Nike Cross Nationals

History

NTN was started in 2004 along with the other two meets in the Nike Nationals Series in order to promote the national circuit for high school competitive running. The inaugural race in 2004 consisted of 21 boys teams and 20 girls teams and was seen by an estimated 4,000 spectators. Kinetic XC Club of Saratoga High School, which had been ranked in polls as the number one girls team in the country for the past decade, dominated the girls race with a score of 51. Kroy XC Club of York High School won the boys race with 92 points. The race featured a special award called the "Golden Anchor," given to the top four number five runners in each race.

The 2005 race saw the introduction of an eighth man race, which was held before the main event races, and in 2006 combined with the open race.

An Open Race was new to the 2006 event, with 30 top boys and girls from around the country given the chance to compete as a team on the national level; however they did not qualify and therefore Nike did not provide their expenses or clothing. Also new to 2006 was a revision of the course. On December 2, 2006 a Kenyan boys team and a Kenyan girls team were also flown in to partake in the open events; the teams dominated the North American course and showed spectators a whole new view of racing.

On April 25, 2008, Nike announced that it will change their name from NTN to NXN (Nike Cross Nationals). Along with the two teams from each region that make it to NXN, Nike will also take the next five individuals from each region and they will also be able to compete in the same race, just without a team.

This new format has created many conflicts with Foot Locker Cross Country Championships. The FLCC has been one of the most prestigious high school cross country races since the 1970s. With the different regions for FL and NXN (changed to nike cross nationals in 2008 to recognize individual achievement) and both races/qualifying races near the same dates as the other, runners are faced with a tough decision to make.

The Competition

In the past, Nike has selected 20 teams from around the nation to compete in the NTN meet, which typically was held the first weekend in December (Nike Team Nationals is preceded by Nike Pre-Nationals in late September). These selections were based on regional and national rankings updated weekly during the fall cross country season. Teams were selected on "Selection Sundays", typically following the finish of state meets. There were eight regions across the country: Northeast, Southeast, South, Midwest, Heartland, Southwest, Northwest, and California. In addition, four at-large teams were selected, which could be from any region. Starting with the fourth NTN meet, however, the entry procedures changed; New York became its own region due to the girls' teams over the years dominating the meet (see below), raising the number of selected teams to 22. Also, regional meets held in each of the regions (except for California; will use end-of-season performances) now guarantee the top two finishing teams invites, most likely due to complaints about how a team should have gone, but didn't. New York was originally going to use the top 2 teams in the Federation Meet, but it was changed to also have a regional meet. This upset some fans, and cause some teams to skip the Federations meet to prepare for the NTN regional. There will still be four at-large teams chosen by the NTN committee, in addition to the top two teams from each region.

The event is held in the second weekend of December in Portland, Oregon, at the Portland Meadows thoroughbred racing track. The race features a man-made 5 kilometer course that is completed with three loops, following European cross country tradition. The venue has an enclosed 3,000 seat grandstand, allowing spectators to see the whole race, unlike normal cross country meets. The infield of the track, where the course is set up, is also open to spectators who wish to get a more close-up view of the race.

In 2014, the course location was changed from the Portland Meadows track to the Glendoveer Golf Course. The course goes across eight greens at Glendoveer and has a much faster feel that the Portland Meadows horse track. The course is far less muddy and has a different route than the original course and has been well received.

NXN has a reputation for being extremely muddy. The course is located not only in the rainy Pacific Northwest but also in a low area and a drainage basin. It is a common sight to see runners soaked in mud at the end of NXN races.

Since NXN is held on the same weekend as the Foot Locker Cross Country West Regional Championship, in 2005 and 2006, the top two runners at NXN who would have otherwise competed in the west region earned automatic bids to the Foot Locker National Cross Country Championship.

Boys Individual Champions

Again, Nike Cross Nationals was Nike Team Nationals (NTN) in 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2007. Since 2008 it has been named Nike Cross Nationals (NXN).

On the far left, click the year for complete results provided by Nike. On the far right, click for complete coverage provided by DyeStat or MileSplit of that year's NTN/NXN Championship. Note: DyeStat shut down after the 2012 spring/summer track season and did not cover 2012 cross country)

Girls Individual Champions

Again, results are linked by year—coverage at the far right.

2004

The first-ever Nike Team Nationals were held on December 4, 2004 at Portland Meadows. The inaugural NTN Championships were hailed as the definitive championship of team cross country, as no prep cross country meet prior to this date had brought together the best teams in the nation, and therefore teams such as the York High School (Illinois) boys and Saratoga High School (New York) girls had dominated the polls for the vast majority of the preceding fifteen years. York and Saratoga were tagged as the favorites.

