Sandburg IL retains the US#1 spot

Paul Schmitz for DyeStat

It was business as usual for most of the top teams in the country as they dominated local meets. Sandburg of Orland Park, Ill. remains the No. 1 team after cruising to a 21-point finish in their nine-team region meet.  Lafayette of Missouri holds onto the second spot after their 23-point win in district competition.  

Making statements in much bigger meets were our Nos. 3 and 4 teams. Timpanogos UT dominated its state Class 4A meet with 42 points and did it with a set of times that would have won any classification in Utah. That state, by the way, now has five teams in our national Top 30.  Along with Timpanogos, there is No. 5 Davis, No. 13 13 Lehi, No. 14 American Fork and No. 28 Ogden. No other state has as many teams on the list. Joining them from the Southwest Region is No. 29 Mountain Vista CO, which finished 1-6 in its regional meet with a sub-16 minute 5K average. It will be a long way until NXN Southwest on Nov. 21 to see those teams go head to head.  California No. 1 and national No. 4 Great Oak looked to be in late season form with an impressive win at the Mt. SAC Invitational and 14:57 average for five scorers on the 2.93-mile course. 

In the Northwest, Bozeman MT looks poised to make a run at NXN after the Hawks' 33-point finish in the Montana State Meet.  They finished with 5 in the top 12 and an impressive 15:22 average on the 3-mile course at Great Falls.  With that finish, Bozeman makes the rankings at No. 30.  

In the South we had kept The Woodlands behind Southlake Carroll all season, but after an impressive regional and 15:08 3-mile average, the Highlanders move all the way up to No. 18.  The NXN South projections should become even clearer at the Texas State Meet on Nov. 7 with only Jenks OK realistically able to compete with the top teams in Texas.   

In the Southeast, Dulaney had been sliding after a No. 17 ranking in the preseason. But after a 15-point score at the Baltimore County Championships, Maryland's top team is fully redeemed. Based on the strength of its Manhattan Invite finish we have Needham Broughton NC as the top team in the Southeast, but this continues to be a region with parity. There are six strong contenders for the Top 30 and only two will advance to NXN. Along with Broughton, and Dulaney, we could also see Marietta GA, Mount Tabor or Weddington from NC, or Trinity Prep FL take one of those top two spots.

The head-scratcher of the week comes from the Heartland region where Minneapolis Washburn, a team from our region Watch List upset nationally ranked Edina and Wayzata and narrowly lost to previous US#7 Hopkins in the 6AA region meet in Minnesota.  Washburn earned one of the two qualifying spots in next week's Minnesota State Meet after a finish that went: Hopkins 52, Washburn 57, Edina 62, Wayzata 63.  The meet was run on an hilly and challenging park course and it was 37 degrees (that's fahrenheit for our Canadian readers) with 30 mile per hour winds and light snow.  Washburn was the No. 4-ranked Minnesota team in this week's coaches' poll and debut this week on our list.  Add in stellar teams such as Dowling Catholic IA, Madison La Follette WI and Nebraska champion West Millard and it becomes very difficult to see who will emerge from NXN Heartland.  

Other teams that have didn't make our list or where mentioned here but are on our watchlist include: Tahoma WA, St. Anthony's NY,  Mountain View ID, Crater OR, Fishers IN, York IL, Jenks OK,  Bishop Hendrickson RI, Old Bridge PA and Central Bucks West PA.        

The Top 30, 10/29

1.  Sandburg IL

2.  Lafayette MO

3. Timpanogos UT

4. Great Oak CA

5. Davis UT

6. Dana Hills CA

7. Downingtown West PA

8. Needham Broughton NC

9. Christian Brothers Academy NJ

10. St. Ignatius OH

11. East Aurora NY

12. Fayetteville-Manlius NY

13. Lehi UT

14. American Fork UT

15. Hopkins MN

16. Marietta GA

17. The Woodlands TX

18. Neuqua Valley IL

19. Jesuit CA

20. Liverpool NY

21. Carmel IN

22. Dulaney MD

23. Trinity Prep FL

24. Dowling Catholic IA 

25. Martin Luther King CA

26. Minneapolis Washburn MN

27. Edina MN

28. Ogden UT

29. Mountain Vista CO

30. Bozeman MT