Elite Athletes From Utah (Lily Alder and Jane Hedengren), California (Evan Noonan), New Mexico (Charlie Vause and Corbin Coombs), Tennessee (Abby Faith Cheeseman) and Oregon (Emily Wisniewski) Set To Race Some Of The Midwest's Best At LaVern Gibson

By David Woods for DyeStat

Photos by Ethan Buck, Kevin Dorsey and Ken Martinez

Fireworks are guaranteed in the Nike XC Town Twilight cross-country meet at Terre Haute, Ind.

Well, OK. That is because meet organizers actually will shoot off fireworks after the girls Race of Champions under the lights Saturday night.

But considering this intersectional meet is attracting high schools from as far west as California and as far south as Tennessee, it inevitably will supply clues as to which teams and individuals might make it to Nike Cross Nationals. 

WATCH THE NIKE XC TOWN TWILIGHT LIVE ON RUNNERSPACE

Foremost among them are two Timpview seniors from Provo UT, Lily Alder and Jane Hedengren. They are ranked fifth and sixth, respectively, in the DyeStat individual rankings.

Alder is coming off a third-place finish at the Woodbridge Classic at Irvine, Calif., one spot ahead of her teammate, in a three-mile time of 15:28.9. Hedengren was second in the Brooks PR two-mile in 9:48.77.

Three others to watch are No. 8 Isabella Keller of St. Anthony IL, No. 17 Abby Faith Cheeseman of The Webb School TN and Np. 23 Emily Wiesniewski of Crescent Valley OR.

Keller, making the short 83-mile trip east from Effingham, Ill., was eighth at NXN as a freshman. She is Illinois’ Class 1A (smallest schools) champion. Wisniewiski finished third at NXN last year and has won three consecutive Oregon Class 5A titles.

Two other top-30 runners are No. 20 Libby Dowty of Indian Creek IN, a state champion on this course last year as a soph, and No. 24 Ava Jarrell of Pendleton Heights, second in the New Balance Nationals 2-mile in 10:10.20.

Top-ranked girls teams are No. 15 Carmel IN, No. 25 Mt. Prospect IL and No. 27 The Webb School TN.

Highest-ranked boys teams are No. 9 Plainfield South IL and No. 33 Brownsburg IN.

Individuals feature No. 7 T.J. Hansen of Freeland MI and No. 24 Evan Noonan of Dana Hills CA. They were fourth and seventh, respectively, in the Brooks PR mile in 4:04.28 and 4:07.15.

The Michigan and California athletes got their waivers approved to compete at the event from the national federation earlier on Wednesday. 

New Mexico standouts Corbin Coombs from Organ Mountain NM and Charlie Vause of Rio Rancho NM are also in the field. Vause ran 14:42.2 to win the Desert Twilight sweepstakes race in Arizona last weekend; Coombs ran 14:30 on a course in New Mexico at the Rob Winter Classic. 

Alex Bruns from St. Xavier OH won the Trinity Valkyrie seeded boys race in 14:39.9 two weeks ago. 

Plainfield South's Dylan Maloney won the Palatine Invitational Meet of Champions boys race last weekend and could be the top runner in Illinois. 

Sam Quagliaroli of Fishers IN was third at state on this course last year behind NXN runner-up Cameron Todd of Brebeuf Jesuit.

The two-day extravaganza features a record 4,219 runners, a 15 percent increase from last year. The LaVern Gibson Championship course has been site of 13 NCAA Championships since 2002 – another is coming in 2026 – and the annual NXR Midwest Regional.

Boys and girls open races have been added for Friday night.

Contact David Woods at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter: @DavidWoods007.