The 2023 NXN was competed on Saturday at Glendoveer Golf Course in Portland, OR. Last year athletes dealt with dry conditions, but with a bitter cold wind. This year Portland experienced an atmospheric river Thursday through Saturday morning and the course was saturated with water (large puddles or body of water were on the course).
Boys Championship
NXN flip flops the races each year and this year the boys ran first. With a wet course, the boys had an advantage to go on the course first. A pair of Californians, Eli Fitchen-Young of Santa Cruz and Joshua Bell of Templeton led the boys at the 1K mark. The meet favorite Daniel Simmons of American Fork (UT) found himself in 116th place at the IK mark.
Another Californian, Lucas Cohen of Albany, joined Fitchen-Young and Bell at the lead by the 2K mark. Jo Jo Jourdon of Olympia High School in Utah took the lead at the 4K mark and was followed by Manny Putz of Onalaska High School in Wisconsin. Putz slipped at the start line and moved from 61st place at the 1K to second by the 4K. Jourdan kept his two second lead from the 4K mark to win the 2023 title in 15:16.5 with Cameron Todd of Brebeuf Jesuit (IN) finishing second in 15:18.5 and Nathan Neil of Bozeman HS in Montana finishing third in a time of 15:18.6. Neil moved up nine places in the last 1K to get to awards stand. West coast athletes in the top ten include Jason Parra of Millikan (8th) and Joshua Bell of Templeton (9th).
Jourdon represented the Southwest jersey and Saturday's meet had a Southwest theme as American Fork and Herriman of Utah and Southwest region expected to have a close contest. Herriman prevailed with a score of 83 points and state rival American Fork finished second with 100 points. Herriman High School is coached by Doug Soles who coached the Great Oak team of California to victory in 2015. Coach Soles becomes the first coach in the NXN era to claim a title from two schools. Simmons of American Fork recovered from his start to finish 13th overall and first on the team score. Southlake Carroll of Texas finished third with 138 points. Two west coast teams cracked the top ten, San Clemente finished 8th and Dana Hills finished 10th.
Boys Photo Gallery is HERE
Girls Championship
Two of the meet favorites, Rachel Forsyth of Ann Arbor (MI) and Elizabeth Leachman of Boerne Champion (TX) took the early lead at the 1K mark. Leachman then took a big lead on the field which is a strategy she used with success earlier this season at the Woodbridge Invitational. At the 4K mark, Leachman still held the lead, but Addy Ritzenhein of Niwot and Bethany Michalak of Air Academy were closing. Ritzenhein passed Leachman in the last 1K and became the third sophomore to win NXN in a time of 17:10.4. Bethany Michalak finished second in 17:16.4 after finishing third last year at NXN. Emily Wisniewski of Crescent Valley (OR) won a photo finish over Isabel Allori of Liberty Common (CO) in a time of 17:37.4. Other west coach athletes in the top ten include Jaelyn Williams of Eastlake (CA) in seventh and Logan Hofstee of East Valley (WA) in ninth.
Ritzenhein is the daughter of Olympian and two-time Footlocker champion Dathan Ritzenhein. Her mom Kalin Toedebusch was an accomplished runner herself by finishing fifth at Footlocker and running for Villanova and Colorado. Addy's mom was also my daughter's youth track coach when they lived in Beaverton. Addy and her brother Jude accompanied their mom at practice as children.
Ritzenhein, Michalak and Allori from the Southwest and Colorado finished one, two and four individually and like the boys the Southwest dominated the girl's race. Really, the Southwest girls dominated even more than the boys as Air Academy (Co), Niwot (CO), Mountain Vista (CO), and Lone Peak (UT) finished one through four. That meant at-large teams Mountain Vista and Lone Peak outshined region champions throughout the country. The top west coast school Buchanan in eighth place.
Girls Photo Gallery is HERE
Look for photo galleries of Footlocker!
Comments