Forsyth Runs To 26-Second Win At Midwest Regional; Westphal Dips Under 15 Minutes

By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor

Andrew LeMay photos

Rachel Forsyth will have two chances at a potential national championship in girls cross country. 

Already an NXR Midwest champion, the senior from Ann Arbor, Mich. added a berth to the Foot Locker Cross Country Championship finals by winning the Midwest regional on Saturday morning in brisk 33-degree temperatures at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside in Kenosha, Wis. 

The top-ranked runner in the country will face the likes of Elizabeth Leachman, the NXR South and Foot Locker South champion from Texas, and other contenders over the final two weeks of championship racing. 

Forsyth ran 16:57.8 for the fourth-fastest time in the history of the Midwest regional, which extends back to 1985. 

She won by 26 seconds, with Addison Knoblauch of Fort Wayne, Ind. taking second in 17:24.0.

The top 10 finishers in the Midwest regional advanced to the Foot Locker finals in San Diego. 

Two more Michigan girls, Jessica Jazwinski of Shelby, Mich. and Victoria Garces of Midland, Mich., finished fourth and eighth, respectively. Jazwinski is a returning finalist who was 11th in San Diego last year. 

Indiana will also send three. In addition to Knoblauch, state champion Libby Dowty (Morgantown, Ind.) was third and Nicki Southerland (Muncie, Ind.), a two-time qualifier, was fifth. 

Coloradoans Payton Meineke of Thornton, Colo., and Emily Cohen of Englewood, Colo., were sixth and seventh, respectively. Meineke later in the day found out that she had earned one of five at-large individual berths to NXN after placing eighth at NXR Southwest. 

Addison Dorenkamp of West Des Moines, Iowa finished ninth and Liv Phillips of Naperville, Ill., grabbed the final spot, finishing 10th. 

Thomas Westphal, the Michigan Division 1 runner-up, became the third Michigan winner in a row in the boys championship race, joining Hunter Jones (2022) and Riley Hough (2021).

Just 13 and a half seconds separated the 10 qualifiers on the boys side. Seven states from the Midwest region will be represented at nationals. 

Westphal, of Chesterfield, Mich., ran 14:59.2 for the win. He was followed over the finish line by Connell Alford of Chelsea, Mich., who was 14th at last year's national finals. 

Indiana state champion Cameron Todd of Indianapolis, the NXR Midwest champion, finished third to ensure that he will compete at both national championship events. Another Indiana runner, Tony Provenzano of Carmel, Ind. was fifth. 

Isaac Rivera of Kansas City, the Missouri Class 4 champion, ran impressively to grab fourth place. He had previously finished 17th two weeks ago at NXR Midwest. 

Juan Gonzalez of Fremont, Neb., an NXN qualifier out of the Heartland regional, qualified for his second national championship event by placing sixth.  

Colorado got two through to the finals. Benjamin Anderson from Highlands Ranch, Colo., was seventh and Matthew Edwards from Monument, Colo. was 10th. 

Ben Crane from Wilmette, lll., the third-place finisher at the Illinois Class 3A final, finished eighth. 

Micah Blomker from Mission, Kan., who finished 25th at NXR Heartland, ran to ninth place.