The Flower Mound, Texas native was the top American finisher in Punta Umbria, Spain.

Aisling Cuffe (NY) and Craig Lutz (TX) were USA's highest junior finishers in 17th and 29th respectively.  (Photo courtesy of © Mike Scott http://miscottrunningphoto.shutterfly.com/2010)

 The first in a 4 part series by Aron Taylor.  Part 1 spotlights Andrew Bumbalough, Molly Huddle, Blake Russell, Hannah Valenzuela (Apple Valley, CA), Ammar Moussa (Arcadia CA) and Craig Lutz (Flower Mound, TX).

The 2011-12 class includes Ryan Crouser, Sheroid Evans, Aaron Scott, Craig Lutz, Kyle Thompson, Will Antkowiak and Mark Pinales.

A gallery of my favorite photos from NXN 2010.

PORTLAND, Ore. – When Ammar Moussa finally made it back to his team’s tent someone had already pulled out their cell phone to announce exactly how much his Arcadia team had won by.

    The 7th annual Nike Cross Nationals will be held on Saturday, December 4th, at Portland Meadows on the north side of the city of Portland, Oregon. The meet has served as the unofficial yet virtually legitimate national high school cross country team championships since NXN's inception in 2004. A total of 22 of the nation's best cross country teams representing nine regions across the country will be racing alongside each other on the three loop course inside the horsetrack within the infield area of Portland Meadows.  The 5K course layout has traditionally been muddy and slick footing as a result of the area's regular rainfall. The Nike experience is an unforgettable few days for the athletes and coaches starting with the all-expense paid trip to Oregon as well as plenty of free gear and other perks showered upon them as they arrive on the Nike Campus.

Photo by Ron Crocker   While the girls' race focus stays on the original purpose of the Nike Cross Nationals in crowning the national team championship and if the Fayetteville-Manlius girls can extend their streak to five titles, it is the individual stars which takes the spotlight for the boys' race at the 2010 Nike Cross Nationals. Defending Foot Locker Nationals champion Lukas Verzbicas of Sandburg High School in Illinois will be attempting to put stamp himself as one of the all-time greats in the history of United States high school cross country by trying to win both national titles at the Nike Cross Nationals and Foot Locker Nationals in consecutive weekends. His biggest test arguably will not be in doubling back on likely tired legs in San Diego next Saturday at Foot Locker Nationals, but his first stop in the double at Portland Meadows in his first ever Nike Cross Nationals race.

UT grabbed verbals from 3 of the top runners in Texas in Craig Lutz, Will Antkowiak, and Kyle Thompson. 

New harriers make rank, while the top of the guys rankings is as tight as ever!  Here comes the post-season!

A few changes and a few editions, but look for the action to heat up in the coming weeks!

Few changes as most are idle, but there are a handful of new editions to the national roster.

 

Here is the All-Txrunning Distance team. We still have the throws, hurdles, and class teams coming this week.

5A Boys     Photos of UIL State Track Championships   Parker Stinson, Craig Lutz, and Ryan Dohner all left it to the last 4 laps in the 3200m to see who would win the 3200m title. All 3 went through a comfortable 4:41 for the first 4 laps and blazed the last 4 laps. Dohner the eventual winner clocked 4:19 as he passed Craig Lutz late in the race for the title.   Event 502 Boys 3200 Meter Run 5A =================================================== National: ! 8:34.23 2008 German Fernandez, Riverbank, CA State: + 8:52.34 1987 Eric Henry, Conroe McCullough Conf 5A: * 8:52.34 1987 Eric Henry, Conroe McCullough Name Year School Finals Points =================================================== Finals 1 Ryan Dohner Klein Oak 9:00.15 10 2 Craig Lutz Lewisville Marcus 9:01.20 8 3 Parker Stinson Cedar Park 9:04.20 6 4 Jacob Benn Northside Stevens 9:09.29 4 5 Neal Smith Southlake Carroll 9:09.32 2 6 John Cavallo Houston Clear Lake 9:17.96 1 7 Luis Serrano Edinburg North 9:42.83 8 Chris Guiterrez GP N. Shore 9:54.46 5A Boys 3200m Video by Flotrack       REST OF DAY TWO RACE RECAPS

Emily Sisson, MO, ran US#7 A-T for 5K & Sam Crouser, OR, launched the Jav 238-1.  (File Photos by Nicoll Knudson & 12of14)

