All things considered, it was a very quiet week of college indoor action with the big conference meets mostly looming ahead this coming weekend.

Coming into the outdoor season, the 3A girls race could scarcely look any closer. We shall see if it remains as close as it appears now through the season.

Roughly half way between Vernal and Provo lies the small town of Duchesne. But, don't be deceived, that small town just may prove to be the capital of small school track and field this spring in Utah.

For now, at least, ground zero for high school distance in the Rocky Mountain region lies somewhere along the Wasatch Front.

This article will be periodically updated as new results are received.

' + ' (via Running Times)

It's almost time for the Simplot Games to begin and the Utah contingent appears ready to breathe some fire into Holt Arena.

We're tracking a growing list of Utah high school alumni in the college ranks. Thanks for the help you've provided with this.

NEW YORK CITY-With an unbelievable time of 3:54.54, Miles Batty broke the indoor collegiate mile record by eight hundredths of a second on Saturday night at the 2012 Millrose Games, which took place at the Armory Track & Field facilities in New York City. (via byucougars.com)

Kelsey Braithwaite's 8th-place finish at Foot Locker Nationals set a high standard for Utah girls to aspire to in coming years. Photo by Don Rich, Penn Track XC.

Interested in learning what it takes to move your performances (or your team's performances) up a notch or two?

Austin West earns his first weekly award after record a top conference mile at UNM (via suutbirds.com)

NEW YORK CITY – Nachelle Mackie and Christen Guenther had record-breaking performances to lead the BYU women’s track and field team to a second place team finish at the prestigious New Balance Invitational. (via byucougars.com)

Utah's high school alumni were putting some big marks up on tracks all around the country this past week.

The biggest high school indoor meet in the Southwest is set to take the stage on Saturday evening.

There weren't many high school meets in Utah this past week, but the size of the one there was more than made up for it.

Utah is one of the top distance states in the nation. Starting today, MileSplit will be actively tracking high school cross country and track and field for the state of Utah. Photo by Alan Versaw.

Candace Eddy wears a different color uniform these days, but is still every bit as competitive in the college ranks as she was in high school. Photo by Alan Versaw.

In this second episode of The Fit Runner our host is Tara Gidus, aka the "Diet Diva" and nutritionist to the Orlando Magic. She gives us some solid meal and hydration ideas for before, after, and during a run. This is the latest episode in our series on being a fit runner.

Cheserek held off a late charge by Zeinasellassie after a back and forth battle nearly the whole way.  Seidel was able to make a break with 300 to go after Finn led the race for close to 2.5 miles.  Great races all around from all the athletes!  (Photo by Don Rich)

It took a long time for the pack at the front of the boys championship race to break up. Photo by Alan Versaw.

Click on the “Top Performances at the Nike Cross Southwest Regional, by State” title for details.

Click on the “Nike Cross National Qualifiers, from Southwest Regional” title for details.

Find the team rosters for the boys championship race here.

Find the team rosters for the girls championship race at NXN-SW here.

This year's boys championship race won't be starting at exactly the time you thought it was going to start. Photo by Jeff McCoy.

Mountain View and Davis figure to be two of the teams toward the top once again at this year's NXN-SW boys race. Colorado Track XC file photo.

Louisville (Monarch) fell to Fort Collins by one point at last year's NXN-SW regional. Both teams return this year to battle again. Colorado Track XC file photo.

US#1 Julie Macedo and US#8 Haley Pierce battled each other relentlessly in Delaware this past weekend, with Haley collapsing and Julie finishing 2nd after staggering close to the finish.  US#4 Grace Tinkey is back and won a state title with the only sub-18 time on the day.  US#6 Erin Finn won her state title in MI and looks poised for a great championship season ahead.  US#7 Katie Knight blasted a 17:10 5k in WA to win a state title and run the fastest time in the state by far.  Full updates on each athletes recent accomplishments are below.  Be sure to click on each athletes name to see times, articles, photos and interviews of each athlete if available.  

Click on the “Charting the NXN Southwest Regionals, By State” title for more.

Three of the top four girls finishers from last year's NXN-SW championship race are back, and they're each bringing top-tier teams with them to back them up. Photo by Alan Versaw.

Fort Bluff Camp is known for championship tournaments with many of the fall sports, but November 12th will mark the first ever NACA Cross Country Championship meet.

Jeff Abbey leads the Fort Collins finishers at the Front Range Conference meet just over a week ago. Photo by Jeff McCoy.

