Nike Cross Nationals; Brandon Garnica claims All American

Submitted by carey.white on
Attachment Size
IMG_0347.JPG 253.85 KB
IMG_2092.jpg 277.51 KB
IMG_0348.JPG 111.48 KB
IMG_2091.jpg 196.47 KB

Nike Cross Nationals is a very unique event and one we have been lucky to participate in the past two years. In order to get to Nationals, you need to qualify to be in the Championship race at Nike Regionals - this means you have to be in the top 25 teams in your region (Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, and Nevada). From there if you place top 2 in the Championship race as a team you automatically qualify to go to Nationals. If you place 3rd or 4th, your team name is put in a bid holding area until all the other races from the other regions are completed across the country. From there the Nike Committee will select the 4 next best teams from the bidding pool and they will receive an "at large bid" meaning that they are invited to go to Nationals. That is what happened to our boys last year.

Fortunately, this year we took 2nd at Regionals so we automatically qualified. There are 22 teams that go to Nationals that are the best of the best in the entire nation. Out of those 22 teams, our team finished 5th (ten places better than last year). Brandon Garnica led our team by finishing 20th place making him an All American. We had three more boys finish in the top 52 places. The boys ran well, especially on an extremely challenging course, made even more difficult with all the rain and mud. It was a great capstone on an incredible season and a testament of what a dream, hard work, and dedication can do. 

Attributions
by Sam Smith, Cross Country Coach