Marc Bloom's Top 25 US High School Cross Country Teams (via ESPN RISE)

Southlake Carroll and The Woodlands make Marc Bloom's National top 25 teams.

One week from now, 44 teams will be in Portland, and each with the dream of contending for the national championship of high school cross country. Photo by Alan Versaw.

  Photo courtesy: John Olson, South Carolina Runner's  

These athletes earned runner of the week because they had great distance doubles. Lauren ran unchalleged in both the 3200 and 1600 and put up season best times of 5:02 and 10:48 while Drew did an impressive 1:51,4:13 double at Klein.

NXN South/Southwest Regions: Texas should dominate the action at the NXN South Regional, while the Southwest features a renewal of battles between top New Mexico and Colorado rivals

The

Reed Connor and Sarah Andrews captured individual crowns to lead nationally ranked The Woodlands to a sweep of the Texas 5A titles.

On the strength of its record-setting performance in winning the Sweepstakes race at the Mt. SAC Invitational, Saugus (CA) moves past Fayetteville-Manlius into the top spot in the team rankings.

Each week here at MileSplit we will be giving you a quick look at four of the nation's best runners in our new feature called MileSplit Fast Four. Featured this week are Sarah Andrews (TX), Chris Schwartz (CA), Melanie Thompson (NJ) and Andrew Colley (VA).

Several recent big meets, such as Nike South, Manhattan College and the Great American have helped to bring some clarity to the rankings. North Central boys and Fayetteville-Manlius girls hold the top spots.

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.

A big weekend of competition generally means some major movement in the national rankings, and that is certainly the case this week.  Making the biggest leap is Tatnall (DE) (pictured by Brandon Miles), who after beating then U.S.#4 Collins Hill (GA) at the McDonald's XC Festival at Maymont jumps to US#8 in the girls rankings.

With so much action this past weekend, our coverage spilled over Monday into our weekly News & Notes section. The Woodbridge and Mt. Carmel Invitationals are highlighted, which saw some impressive individual and team results, including a few upsets. See what else took place, as well as our weekly look ahead.

With many of the top teams in the country running in their first or second competition of the year, the MileSplit National CC Rankings are starting to take better shape. Boys U.S.#1 North Central (WA) opened their season in victorious fashion, while Girls U.S.#1 Fayetteville-Manlius (NY) has yet to compete, but is looking strong in practices.

  Boys A Race Video Includes Start, Mile 1, Mile 2, Extended Finish Video includes clock so you can get your splits Girls A Race Video includes start, Mile 1, Extended Finish Video includes clock so you can get your splits

Who is #1 in region 2-5A? Who is returning? What team will make it out of the region to the state meet? Why am I asking all of these questions? All answers are in the 2-5A preview.

The third and last day of Nike Outdoor Nationals takes place Saturday and the final events of the weekend are looking outstanding. While many great races and field events take place earlier in the day, the opening ceremony on the track starts at 5:15 p.m. (EST). The top events of the day are the boys and girls mile, boys 800m dash, boys shot put, girls hammer throw and the boys and girls distance medley relays. Keep checking back throughout the day as we provide coverage of each event. Full Results: Boys - Girls NON Winners Table (ArmoryTrack.com) Saturday Top Highlights - Warwick Valley (NY) national record in girls DMR, 11:31.81 - Spencer Adams (NC) blazes 50.99 in boys 400m hurdles - Nadonnia Rodriques (NY) wins 400m dash in 52.86, U.S.#1 - Trotwood-Madison (OH) wins boys 4x400m relay in 3:11.33 - Brandon Pounds (IN) 68-11.25 to win boys shot put, U.S.#2 - Eleanor Roosevelt (MD) wins girls 4x4, meet record 3:37.02 - Jillian Smith (NJ) blazes 2:05.24 to win girls 800m dash - Chalonda Goodman (GA) wins girls 200m dash in 23.22 - Emily Infeld (OH) takes gold in girls mile with 4:47.43 effort - Dwight Barbiasz (NH) leaps 7-01 to win boys high jump - Allison Horner (GA) throws 177-02 to win girls hammer throw - Shelby Greany (NY) runs U.S.#1 girls steeple in 6:42.86  

A perfect score for a cross country team at a meet is 15 points. That means one team had the first five finishers. The Woodlands Lady Highlanders were perfect at the Montgomery Invitational. \"We ran pretty well,\" Lady Highlanders coach Noel Hansen said. \"Anytime you put up a perfect score, that\'s not too bad.\"

Video Highlights of the 2005 Texas A&M Invitational Seeded 5A Boys . Video is in Windows Media Player format. It is a large file so a high speed connection is required.

Over the last two seasons, The Woodlands\' boys cross country team has been about as dominating as one team could be with state and national titles to their credit.

Today the teams got their first look at the European style course created from the infield of Portland Meadows race track.

I represent one of the 4 teams from Texas at the first ever Nike Team National event. My intent was to jot down a few items each day and send them to Alex to publish. Little did I know how hard it would be. I am sitting in my room at the Embassy Suites on Friday morning 5:15 local time not really remembering where I am or what time it is.