The tops teams in the Nike Team National Southeast Region converge in Hoover, Alabama Saturday to see who the top two teams in the region are. The girls side follows the powerful pack of Mountain Brook (AL) girls, who ran undefeated all season with a few big wins. Oak Ridge (TN) leads the mens side, with a few other front running teams in tow.
Road to Portland: NTN Southeast Regional Preview
Location: Hoover, Alabama
Date: Saturday, November 24, 2007
Boys
Tennessee places two teams right up there in Chattanooga TC (Baylor, TN) and Oak Ridge RC (Oak Ridge H.S., TN). Both squads won their respective state races a few weeks back at the Tennessee State Meet. Oak Ridge shows a lot of depth, led by front runner MacLean O'Donnell. The team has a split of less than a minute from 1-6. Chattanooga races the same way. Their strong top three can match any teams in the region. Led by Waldo DuPlessis, Baylor hopes their 4-5 runners can step up enough to really give the team a solid advantage.
Two teams from Virginia with the strength to qualify for Nike Team Nationals come from Team 703 (Jefferson Science and Tech. H.S., VA) and Oakton RC (Oakton H.S., VA). Team 703 showed up big to win the AAA state title at the Virginia State Meet, while Oakton has completed their up and down season, hoping to finish on top one last time.
Birmingham XC Club (Hoover H.S., AL) runs as the top team from Alabama. Their home course advantage could work out in favor for them greatly, as the team rides in on the wave of momentum felt from their impressive state meet victory.
Girls
Freshman Marie Demedicis leads US #3 Mountain Brook
U.S. #3 Mountain Brook RC (Mountain Brook H.S., AL) leads the charge at the NTN Southeast Regional after proving time and again this year that they are one of the top teams in the nation when they are running on all cylinders. The Alabama team won the Great American XC Festival and Bob Firman Invitational over strong fields. They also won their state meet despite running at less than full strength. Freshman Marie Demedicis has stepped up big late in the season to lead the squad to their state meet win.
Behind Mountain Brook come four squads with the potential to snag one of the two NTN automatic berths. Tatnall RC (Tatnall H.S., DE), Suwanee XC Club (Collins Hill H.S., GA), Episcopal RC (Episcopal H.S., FL) and Derby City AC (Assumption H.S., KY) are those four teams. Tatnall ranks as the favorite to finish right behind Mountain Brook. The team qualified for NTN last season and easily best the competition at the Deleware State Meet.
Suwanee won their title as well, racing through the season with some strong performances and tight packs. Episcopal qualified in 2005, looking to do the same thing this year. Their back end runners need to step up if the squad hopes to qualify for the trip to Portland. They won the Florida 2A title.
Meanwhile, Derby City was tops in Kentucky and has a nice mix of front runners and pack runners to push them toward a national qualifying berth. The field of only eleven girls teams helps out many of the squads with 4-5 runners a bit farther back as they won't be dropped by some of the deeper squads as easily.