Championship with a new course record time of 14:53.1, taking down Chris Derrick's record of 14:54. |
IL | 1 |
| 2 | Futsum Zeinasellassie - Idle. Competes at Foot Locker Midwest next week.. | IN | 2 |
| 3 | Ammar Moussa - Cruised to a win in his Southern Section division with a time of 15:02 for 3 miles. |
CA | 3 |
| 4 | Edward Cheserek - Idle. Competes at NXN Northeast on 11/27. |
NJ | 4 |
| 5 | Craig Lutz - Won the TX 5A state championship for the 2nd straight year with a new personal best on the course of 14:41.51. | TX | 5 |
| 6 | Elias Gedyon - Easy win in the Southern Section with a time of 14:43 for 3 miles. |
CA | 6 |
| 7 | Jim Rosa - NJ Group 3 state champ with a time of 15:46. |
NJ | 7 |
| 8 | Kenji Bierig - Won the NXN Northwest championship with a time of 15:34.1. |
WA | 11 |
| 9 | Billy Orman - Idle. Nike SW regional race on 11/20. |
AZ | 9 |
| 10 | Samuel Pons - Won his Southern section divisional race with a time of 14:54. | CA | 12 |
| 11 | Jack Driggs - Big finish at the NXN Midwest meet to finish 2nd with a time of 15:05.20. | IL | 24 |
| 12 | Robert Allen - Won the New England Championships with a time of 16:28.5 for 3.2 miles. | RI | 13 |
| 13 | Tony Smoragiewicz - Won the NXN Heartland championship with a course record time of 15:16.76. | SD | NR |
| 14 | Vince Hamilton - 2nd at the NXN NW meet, just behind Kenji with a time of 15:35.9. | WA | NR |
| 15 | Zach Wills - Finished 3rd at the NXN Midwest meet with a time of 15:06.20 to finish just behind Driggs. | OH | 18 |
| 16 |
Blake Williams - Idle. |
NC | 15 |
| 17 |
Nathan Weitz - Idle. |
WA | 16 |
| 18 | Jeramy Elkaim - NJ Group 4 state champion with a time of 15:37. |
NJ | 17 |
| 19 | Michael Brajdic - Faded to 7th at NXN MW, but still had a great season, highlighted by a big course record at the OH state meet. | OH | 8 |
| 20 | Lane Werley - Won his Southern section division with a time of 15:09. | CA | 14 |
| 21 | Jacob Burcham - Idle. | WV | 19 |
| 22 | Mike Mazzaccaro - NJ NP-A state champion with a time of 15:40. | NJ | 20 |
| 23 | Armando Del Valle - Won his regional meet with a time of 15:57.79 |
FL | 22 |
| 24 | Jimmy Clark - Won his regional meet with a tiem of 15:25.60. | FL | 23 |
| 25(tie) | Chris Walden - 4th at the NXN MW meet with a time of 15:07.50. |
IN | NR |
| 25(tie) | John Murray - Won the MA Central division with a time of 14:15.5 on a 2.9 mile layout. |
MA | NR |
Previous Rankings