Nevada's Nick Hartle made it to NXN last year and appears to be the Silver State's strongest hope for representation at the national championship again this year. Colorado Track XC file photo.

Ideal tool for track & field coaches and athletes. Convert marks/times/pace. This is a nice, easy tool for any fan, coach, or athlete of cross country running, road racing, or track & field.

When you start looking at the top talent in Arizona, it's hard to miss Carter Macey and his Desert Vista teammates. And, although they took this past weekend off, they are taking the desert by storm. Photo by Margot Kelly.

Josh Ripley didn't have to stop. Running in a recent cross country meet for Andover (Minn.) High, the junior varsity runner was making his way through the trail at the Applejack Invite when he heard a loud scream during the first mile of a two-mile race. Most of the other kids running didn't pay much attention to Lakeville South runner Mark Paulauskas, who was writhing in pain at the time, as they passed by. (via Yahoo! Sports)

This first episode covers core training techniques. These workouts will apply to you whether you are already on an elite level or just the beginning. For beginners they may serve as an intense workout to build your core muscles. If you're already in shape they are crucial for you to maintain and sharpen that core strength and to prevent injury by helping you stabilize your movement.

Although it's way too early to make hard predictions about who will get bids to the NXN-SW championship races, it's not at all too soon to look and see what's happening in the various states that may have implications for who might make it to the big dance.

We're proud to introduce the "The Fit Runner," a new series from MileSplit. Each month a new episode will be published related a fitness or wellness topic geared towards the runner.

It's still early, very early, but it's time to start looking at which teams are positioning themselves for a bid to the championship races at NXN-SW.

Wesley Frazier (NC) left little doubt as to who the best runner in the country is after the 2011 outdoor track season.  The Ravenscroft harrier created her own form of history at the 2011 NBON meet by winning two events and finished an impressive third in another.  Frazier won the 5000 meter run with a sophomore record of 16:24.83 after taking control of the race late.  She then came back in the 2 mile and finished third with an impressive 10:10.86 clocking.  She could have stopped right there and cemented her legacy as a super-soph, but Frazier was also entered in the mile.

Universal Sports has complete coverage of the 2011 World Track and Field Championships from Daegu, South Korea. Watch all of your favorite athletes, including Jamaica's Usain Bolt, Americans Bernard and Allyson Felix and Croatia's Blanka Vlasic. Sign up now to watch livestreams of both sessions on all nine days of the competition.(via www.universalsports.com)

  INDIANAPOLIS, IN (August 23, 2011) — Participation in high school sports increased for the 22nd consecutive school year in 2010-11, according to the annual High School Athletics Participation Survey conducted by the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS). Based on figures from the 50 state high school athletic/activity associations, plus the District of Columbia, that are members of the NFHS, sports participation for the 2010-11 school year reached another record-breaking total of 7,667,955 participants. Boys and girls participation figures also reached respective all-time highs with 4,494,406 boys and 3,173,549 girls participating in 2010-11 – an overall increase of 39,578 participants from 2009-10. “While the overall increase was not as much as we’ve seen in the past few years, we are definitely encouraged with these totals given the financial challenges facing our nation’s high schools,” said Bob Gardner, NFHS executive director. “The benefits of education-based athletics at the high school level are well-documented, and we encourage communities throughout the nation to keep these doors of opportunity open.  

When you live under the shadow of Pikes Peak, it's easy to think it's all about elevation. It turns out that it's more complicated than that. Colorado Track XC file photo.

Track Chat with Ciarra Brewer, James Logan CA, who boasts a 43-04.25 PR for the Triple Jump, good for US#7 All-Time.

 Sign your team or individual up now to have a chance to complete for a spot in the meet in June!

   The top ten times are getting quicker as the season advances.  This week we filtered out the wind aided marks in a few events.

The outdoor season is in full swing.......please send results in a flat html format to the webmaster in your state (located at the bottom of the home page).  We do not want to leave anyone out of the rankings!

 Each week Milesplit will be highlighting the top athletes across the nation.  Please make sure the results from meets in your area are sent to your state webmasters so we can keep our rankings accurate and up to date.  We don't want to leave anyone out!

  The series continues with Part 3: Defining the Moment.  This week Aron Taylor spotlights Craig Virgin, Thom Hunt, Greg Meyer, Ed Eyestone, Steve Plasencia and George Malley.

Each week Milesplit will be highlighting the top athletes across the nation.  Please make sure the results from meets in your area are sent to your state webmasters so we can keep our rankings accurate and up to date.  We don't want to leave anyone out! 

