Girls Sleepers To Lookout For At NXR South

NXR South Regional Championships
William Grundy

Lucy Cramer (600, Lilly Koenig (637), Aubrey Pozzi (643), and Molly Garrison (12) compete at the 2025 Nike South Inv.

We've already spent time breaking down the heavy hitters, the girls we expect to animate the front of the 2025 Nike Cross South Regional, the ones with the firepower to run themselves into NXN whether their teams qualify or not.

But here's the charm of NXR: The race doesn't care about your predictions. It waits until the final meters to show you who actually earned a ticket.

With only two automatic qualifying teams and a national committee deciding the rest, nothing about the individual picture is settled until the dust clears (possibly mud, the way the next couple of days in College Station are forecasted). A surprise team finish can push a star runner out of the individual pool. An unexpected collapse can open an avenue for someone who seemed out of contention on paper.

We can't know the qualifiers yet. What we can do is study the landscape from the states in the region and make our best educated guesses.

We've already highlighted the projected frontrunners, the girls most likely to dictate tempo and establish the lead group. Now it's time to look deeper. To identify the next wave. To spotlight the athletes who might just sneak into that top pack, shake up expectations, and claim a Portland spot when the team dust settles.

These girls are closer than people think. And they're the ones who could blow this race wide open.

  • Lilly Beshears
  • Macy Wingard
  • Elin Latta
  • Gabbie Bishop
  • Ava Cornelius
  • Laney Barnes
  • Maya Easterwood
  • Addyson Bristow
  • Adeline Bennett
  • Iris Latta
  • Rowan Saake
  • Hope Smith

Sleepers

Remy Latta (South Texas Heat - Christian) - TX

Even though South Texas Heat isn't allowed to compete as a team, there is a possibility that there could be three Lattas on the South Region team. Remy has elevated herself this sophomore season into not only one of Texas's best distance runners, but also one of the best in the South. 

She has two sub-18-minute runners this season: 17:25 at the VA XC Showcase and 17:37 at the Great American XC Festival in North Carolina. Those are two legitimate 5K courses, along with two races on the Dale Watts course, narrowly over 18:00 with 18:02 at Texas A&M and 18:06 at Nike South.

Alex Lee (Madison Central) - MS

Lee, the back-to-back Mississippi 7A state champion, is a legitimate threat to make the team if she competes this weekend. She has run 17:57 and went 18:02 to win her second state title.

Stella Junius (Mt. Carmel) - LA

Junius was runner-up at the LHSAA state meet, going 17:42 for three miles; however, she has a 17:53 PR in the 5K from the FSU Invitational/Pre-State, a similar course to Dale Watts.

Molly Garrison (Aledo) - TX

Garrison is the UIL 5A runner-up, having run a 17:53 PR to lower her previous best of 17:54. A serious triathlete, Garrison has focused on running this fall, and it has proven its dividends. On the Dale Watts course, she went 18:18 at the Nike South Inv.

Lilly Koenig (Smithson Valley) - TX

Koenig had been knocking on the door of sub-18 minutes for a while, and her fourth-place finish at the UIL 5A state meet was a complete race in full effect. She showcased her frontrunning capabilities in Round Rock, and if she can replicate that race, it makes her a threat. She ran 18:15 at Nike South, on the Dale Watts course, earlier this season.

Samantha Schmersahl (Rogers) - AR

Although just in seventh place at the Arkansas state meet, Schmersahl is one of the top runners in the South. When she is on, she is definitely on. Schmersahl began the season with a 17:48 at Southlake and a couple of weeks later she ran her 17:46 PR at Gans Creek in Missouri, a similar course to Dale Watts, and where the NCAA Championships are being held.

Elizabeth Scudder (Rogers) - AR

Scudder was ninth at the AR state meet, but as with her teammates, I expect her to be ready to go on Monday. She opened with an 18:14 PR at Southlake.

Eva Cragnolino (Austin LASA) - TX

Cragnolino is the UIL 5A state champion, doing so in 17:47. Her PR, however, came at the Georgetown/East View Inv. in 17:43. She has been racking up sub-18-minute runs and doing so in a fairly new race strategy. She has been working on taking out harder like she did at the state meet, allowing her to capitalize on positioning in the later stages of races where she can execute her uncanny ability to kick and find the finish line first.

