The 2024 high school cross country season will continue with one last race for a small group of Missouri runners. The Rockhurst Hawklets will make history Saturday in Portland, becoming just the second Show-Me State squad to ever compete at the NXN meet. Meanwhile, in Huntsville, Alabama, more than a dozen will compete at the fifth annual RunningLane Cross Country Championships.
Dalby's Girls Racing for Title at NXN @ 12:05pm
Also in Portland, Lee's Summit High School and University of Central Missouri alum and former standout Jon Dalby and his Mountain Vista ladies will race for the national title. His team from the Denver suburbs is the slight favorite in the MileSplit NXN Girls Preview. A year ago, The Mountain Vista girls placed 5th in the Colorado 5A state meet, then 3rd at the NXR Southwest Regional, good enough to earn an at-large NXN berth. Then the Highlands Ranch, Colorado team had the race of their life, taking 3rd at nationals to make it to the podium and earn a trophy. The Championship Girls race is at 12:05 p.m. CT.
Historic Rockhurst
After their amazing 59-point total Class 5 state title, Rockhurst pulled off a stellar performance at NXR Midwest in Terre Haute, IN. Individual state champion Henry Acorn just missed an individual NXN berth, taking 6th to lead the "Rock Running" club to a 2nd place finish, behind Downers Grove North and ahead of Plainfield North, both from the Chicago suburbs.
Rockhurst will race at Glendoveer Golf Course at 1:35 p.m.
Coach Michael Dierk's Rockhurt squad follow Coach Steve Davis' 2006
Potosi Boys as the only other team from Missouri to compete at nationals. The
Trojans were selected as participants in the 3rd edition of the meet, formerly
known as Nike Team Nationals. Potosi was one of 20 teams to be selected
to before qualifying meets or individual berths were part of the
event.
Potosi raced in the slop of a mostly muddy course in 2006,
taking 8th out of 20th. Potosi was led by a super trio of Josh Mathis, Josh Thebeau, and Jacob Swearingen. Senior Josh Mathis was 10th in 16:55, sophomore Swearingen 17th in 17:07, and senior Josh Thebeau was 26th in 17:16. Daniel Forbes, Nick Niggemann, Joe Skelton, and Evan Kelly rounded out the Trojan squad, one of the state's best ever.
Come back tomorrow for more on Rockhurst and how they managed one of the best seasons in state history.
Although Rockhurst is just the second Missouri squad to qualify and compete at NXN, it isn't the first NXN for Coach Dierks and the Rockhurst program. Rockhurst 2012 alum and state champion
Zach Herriott placed 4th at the 2011 NXR meet then placed 9th at nationals to earn 2nd-Team All-America honors.
RunningLane XC Championships
The city of Huntsville, Alabama, built a course that opened in 2019 at John Hunt Park. The course has been home to the RunningLane XC Championships since its inception and will host the fifth edition on Saturday. The course is fast and a handful of Missouri's best will be there looking to earn personal records.
RunningLaneXC Champs
Meet page
More Info
Live Webcast
Live Results
Pre-Meet Articles
Final Entries for RLXC
Boys Preview
Girls Preview
RLXC: From Race Experience to National Titles
FINAL Schedule. All times are CENTRAL TIME ZONE.
8:00 - Community Race
9:00 - Silver Girls Race
9:30 - Silver Boys Race
10:00 - Presentation of Colors - National Anthem
10:15 - GOLD GIRLS RACE
11:00 - GOLD BOYS RACE
11:30 - Bronze Boys Race
Festus junior
Carson Driemeier (above) will be racing for hardware. The Class 4 state champion is featured in the
Boys Preview in a third group of runners to watch. Also in the Boys Gold race are a number of Class 4 and Class 5 standouts including Class 4 runner-up
Liam Adair (below) of Smithville and Class 5 's
Hunter DeLeeuw of Lee's Summit and
Cameron Martensen of Rolla.
2024 RLXC Entries with Grade, School, Seed Time, and Race Entered In
| Carson | Driemeier | 11th | Festus | 0:15:05 | Gold |
| Hunter | DeLeeuw | 12th | Lee's Summit | 0:15:27 | Gold |
| Liam | Adair | 12th | Smithville | 0:15:38 | Gold |
| Cameron | Martensen | 11th | Rolla | 0:15:42 | Gold |
| Kaden | Deain | 12th | Lee's Summit West | 0:15:54 | Gold |
| Tanner | Jenks | 12th | Platte County | 0:15:57 | Gold |
| Lucas | Amador | 9th | Parkway Central | 0:16:06 | Gold |
| Brandon | Hammett | 11th | Butler | 0:16:16 | Silver |
| Nolan | Spickert | 9th | Centralia | 0:16:40 | Silver |
| Chaska | Shearin | 10th | Alton | 0:17:19 | Silver |
| Jensen | Decker | 9th | Centralia | 0:17:44 | Bronze |
| Nathaniel | Aguilarleon | 12th | Rolla | 0:17:47 | Bronze |
Four Missouri ladies are entered in the meet. Class 5 All-Staters Mary McKenzie (below) of Cor Jesu and Abigail Tague of Lebanon will compete in the Gold race.
| Mary | McKenzie | 11th | Cor Jesu | 0:18:22 | Gold |
| Abigail | Tague | 11th | Lebanon | 0:18:42 | Gold |
| Shalana | Whittenburg | 12th | Alton | 0:20:48 | Silver |
| Jordan | Eastburn | 11th | Lebanon | 0:20:49 | Silver |
The 2024 high school cross country season will continue with one last race for a small group of Missouri runners. The Rockhurst Hawklets will make history Saturday in Portland, becoming just the second Show-Me State squad to ever compete at the NXN meet. Meanwhile, in Huntsville, Alabama, more than a dozen will compete at the fifth annual RunningLane Cross Country Championships.
Dalby's Girls Racing for Title at NXN @ 12:05pm
Also in Portland, Lee's Summit High School and University of Central Missouri alum and former standout Jon Dalby and his Mountain Vista ladies will race for the national title. His team from the Denver suburbs is the slight favorite in the MileSplit NXN Girls Preview. A year ago, The Mountain Vista girls placed 5th in the Colorado 5A state meet, then 3rd at the NXR Southwest Regional, good enough to earn an at-large NXN berth. Then the Highlands Ranch, Colorado team had the race of their life, taking 3rd at nationals to make it to the podium and earn a trophy. The Championship Girls race is at 12:05 p.m. CT.
Historic Rockhurst
After their amazing 59-point total Class 5 state title, Rockhurst pulled off a stellar performance at NXR Midwest in Terre Haute, IN. Individual state champion Henry Acorn just missed an individual NXN berth, taking 6th to lead the "Rock Running" club to a 2nd place finish, behind Downers Grove North and ahead of Plainfield North, both from the Chicago suburbs.
Rockhurst will race at Glendoveer Golf Course at 1:35 p.m.