  Each week Milesplit will be highlighting the top athletes across the nation.  Please make sure the results from meets in your area are sent to your state webmasters so we can keep our rankings accurate and up to date.  We don't want to leave anyone out! 

 The first in a 4 part series by Aron Taylor.  Part 1 spotlights Andrew Bumbalough, Molly Huddle, Blake Russell, Hannah Valenzuela (Apple Valley, CA), Ammar Moussa (Arcadia CA) and Craig Lutz (Flower Mound, TX).

  In a re-affirmation of its longstanding opposition to national championships in high school sports, the membership of the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) defeated a proposed amendment to the NFHS Bylaws that would have allowed the NFHS to conduct national championships in golf and cross country.

 Many athletes sometimes get anxious when they play against a tough opponent. They get nervous on who they are competing with and they get so worked up that they lose focus on playing their sport. In the end, they make mistakes and end up beating themselves up if they do not win. As a result, here is a list of techniques that an athlete can use to help manage the stress of playing against the competition.     The first step is to learn as much as you can on your opponent. Although this may seem obvious, some athletes may think they already know what they need to know. Remember there is always something to learn about your competition. Read the reports about your opponent and watch him or her performance. Try to figure out an angle on how you can beat your competition. The more you know about your competition the better your chances are you will win. This will also help to reduce your worries in the future.    

 At times, our worries and anxieties can overwhelm us. In addition, our worries can distort our perception of what is reality and what is not. As a result, this may interfere with your sport of track and field. Here is a brief list of techniques that a track and field athlete can use to help gain a better perspective on things during their anxious moments.   Sometimes we get stressed out when everything happens all at once. When this happens, a person should take a deep breath and try to find something to do for a few minutes to get their mind off of the problem. A person could read the newspaper, listen to some music or do an activity that will give them a fresh perspective on things. This is a great technique to use right before your next game.  

  Lukas Verzbicas, IL, has clearly established himself as the best high school XC harrier of 2010 with an impressive Nike XC Nationals win in the mud and a dominating win in the sun at the Foot Locker Nationals.  Lukas became the first harrier to win both the NXN and Foot Locker titles in the same year and just the 3rd harrier ever to win 2 Foot Locker titles.  These stats should establish a foundation for considering him as one of the best high school harriers of all-time.  

  MileSplit US coverage team of Brandon Miles, Jason Byrne, Geoff Decker, and Margot Kelly provide in-depth analysis and pre-meet insight into the 2010 Foot Locker Nationals in San Diego, California. Broken down into a total of eight preview video shows discussing the top runners and qualifiers from each of the four regions.

The 2010 Foot Locker Nationals are in the books!  Aisling Cuffe and Lukas Verzbicas have put their stamp on history with equally dominating performances with winning times of 16:53 and 14:59.

   We are now one of the most widely used online registration system for high school meets in Nation. Wanna know why? Because we provide a convinient way for coaches to enter right from the MileSplt calendar and save meet directors HOURS of time.    

Participate and vote in our polls on who will win the 2010 Nike Cross Nationals individual and team titles this weekend at Portland Meadows in Oregon. The Fayetteville-Manlius girls are heavy favorites, while American Fork boys appear to be a very slight favorite in most pre-meet predictions and rankings. Meanwhile, Foot Locker Midwest and NXN Midwest champions Lukas Verzbicas (IL) and Allie Woodward (WI) are the top ranked individuals heading into Saturday's national championship race.   NXN Boys Team Poll NXN Girls Team Poll NXN Boys Individual Poll NXN Girls Individual Poll

    The 7th annual Nike Cross Nationals will be held on Saturday, December 4th, at Portland Meadows on the north side of the city of Portland, Oregon. The meet has served as the unofficial yet virtually legitimate national high school cross country team championships since NXN's inception in 2004. A total of 22 of the nation's best cross country teams representing nine regions across the country will be racing alongside each other on the three loop course inside the horsetrack within the infield area of Portland Meadows.  The 5K course layout has traditionally been muddy and slick footing as a result of the area's regular rainfall. The Nike experience is an unforgettable few days for the athletes and coaches starting with the all-expense paid trip to Oregon as well as plenty of free gear and other perks showered upon them as they arrive on the Nike Campus.

A virtual meet preview of the championship girls' race for the 2010 Nike Cross Nationals based on current season best 5K performances in the MileSplit database. No individual qualifiers are included in this virtual meet preview and only runners on the 22 team qualifiers. Any corrections or missing times, please email to bmiles@milesplit.us.