The meet lived up to its hype. The favorites delivered as expected. Sean McNamara of York won the inaugural boys individual title in 15:44, and Ramsay Kavan of South Dakota took the inaugural girls individual title with an 18:05 clocking.

York High School (Elmhurst, Illinois), having won twenty-four IHSA state championships and laid claim to numerous national titles in the preceding decades, cemented their place as one of the greatest high school programs in history with their national title, beating runner-up Fayetteville-Manlius (New York) 92-127. York's 92 points is tied for the second lowest boys score in Nike Cross Nationals history.

On the girls side, Saratoga High School (New York) completely demolished the field. Saratoga had four individuals qualify for the FootLocker Nationals out of one regional, an unprecedented feat in cross-country history. Saratoga easily outdistanced runner-up Smoky Hills High School (Aurora, Colorado) 51-125. The 2004 Saratoga team has been billed as the "Greatest Team Ever", and their 51 points would stand until the 2010 Championships.

2005

The second edition of the Nike Team Nationals championships, held on December 3, 2005, again at Portland Meadows, was an extremely muddy affair: The all-time slowest girls individual championship time was set, and the third-slowest boys individual championship time was set this year.

In the boys race, following on the heels of the "Greatest Team Ever" Saratoga girls the previous year, the Saratoga boys claimed a national championship of their own, taking the victory by 23 points over defending champion York, 111-134. Kenny Klots (Oregon) ran to a muddy 16:25 win.

On the girls side, New York continued its national dominance: Hilton High School claimed the national crown from Saratoga, who finished 2nd, 27 points behind: 85-112. South Dakota continued its hold on the girls individual championship, with Betsy Bies winning in a mud-filled 19:23 victory.

In spite of the extreme mud, there was almost universal opinion among the runners and fans alike that "This was REAL cross country!"

2006

The third annual Nike Team Nationals championship, held again at Portland Meadows on December 2, 2006, saw the first team not from New York or Illinois to win either a boys' or girls' championship.

Coatesville High School (Pennsylvania) won the boys team title a 22 point spread, 126-148 over Royal High School (California). Individually, Steve Murdock (New York) won the individual title in the slowest boys' time up to this point with a 16:27 finish. This record would be broken by Sam Wharton of Ohio in the 2012 championships. 2004 National Champion and 2005 National runner-up York finished 10th after being one of the favorites to win a second national championship.

On the girls side, Ashley Higginson from New Jersey won in 19:18, five seconds faster than the previous year's champion. In the team race, however, New York continued its stranglehold on the girls Nike Team National title. After Saratoga and Hilton won the previous two years, Fayetteville-Manlius became the third different girls team from New York to win the national title.

Fayetteville-Manlius had been out of the running until they won the New York state championships, and then followed that up with the New York Federations championships. They capped their season with a fifty point national title victory over the defending champions, Hilton, 128-178.

2007

Illinois and New York continued their Nike Team Nationals dominance in the fourth edition of the event at Portland Meadows on December 1, 2007.

For 2007, Nike began running Regional championships in nine regions: Heartland, Midwest, Northwest, Northeast, New York, South, Southwest, Southeast. California had its own 'regionals' by selection.

In the boys race, favored Neuqua Valley High School (Naperville, Illinois) won in what is still the closest margin in team scoring in NXN history over Los Alamos High School (Los Alamos, New Mexico), 125-127. Neuqua Valley's championship scoring started with the national champion, Chris Derrick, who had won the Illinois state meet and the NTN Midwest Regional Championship, and added a then-record-setting NTN time to his resume with a 15:39 victory.

On the opposite side in the girls race, the word "close" was nowhere to be found in the team scoring, as defending national champion Fayetteville-Manlius (New York) romped to an 88 point win over runner-up Saugus High School (California), 83-171, which was the in Nike Team/Cross Nationals history until the 2012 championships. With the victory, Fayetteville-Manlius became the first school to win consecutive national titles as well as the first school to win multiple national titles for one gender. Individually, Madeline Morgan of Alabama won the girls championship in 18:54.

2008

Speed was the word in the fifth running of the Nike Team Nationals on December 6, 2008. However, the event wasn't Nike Team Nationals anymore: Nike had changed the middle word to Nike Cross Nationals instead. Therefore, Nike Team Nationals, or NTN, instead became Nike Cross Nationals, or NXN.

Illinois and New York continued adding to their impressive performances at NXN in the 2008 edition in both the boys and girls races.

