Four Powell High School Runners performed in the 2023 NXR meet in Bosie, Idaho. NXR or Nike Cross Regionals, is a 5k race for high school runners and running clubs. There are nine NXR races around the US including Heartland, Midwest, Northwest, Southwest, South, Northeast, Southeast, California, and New York. 

Juniors Kenna Jacobsen and Kinley Cooley, along with freshmen Karee Cooly and Ashlee Jacobsen, participated in the Northwest race in Boise on November 11th. NXR is an immense race with hundreds of runners in each race and better competition than what many of these runners have ever seen.

“I was really trying to focus on the competition,” Jacobsen said. “Mainly just myself because I knew there were really fast girls in my race, and all I could control was what I could do.”

At NXR there are three separate classes: championship, open, and junior varsity. Kinley, Kenna, and Karee raced in the open class, and Ashlee raced in JV. To place as a team, a minimum of seven athletes is required. Top-scoring teams from all nine NXRs will go to NXN or Nike Cross Nationals, one of the biggest high school cross country races in America. 

Although the four Lady Panthers can’t score they formed the team P-Town XC. Their team colors were pink and black. Even though the girls were nervous they were all looking forward to the new fun experience.

“I chose to do NXR because it’s a completely different atmosphere from most of the meets we race at during our regular cross-country season,” Kinley said. “A typical meet in Wyoming maybe has 300 people tops, but at NXR there were over 300 people in our race and thousands of people overall. I also think it was amazing for us to get to race against completely new competition. Like most of the people we raced against we had never seen before, and I think it really helped us in learning new race strategies as well as how to work against competitors with different skill sets and strategies.” 

Kinley, who battled Kenna and Karee for the top spot on the cross-country team all season and sadly didn’t get All-State, redeemed herself as the first to cross the line for Powell. She placed 64th out of 902 girl runners.

“I am super proud of how I did,” Kinley said. “I held my own and positioned myself to place in the top 7%. I felt confident coming back from a rough season.”

Karee finished first for Powell at state in 5th place and was Powell’s top girl runner in multiple races. She was the second P-Town XC runner to finish, placing 139th.

“It was my slowest time of the year,” Karee said. “When you put into perspective how many girls were in the race and where I placed, I guess I didn’t do that bad.”

Kenna also received All-State by placing 9th and finishing 2nd for Powell at the state meet. At NXR she placed 214th coming across the line 3rd for Powell.

“I feel like I didn’t do as well as I could have,” Kenna said. “I got a little bit of food poisoning and didn’t feel very good while I was racing.”

Ashlee ran on the JV time during the cross-country season. She placed 86 out of 350 in her race but got 543rd out of 902 in total.

“I didn’t race my best. I didn’t fuel right and was throwing up the last half mile of the race, which caused me to run a slower time than I usually do,” Ashlee said. “I feel like I finished strong though, and was definitely pushed to keep going by my competition.”

NXR was three weeks after the cross-country season, so the four girls had to keep running. After taking a week off after state, they were back on their feet and practicing again.

“We did most of the workouts together as a group,” Ashlee said. “Then recovery days on ourselves up until NXR.”

Driving around 11 hours and paying around $600 can be a lot for one race, but when a lot of hard work is put in, it can be very rewarding and worth it.

“100% would do it again,” Kinley said. “It was one of the most fun things I’ve ever done in my entire life.”