Can Jeremy Brown not only help his Broughton (NC) boys rebound from a state meet loss to qualify for Nike Cross Nationals, but win the individual title at NXN Southeast on Saturday in Cary, North Carolina? He's the top returnee and lone individual national qualifier back from last year's regional race.
An outstanding group of state champions behind him looking to join him in Portland, Oregon as well as challenge him for the win including a Foot Locker finalist from a year ago in Florida state champ Steven Cross, while other state champions who will be expected among the leaders including Delaware state champ Kevin Murray, Tennessee state champ Brodey Hasty, Maryland state champ Eric Walz, and Kentucky state champ Ethan Shuley.
The home state of North Carolina could send several individual qualifiers onto nationals with not only Brown, but Connor Lane who beat Brown and went sub 15 earlier in the season at WakeMed in the adidas Challenge in the race. However, Lane lost to Brown in the 4A state race as well as another loss in the Dash to Doobie 2 mile race last weekend to Kenny Kneisel of Mount Tabor.
Kneisel and Brown both hope to qualify their team for nationals, which could take out of the individual qualifier equation. The same goes for Walz as well with the Dulaney boys expected to be in the mix for a top two auto qualifying spot. Potential for the final individual qualifier spot to be found at #7 if so happens that two of those three runners see their team moving onto nationals. This also might be the best year ever for first at-large berth for the Southeast boys which would then exclude runners from three teams being counted towards the 5 individual national qualifiers.
The state of Maryland could potentially be very well represented with arguably all the state's best individuals competing here instead of Foot Locker Northeast including the likes of Walz, Rohann Asfaw, Jack Wavering, the Severna Park duo of Andrew Forsyth and Josh Tucker along with the rest of the Dulaney boys backing up Walz. Asfaw and Wavering with a breakthrough day could find themselves near the cutoff for nationals.
NXN Southeast Region Boys Top 15 Individual Picks
1. Jeremy Brown (Broughton NC)
2. Kevin Murray (Charter School of Wilmington DE)
3. Brodey Hasty (Brentwood TN)
4. Steven Cross (Merritt Island FL)
5. Eric Walz (Dulaney MD)
6. Ethan Shuley (Highlands KY)
7. Kenny Kneisel (Mount Tabor NC)
8. Connor Lane (Cardinal Gibbons NC)
9. Rohann Asfaw (Richard Montgomery MD)
10. Colin Schaefer (Lake Braddock VA)
11. Jack Wavering (Good Counsel MD)
12. Taylor Vroon (Brentwood TN)
13. Josh Tucker (Severna Park MD)
14. Joey Garrett (Tatnall DE)
15. Andrew Forsyth (Severna Park MD)
Can Jeremy Brown not only help his Broughton (NC) boys rebound from a state meet loss to qualify for Nike Cross Nationals, but win the individual title at NXN Southeast on Saturday in Cary, North Carolina? He's the top returnee and lone individual national qualifier back from last year's regional race.
An outstanding group of state champions behind him looking to join him in Portland, Oregon as well as challenge him for the win including a Foot Locker finalist from a year ago in Florida state champ Steven Cross, while other state champions who will be expected among the leaders including Delaware state champ Kevin Murray, Tennessee state champ Brodey Hasty, Maryland state champ Eric Walz, and Kentucky state champ Ethan Shuley.
