Pictured: Senior Olivia Mundt closes out the team scoring for "Lemrac" as team's fifth scorer at NXR Midwest.
Nearly two weeks have passed since the NXR Midwest meet at the LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course in Terre Haute, Indiana. As the first wave of girls crossed the finish line, it quickly became clear that the race would be exceptionally close. Illinois' Downers Grove North edged out the competition with 146 points, narrowly defeating Michigan's Romeo, who finished just one point behind with 147. Carmel would claim third place with 150 points, only four points separating the top three teams. Late Saturday night, the NXN committee announced the four at-large team selections per gender, with Carmel listed first among the girls' teams.
The season has been nearly flawless for the Carmel Greyhounds. They have dominated the IATCCC coaches' poll for most of the season and recently secured the Indiana state title with a 16-point victory over Fort Wayne Concordia. Carmel's qualification for NXN marks a significant milestone, as they appear to be the first Indiana team to make the national meet since the Carmel boys in 2017 according to our database.
Next weekend, ten Hoosiers will compete in Portland at NXN. This includes the Carmel girls' team and individual qualifiers Mallory Weller, Sam Quagliaroli, and Noah Bontrager, who all earned spots at Foot Locker Nationals earlier today. Additionally, Libby Dowty and Liam Bauschke qualified for Foot Locker Nationals as well.
The Carmel girls' NXR Midwest squad featured:
You can hear what the Carmel Girls had to say after their NXR Midwest Performance below:
MileSplit will have coverage from the national meets over the next couple of weeks before we officially transition to indoor track!