Minnesotans Eager for NXN Competition

Minnesota's two most decorated high school cross country teams and five individual runners are set to toe the starting line at Saturday's Nike Cross Nationals in Portland, Oregon.

The competition pits the nation's top high school teams and many of the country's best individuals against one-another in a national championship-style competition.

The NXN championship races will be streamed live HERE starting at noon CDT Saturday.

The MSHSL Class AA team champion Stillwater boys and Monticello girls arrive at the meet with high hopes. Stillwater is ranked #4 in the country in the most recent XCNation rankings, while Monticello is tabbed as the #5 girls' squad in the country.

Three-time Class AA state individual champion Maria Hauger is eying a high finish for herself. The Shakopee junior, who has also qualified as an individual for next week's Footlocker Nationals, won the NXN Heartland Regional meet by nearly 25 seconds.

Joining Hauger in the girls' field are Bemidji freshman Jenna Truedson and Eagan junior Danielle Anderson.

Class AA boys' champ Josh Thorson of Wayzata and Class A runner-up Brandon Clark of Blake will race individually in boys competition.

On the Scene ... Wayzata High School boys' assistant coach Eric Jahn is on the scene in Portland and has donned the Down the Backstretch media badge for the big weekend. He offers the following insights form the meet ...

Jahn reports that Stillwater coach Scott Christensen credits team chemistry as a major factor in his undefeated team's success, saying that his team has been cohesive and focused since returning from a parent-organized nine-day training trip to Wyoming in July.

Jahn adds that Stillwater alum Brian Brochman has been coaching the team for the past month. He is said to have the team healthy with gas in the tank, ready for a run at a top-ten finish.

Jahn also reports that the Monticello squad has high hopes as well. Heather Rasmussen, mother of Magic runner Brooke Rasmussen, has been coaching the team since the State. She told Jahn that the team has developed a competitive chemistry the past six weeks that has them all on the same page. The girls think they may surprise many people with a top-ten finish.

Shakopee's Hauger told Jahn that compared to this point last year, she feels fresh and much more fit, in spite of two high level qualifying performances at Footlocker Midwest and NXN Heartland.

This year, Hauger increased her weekly mileage from the 30-40 miles she did the past two years to 60 miles per week by the end of the 2011 preseason. She also raced a 5K or 10K road race nearly every week of the summer.

Hauger did reveal that she feels her best chance of a top finish is at Footlocker in San Diego because the racing surface will probably be more dry and firm, which should suit her forefoot running style.

Course conditions in Portland, according to Jahn, are likely to be wet and slow.

Class AA boys champ Thorson returns to NXN for the fourth straight year, but for the first time is not racing as part of the Wayzata team. Jahn said Thorson feels an extra incentive to prove that he belongs in Portland as an elite athlete, and that he hopes for a top-20 finish.