2024 NXN Reactions: Jane Hedengren Dominates, Charlie Vause Pulls Off Massive Upset, Mountain Vista & Niwot Win NXN Team Titles

Written by Joiner Evans & Donny Speas

Edits & additional commentary via Garrett Zatlin

Well that was fun, huh?

The NXN Championships have concluded, leaving us at The Stride Report with plenty to discuss! Below, we asked our writers a large handful of questions regarding the performances that we saw in Portland, Oregon.

Here's what they had to say...

Girl's Analysis

Jane Hedengren broke the course record at NXN with a 16:32 (5k) mark en route to the national title. The Utah native won by 41 seconds. Are you surprised by how dominant Hedengren was against a field packed with numerous superstars?

Donny: Frankly, I’m not surprised in the slightest that Jane Hedengren dominated this field, winning by a monstrous 41-second margin.

I mean, we did see something very similar play out a couple of weeks ago when Hendengren won the NXR Southwest meet by an identical 41-second margin over 2023 NXN champion (and Saturday’s 5th-place finisher), Addison Ritzenhein. 

However, I am a little surprised about how fast Hendengren was considering the terrible conditions on the course. Sure, we’ve known that Hendengren is immensely talented by virtue of her aforementioned NXR Southwest win and her out-of-this-world credentials on the track.

Even so, breaking a course record that once belonged to Katelyn Tuohy on a day that was not conducive to fast times says a lot about how where Hedengren sits among the all-time elites.

Joiner: I would have been surprised to see anyone but Jane Hedengren cross the finish line on top. She has shown incredible confidence and poise in all of her races this season, taking down national standouts like reigning NXN champion Addison Ritzenhein whom she beat by 41 seconds at the NXR Southwest meet (the same margin of victory at NXN).

However, I was surprised to see no other competitors going with Hedengren early-on during Saturday's race. Despite the Utah native having an immense amount of raw aerobic strength, simply letting her go without an initial pursuer was a bit of a surprise to me.

While Hedengren’s win was not surprising, her gap on the rest of the field was astounding. Considering several of her competitors were undefeated going into NXN, having a winning time over 40 seconds faster than the next-best runner not only showcased her strength, but her ability to peak perfectly for the postseason.

Which finisher in the girl's race surprised you the most / outperformed expectations?

Donny: I’ve got a couple of athletes who fit this question. The first one is Dani Scheffler from Uniontown, Ohio.

Scheffler had a fairly quiet regular season, never traveling outside of the state of Ohio until the NXR Midwest meet. There, she was the last NXN individual qualifier via her 5th place finish. That's why seeing her cross the line in 10th place on Saturday was a huge surprise for me -- she easily exceeded my expectations for her. 

The second name is Mountain Vista senior, Keeghan Edwards.

We’ve known that Edwards is a top-tier talent for some time, especially after her 16:52 (5k) performance on the track way back in February. However, it was definitely a positive surprise to see Edwards end her season with a huge 4th place finish at the national meet!

Keep in mind that Edwards was the highest-placing team-scoring athlete on Saturday. That is a stunning development given that she had “only” finished in 5th place at the Colorado 5A XC State Championships and 13th at the Liberty Bell Invitational earlier in the season.

Joiner: I agree with Donny, I think Keeghan Edwards surprised everyone out on the course on Saturday.

After settling for 5th place at the NXR Southwest meet, she managed the second-fastest final 1000-meter split at NXN to move up into 4th place. And after taking 5th place at the Colorado 5A XC State Championships, few would have put her among the top-20 finishers of NXN, much less the top-10.

Even so, Edwards moved up incredibly well throughout the race. Her 3:21 split over the final 1000 meters was just one second behind that of Jane Hedengren’s final 1k split. That stat further showcases how incredibly clutch she was despite chasing more accomplished women.

I was also really taken aback by Victoria Rodriguez’s race on Saturday. After finishing 4th at the NXN Northwest meet, Victoria was only four spots behind her sister, Sophia Rodriguez, this past weekend en route to a 12th place result.

