Nike Cross Regional South: By The Numbers

MEET HEADQUARTERS | LIVE WEBCAST INFO

Saturday, Nov. 18 at Bear Branch Park, Texas 

States in the Heartland Region:  Five

Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi

Top two teams and five individuals not on qualifying teams automatically advance to NXN. Four at-large team berths and five at-large individual berths (new this year) will be named later. 

 

GIRLS

States represented at NXN/NTN:

Texas 36 times

Mississippi 1 time

Arkansas, Louisiana and Oklahoma have never qualified a team for Nike.

 

States with the longest streak, current and all-time:

Texas 17 years. 2004-19, 2022

 

At-large bids: 4

2008 Humble Kingwood TX

2008 Vista Ridge TX

2013 Southlake Carroll TX

2022 Flower Mound TX

 

Current nationally ranked teams (as of 11/16/23): 3

No. 5 Lucas Lovejoy TX

No. 6 Flower Mound TX

No. 9 Southlake Carroll TX

 

Number of different teams to qualify for NTN/NXN: 13

Teams with the most NTN/NXN appearances:

Southlake Carroll TX 14 times

Kingwood TX 6 times

The Woodlands TX 4 times

Keller TX 3 times

Prosper TX 2 times

Flower Mound TX 2 times

Tupelo MS, Vista Ridge TX, Katy Cinco Ranch TX, Hebron TX, Marcus TX, New Braunfels TX and Lucas Lovejoy TX have qualified once.

Longest team streak appearances:

5 - Southlake Carroll TX 2009-13.

Longest current team streak of appearances:

2 - Southlake Carroll TX 2019 and 2022

 

Highest finish at nationals:

Southlake Carroll TX 2nd 2012

 

DyeStat preseason picks to qualify for NXN:

Flower Mound TX

Southlake Carroll TX

Current Prediction:

Flower Mound TX

Lucas Lovejoy TX

* Southlake Carroll TX (at-large)

Notes: Southlake Carroll added to its regional record last season by securing a 14th berth to qualify for Nike Team Nationals or Nike Cross Nationals, part of three girls teams advancing to Oregon for only the fourth time in NXR South history. Southlake Carroll will have to rebound following a 41-77 loss Nov. 4 to four-time champion Flower Mound at the Class 6A state final in order to secure one of the automatic qualifying berths, especially with three-time Class 5A winner Lucas Lovejoy also competing. All three programs represented the region at NXN last season and have strong potential to return again. Flower Mound benefited from senior Nicole Humphries returning from injury to compete for the first time this fall at the state championship meet, joining twin sister Samantha Humphries, as well as Alexandra Fox, Natalie Spangher and Ava Cole in helping the lineup build momentum in pursuit of its third regional appearance. Lovejoy achieved significant victories Sept. 23 at the Oklahoma State Invitational and Sept. 30 at the Chile Pepper Cross Country Festival in Arkansas and is looking to follow its memorable performance at last year’s regional, becoming the first Class 5A program in Texas history to qualify to race at NXN. Sara Morefield, Camryn Benson, Peyton Benson, Kailey Littlefield and Bridget Bernal give Lovejoy the potential to secure its first regional title, especially following a 40-81 victory Nov. 3 against Aledo at the Class 5A state final. Elizabeth Leachman of Boerne Champion, Macy Wingard from Denton Braswell, San Juanita Leal of Edinburg North, returning regional champion Isabel Conde de Frankenberg from Cedar Park and Madison Peters of Pearland are all strong individual contenders from Texas, along with Chile Pepper winner and Arkansas Class 6A state champion Haley Loewe of Bentonville, in addition to the Oklahoma trio of Bella Nelson from Owasso, Natalie Duggan of Edmond Santa Fe and Morgan Kirkland from Edmond North, also impressive challengers.

 

BOYS

States represented at NXN/NTN:

Texas 35 times

Arkansas 1 time

Louisiana, Oklahoma and Mississippi have never qualified a team for Nike.

 

States with the longest streak, current and all time: 

Texas - 17 years. Texas has sent a team to Portland every year since the inception of NTN in 2004.  

 

At-large bids: 5

2007 Rogers AR

2009 Cedar Park TX

2010 The Woodlands TX

2016 The Woodlands TX

2019 Eastwood TX

 

Current nationally ranked teams (as of 11/16/23): 5 

No. 5 Southlake Carroll TX

No. 12 Austin Vandegrift TX

No. 14 Southlake Carroll TX

No. 25 Deer Creek OK

No. 27 Jesuit LA 

No. 28 Bentonville AR 

 

Number of different teams to qualify for NTN/NXN: 11

Teams with the most NTN/NXN appearances:

Southlake Carroll TX 14 times

The Woodlands TX 12 times

Cedar Park TX 2 times

Flower Mound TX 2 times 

El Paso Eastwood TX 2 times

Grapevine TX, Corpus Christi TX, Rogers AR, Boerne Champion TX, Marcus TX, Lewisville Hebron TX and Woodlands College Park TX  have all qualified once.   

Longest team streak appearances: 

11 Southlake Carroll TX, 2010-22 

 

Highest finish at nationals:

Boerne TX 1st place 2009

 

DyeStat preseason to qualify for NXN:

Southlake Carroll TX

Jesuit LA

Current Prediction:

Southlake Carroll TX

Austin Vandegrift TX 

Note: Southlake Carroll won the UIL Class 6A state title and Austin Vandegrift was second. Those two have become firmly established as the two leading contenders for the automatic berths to Nike Cross Nationals. Sophomore Caden Leonard, son of coach Justin Leonard, is already a strong leader who proved his mettle last year at Bear Bryant Park when he slipped and fell on a muddy slope and finished the race with two hairline fractures in his arm to help his team qualify for nationals. Carroll has developed a well-worn path to Portland and the team is strong favorite to make its 15th appearance at nationals. Vandegrift, led by Hudson Haley, has never been to the national meet and has its best chance a year after graduating perhaps its best runner ever in Kevin Sanchez, who qualified last year but was unable to run due to injury. Some other contenders making the trip to The Woodlands are taking their shot at history. Keep in mind no team from Oklahoma or Louisiana have ever qualified for NXN and Arkansas has only sent one. All three of those states have teams with a realistic shot on Saturday. Jesuit and Brother Martin, both of New Orleans, had a great battle at the LHSAA state championships on Monday in Natchitoches. Jesuit won it 27-32 but both teams demonstrated the strength and depth to be a factor on Saturday. Jesuit's team, led by Brady Mullen, is coming to NXR South after skipping it last year to focus on RunningLane. Meanwhile, Bentonville of Arkansas has a deep team, led by Matthew Shelly, Owen Kelley and James American Horse, who went 1-2-3 in the Arkansas state meet. Deer Creek of Edmond, Okla. won the Chile Pepper team title as well as an Oklahoma state championship and is another darkhorse. Individually, returning champion Adam Burlison, an Oregon recruit and 4:03 miler, will compete in his first race against high school competition this fall after transferring to Amarillo TX over the summer and opting to play football as the kicker (his dad is an assistant coach for the team).