This year’s Foot Locker Nationals will still crown the best cross country runner in the country and continue its rich 30 year tradition on Saturday as two champions will face off in Craig Lutz from Texas and Lukas Verzbicas from Illinois. Lutz is fresh off his win last weekend at Nike Cross Nationals in Oregon, while Verzbicas earlier this fall won the World Dualthon junior title. Along with battling it out with each other for the win, both Lutz and Verzbicas will be racing against history as the South region has not had a Foot Locker champion since 1985 (Lutz), while an underclassmen has never won the boys race at Foot Locker Nationals (Verzbicas).

 Sherod Hardt (Sr., Queen Creek) finished 6th at the Nike XC Team Nationals in Oregon last weekend.  (Photo by Matt Shatkus, NJ Milesplit)

The first of the two national high school cross country championship races were held this past weekend in Portland, Oregon with the Nike Cross Nationals. The boys' race certainly featured many of the nation's best battling it out to the wire, while the girls' race was missing the unofficial "Big 3" in Megan Goethals (MI), Chelsey Sveinsson (TX), and Aisling Cuffe (NY) but stellar depth was found in both races as Foot Locker finalists, All-Americans, and state champions were found deep into the field.  

PORTLAND, Ore. – Nathan Christianson said his team thought about this race every day – every single day – for 365 days. His Boerne XC (Tx.) team thought about the eight points that made the difference between qualifying last year and watching the Nike Cross Nationals webcast at home on a computer.

Craig Lutz is one of few brave top ranked runners in the nation willing to attempt the Nike Cross Nationals/Foot Locker Nationals double this season. The Marcus High School junior from Dallas, Texas posted the nation's fastest time for 5K this cross country last week in his near course record breaking 14:34 win at Foot Locker South. Lutz will travel to the West Coast in two consecutive weekends as he'll hook horns with Joe Rosa of New Jersey and Zach Wills of Ohio this weekend at NXN and will follow up next week against Lukas Verzbicas of Illinois at Foot Locker Nationals in San Diego. Brandon Miles of MileSplit US interviewed Lutz as he makes the trip to Portland, Oregon for round one of two against the nation's best.

  Photo courtesy John Olson, SCRUNNERS                                                    

  Photo by PFFlyer                  

We recognize the top performances at the State Meet with the Txrunning All-5A Teams. We recognize the the top 28 runners with 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and Honorable Mention teams. A medal will be added to each athletes Txrunning profile.

  Photo courtesy: John Olson, South Carolina Runner's  

The second edition of the Milesplit Sweet 16 Individual National Rankings features new faces and familiar names  

This is our next to last installment of the preseason series.Today we look at the boys first  team. The lists consist of what we think are the best runners in the state coming into the 2009 season. The lists are seperated by first team, second team, third team and honorable mention. last installment will be on Wednesday.

Craig Lutz did not come into the Texas Relays as the consensus favorite but the defending champion ran away from a very strong field to win in 9:03. Chelsey came in as one of the favorites and not only won both the 1600/3200 but did it with #1 National times.

Criag Lutz ruan a great solo effort at Flower Mound and Chelsey crushed a strong field at Jesuit-Sheaner to earn athletes of the week honors.

Congratulations to the 5A All-State Teams     1 Andrews, Sarah            Conroe The Woodlands 10:44.5         2 Nielson, Alyssa           Colleyville Heritage 10:55.5          3 Tindell, Regan            Belton               11:02.8         4 Russell, Amanda           Cedar Park Vista Rid 11:03.5          5 Isham, Ashley             Cedar Park Vista Rid 11:09.3         6 Daigre, Catie             Humble Kingwood      11:11.7          7 Smith, Lauren             Clute Brazoswood     11:14.0         1 Connor, Reed              Conroe The Woodlands 14:47.2         2 Ornelas, Zach             Cedar Park Vista Rid 14:59.8          3 Lutz, Craig               Lewisville Marcus    15:10.7         4 Welin, James              Katy Seven Lakes     15:11.2         5 Brown, C.j.               Southlake Carroll    15:13.1          6 Butler, Drew              Conroe The Woodlands 15:17.9          7 Jessett, Christopher      Katy Seven Lakes     15:20.5     The Medal above will be placed in the athlete profiles. All-State First Team is achieved by placing 1-7 at the 2008 State Cross Country Meet.

