Notable Absent Athletes
The Absentees
Before we get into the nitty gritty breakdowns of everyone who will be racing at The Woodlands this weekend, there a few athletes who wont be on the starting line that are worth mentioning. I can say with almost 100% certainty that the absence of the group of athletes below immediately opens up two individual qualifying spots in each championship race that would've been nearly guaranteed to the athletes who will be mentioned.
-Carter Blunt: He has established himself as one of the best high school distance runners Texas has ever seen. Blunt ran the NXN/Foot Locker double last year as a strategy to determine his focus for his senior season. He made the decision to structure his 2015 XC campaign around Foot Locker. He is the overwhelming favorite every time his name is on the entry list, so this opens up the race in a big way for the individual qualifying spots.
-David Strome: While he hasn't had the finish to his season that he was likely hoping for at Region and State, Strome has still solidified himself as one of the best XC runners in the State of the past two years, behind only Blunt and Alex Rogers. His absence is worth noting because he runs extremely well on the Nike South course. He finished third in 2014 by just over a second to Alex Rogers, who would go on to join Carter Blunt at Foot Locker. Strome also crushed this course at the Nike South Invitational earlier in the season, beating 6A State Champion Dan Golden by a decent margin.
-Ean Beyer&Matt Young: Pay attention Texans. Yes Texas is the dominant force of the Region, but it is not the only state capable of producing elite XC talent. Matt Young is a junior from Oklahoma who is making a name for himself in that state, as well as some successful excursions into TX races. Most notably, he finished 4th at the Southlake Invite just 2s behind Sam Worley and 1s behind Connor O'neill, who are two of the better XC runners in Texas. Young&Beyer battled at the Oklahoma State Champs in an epic duel that saw Beyer cross the line first by just .2s! Most recently, they raced at the AR vs OK All Star meet where both finished Top-5, and Matt Young was second again...this time by just .02s! These two both would have been in the conversation for the individual qualifying spots at NXN.
-Jenks HS: The Jenks squad has proven to be the best boys Oklahoma cross country team this season. They won State by 30+ points led by the earlier mentioned Matt Young. Jenks also raced at the Southlake Invite as a team where they won by 30 points over Hebron. Keep in mind that the Carroll team didn't race it's A team. I don't think Jenks would've been able to take down The Woodlands or Southlake for the two auto spots, but they are a strong team that would've had a bg impact on the race.
-Paige Hofstad: By now, everyone should know that Hofstad is not racing. This should come as no surprise as she revealed she was unfortunately dealing with another injury about halfway through the season. As the top OVERALL returner from both NXN and Foot Locker, her absence not only impacts NXN South, but opens up the races later on at the National Championships.
-Julia Heymach: With Hofstad out with an injury, Julia Heymach is the best female distance runner in Texas and the South Region...period. While there are plenty of talented individuals in the state, when healthy, Hofstad and Heymach are on their own level. Like Carter Blunt and David Strome, Heymach has decided to focus solely on Foot Locker in the post season.