After taking 3rd at the Washington 3A XC State Championships and settling for 10th place finish at the Woodbridge XC Classic, Victoria put herself in the front pack early-on and moved up eight places throughout the race to capture an impressive 12th place finish. That was easily her best performance of the season compared to what she had produced earlier this fall.

The Mountain Vista girls secured the national team title by 22 points over Lone Peak. What was the defining aspect of the Golden Eagles' lineup that allowed them to win gold?

Donny: I already mentioned her in one of the previous questions, but I’ve got to say that the "defining aspect" was Keeghan Edwards finishing as the top scoring athlete. Going into Saturday’s race, I didn’t expect Edwards to finish in the top-10 spots, much less the top-five. 

And yet, I don’t really think the Mountain Vista girls even had the race that they were truly capable of! They simply ran up to expectations, making them far and away the best team in a field where multiple programs had a few moments volatility.

Of course, to be clear, that is not to say that some members of the Golden Eagles didn’t perform well, individually.

Juliet Frum in 27th place and Peyton Adams taking 48th place were slightly better than what I expected. Meanwhile, Brenna Jorde had a quietly great day to plug the gaps in her team's lineup via her 89th place. She finished as Mountain Vista’s fifth and final scorer.

Sure, the Lone Peak girls had a more complete top-five, but Mountain Vista wasn't that far off and Edwards ended up being the difference maker.

Joiner: I am again going to agree with Donny -- I think the key factor in Mountain Vista’s win over Lone Peak came from the low-stick performance of Keeghan Edwards.

With Edwards surpassing expectations by multiple points, that result allowed the Golden Eagles to have a larger time-spread within their top-five compared to Lone Peak and still take the win with over 20 points.

Mountain Vista’s spread of 1:39 (among their top-five) spanned 85 positions with their fifth runner in 89th place compared to Lone Peak’s fifth runner who was in 66th place. For reference, at both the Colorado XC State Championships and the NXR Southwest meet, the Golden Eagles' top-five only differed by around 40 seconds.

The point that I am ultimately trying to make is that Saturday wasn't even Mountain Vista's best day. However, with an unexpectedly potent low-stick result from Edwards, they were able to grab the national title despite Lone Peak boasting a more complete top-five.

Highlight one team that caught your attention when the dust settled and the final results were shown.

Donny: Without a doubt, this one has to be the Wayzata girls. 

The Trojans typically sat around our TSR #20 to TSR #25 range in our top-25 high school cross country team rankings this season. That's good, maybe even great, but not necessarily fantastic. We only saw the Trojans compete against another ranked team on one occasion leading up to NXN. That lone matchup resulted in a loss to the Cardinal Gibbons girls (12th on Saturday) at the Roy Griak Invite back in September. 

Naturally, you can understand why I was very impressed with seeing Wayzata in the top-10 of the team standings when everything was said and done. 

Its hard to point to one specific reason why the Trojans performed so well at NXN. Across the board, every member of Wayzata’s roster had a better-than-normal day. That seemed to be just enough to slide them into the top-10.

Of course, if I had to point to any singular individual, it would Maddie Gullickson who secured a big-time 35th place finish at NXN. That was good for 10 points, giving Wayzata a massive low-stick presence at the front of this field that we weren't necessarily banking on them having.

Joiner: For me, the most surprising team on the girls side was definitely Lone Peak.

Going from a 4th place finish at the NXR Southwest meet to a 2nd place finish at NXN is nothing short of impressive. The Knights put up an impressive 39-second time spread within their top-five on Saturday. That tight-knit pack was a key strength that Lone Peak began to develop in the postseason at prior meets like the Utah 6A XC State Championships and the NXN Southwest meet.

Other impressive team performances came from Wayzata in 9th place and Clovis in 3rd place. Led by Maddie Gullickson in 35th place, Wayzata consistently stayed within the top-10 of the results throughout their NXN race despite them being lower ranked coming into the weekend.

Yes, the Clovis girls did snag bronze, but it was not their final position that was eye-catching. Instead, it was their top-five time spread that caught my attention. The Bears' top-five was only separated by an impressive 18 seconds, with four of their top girls finishing within four seconds of each other.

