By MORDECHAI YADEGAR II
The Progress
The Moapa Valley High School Boys’ Cross Country team; and Owen Rappleye, a VVHS senior; traveled to Mesa Arizona last week to compete at the Nike Cross Regionals Southwest (NXR).
NXR, which was held on Saturday, Nov. 19, brings athletes from all over the nation to qualify for the National Championship Final.
Nike made this year’s event a memorable one. High schooler students were able to talk with Nike pro athletes. There was also a T-shirt exchange where athletes could bring a shirt representing their school and trade it with an athlete from another school.
Across the U.S., the meet was split into seven regions. Each of the seven meets had multiple races. But the one that qualified runners for nationals was the Championship race.
The top four teams will qualify for Nationals along with the top 4 individuals who raced unattached without a team. This National race will take place at “Track Town USA” Eugene, Oregon.
The 5,000 meter race was run on the Coyote Run Golf course where it was all grass and consisted of rolling hills.
Schools from all across southwestern U.S. competed. The MVHS boys as well as Rappleye were registered for the small schools race.
NXR also gave an opportunity for non highschool athletes to compete in a Citizens race. Virgin Valley cross country coach Don Rappleye raced in the citizens race. He placed 79th in his race with a time of 21:38.
In the boys small school race, 294 boys sprinted off line. Everyone was packed together for the first mile. But after that the race started to thin out and runners started to pull away.
Coming across the line first for Moapa was Marcus Shambaugh with a time of 17:01. Trailing right behind was Mordechai Yadegar II finishing with a time of 17:10. Following Yadegar were his teammates, Hal Thompson (18:11), William Anderson (18:22), Gavin Hendricks (18:32), Joseph Barnes (18:48), Dustin Jones (20:29), and Mitchell Stoker (21:47).
The MVHS boys placed 12th in the race out of the 30 teams that competed. They also managed to be the top Nevada team in the race, also beating rival team Sky Pointe by 150 points.
Virgin Valley’s Owen Rappleye ran the race under the 18 minute mark and crossed the line with a time of 17:53.
There are some honorable mentions from this event that are worth mentioning. The only Nevada boy to run under the 16 minute mark was Damonte Ranch junior, Jackson Elliot with an impressive time of 15:49. Only one boy was representing Nevada in the Championship race and that was Bishop Gorman’s sophomore, Jordan Kreisberger. Kreisberger finished with a time of 16:24.
This race marks the end of the Cross Country 2022 season.
