High School Report: NXN and Footlocker

In all the action and hoopla surrounding the NCAA Championships -- D2 and D3 will be contested on Saturday, D1 on Monday -- we've been remiss with news about the state's top high school athletes who are now competing in the "post-post-season" phase of the 2008 campaign -- Nike Cross Nationals and the Footlocker Cross Country Championships.

Here's the latest, then, on the preps ...

-- Minnesota will be represented by at least two teams at the Nike Cross Nationals in Portland, Oregon on December 6. Wayzata, avenging one its only defeats of 2008, topped Bismarck, North Dakota 62-65 to win the NXN Heartland Region boys championship. Bismarck won the Griak Invitational earlier in the season with 78 points; Wayzata finished 3rd at Griak with 155.

-- Wayzata boys' coach Bill Miles was named the Eastbay Coach of the Week prior to the Heartland meet. There's a nice interview with the long-time Wayzata coach HERE. Miles' Trojans were ranked #18 in the Harrier Super-25 poll prior to Heartland.

-- Eden Prairie won the Heartland girls' title 45-96 over Sioux Falls Roosevelt, and is the other Minnesota team sure to be on the line Portland. The 2008 Class AA champs placed three runners in the top-10, led by Class AA individual titlist Cassie Opitz who finished 5th overall.

The Eden Prairie boys could join the girls at NXN, too. The Eagles finished 4th at Heartland and are still eligible for one of four at-large berths to the Portland meet.

-- Minnesota will also send a passel of individuals to the NXN. The top five regional finishers not on a qualifying team earned trips to Portland. Grand Rapids' Jacub Zivec won the Heartland boys' individual title, pulling away from defending champ Joash Osoro of Bismarck in the final 100 meters of the 5K race to win in 15:24. Zivec, a Czech exchange student, was relegated to JV competition during the MSHSL season.

Also gaining national berths were Class AA champ Lukas Gemar of Moorhead, the 3rd place finisher in 15:37, Willmar's Mahad Hassan, 4th in 15:404, and Alexandria's Drew Paradis, 6th in 15:45. Jamie Piepenburg, also of Alexandria, who finished 3rd in the 5K girls' race in 18:08, is the state's lone female individual qualifier.

-- While regional competition for NXN continues elsewhere through the next two weekends -- you can keep track of all the action HERE -- many Minnesota preps are now turning their attention to next Saturday's Footlocker Midwest Regional in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Grand Rapids' Zivec and Class AA girls' runner-up Claire Guidinger of Winona are among the state's early entrants for the meet, found HERE.

The Footlocker Finals take place in San Diego, California on December 13.