A virtual meet preview of the championship boys' race for the 2010 Nike Cross Nationals based on current season best 5K performances in the MileSplit database. No individual qualifiers are included in this virtual meet preview and only runners on the 22 team qualifiers. Any corrections or missing times, please email to Brandon Miles at bmiles@milesplit.us.

 The 10th release of the MileSplit XC Super 50 rankings comes amidst the thick of the post-season.  The NXN Nationals are held this weekend in Portland, Oregon and the Foot Locker West Championships are held in Walnut, California.  The following weekend in San Diego the best individual harriers take to the historic stage of the Foot Locker National Championships to crown a new girls and boys champion.  We are getting ever closer to seeing who the best harriers truly are, the only way possible, through head-to-head racing!

A list of all team and individual qualifiers for the 2010 Nike Cross Nationals to be held Saturday, December 4th at Portland Meadows in Portland, Oregon. Includes links to team pages and athlete profile pages on MileSplit. At-large team berths were announced on Monday by meet management. Davis (UT), Loyola (CA), The Woodlands (TX), and Neuqua Valley (IL) were selected as the at-large teams for boys. North Shore (NY), Great Oak (CA), La Costa Canyon (CA), and Wheaton Warrenville South (IL) were selected as the at-large teams for girls.

The meet management wasn't distributing results, but nobody needed them to determine who the winner was. Even if they'd gone by too fast to read the name on front, we all knew it was the team in the bright orange uniforms that had won the meet. It's difficult to pick the two best runners on American Fork's roster, but these two are plenty to handle. Photos by Alan Versaw.

Claire Green of Louisville leads a pack of Colorado runners early in the NXN-SW girls championship race. Photo by Alan Versaw.

 Julia Foster (Albuquerque, NM) and Billy Orman (Tuba City, AZ) won the Nike SW Regionals held Saturday in Gilbert Arizona.

Need to quickly check what box your team is in? Championship race box assignments are listed here.

    Click here to view the start lists for Saturday's NXN-SW regional.

Now a senior, Austin West returns to help American Fork chase a regional title. Colorado Track XC File Photo.

Albuquerque Academy's Julia Foster is the top returning finisher from last year's NXN-SW race. Colorado Track XC File Photo.  

Palo Verde (Nevada) freshman Katie Gorczyca dominated the Nevada state meet in a way we haven't seen since the sisters Lawrence. Photo contributed by Phil Lawton.

Cheyenne Mountain's boys executed a near-perfect patient pack strategy to dominate the Colorado 4A boys state championship. Photo by Alan Versaw.  

New harriers make rank, while the top of the guys rankings is as tight as ever!  Here comes the post-season!

Los Alamos: New Mexico's green wall of girls. Photo by Blake Wood.

Three years after hiring its first editor to provide weekly coverage from a national perspective, MileSplit.US–-the national portal of the 50-state MileSplit Network-–has received a long-overdue makeover.

A few changes and a few editions, but look for the action to heat up in the coming weeks!

Few changes as most are idle, but there are a handful of new editions to the national roster.

Brittany Tretbar leads a Desert Vista team with a steadily rising profile on the regional scene. Photo by Margot Kelly.

 

It was a Who's Who of Colorado female high school cross country runners at the start of the Pat Patten Invite on Friday. Kelsey Lakowske, second from lett, sneaked away for the win. Photo by Jeff McCoy.

One of the most hotly debated discussions on any cross country discussion board (including our own) is the accuracy of courses.  This article will not attempt to dive into that debate or the exact method you should use to measure the course. We will debunk one thing and one thing only: why GPS readings have no place in the discussion.

Shea Martinez, Avery Calton, and Jamie Stokes have helped keep Davis and Ogden at the top of the Utah girls rankings. Photo contributed by Corbin Talley.

Rio Rancho's Caleb Rubalcaba had the weekend off, but has been running the competition ragged in New Mexico this fall. Photo contributed by Sal Gonzales.

Clayton Young has stepped up in a big way for American Fork over the last three weeks. Colorado Track XC file photo.

Highlands Ranch phenom Eleanor Fulton had a very nice weekend, winning the Division II girls title at Liberty Bell and breaking the meet record in the process. Photos by Jeff McCoy.

Welcome to the Lions' Den: Alhambra's season has been going very nicely to date. Photo by Margot Kelly.

What aspects are unique to the world of men's track and field scholarships?

  Manage your meets, or just prepare & distribute your meet results, with RaceTab. Click on the “RACETAB, Free Meet Management Software” title for further information.