Minnesota teams dominate the Heartland

By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor

For teams that win big at their state championship, the prospect of reprising the same hit a week later at NXN regionals is daunting to say the least. For teams that missed the mark at state, such as the Willmar girls of Minnesota, regionals is a chance to correct errors and find redemption. 

On Saturday at Yankton Trails near Sioux Falls, S.D., the NXN Heartland seemed like -- with a few exceptions -- a Minnesota state meet do-over. 

The four teams that advanced automatically from the region all came from Minnesota. In fact, four of the top five girls teams and all of the top four boys teams were Minnesotans. 

The Hopkins boys hit for the second week in a row and even improved in South Dakota with a sensational 71-point performance. Led by the trio of Jack Henschel (15:36.7 for 7th in the team scoring), Seth Eliason (15:41.2 for 9th) and Owen Hoeft (15:41.3 for 10th), Hopkins advanced without worry. 

For the second year in a row Edina MN failed to qualify for the Minnesota Class AA meet but performed well enough at regionals to advance to Portland.  Edina scored 135 points and edged out 2014 NXN runner-up Wayzata MN by four points. 

Wayzata's leader, however, does move on. Jaret Carpenter ran 14:58.8 to win the individual title by about four seconds. Micah Mather of Highland Park MN was right behind Carpenter for a second straight week and Nebraska champion Seth Hirsch of Millard West was third in 15:05.3.

In the lead up to the girls race, Willmar (14th at NXN last year) had a choice to make: Go out as hard as it did in the state meet and risk blowing up again or follow the example set at the state meet by Edina and hold something back in the early part of the race. 

Willmar succeeded by heeding the words of regular season coach Jerry Popp and corrected its errors from the week prior.

"This was our best team race that we've had all season," junior Jessa Hanson said after striking 20 seconds from her previous personal best. "State was one of the worst. I would say that at state we really didn't follow the race plan we were given or run as smart as we should have. This time we focused on the race plan and it kept us strong throughout."

Marshall, second at state, took the approach that worked last week. Press early, establish position, and hold on for dear life. Through a mile and two miles on Saturday, Marshall led the team competition. When it was over, Marshall was fifth (losing a fourth-place tiebreaker with Wayzata). 

Edina's runners finished right in front of Willmar's runners at the 3rd, 4th and 5th spots. But Hanson's strong running up front helped lift Willmar to a 147-149 victory over the state champions. (A week earilier, Edina beat Willmar by 51 points).

Individually, the meet marked the season debut of Stephanie Jenks of Linn-Mar IA, who entered the postseason fresh and ready to race. 

Jenks ran 10 seconds faster than she did last year when she was second, breaking the tape in 17:01.3 for the fastest time ever run at the NXN Heartland Regional. Cailie Logue of Girard KS was second in 17:12.1 and Minnesota's seventh grade sensation Grace Ping was third in 17:17.2. Defending champion Bethany Hasz of Alexandria was fourth in 17:17.6 and her sister Megan, who was fifth at NXN last year, finished ninth. 

"I didn't know what to expect going into the race, since it was my (season) debut," Jenks said. "I've been training hard all the way through (the fall) and was recovering the past week. I didn't really know what I could do."

Jenks, who signed with Cal in the past week, appeared to be in the best shape of her life and by the midpoint of the race decided it was time to make her move for the win.

Jenks will next go to Foot Locker Midwest where she will try to qualify for her third national finals in San Diego. 

"I feel like I'm a lot stronger this year than I was last year," Jenks said. "Our training has been built around a wide  variety of (things). Every workout is different, whether it's more or less reps, it's always changing. I think it's made me a stronger athlete than last year."