Lukas Verzbicas, IL, has clearly established himself as the best high school XC harrier of 2010 with an impressive Nike XC Nationals win in the mud and a dominating win in the sun at the Foot Locker Nationals.  Lukas became the first harrier to win both the NXN and Foot Locker titles in the same year and just the 3rd harrier ever to win 2 Foot Locker titles.  These stats should establish a foundation for considering him as one of the best high school harriers of all-time.  

The 2010 Foot Locker Nationals are in the books!  Aisling Cuffe and Lukas Verzbicas have put their stamp on history with equally dominating performances with winning times of 16:53 and 14:59.

A gallery of my favorite photos from NXN 2010.

PORTLAND, Ore. – One by one they crossed the finish line, each one crying. Fayetteville-Manlius knew what was happening.

Manlius XC Club (Fayetteville-Manlius, NY) made history by winning their 5th straight NXN girls title with a mere 27 points!

Photo by Ryan Kelly  

Photo by Ron Crocker    Fayetteville-Manlius girls have been in a league of their own against the best of the best for four years running now as the defending Nike Cross Nationals team champions. The New York squad saw a group of seniors graduate last spring which were members of four straight national champion squads and will have another senior group which is in line to enjoy the same feat as the unanimous US #1 team in several national team rankings. If there were ever a year for the California girls to knock off the New York girls from having bragging rights in cross country, this year would be a great opportunity with their four team representatives. An exceptionally strong season of performances by the California girls earned them two at-large berth squads in Great Oak and La Costa Canyon to join the two automatic qualifiers Saugus and Mira Costa after the state meet results merge.

The story of the week was New Jersey's Megan Venables (#2), who won her NJ Group 3 state title with an 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!

What a week for prep cross country!  The top-10 boys are super-tight and should make the end of the season very interesting.  A shake-up at the top occurred with Lukas Verzbicas taking the #1 spot with an impressive run at the IL state meet.  Lukas blasted a solo-13:54 3 mile run to come a mere 4 seconds from breaking Craig Virgin's state record mark of 13:50.  Lukas is clearly in the best shape of his life heading into the most important part of the season.

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

Rachel Johnson, Senior at Plano Senior HS, has made a verbal commitment to Baylor University. Rachel is currently ranked #9 in the nation by Milesplit. She won the 1600 and 3200 at the UIL State meet last year on the track. In cross country she placed 6th at Nike Nationals and 11th at Footlocker Nationals.

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.

  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?

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.

Today we talk with Rachel Johnson. Rachel is a Junior from Plano High School that had a breakout track season in 2009 after she joined the legendary metroplex strider group coached by Terry Jessup. Rachel is currently ranked #1 in the state in the 5000m running 18:07 placing first at the Southlake Carroll Invitational on September 12th.   Rachel got the attention of everyone on the track running personal bests of 4:57 and 10:44 as a sophomore. She qualified in both events at the UIL Track and Field Championships placing 2nd in the 1600m and 5th in the 3200m. Rachel Johnson Profile

Connor Adams and Rachel Johnson had great 5000m meters races at the Southlake Carroll Meet on Saturday. Connor made a statement that he was going to be a contender this year with the victory in a state leading time of 15:05 while Rachel raced an impressive 18:07.