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Southeast Region Boys Preseason XC Rankings 2018Published by
Loudoun Valley Still The Premier Team In Southeast By Paul Schmitz of DyeStat Boys NXR Southeast Preview Loudoun Valley opened the 2017 cross country season as the nation’s top team and held that ranking all the way to the end. LV swept through the Virginia state meet, the Nike Southeast regional meet and Nike Cross Nationals in impressive fashion with a dominate 89-point national championship performance. There will be little resistance for Loudoun Valley in the Southeast this year and the defending champions will be back in Portland for a title defense. Going into 2017 the Southeast was billed as a region on the rise. That prediction came to fruition as the Southeast gained its first at-large bid to NXN with Green Hope NC joining champion Loudoun Valley and runner-up Bolles FL in Portland. Loudoun Valley and Bolles return solid line-ups and there is a clear separation between those two teams and the rest of the contenders. Almost all of the other top programs in the region, Green Hope, St. Xavier KY and Milton GA were hit hard by graduation. It would take massive improvements by returning runners for a team to compete with Loudoun Valley or Bolles, or for the region to have another chance at an at-large bid. 1. Loudoun Valley VA. Even with the loss of Peter Morris and Colton Bogucki to graduation, LV returns reloaded in 2018 as one of the top teams in the country. Led by sub-9 3,200-meter runner and top NXR Southeast returner, Sam Affolder, this team has the speed at the top and the depth below to compete with anyone in the country and is virtually unbeatable in the Southeast. 2. Bolles FL. The team with the best chance to knock off Loudoun Valley is the reigning Class 2A Florida champion. The biggest reason for this optimism is the emergence of senior Charles Hicks as one of the premier distance runners in the country. His 9:07 3,200 placed him second in Florida and he PR’d at the Arcadia Invitational with 8:58. Behind him is a solid trio of seniors in Chase Rivera, Ben Folz and Alexander Hastings. This quality top four is enough for Bolles to improve on its 20th place finish at NXN last year, but the Bulldogs will need to close the gap between the top four and 5-7 to have any chance to win the region. 3. Weddington NC. The North Carolina Class 3A runners-up last year bring back all seven runners from 2017. It is this experience combined with depth and a nice spring on the track that gives Weddington the nod for the third spot. However, with the massive gap between the top two teams and the rest of the region, an at-large berth seems unlikely at this time. 4. Severna Park MD. The defending large class champion in Maryland is again the team to beat in the state. SP lost three of its top five runners from the championship team that also finished seventh at NXR Southeast. 5. Salesianum DE. One of the surprise teams at regionals last year was this team from Delaware. This team had not been on the regional radar but ran well in North Carolina for a respectable eighth place finish. Led by Michael Keehan, the DIAA 1,600 and 3,200 meters state champion from this spring, and teammate Sean Banko, who finished second in both of those events, the Sallies return five of seven. Watchlist More news |