Coming off back-to-back record-setting perfermances, Kodiak, Alaska senior Trevor Dunbar jumps to the top spot in the West. With a showdown at Mt. SAC looming, the question is: can he stay there?

All of the results are in and tabulated. Here are this weeks runners of the week.

The talent came out today at Nike South. The boys elite race did not dissappoint with a competition for the team title and a dominant victory in the individual title. The individual race was highlighted by state contenders Zachary Ornelas, Craig Lutz, Reed Connor and Paul Snyder in 5A. Along with the best in the 5A division 4A and 2A featured state contenders 4A Alex De La Garza and 2A Contender Nathan Collier. The weather was perfect for a fast race and that is just what happened as the first mile was quick with Lutz coming through with a slight lead in 4:29. The rest of the pack were as follows: Zachary Ornelas 4:30 Reed Connor 4:30 Jimmy Welin 4:30 Neil Smith 4:30 CJ Brown 4:31 Paul Snyder 4:31 Chase Rathke 4:31 CJ Jessett 4:31 Drew Butler 4:31 Ryan Dohner 4:32 Connor Adams 4:32 Parker Stinson 4:35 Alex De La Garza 4:47 At 2 miles Lutz continued to open up his lead on the pack. Lutz was through approx at 9:30 followed by Zachary Ornelas 9:33 Reed Connor 9:33 Paul Snyder 9:34 Parker Stinson 9:38 CJ Brown 9:39 Jimmy Welin 9:39 Ryan Dohner 9:41 Alex De La Garza 9:41 Chase Rathke 9:42 Connor Adams 9:43 Drew Butler 9:44 Neil Smith 9:45 Lutz then made the same surge I saw him make at Marcus I Invitatoinal to gap the field after the 2 mile mark and nobody could respond. Lutz won the race in 15:13. Nike South Invitational Meet Results Video- Coming Photo Album: Nike South Invitational Boys Elite Photo Album: Nike South Invitational Girls Elite Photo Album: Nike South Invitational Varsity Boys Photo Album: Nike South Invitational Girls Varsity 5k Nike South Preview The team title was just as exciting as The Woodlands edged out Cedar Park 88-90. The Woodlands were up on the team scores at 2 miles 76-91 on Cedar Park. The Woodlands barely held on the last mile fading slightly to win 88-90 over a game Cedar Park squad. Marcus and Southlake Carroll continued its team battle today with Marcus coming out on top again by only 4 pts 159-163. These teams will meet again at District and at the Region I meet in Lubbock. The most surprising team finish of the day was probably highly ranked Klein Oak finishing 7th overall.

We recognize the top runners fo the week from 5A-4A-3A-2A-TAPPS. Boys and Girls will be recognized every week in each of the categories listed.

The best race in North Texas concluded Saturday with some answers to the questions on who was going to be state contenders.

The second full weekend of the season has many of the top teams and individuals in each state opening up their seasons. From Texas, to South Carolina, to Colorado, to New Mexico, MileSplit will have on-site coverage of nearly a dozen meets this weekend. Check out our weekend preview for the top meets taking place this weekend. (photo courtesy of SCRunners.com)

Last fall the Foot Locker South girls squad ran strong from start to finish in San Diego, scoring a 1-2 finish up top and tying the Northeast girls for the team trophy. This year eight of the ten female Foot Locker qualifiers return, led by defending national champion Ashley Brasovan (FL) and 2006 national champion Kathy Kroeger (TN) (pictured above by John Herzog). The boys side will follow the lead of '07 Foot Locker qualifiers CJ Brown (TX) and Thomas Porter (VA). These could very well be the strongest boys and girls contingents for the South squad in some time.

The questions for Region I-5A are numerous. Who will take control of the Region I-5A race now the Colby Lowe is gone? Will Region II transplant Plano and Plano West have an effect on the Region I meet? Who makes it out of District 6-5A?

It is that time of the year to start talking about the upcoming prep cross country season. What better way to get it starting by releasing our pre-season all-txrunning lists. In the coming days we will release boys and girls lists. The lists consist of what we think are the best runners in the state coming into the 2008 season. The list are seperated by first team, second team, third team and honorable mention. ALL-TXRUNNING BOYS FIRST TEAM