NXR Southwest

Race Review

Cody Jone's article in the Summit Daily - link below - is very comprehensive. I'll just point out a few other key points:

Press

11/18/22: Team Regionals: Girls South & Southwest Predictions/Preview

11/23/22: Ella Hagen punches ticket to Nike Cross Nationals with 7th-place finish at Southwest regional cross-country meet

11/19/22: Colorado Girls Dominate As Niwot And Co. Head To Nationals

Photos

See the carousel below and a bunch more here

2023 Outlook

A hint of things to come:

From Colorado High School Sports on 11/2/22 - The 2022 4A State Story:

Girls: Summit, another western slope school, showed well enough to finish sixth (at State). Depending a little on whose projections you read, that finish appears to beat the projections by a little. The Tigers are a rising program. We would all do well the pay attention to what happens with this team the next couple of years.

Boys: Eagle Valley? Jake Drever graduates, but brace yourself for what's coming up behind him. Battle Mountain has Brunner and Middaugh back next year. That's a scary thought. Scarier still is the idea of how much the rest of the team can close up ranks behind them given another year of training in the Rob Parrish system. (My comment: I agree that Eagle Valley and Battle Mountain look to be strong next year. We graduate three seniors. Returning to another runner up, or better, finish at Regionals will be difficult, but not out of reach. EV and BM are picked as top 6 teams at State next year. We need to give them a run.)

10/24/22: Summit Middle School boys cross-country team wins state for the first time in school history
From MileSplit on 11/23/22: Top Returning 4A Girls Cross Country Teams For 2023

On paper it looks like Summit is about to make the jump. They return the third-fastest squad, led by defending state champ Ella Hagen. Summit owns a 1-5 average of 19:24, and a 1-5 split of 3:50 - compliments of Hagen's fiery front-running.

2022 NXR Southwest

WHEN: Saturday, 19 November 2022

WHERE: Coyote Run Golf Course, 1548 Leisure World Blvd, Mesa, AZ 85206

MEET WEBSITE: Click here

Participation at NXR Southwest is open to everyone. We would love to have a lot of SHS runners compete – ideally at least five girls and five boys so we can race as a Summit Distance Project team. (Although all the runners on a team have to be from the same high school, you can't run as an official high school team. It's due to rules in some states.)

The costs of this trip are born by the individual runner/family. Most runners will probably have a parent or two that will travel with them. We are glad to chaperone any runners who don't have parents traveling with them. For everyone, but especially for those athletes traveling without parents, it would be beneficial and more fun if we travel and lodge together as much as possible. To arrange that, below are the travel arrangements we have made. We looked for the cheapest flights and found it was cheaper to fly there on Thursday and fly back Saturday evening than to go Friday to Sunday. We don't have school the week after NXR, so some families may wish to spend more time in Arizona and return later.

The race is at a new location this year. Hopefully it is much better (not as dusty!) as last year.

Please provide your travel info here:

Participant waiver here. Must be signed by a parent and sent (photo or scan) to NXR.Waivers@nike.com.

TRANSPORTATION:

We reserved seats on these flights:

United UA2249: Thu, Nov 17

Depart 03:51 PM, Arrive 05:49 PM

Denver to Phoenix, AZ

United UA2491: Sat, Nov 19

Depart 05:32 PM, Arrive 07:22 PM

Phoenix to Denver

This was quite a bit cheaper than leaving Friday returning Sunday.

LODGING:

We reserved rooms here:

HOLIDAY INN EXPRESS, PHOENIX EAST - GILBERT

5285 East Baseline Road

Gilbert, AZ United States 85234

Hotel Front Desk: 1480-218-8000

Email: phxgtfrontdesk@gmail.com

Check In: Check Out:

17 Nov 2022 — 19 Nov 2022

4:00 PM 11:00 AM

OTHER HOTEL OPTIONS:

Mention Nike Cross Southwest to get the discounted rates. All Hotels are within 5 miles of the course with Free Breakfast.

Hampton Inn & Suites By Hilton

1825 N Higley Rd

Gilbert, AZ 85234 480-654-4000

Residence Inn By Marriott Phoenix-Gilbert

3021 E Banner Gateway Dr

Gilbert, AZ 85234 480-699-4450

Staybridge Suites Phoenix-East Gilbert

5275 E Baseline Rd

Gilbert, AZ 85234 623-632-0585

Mention NXRSW for rate

Holiday Inn Express & Suites Gilbert-East Mesa

5285 E Baseline Rd

Gilbert, AZ 85234 480-213-8000

Mention NXRSW for rate

La Quinta Inn & Suites Mesa Superstition Springs

6530 E Superstition Springs Blvd

Mesa AZ 85206 480-654-1970

Mention NXRSW for rate

Country Inn & Suites By Radisson Mesa

6650 E Superstition Springs Blvd

Mesa, AZ 480-641-8000

REGISTRATION:

I will register our athletes once you have confirmed participation with me. Please do that as soon as possible. At least by 8 November so we don't have to pay late fees. I'll ask you for payment once I have registered you.