Boy's Analysis

On a scale of 1 to 10, how surprising was Charlie Vause winning the individual NXN title? How does this win compare to Aaron Sahlman's upset national title victory back in 2022?

Donny: I’ve got to go with a "9" here.

The only reason why I'm not a "10" on our surprised scale is because of Charlie Vause’s win at the Desert Twilight Invitational earlier this season over some notable names such as Aidan "Danny" Torres (12th at NXN), Kyle Steadman (2nd at NXR Southwest) and Oliver Horton (32nd at NXN). 

However, outside of the Desert Twilight Invite, Vause did not craft a resume that we would expect to see from an individual national champion. In fact, Vause didn’t even win his own state meet and was only 8th at Nike XC Town Twilight!

That, of course, is not to say that those are poor results -- they are just not what we typically expect from an individual national champion.

In terms of how Vause’s race compares to Aaron Sahlman’s legendary 2022 national title race, I’d say that it’s probably equal in terms of our surprise levels. We tend to forget about how dang good of a cross country runner Aaron Sahlman was back in high school, even prior to his NXN title.

He was, after all, the 6th place finisher at the RunningLane XC National Championships in 2021 (where he ran 14:14 for 5k) and was 2nd at the Woodbridge XC Classic that same year. 

Joiner: For me, I would also have to say that this was a "9" out of 10. 

If you look at Vause's fall campaign, he was incredibly consistent within the 14:40 to 15:00 range over 5000 meters the entire season. And yet, despite his consistency, he was "only" 8th at the Nike XC Town Twilight and he didn't even win his state title (although Corbin Combs is certainly no pushover).

Sure, Vause has championship experience on the track from Nike Outdoor Nationals, Hoka Festival of Miles and the Arcadia Invitational. However, he didn't have national meet experience on the grass prior to this past weekend.

If you are looking to compare Vause’s win to Aaron Sahlman’s victory in 2022, I think you have to look at their experience in national-caliber races. Plus, Aaron Sahlman wasn’t known for his cross country finishes, he had some fantastic track times to showcase his speed and endurance such as a 4:00 mile PR as well as a sub-1:50 (800) effort and a 3:45 (1500) mark.

Comparatively, Vause owns track times of 1:53 (800) and 4:08 (mile). Sahlman was also on one of the most competitive boys team in high school running history and he consistently competed at NXN, the Woodbridge XC Classic and other meets which featured elite fields.

Vause, on the other hand, has had minimal experience at larger meets. In my mind, that makes his race execution impressive from numerous perspectives. 

Which finisher in the boy's race surprised you the most / outperformed expectations?

Joiner: Ignoring the incredibly impressive performance of Charlie Vause, there are several athletes who I think really outperformed what was expected of them.

For starters, I think you have to talk about Tommy Latham. We all know that he has some incredible track talent via his 4:01 (mile) and 8:46 (two-mile) personal bests. However, those marks don't always translate to cross country.

As far as this fall campaign is concerned, one might not have expected Latham to sneak into a top-five position on Saturday. Latham was "only" the 10th place finisher at the Southern Showcase early-on in the season and was 3rd at both the Great American XC Festival and the NXR Southeast meet. 

Another boy who certainly had the track times to be in the conversation, but hadn’t truly showcased his cross country potential this season, was Evan Noonan.

With some stellar times on the oval this past year (8:43 for two miles and 4:06 in the mile), we were already familiar with Noonan's speed and endurance. However, he was "only" 18th at the Woodbridge XC Classic and settled for a less exciting 10th place at the Nike XC Town Twilight Invitational earlier in the season.

To take 5th place at NXN was brilliant. That result is a more accurate indication of how talented he is. It is also a promising sign that he is able to rally back from a few less exciting performances and that he is able to peak for the postseason.

Lastly, I’d have to put Aiden Le Roux in this category after seeing him earn a huge 9th place finish at NXN!

Le Roux has had incredible improvement over the past year to go from 15:17 (5k) to 14:30 (5k) this year. He has really exploded this fall with a win at the Colorado 4A XC State Championships, a 4th place result at the Nike Portland XC meet and a 5th place effort at the NXN Southwest meet.