In the boys team race, North Central High School (Spokane, Washington) won the national title 134-151 over York (Illinois). With their runner-up finish, York became the only boys team in NXN history to either win the championship or finish runner-up more than two times. Additionally, York became the only team, either boys or girls, to qualify for NXN in each of the first five years of its existence. Adding to the impressive Illinois resume on the boys side, that year's Class 3A state champion Naperville North (Naperville, Illinois) finished third. Naperville North had beaten York at state by one point.

In the girls team race, New York continued its monopoly on the girls team title, with Fayetteville-Manlius continuing to build their dynasty, becoming the first team to win three consecutive national titles, beating runner-up Saugus (California) for the second year in a row, this time by a 69 point spread.

In the individual championships, Texas swept the titles with Reed Connor winning on the boys side in 15:14, and Chelsey Sveinsson taking the girls victory in 17:27—both times were NXN records up this point.

2009

The sixth running of the Nike Cross Nationals at Portland Meadows took place on December 5, 2009.

In the boys race, the third different national champion in three season came from a third different state. Boerne Samuel V. Champion High School (Texas) won the national title with 195 points, the highest score for a national champion in history, either boys or girls. Ferris High School (Spokane, Washington) finished six points behind Boerne. Craig Lutz completed the Texas sweep with an NXN record 15:09 clocking.

On the girls side, consistency was the name of the game. For the third time in NXN history, New York teams went 1-2 as Saratoga High School reclaimed runner-up status to Fayetteville-Manlius from fourth-place Saugus (California). The Fayetteville-Manlius dynasty continued with a 74 point team score to top Saratoga's 146 for their fourth consecutive national title as Katie Flood (Iowa) took the girls individual crown in a time of 17:47.

2010

The seventh annual Nike Cross Nationals took place, as usual, at Portland Meadows on December 4, 2010.

In the boys individual race, Illinois state champion, NXN-Midwest Regional Champion, and FootLocker Midwest Regional Champion Lukas Verzbicas came to Portland Meadows looking for an Nike Cross Nationals Championship as the first part of a NXN/Footlocker sweep. Verzbicas delivered with a 15:59 victory in the mud.

In the team championship, California finally claimed a team national championship for the first time ever, with the Arcadia boys winning with 92 points to surprise runner-up Fayetteville-Manlius (New York)'s 135 points. Arcadia tied the inaugural 2004 national champions, York, for the lowest scoring team in NXN history.

Individually for the girls, the state of Texas won their fourth individual championship in three years, with Rachel Johnson taking the girls championship in a muddy 18:19 victory.

After Johnson, however, it was entirely the Fayetteville-Manlius dynasty. After Boerne (Texas) set the NXN record for the highest scoring champion, either boys or girls (with 195 points) the previous year, Fayetteville-Manlius set the NXN record for the lowest score, either boys or girls en route to their fifth consecutive national championship with a minuscule 27 points. Manlius girls scored 1-2-4 with only a Tatnall (Delaware) girl preventing a 1-2-3 Fayetteville-Manlius sweep.

Saratoga High School finished runner-up with 104 points for the fourth New York 1-2 finish in NXN history. Fayetteville-Manlius had scored a perfect 15 at the New York state championships, then scored 28 at NXN-New York Regional. They scored one point less at the national finals than they did at regionals.

Courtney Chapman, the only senior in the Fayetteville-Manlius lineup, is the only runner ever to win five team national titles. Chapman was a part of Fayetteville-Manlius' first national title in 2006 as an 8th grader. 8th graders are allowed to participate if state association rules permit them to do so.

As if that's not enough, Fayetteville-Manlius's 27 points were enough to beat the entire rest of the nation combined. If you were to remove all the individual runners and score the entire rest of the field as one, Fayetteville-Manlius defeats the nation 27-30.

Fayetteville: 1 + 2 + 4 + 8 + 12 = 27 points
Rest of Nation: 3 + 5 + 6 + 7 + 9 = 30 points

2011

The eighth running of the Nike Cross Nationals was held on December 3, 2011. The meet was once again held at Portland Meadows.

In a contrast to 2010, the course was much less sloppy and consequently, times were much faster.

For the second year in a row, the individual Midwest regional champion won the national title. With Verzbicas having graduated, Futsum Zeinasellaissie of Indiana set the NXN course record in 15:03, bettering Craig Lutz's time by six seconds and running almost a full minute faster than Verzbicas did the previous year to win NXN. An astounding nineteen of the first twenty-one runners were individual qualifiers from regions around the nation.

In the team race, it came down to Christian Brothers Academy (New Jersey) and Southlake Carroll (Texas) for the championship. With a four point margin of victory, Christian Brothers Academy became the first New Jersey team to claim a national championship with 91 points. Carroll finished with 95 points, earning the third podium finish for Texas in NXN history. Davis (Utah) claimed the first Utah podium spot by taking third place with 157 points.

