PORTLAND, OREGON, December 06 — Two surprising developments turned the girls race at Nike Cross Nationals a bit on its head Saturday before Natasza Dudek (Pioneer, Ann Arbor, Michigan) outsprinted Blair Bartlett (Lawrenceville, New Jersey) for the crown.
The first was an unfortunate tumble just before the 1K mark by one of the prerace favorites, Averi Lowen (Bowdon, Georgia). Unlike last December, when Jane Hedengren overwhelmed the field in course record fashion, there was no clear choice to succeed her. However, then unbeaten Lowen — the NXR Southeast and Great American winner — was clearly one of four dominant Regional champs, including Dudek and Bartlett, that were considered most likely to triumph.
Lowen had been co-leading a pack of 10 when she lost her footing. It took just a few seconds, but she was able to get up and rejoin the large chase pack following them. But she never returned to the front.
Then at the 3K mark, Jaelyn Williams — not favored for a podium finish — committed to trying to win the race with a stunning breakaway surge. Williams (East Lake, Chula Vista, California) had come within 3 seconds of Sadie Engelhardt’s ’24 Woodward Park and state meet record while winning the D1 championship a week earlier. Thing was, Summer Wilson (Irvine, California) had already broken that mark by 5 ticks in the previous D2 race.
Williams’ move set the tone for the remainder of the race. She had been just off the pace during the third kilometer as Dudek, Bartlett and Maddie Gullickson, the leader of eventual team champ Wayzata (Minnesota), had broken away. Williams then reeled in Gullickson as she began to fade, and joined the lead duo.
The big move gapped Dudek and Bartlett but did not take them out of the chase. Once Williams gained a 4–5 second lead, that margin stayed the same for about a K.
With about 600 to go, Dudek surged past Bartlett and began a steady drive toward leader Williams. As the terraces approached with under 400 left, the Californian began to fade as well.
Bartlett stuck with Dudek as they ate up the turf between themselves and Williams. Climbing the first terrace, they caught her; then on the second they overtook her. Dudek pulled ahead with her sprint and could not be denied for the 16:50.1 victory, collapsing after crossing the line. Bartlett — looking around to make sure she was clear of Williams and no one else was coming — settled for 2nd with 16:51.7.
Despite coming in undefeated, Dudek had no big pretensions about winning at this level. “I had no idea that I was going to end up coming in first; with 600m to go I just really wanted to at least keep the place I’m in,” the soph said. “And then I saw that we were getting really close.
“I knew it was going to be a quick climb and sprint to the finish. That last 100m it was just who can kick the hardest and I just really moved as fast as I could.”
Williams crossed in 16:58.0, losing nearly 8 seconds in the stretch, but was far ahead of the 4th-placer Isabella Keller’s 17:15.0 (St. Anthony, Effingham, Illinois).
Early co-leader Gullickson held on to 7th, just behind Lowen, and earned the #2 stick in the team battle. That was no small thing as the Minnesotans — their school best known for ending a 7-year Fayetteville-Manlius title streak in ’13 — earned their 2nd crown by 5 points over Niwot, 142–147.
Most significantly, though, Wayzata’s 4-5 runners gained 58 spots between them in the final 2K to rally the Heartland champs from 6th (206 pts.) to 1st.
“We said our 5-6-7 runners are all going to matter and they did,” said Coach Kalsey Beach. “They really got gritty in the second half of the race and got the job done.”
The Coloradoans had the best 3-4-5 finish of anyone, and led at 1, 2 and 4K, but could not quite hold off the winners in a bid to sweep the team championships. Union Catholic (New Jersey), led by All-American middle distance runner Paige Sheppard, had led at 3K with strong performances at the front, but wound up 3rd with 174.
NXN GIRLS
Teams: 1. Wayzata 142; 2. Niwot 147; 3. Union County 174; 4. Lone Peak 178; 5. South Denver 198; 6. Sioux Falls Cross 219; 7. American Fork 244; 8. Bruce Township 266; 9. Flower Mound 274; 10. Sehome 304; 11. Trabuco 311; 12. Clifton Park 318; 13. Manhattan Beach 323; 14. Hinesburg 329; 15. Knoxville 355; 16. Bridgeland 357; 17. Clovis 360; 18. Ann Arbor Stadium 367; 19. Brentwood 395; 20. Delmar 407; 21. San Juan Capistrano 408; 22. Meridian 455.
Individuals (5K): 1. **Natasza Dudek (Ann Arbor Stadium) 16:50.1; 2. *Blair Bartlett (Northeast) 16:51.7; 3. Jaelyn Williams (California) 16:58.0; 4. *Isabella Keller (Midwest) 17:15.0; 5. Emma Hoffman (Midwest) 17:16.7; 6. *Averi Lowen (Southeast) 17:20.6; 7. Maddie Gullickson (Wayzata) 17:21.8; 8. Macy Wingard (South) 17:21.9; 9. ****Brianna Reilly (Heartland) 17:24.4; 10. *Delaney Reuter (Southwest) 17:28.1;
11. ***Addison Kegel (Northwest) 17:31.4; 12. Lily Alder (Southwest) 17:31.5; 13. Sundara Weber (Midwest) 17:34.3; 14. **Maddie Dorsch (Southeast) 17:35.0; 15. Emry Schwalm (South Denver) 17:36.0; 16. *Kendra Williamson (Northeast) 17:37.1; 17. *Annie Hrabovsky (Bruce Township) 17:44.6; 18. Cassidy Armstrong (Northwest) 17:44.9; 19. **Julia Kelly (Northeast) 17:44.9; 20. Amaya Bharadwaj (California) 17:45.3;
21. Calysta Garmer (Knoxville) 17:47.0; 22. *Paige Sheppard (Union County) 17:48.9; 23. Summer Wilson (California) 17:49.7; 24. Katie Berkshire (Midwest) 17:49.9; 25. ***Maddie Lange (Southwest) 17:52.1; 26. *Amelia Avila (Southeast) 17:53.6; 27. Jazzlyn Garmer (Knoxville) 17:55.4; 28. ***Karstin Mccabe (Heartland) 17:55.4; 29. *Maddie Laezza (New York) 17:55.9; 30. Emily Cohen (Southwest) 17:57.3;
31. Laney Barnes (South) 17:58.0; 32. Addy Ritzenhein (Niwot) 17:59.2; 33. Leyla Bhusri (Clifton Park) 18:00.7; 34. Ella Mogannam (California) 18:01.8; 35. Millie Bayles (Trabuco) 18:04.4; 36. Maggie McCormick (New York) 18:06.2; 37. *Peyton Vandeest (Heartland) 18:07.8; 38. ***Mackenzie Skelly (Northeast) 18:08.2; 39. Georgy Helmers (Southeast) 18:09.2; 40. *Allie Horner (Southeast) 18:11.0. (198 finished)
