Nike Cross Nationals: Let's Meet The Naperville North Girls


Alex Morris details her tremendous race at the NXN MW Championship

High School Name: Naperville North
Club Name: North Naperville High School
Head Coach: Dan Iverson
School enrollment: 2674
Regular season finish: 3A State Champions
Entry To NXN: NXN MW Champions
MileSplit 50 ranking: #1 ----> HERE
Key seasonal performances: First To The Finish Invitational Champions, Roy Griak Gold Runner-Up, Naperville Twilight Invite Champions, Dupage Valley Conference Champs, Waubonsie Valley Sectional Champs, IHSA 3A State Champs, NXN Midwest Regional Champs
How good is this team
There is no team in Portland that is more serious than Naperville North... check the camera footage from PDX.

Despite a nine-point setback to Yorkville at the mighty Roy Griak Invitational in Minnesota, Naperville North remained calm. It was less than a week that we saw the Huskies turn back the Foxes at the home-cooked Twilight Invitational. This great team has obviously won big races outside of the friendly confines like the state championship in Peoria and the Nike Cross Regional round in Terre Haute IN. And now we are back in Portland to finish the job. Last year it was a very tough five-point loss to Fayetteville-Manlius for the national title.

Things could be different this time around.

As soon as the seven young ladies got off the tarmac at Portland International Airport, they had their championship game faces on. Alex Morris has been nothing short of amazing once she got lathered up from a few quality races. She placed third at state and then within a few seconds of upsetting the amazing Katelynne Hart of Glenbard West. Morris is the low-stick runner that her team will depend on to get the job done. The savvy newcomer Campbell Petersen has been solid all season long, but look for her to drop one last Atomic bomb performance. The same can be said for Lucy Westlake who has run as the #2 runner on an occasion. But overall, this all-time best squad is deep and strong as glue when it comes to closing out races. All that needs to happen on Saturday, is stay on code and finish the job.