The girls race also proved to be quick compared to the previous year, with Sarah Baxter (California) claiming the girls championship in 17:38, a full forty seconds faster than 2010, which saw no runners break 18 minutes. After Baxter, it was all New York.

New York continued their stranglehold atop the podium for girls teams. For the first seven years of NXN, a New York girls team had claimed the championship. Furthermore, in four of those years (2005, 2006, 2009, and 2010), a New York team also claimed runner-up status to the champion. The same storyline occurred yet again in 2011.

However, unlike 2010, there would not be complete and total domination by Fayetteville-Manlius en route to the championship, as Saratoga would give Fayetteville-Manlius their toughest fight yet for the win. After scoring a mere 27 points in 2010 and defeating the rest of the nation if scored as one, and winning by 77 points over Saratoga, Fayetteville-Manlius scored 60 points (still the second-lowest of their championship scores) and won by "just" 24 points for their sixth consecutive national championship. For the third year in a row, with 84 points, Saratoga was relegated to bridesmaid status to Fayetteville-Manlius, which also marked the fifth time in eight years that New York had gone 1-2 in the team standings in the national championship.

Nearly one hundred points behind the two New York superpowers was a tie between Tatnall (Delaware) and New Trier (Illinois). Tatnall won the third place trophy on the sixth-runner tiebreaker, giving the school their second podium finish in their history.

2012

The ninth annual edition of the Nike Cross Nationals was held on December 1, 2012, once again at Portland Meadows, Oregon.

In 2012, the universal word out of Portland Meadows on the conditions was "MUDDY!" Indeed, the girls race would turn out to be one of the slowest races in NXN history, as defending champion Sarah Baxter of Simi Valley would repeat her title in 19:17, a time that was more than a minute and a half slower than her 2011 time of 17:38. Mary Cain of New York would finish second, and Katie Knight from Washington would earn third place for the second year in a row in the sloppy course conditions.

Although the conditions were vastly different from the previous year, and two of the three individual podium finishers would repeat their finishes from the previous year, one thing would stay the same in the team race: Fayetteville-Manlius.

The Southlake Carroll (Texas) girls would earn their third podium finish in team history by finishing second, just one year after their boys team finished just four points out of a national championship. The girls of Carmel, Indiana would earn the Midwest girls' first podium finish in NXN history after Wilmette XC Club (New Trier High School, Illinois) had tied for third with Wilmington XC Club (Tatnall School, Delaware) but finished fourth on the sixth-runner tiebreaker.

Those two teams, however, like the rest of the field, finished far in the rear-view mirror of the Fayetteville-Manlius dynasty. For the seventh year in a row, Fayetteville-Manlius would win the national championship. After winning by "just" 24 points over in-state rival Saratoga Springs, the Fayetteville-Manlius girls would leave no doubt in 2012: They scored 54 points and won by an astounding 144 points over Carroll, their largest margin of victory to date.

Also out of New York, East Aurora (who earned an at-large bid to NXN) would finish three points behind Carmel for fourth place, while Saratoga would finish six points behind East Aurora for fifth place, giving New York three teams in the top five.

Whereas in the girls race it was almost as if it were business as usual, in the boys race, the mud was even worse and led to surprising results: Sam Wharton of Ohio won in 17:08, which was more than two minutes slower than the winning time in the previous year and is the slowest winning time ever in boys' NXN history. Wharton's victory was the third consecutive year a Midwest runner has won the championship and the fifth time in nine years that a Midwest runner has won the individual boys national championship.

In the team competition, Christian Brothers Academy (New Jersey) was aiming to become the first boys team to repeat as national champions and at the same time, become the first boys team to win two national titles. Unfortunately for them, that was not to be: In fact, they would finish fourth, 21 points out of a podium spot.

After eight different winners in the previous eight years of NXN, Arcadia XC Club of California became the first school in boys NXN history to win a second national title, earning their second national title in three years with 108 after their previous championship in 2010. American Fork XC Club would earn a podium finish in second place, scoring 122. American Fork's podium finish is the second podium finish for Utah in as many years, and improved upon Davis' third place finish from the previous year. The 2008 national champions, North Spokane XC Club from Washington, would finish third with 146 points.

2012 NXN Finals Qualifiers: 2012 NXN Finals Qualifiers

2013

The tenth annual edition of Nike Cross Nationals took place on December 7, 2013, once again at Portland Meadows.

