Dowling Catholic (IA)
Dowling Catholic will be neck and neck with Stillwater. As one of the most dominant teams from Iowa here at NXR Heartland, the team has a chance at qualifying for NXN. Roy Griak served as somewhat of a preview for this meet, with many of the teams that competed there going to compete at regionals. Here they took fourth at Griak, much higher than many expected.
Although Dowlling Catholic has a season average of just below 16 minutes (15:58), its spread of over a minute in a race with such strong competition may be disadvantageous. If its four and five runners are able to close this gap, these extra few places could give them a real shot at a podium finish.