Kylie Vega (El Paso Eastwood) - TX

Eastwood has a fast freshman girl. It seems like we just saw this play four years ago with Adelynn Rodriguez, who is now a freshman at Oklahoma State. However, Vega is now in line. She has run under 18 minutes for two races in a row. The last of the two was for an eighth-place finish at the UIL 6A state meet.

Maggie Bishop (Providence Academy) - AR

Bishop finished runner-up at the Arkansas state meet behind her sister. As with her sibling, Maggie has been able to drop a couple of 17-minute races this year. She ran 17:30 at Sugar Creek at Bentonville, and her next best races came at collegiate courses (17:17 at Chile Pepper and 17:43 at Gans Creek).

Evangeline Williams (Wylie East)

Williams is still learning how things go down south. The California transfer just completed her first season of cross-country in Texas, which was a seventh-place finish for the sophomore at the UIL 6A state meet.

Williams has four sub-18-minute runs this season, highlighted by her 17:36 and third-place finish at Southlake earlier in the season.

Lucy Cramer (Parkview Baptist) - LA

Of her three 5K races, Cramer has two that were just over 18 minutes this year. The other race was an 18:16 at Nike South, on the Dale Watts course. Cramer was fourth at the LHSAA state meet this past Monday and will be a threat for an NXN qualifying spot.

Sylvie Harper (Bishop McGuinness) - OK

Harper is an Okie to keep an eye on if she arrives in College Station. She ran a 17:43 PR at Chile Pepper, won the OSSAA state meet, as well as the Lovejoy XC Fall Festival, showing she likes it here in Texas.

Flannery O'Daniel (Bentonville) - AR 

O'Daniel is Bentonville's next star on the girls' side. The frosh ran 10:59 on grass in the 3200m back in August as a sign of what was to come.

Since then, she has gone on to drop four sub-18-minute runs this season. Two were on collegiate courses (17:35- Chile Pepper, and 17:46 - Gans Creek (NCAA Championship course). Her last one was for a runner-up finish at the Arkansas state meet behind Lilly Beshears.

Emily Orr (El Paso Franklin) - TX

Orr has two sub-18-minute races this season as well as a 15th-place finish at the UIL 6A state meet. Orr is also a heady veteran with plenty of experience and success. She is now racing with a clear head after committing to Texas Tech, and if she runs, she will be a threat to nab an NXN qualifying position.

Rowen Skinner (College Station A&M Consolidated) - TX

Skinner placed fifth at the UIL 5A state meet, which was her lowest placement of the year. Every other finish proves her knack for front-running and front-finishing. This is why she will be a dangerous runner in the field, but so too is her speed. Skinner has four sub-18-minute races with two on difficult courses. The one this week is in her hometown.

Morgan Nelsen (Hendrickson) - TX

Nelson turned herself into one of the Austin area's top runners this fall and found her way to the UIL 5A podium with a 10th-place finish. With four sub-18-minute performances, including a 17:44 PR, proved her ability. Nelsen has shown how well she finishes at the front of races. She was first or second in every race this year except the state meet.

Sophie Peterson (Houston Memorial) - TX

Peterson is yet another runner on the verge of breaking out to the next level, and NXR South would be a good stage to take the next step. Peterson was 10th at the UIL 6A state meet and has two sub-18-minute races on her season's resume. Also on that resume is a ninth-place finish at Nike South on the Dale Watts course, where she ran 18:08.

Naomi Weller (The Woodlands) - TX

Weller has been consistent this year, and even more importantly, she has been on a roll late in the season. The Woodlands star ran her 17:57 PR at the Region 2-6A meet, followed by an 18:02 at the UIL 6A state meet, where she finished 11th, just outside of the podium.

Aubrey Pozzi (Smithson Valley) - TX

The SV sophomore made a huge jump from a good freshman season to a top runner in the state. The Region 4-5A champion did exactly that, and her 17:58 PR displays how serious of a threat she is. Pozzi finished sixth at the UIL 5A state meet.