Complete list of team and individual qualifiers for the 2013 NXN Finals: 2013 NXN Final Qualifiers

In a complete reversal from 2012, Portland Meadows' course this year featured not mud, but snow. On a cold, windy day, teams and individuals from around the country converged on Portland Meadows.

Girls

In the girls race, three individuals quickly broke away from the pack: two-time defending individual champion Sarah Baxter of Simi Valley (California), Alexa Eframison, who qualified out of the Northwest Regional, and Elise Cranny, another individual qualifier out of the Southwest Regional. The trio would all go under 17 minutes, more than thirty seconds ahead of the chase pack. Eframison won the individual race with a great kick at the end, taking the championship in 16:50. Cranny followed Eframison in 16:53 and defending champion Baxter finished third in 16:57. The win by Eframison—who hails from Washington state—turned out to be a sign of things to come in the boys race.

In the team battle, Fayetteville-Manlius was on pace for an eighth consecutive championship, but Wayzata out of Minnesota (Heartland Champion) had other plans in the last kilometer. In the end, the Fayetteville-Manlius streak was over at seven (and the New York team championship streak ended at nine) straight by a margin of just twelve points: Wayzata took home the championship with 108 points, and Fayetteville-Manlius finished second with 120. Davis (Utah) rounded out the podium finishers with 157 points.

Boys

In the boys race, however, the individual and team races both featured storylines from Washington. The individual champion—putting an end to a streak of three consecutive champions out of the Midwest at NXN—was Taylor Wilmot of North Spokane XC Club, who won in a very quick 15:00. In fact, North Spokane XC Club took two of the top three podium spots, as Wilmot's teammate, Tanner Anderson ended up taking third place. The North Spokane duo was broken up by Blake Haney, an individual qualifier from California.

In the team race, Washington claimed top honors as Gig XC Club (Gig Harbor High School) out of Washington thwarted Christian Brothers' Academy of New Jersey's bid to become the second boys team to win two national titles. The Gig Harbor boys took home the title with 111 points, followed by Lincroft XC Club (CBA) with 139. In a bit of a surprise, Brentwood XC Club (Brentwood, Tennessee) became the first boys team from the Southeast to earn a podium spot by finishing third with 174 points.

2014

Putting on a clinic on team compression at Portland, Oregon’s Glendoveer Golf Course, the Hornets captured win No. 8 at NXN on Saturday morning. The New York powerhouse scored just 70 points, easily defeating second-place Great Oak, Calif., which finished with 149 points. Carmel, Ind., was third with 173 points.

In what was classified as “a total team race,” Fayetteville Manlius claimed the team title at the Glendoveer Golf Course in Portland, Oregon. Led by a step-up performance from junior Pete Ryan, the Hornets defeated second-place Wayzata, Minn., 111-159. Behind an individual triumph from Tanner Anderson, North Central, Wash., was third with 178 points.

2015

The Fayetteville-Manlius (FM) girls of New York won their ninth total and second consecutive Nike Cross Nationals title with 55 points ahead of California's Davis (second, 144 points) and Great Oak (third, 171 points). FM controlled the race from the gun via front-runner Kaitlyn Neal, who took the field out in 5:14 for the mile. By the two mile, Great Oak and Davis were up to second and third place in team scoring with Great Oak ahead, 148 to 174. While Great Oak started to fade, Davis held position through the final mile to turn the tables and pull ahead - 144 to 171 by the end.

Great Oak captured a national title in only their first NXN appearance. The Temecula team scored 114 points to secure the win. Clinger's individual win led his American Fork squad to a runner-up team finish with 163 points. The Cavemen nearly did not even qualify for the national championship after finishing fourth in the Southwest region and were forced to await an at-large selection. Dana Hills of California was third with 181 points.

2016

The Fayetteville-Manlius girls won their 10th national title in the past 11 years, and their third in a row. Bill Aris' No. 1 ranked Hornets dominated the field as expected while scoring just 41 points. The No. 2 and No. 3 spots went to California squads Davis and Great Oak, respectively, in a repeat performance from last year. No. 3 ranked Davis, the CIF D1 runners-up to No. 2 Great Oak, were 12th in team scoring at the first mile. By the second mile, they were in fifth. Meanwhile, FM and Great Oak occupied the top two spots through two miles.

No. 4 ranked Bozeman shocked top-ranked and pre-meet favorite American Fork with the school's first team title on Saturday, 105 points to 141 points. Barely 20 points back in third was Brentwood High of Tennessee. Bozeman used their 28-second top five compression to secure the title. Orrin Clark was particularly clutch as the senior placed 58th overall to score just 24 points. Clark had a severe glute issue earlier this fall that caused him to miss the Montana State Championship.

Trivia