(La Salle Academy RI.)

1. Fayetteville-Manlius HS, Manlius, New York (1)
It’s going to take a heroic run from Great Oak or another school to stop F-M from winning their ninth NXN title in 10 years on December 5. They are fresh off another dominant win at the NXN New York regional race on November 28. Senior Kaitlyn Neal won the regional in 17:37, 13 seconds clear of second place. Behind her, F-M finished 7-8-10-12 on their way to 38 points and an easy win over No. 5-ranked Saratoga Springs (80 points).

2. November 18 ranking in parentheses. NR=Not Ranked, Temecula, California (2)
Great Oak, who has been chasing F-M in the rankings all year, looked vulnerable at the California state meet on November 28 as Davis Senior gave them all they could handle. Great Oak won the state title, 44­–46, by finishing 1-7-11-12-13 with a 59-second split. Destiny Collins won the individual state title by 13 seconds to lead Great Oak. They’ll need to close the gap between Collins and the pack if they’re going to surprise F-M at NXN.

3. Davis Senior HS, Davis, California (NR)
Fiona O’Keeffe led a tight pack of Davis Senior runners that almost upset No. 2-ranked Great Oak at the California state championship. Davis finished 5-6-8-9-18 with a 38-second spread between the top five and lost by only two points to Great Oak. All five runners will need to be on again at NXN, as they have a steep drop-off after their fifth runner—Davis’s sixth was 67th place at the California state meet.

4. Green Hope NC, Utah (3)
Southlake Carroll TX 59 points to easily qualify for NXN. Junior Sara Musselman led the Utah state champions to a 4-7-8-10-30 finish. American Fork was 22nd at NXN last year.

5. Southlake Carroll TX, Saratoga Springs, New York (4)
Saratoga Springs was second once again to F-M at the NXN New York regional, finishing with 80 points behind F-M’s 38. Freshman Kelsey Chmiel finished second to F-M’s Neal to lead Saratoga Springs. They were 10th at NXN in 2014.

6. Pennsbury HS, Pennsbury, Pennsylvania (10)
Senior Olivia Sargent led Pennsbury to a big win at NXN Northeast on November 28. Sargent finished second and Pennsbury scored 59 points, 66 points clear of La Salle Academy in second. The NXN New York and Northeast regional races were held on the same course but at different times. Pennsbury’s average of 18:52 on the Bowdoin Park course in New York was one second faster than that of No. 5-ranked Saratoga Springs.

7. Willmar HS, Willmar, Minnesota (6)
The Willmar girls haven’t raced since winning the NXN Heartland regional with a tight, 147-149 win over No. 7-ranked Edina on November 15. Junior Jessa Hanson led Willmar, who finished 12-22-27-35-51 with a 57-second split between the top five.

8. Edina HS, Edina, Minnesota (7)
Like Willmar, Edina hasn’t raced since finishing two points behind Willmar at NXN Heartland, finishing 17-23-25-34-50 to score 149 points. The second-place finish earned them a trip to NXN a week after they won the Minnesota state championship with 68 points over Marshall (76) and Willmar (118) on November 7. Maria Rickman led the way for Edina at NXN, finishing the 5K in 18:11. Edina doesn’t have a senior in the top seven.

9. Bozeman HS, Bozeman, Montana (8)
The Bozeman girls have not raced since winning the NXN Northwest regional race on November 14 to punch a ticket to NXN. Bozeman finished 7-9-14-38-41 with a 1:20 split between their top five to score 109 points en route to their 10-point win over Sunset. Kenenni Wiegan, Piper Meuwissen, and Camila Noe led a strong top three that made the difference for the Montana state champions.

10. Centerville HS, Centerville, Ohio (9)
Centerville won the NXN Midwest regional on November 15, thanks to strong pack running. Centerville finished 16-23-28-35-43 with an impressive 18-second gap between their top five to score 145 points. It was a tight win, as Northville of Michigan—who will compete at NXN after a brief scare that the MHSAA wouldn’t let them—was second with 152 points to nab the automatic NXN qualifying spot over Naperville North’s 153 points. Carmel was fourth with 159. Both Naperville North and Carmel earned at-large invitations and will be at NXN.

TOP 5 REGIONAL RANKINGS

New York
1. Fayetteville-Manlius
2. Saratoga Springs
3. North Rockland
4. Sachem East
5. East Aurora

Northeast
1. Pennsbury (PA)
2. La Salle Academy (RI)
3. Coe-Brown Academy (NH)
4. Unionville (PA)
5. Ridge (NJ)

South
1. Southlake Carroll (TX)
2. Kingwood (TX)
3. Lewisville Marcus (TX)
4. Keller (TX)
5. Lewisville-Hebron (TX)

Southeast
1. Blacksburg (VA)
2. Lake Braddock (VA)
3. The Bolles School (FL)
4. Green Hope (NC)
5. Riverside (NC)

Midwest
1. Centerville (OH)
2. Northville (MI)
3. Naperville North (IL)
4. Carmel (IN)
5. Yorkville (IL)

Heartland
1. Willmar (MN)
2. Edina (MN)
3. St. Thomas Aquinas (KS)
4. Wayzata (MN)
5. Marshall (MN)

Southwest
1. American Fork (UT)
2. Desert Vista (AZ)
3. Davis (UT)
4. Air Academy (CO)
5. Broomfield (CO)

Northwest
1. Bozeman (MT)
2. Sunset (OR)
3. Summit (OR)
4. Jesuit (OR)
5. Billings Senior (MT)

California
1. Great Oak
2. Davis Senior
3. Saugus
4. Arcadia
5. Bella Vista

See the boys' rankings here.