Even so, the momentum that Le Roux built up at those races allowed him to beat expectations at NXN en route to a tremendous end-of-season result. 

Donny: Well, Charlie Vause is definitely the easy answer here. However, that’s a little too easy, so I'll try to focus on some of the more under-the-radar performances,

One name that really stood out to me was El Paso Eastwood’s Aidan (Danny) Torres in 12th place. Torres was “only” the 5th place finisher at the Desert Twilight Invite and he took 10th at the UIL 6A XC State Championships earlier in the season. That's why seeing the future Texas runner deliver an elite result in his final high school cross country race was a pleasant surprise.

Another runner who really impressed me on Saturday was American Fork’s Ryker Bement who snagged 26th place. One major reason why that result stood out to me was due to how impactful his performance was in the team competition, giving American Fork three athletes who scored 15 points or less (Carter Moore and Kaden Evans being the other two).

Bement was “only” the 12th place finisher at his state meet and he settled for 24th place at the NXR Southwest meet. That's why his clutch performance might have been the biggest reason why we saw American Fork take yet another runner-up finish. 

The Niwot boys won the NXN team title by 26 points. Compared to the rest of the field, should we have seen the Cougars' exceptional firepower coming? Or was their scoring potency unexpected?

Donny: If you had asked me who I thought the 2024 NXN champions were going to be immediately following the conclusion of the 2023 cross cross season, I would have undoubtedly answered the Niwot boys.

The Cougars returned their entire top-seven from a team that finished in 5th place at last year’s national meet. On paper, they were primed to win gold this fall.

That's why I’m definitely not surprised that Niwot took home the team title. However, I am mildly surprised at how Niwot’s lineup performed on Saturday, particularly in regards to the order in which they finished.

I am mainly talking about junior Hunter Robbie taking home the top spot for the Cougars. He has typically filled the role as Niwot’s third scorer throughout the earlier portions of this season.

I was also quite impressed by the team’s top-four time spread as a mere 14 seconds between Hunter Robbie in 21st place, Keegan Geldean in 27th place, Quinn Sullivan in 30th place and Gabriel Marshall in 35th place. All four of those aforementioned athletes scored less than 12 points each, ultimately giving Niwot the push they needed to bring home the national title.

Joiner: I think anyone could have predicted the Niwot boys being in contention for the NXN title this year.

The Cougars were incredibly consistent all season with dominant wins at the Desert Twilight Invite and the Colorado 5A XC State Championships. Such consistency is what I think propelled this team into the top position.

Niwot's top-four was dominant all season long. Not only that, but they had incredibly small margins between their top-five runners at the Colorado 5A XC State Championships, the NXR Southwest meet and NXN. 

Highlight one team that caught your attention when the dust settled and the final results were shown.

Joiner: For me, the one team that really stood out was State College of Pennsylvania in 8th place. The Lions finished in 2nd place at the NXR Northeast meet, just 11 points shy of Ridgefield High School.

The Oppermann brothers, Isaac and Theo, finished back-to-back to provide two low-stick results for the team. Another key note is that this was only the team’s second race outside of Pennsylvania during the season. To have that lack of experience on the national level and then show up to place 8th in the country is nothing short of impressive.

State College had a very steady progression throughout the race to move up six places overall. Additionally, three of their top boys are underclassmen, suggesting that the Lions hold great promise for the coming years.

Donny: Just like Joiner, I was absolutely dumbfounded by how well State College performed on Saturday. However, she has covered the Lions more than well enough. So for fear of being repetitive, I figured I’d focus on a different team. 

That team would have to be the American Fork boys who took home a runner-up result, beating out in-state rival Herriman by 10 points and falling to Niwot by 26 points.

American Fork largely seemed to be something of an afterthought this year after losing six out of seven of last year’s varsity contributors (including high school 5k record holder, Danny Simmons). Seemingly everyone (myself included) figured that Herriman would soundly beat American Fork during the regular season. 

However, by virtue of a couple of wonderful performances by Ryker Bement (26th), Austin Plewe (54th) and Dallin Harrington (79th), combined with the typical scoring potency provided by Oklahoma State commit Kaden Evans, the Cavemen were able to snag an impressive 2nd place result.