Sandburg retains top spot with IL win

By Paul Schmitz for DyeStat

The Woodlands TX zooms up this week after the Highlanders destroyed the competition in the Texas 6A meet with 24 points.  Led by No. 1 finisher Daniel Golden (16:17) and No. 2 finisher Noah Wells, The Woodlands 16:27 average on the mud-filled course was impressive. They beat second place Southlake Carroll's top-five team average by more than 40 seconds.  

In New York, consider this: Liverpool beat Fayetteville-Manlius 32-36 in the Section 3 Championships and F-M did not make it to its state meet. These teams are virtually inseparable at No. 12 and No. 13. 

Lyons Township of Illinois impressed with a strong second place finish behind US#1 Sandburg, which won its first Class 3A team title, and is in the rankings at No. 17. Rockford MI also enters the rankings, led by individual champion Isaac Harding (15:10) and third-place finisher Cole Johnson (15:15).

Downingtown West continued its fantastic season with a convincing win at Pennsylvania state meet. The Whippets scored 57 points to runner-up North Allegheny’s 105 and had a 16:08 team average.

One of the upsets of the week came in North Carolina's Class 4A meet where regional No. 4 Mount Tabor beat previous US#8 Needham Broughton and won its first team championship in 27 years. Mount Tabor moves into the rankings at No. 26.  Staying in the Southeast, Trinity Prep Florida won its Class 2A (of 4 classes) title handily but just misses our top 30.  Trinity was bumpbed by new entrant  St. Xavier of Kentucky, which won the 3A title with five finishers in the top 11.  

In Iowa, Dowling Catholic (16:06 team average) eked out a 10 point win over unranked Cedar Falls High (16:10 team average).  Dowling stays on our watchlist but drops from the top 30.  In Ohio, St. Ignatius ran a very fast 15:51 average on the way to a 30 point win, but Mason (16:04 average) and Solon (16:01 average) both ran fast, too.  La Salle RI returns to the rankings with its impressive state meet win. 

Things get complicated in the Heartland, where we are placing Edina back in front of Minneapolis Washburn even though Washburn beat them head to head two weeks ago in Section 6AA. Edina qualified three individuals, but not a whole team. Those three runners all ran great and give the team a boost. US#10 Hopkins looks like the team to beat, but Edina showed enough improvement that they are our pick for the No. 2 spot at NXN Heartland.    

Other teams to watch not mentioned so far:  St. Thomas Aquinas KS went 1-4 in the Kansas 5A meet and finished with a 16:12 top-five average. Tahoma (4A) and North Central (3A) won their Washington state meet races with identical 15:48 5K top-five averages.  Both appear to be rounding into form just in time for NXN Northwest.  

The Top 30, 11/12

1. Sandburg IL

2. Great Oak CA

3. Timpanogos UT

4. Dana Hills CA

5. The Woodlands TX 

6. Davis UT

7. Downingtown West PA

8. Christian Brothers Academy NJ

9. Hopkins MN

10.  Lafayette MO

11. St. Ignatius OH

12. Liverpool NY

13. Fayetteville-Manlius NY

14. La Salle Academy RI

15. Lehi UT

16. American Fork UT

17. Lyons Township IL

18. East Aurora NY

19. Marietta GA

20. Jesuit CA

21. Carmel IN

22. Edina MN

23. Dulaney MD

24. Minneapolis Washburn MN

25. Mountain Vista CO

26. Mount Tabor NC

27. Bozeman MT

28. St. Xavier KY

29. Rockford MI

30. Grayslake Central IL