Please provide your travel info here:

2022 SCHEDULE:

Friday November 18

3:00 - 7:00 p.m. NXR Apparel Sale

3:30 - 7:00 p.m. Packet Pick Up

4:00 - 5:00 p.m. Course Walk Thru (Only at this time)

5:00 - 5:15 p.m. Pre Meet Review, Discussion

5:15 - 5:45 p.m. T-Shirt Exchange. (Bring T-Shirts from your schools).

Saturday November 19

6:30 - 7:30 a.m. Walk Thru, Late Registration

6:30 - 7:30 a.m. Final Registration Citizens Race

8:00 a.m. Citizens 5K Race

8:15 a.m. Girls Small School Open Race PINK

8:27 a.m. Girls Medium School Open Race I YELLOW

8:39 a.m. Girls Medium School Open Race II TEAL

8:51 a.m. Girls Large School Open Race I RED

9:03 a.m. Girls Large School Open Race II BLANK

9:15 a.m. Boys Small School Open Race ORANGE

9:27 a.m. Boys Medium School Open Race I WHITE

9:39 a.m. Boys Medium School Open Race II BLANK

9:51 a.m. Boys Large School Open Race I BROWN

10:03 a.m. Boys Large School Open Race II PURPLE

10:30 a.m. Line Up Boys Championship Race

10:35 a.m. National Anthem

10:40 a.m. Introduction

10:47 a.m. Boys Championship Race BLACK

11:15 a.m. Line Up Girls Championship Race

11:20 a.m. Introduction

11:27 a.m. Girls Championship Race GREEN

12:10 p.m. Awards

12:45 p.m. Championship Teams and Individuals Processing for Nationals

Note: I will ask that we be entered in the Championship races. Most likely we will be entered in one of the Medium School races.

NXR SW Record Boys – Cole Sprout Valor Christian, CO 2018 14:39.10

NXR SW Record Girls – Katie Rainsberger Air Academy, CO 2015 16:23.40

Note: There are other post-season XC competition opportunities, including Eastbay Midwest Regionals in Wisconsin on Saturday, 26 November and Running Lane Nationals in Alabama on Saturday, 3 December. Contact me if you are interested.

NXR - 19 November 2022 (Responses)

Course Map

2021 NXR Southwest Review

Adaline Avery and Cece Miner were the first to race in the medium sized school race. Adaline ran 20:27 and PR'd by almost 40 seconds! Adaline was the only one to PR. This was a great reward for her very consistent and hard training all season. We found out later the course was long. At least 3.18 miles, some GPSs showing up to 3.22. So Ella, Cece Miner and Josh Shriver probably would have also PR’d. Plus, it was getting quite warm, for mountain kids, in the later races (Ella, Josh and Landon).

Dominykas was second to race. His preparation was compromised by over a week of missed training due to the virus he caught just before state, plus two weeks of 3 hour long basketball tryouts. He went out fast and fought fatigue to finish 26th in his medium school heat.

Ella raced in the Championship Race. She started controlled and was in 28th place after 1 mile. She steadily moved up and finished 15th, in 17:53, for 3rd team Nike Regional recognition!

Josh and Landon went a few minutes later, in the hottest part of the day. Both went out fast, setting mile PRs in the first mile of the 5k! Landon actually led this medium school heat for the first mile, before the effort and heat built up. He held on gamely, finishing 51st. Josh was 13th at the first mile, moving up to finish 9th and narrowly missing a PR despite the long course and heat.

It was a good trip and great competition. The Southwest region is definitely the strongest region in the U.S. and Colorado one of the strongest states in the nation. (As an example, 3 girls from just our 4A region in Colorado finished in the top 15!) This was the first NXR competition for everyone except Dom. Racing in extremely competitive meets is a great way to raise the bar, expand horizons and realize that with consistent hard work we can mix it up with the best.

Next year we expect to take a larger group and compete as girls and boys teams. With another year of training, we can set very high goals!

11/24/2021: Tigers represent Summit County at Nike Cross Southwest Regional in Arizona