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.

 

Megan Goethals, Rochester MI, recently bullied her way into history, running an amazing solo-3200 in 10:00.15 for US#7 All-Time.  She continued through Two Miles for a US#2 All-Time run of 10:03.2h.  While impressive, her ultimate goal was sub-10, therefore she gets one more chance, the New Balance Nationals.  Read on to learn something you probably didn't know about the nations most humble distance ace...

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

Chelsey Sveinsson ripped a 10:07.15 going solo,while Craig Lutz was pushed to a 8:58.71.  Photos by Alex Aldaco.

Some of New York and the nation’s best will compete as United States as members of Team Jamaica Bickle at the Gibson Relays in Jamaica next Saturday.

Photo by Don Rich

Megan Goethals will enter next weekend's Foot Locker National Cross Country Championships as one of a few strong race favorites coming off her decisive win at the Midwest Regional in Kenosha, Wisconsin. The senior from Rochester High School in Michigan is the top returnee from last year's race with her third place run at Balboa Park in 2008 and is the #1 ranked in the country by MileSplit US with one of the fastest 5K performances in the season with her 16:54 course record breaking performance at Michigan State Meet earlier this month. One of her top competitors will be Foot Locker South regional champion Chelsey Sveinsson of Texas, who Goethals beat out for third place in last year's Foot Locker finals and then took two second place finishes in the mile and two mile at Nike Outdoor Nationals last June. Brandon Miles of MileSplit US interview Goethals as she prepares for the national race.

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.  

  Photo courtesy John Olson, SCRUNNERS                                                    

This has been a great year for Florida cross country!  Kathryn Fluehr is currently ranked second in the nation and a few other girls may have a shot.  It seems to be one of the deepest years we've seen on the boys side and many expect a number to make it through.  But what is the reality?  And who from other states stand in the way?

  Photo by PFFlyer                  

  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  

Photo by Margot Kelly

I usually don't pick the boys and girls athletes if they are in the same meet but these 2 performances were truly great. Jeff Arnier had a huge day and lost by 3 seconds to one of the top runners in the State. Chelsey opened her season with a 10:45 that is very inpressive.  She should have a monster year.

This is our last installment of the preseason series.Today we look at the girls 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.

The all-decade team runs from 2000-2009. This particular list is for (800-1600-3200). We are picking only the top 15 in each gender.

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.

Texas 2-Step:  Texas stars Reed Connor and Chelsey Sveinsson add course record wins to NXN haul.

Fayetteville-Manlius girls win 3rd straight national title with 66 points. Chelsey Sveinsson (Texas) wins individual title. Reed Connor (The Woodlands, TX) wins individual title. North Spokane, WA boys win national title.

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

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.

We continue today with the all-txrunning girls first team. 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 GIRLS FIRST TEAM

It's never happened before and it may never happen again, but the 2008 cross country season is shaping up to become one of the most memorable ever. In a rare twist of fate, this year's national meet could host three Foot Locker national champions, as '07 champ Ashley Brasovan, '06 champ Kathy Kroeger and '05 champ Jordan Hasay all come back for their senior seasons, hoping to repeat the magic they've had before in San Diego. All three top our preseason girls top ten, but see who else made the list. (Pictured left by John Herzog: Ashley Brasovan is defending national champion)

The 114th Annual Penn Relays this past weekend was a site to behold. With numerous meet records broken, the second largest attendance ever and near perfect weather, every event seemed to produce a few moments perfect for a 2008 track and field highlight reel. As the chaos of this weekend winds down and the preparation for the coming weekend starts to rev up, we take a look back at the best of the best from this year's Penn Relays (Pictured left: Eleanor Roosvelt (MD) hoisting 4x4 title, photo by Tim Fulton).   Don Rich Photos: Thursday / Friday / Saturday More Photos: NY Gallery / NJ Photos Christopher Hunt Articles (Armory Track): Corning's Johnson Leaps to Victory, Germantown Friends Wins DMR, Roosevelt Dominates at Penn, Roxbury Wins DMR at Penn More Penn: Video Interviews / Results

**U.S. Girls 4x800m Relay Record: Eleanor Roosevelt (MD) in 8:43.12!!! Friday just keeps on getting better. In the girls 4x800m relay, Holmwood Tech (Jamaica) beat Eleanor Roosevelt (MD) (photo left by Tim Fulton) 8:41.52-8:43.12 in a simply perfect race. Eleanor Roosevelt's performance broke the U.S. record by seven seconds. Eleanor Roosevelt then came back to win the 4x400m relay in 3:37.16. Thursday marked day one of the high school portion of the Penn Relays. Topping the way in the highlights Thursday was Ryann Krais' (PA) (pictured above by Don Rich) big 400m hurdle win in 59.62. Edwin Allen (Jamaica) ran 45.28 in the 4x100m relay for the top time of the day and Eleanor Roosevelt (MD) ran 3:38.40 in the girls 4x400m relay, top advancing time of the day! We'll be brining you the best coverage around this weekend, so keep checking back inside. Results: Friday Boys / Friday Girls / Thursday Girls Schedule / Live Results / Girls Winners Table / Boys Winner Table Video Interviews / Meet Preview / Official Website

The indoor season pretty much wrapped up this weekend, while outdoors continued to press forward, creating numerous national highlights. In this week's Monday News & Notes, we discuss the growing rivalry between Rachel Laurent (LA) and Shade Weygandt (TX) in the girls pole vault, a great 3200m race between Foot Locker finalists Evan Appel (CO) and Bobby Nicolls (CO) (pictured to left by Beth O'Neill) and a few more tidbits.   News & Notes Highlights - Laurent (LA) v. Weygandt (TX) pole vault rivalry continues - Foot Locker finalists Appel (CO) v. Nicolls (CO) at 3200m in CO - Pennsylvania & Texas weekend wrap-ups - Preview of the exciting week ahead

Marcus I meet had many big names and big surprises. Unlike the boys race the girls race brought more questions than answers.

Team Bickle’s all-star squad won two relays at the prestigious Gibson Relays in Kingston, Jamaica this weekend, smashing one meet record.