Following their sublime performance at Nike Cross Regionals, Edina Boys’ Cross Country headed to Portland, Oregon for Nike Cross Nationals (NXN). A collection of the top twenty-two cross country teams and forty-five individuals arrived in the Pacific Northwest two days prior to the big race for a chance to explore the Nike campus and meet with many acclaimed professional distance runners.

“When we got to the Nike Headquarters, we were very surprised by the amount of effort that was put into the event,” said senior Luke Lumbar. The athletes had another surprise in store for them when pros they had looked up to were available to hang out and run with the high schoolers. “All of the pros were very nice and welcoming, but if I had to choose [my favorite] it’d either go to Andrew Wheating, Galen Rupp, or Evan Jager,” said Lumbar about the Olympians.

Heading into the race, Edina was projected to finish in 19th place, only beating three teams. Their Section 6AA counterpart, Wayzata, was only projected a 17th place finish. Low expectations followed both teams, leaving room for Lincroft, Gig Harbor, Manlius, and Arcadia atop the projections.

Edina’s weekend didn’t end with the experience, however. “We talked briefly on our goals, but I think we all had a similar goal in mind — all we wanted to do was run as well as we had been running and hopefully place top ten,” said Lumbar about the team dynamic prior to the race.

The course in Portland has been famous for being quite muddy and messy in past years but this year something else was planned for the athletes. The day before the race, there was snow on the course, quite atypical for a December in Oregon. Thanks to Nike’s grounds crew, all the snow was snow-blown off the course for the race, leaving a few ice puddles and a crisp wind. Weather familiar to the Minnesota natives, and quite unfamiliar to many teams competing.

The race went out very fast, as true to the history of the race. After 1K, Edina was in a deep last place, 153 points behind second-to-last, and 510 points off the leaders. Reaching the 2K mark, Edina had passed a cumulative 203 racers, moving into second-to-last. Over half-way done, at the 3K mark, they made a huge move on the field, jumping eight places into 13th place. They carried this momentum into the 4K splits, moving up to 8th place, only two points behind the projected 5th place team from American Fork.

When the race was said and done, Edina walked away with a 10th place finish, convincingly beating their 15th place rivals from Wayzata. “After our first few weeks we were ranked 4th in the state behind two other 6AA teams, so our first goal was to make it to state and do well at state,” said Lumbar on expectations from the beginning of the season. As well as a top 10 finish, Edina’s team time was 1.36% faster than projections and scored 64.66% of their projected point total. On the individual side, Matt Lumbar had the 5th best percent faster than projection score, racing 2.64% faster than projected, as well as David Ellenberger who was 7th on the list, racing 2.58% faster than he was projected.

Edina’s ability to extend their season past the section meet was not set in stone at the beginning of the season, and their large successes late in the season can be attributed to their hard work throughout the season. “We had a couple guys who really stepped up at some very large races, and I think that really fueled the season so looking back on the team, I’d say it was easily the best team I’ve been a part of,” said Lumbar. A great finish to cap off a memorable season in Edina Cross Country history.