December 16, 2024 by Max Vogel (‘26)
On December 7th, Saratoga Springs High School’s very own Junior, Thomas Isenovski, qualified and ran at the most competitive high school cross country race in the United States. The Nike Cross Country Nationals also known as NXN, is an annual race and event hosted in Portland, Oregon. Each year, runners from eight regions around the country qualify by placing in the top 5 individually, or the top 2 teams in their race. This year, Thomas placed 2nd, in the New York region, punching his ticket to Oregon. Thomas said that on the flight over, that he “sat next to Tommy Latham”, the soon to be the 4th overall in the standings. After arriving, all of the runners toured Nike’s facilities, including the “places where they design shoes” and “a track with a forest in the middle”. Shortly afterward, they settled into their hotel rooms. Thomas said there was “a really good environment” at the hotel because around 400 runners were all hanging out together with much in common. That is what makes this event special every year. After arriving, guest appearances with runners such as Cooper Tier, Craig Angels and a speech with the 2024 1500-meter gold medalist Cole Hocker inspired the athletes before their race in the coming hours.
On the day of the race, the conditions were less than ideal after a night of rain left the course with many puddles and muddy hills for the athletes to run over. The freezing cold temperatures didn’t help either, as Thomas said, “my feet were already numb before I started the race”. These tricky conditions made many athletes slip and fall during the race. Thomas almost lost control, and “almost fell while going around bends” due to the course being very slippery. Despite the harsh conditions, the race was very quick, with the winner (Charlie Vause) running a time of 15:28. Thomas was able to place 50th and was very happy with the results after “having the goal to go to NXN since the summer”. He hoped that the team as a whole could qualify, but it didn’t end up happening this year. The result is what he was looking for, and he ended up meeting “a lot of new people from all across the country”.
NikeCrossNationals.com – Nike Cross Nationals Official Site – NXN